I Dreamed A Dream

I’m often been curious how ideas are born. I remember reading an interview with Stephen King when I was about eleven or so and began my ever-long obsession with the man’s writing. He said something that I thought couldn’t possibly be true. His ideas come from dreams.

For a writer like King, I thought this was a pretty flaky way to go about writing stories. What if you didn’t have a very good dream? What if you had an amazing dream but then woke up before you could find out how it ended? What if you stopped dreaming altogether?

I didn’t think it was possible to write what you dream. Until I started. As of present, there is very little I haven’t written that wasn’t, in part at least, shown to me in a dream. Sometimes it is just a conversation. Other times it is whole scenes. Rarely, but most wonderfully, it is the full concept, completely laid out for me. But I know everyone is not like this. Not everyone has their ideas handed to them by the Sand Man.

As a writer, I consider myself a creative person. It came in handy as a child when it was time to worm my way out of something, or explain why I was four hours late. Of course, I usually embellished way too much and hindered myself rather than helped. But I can’t imagine being so creative that I could sit down one day and just imagine up an entire world. To make up characters and plot lines and intriguing scenarios.

When I dream and I think a story can be made of it, I usually have a massive head start on what’s going on and who is who. Sure, I add characters and situations but to start entirely from scratch? With zero help? Um, scary!

So congrats to the writers who do this – I admire you all, seriously.

But I’m curious, so please, please tell me – where do YOUR ideas come from?


Pxx