December 27, 2010

The State of Mind

I have a secret: all of my short story plots come from dreams. Very rarely I dream, but when I do, I tend to memorize every moment, every action and, when I wake, I write them down. In my dreams, I'm never myself, I'm always looking down. My "characters" can have my name, they can act like me, but they never look like me and I'm never in that first person chair.

I write like this, too. Never in first person (I just don't have the patience to use "I" in every sentence and even now I'm a little bothered). I was taught and grew up to write third person. The "characters" in my dreams don't have names or personalities until I take the notes I've written from my dreams and start a new creation, but I already know the plot :)

Do you utilize your dreams in your work? Have they ever given you that blockbuster plot?

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break. The New Year is coming soon!

3 comments:

  1. A lot of my inspiration comes from my dreams. Sometimes it's the emotional experience and sometimes it's the whole plot. I had one long, drawn out dream once that came with its own soundtrack! I've not tried to write that one yet. A little intimidating!

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  2. My current WIP is based on a dream. Some of those really vivid dreams feel like movies in my mind.

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  3. I did start a story about a dream I had once just because it was so creepy. But it was years ago. Now I mostly brainstorm.

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Leave some chocolate while you're at it.