Anybody else find their characters invading your dreams when you are in the "heat" of your writing? I've had dreams about my characters that didn't have anything to do with the story, like dreams where the character responds to some sort of current event in the news. One of my characters is a Trump supporter and there will be nothing about it in my story, but I keep dreaming about what he might have to say about things if somebody asked him his opinion.
I feel that I have, but I can't recall anything in particular. I have ideas in dreams that I incorporate into my writing.
Not in the sense that I create them and then dream about them, no. I have dreamed of people and situations about which I later wrote, though.
Yes - only a specific book though. My first novel. It was inspired by a dream I had after watching a tv movie and combining it with Twin Peaks and since then I've had dreams where the characters show up. It's very distracting cause it makes me want to work on the story and I've derailed projects before to answer the call. And sometimes the dreams will encourage me to warp or change direction in the plot which gets annoying. Maybe I shouldn't take inspiration from the villain in the book. Hasn't really happened with any other characters though, just them. (does that comma go there? in the last sentence)
The characters I have nightmares about live in the pages of my real life. Those that I dream about I’m yet to meet.
When I was nearing the end of my current project's first draft, I had a dream about the plot. The climax, specifically. Very unhelpful, considering it went off on some nonsensical tangent as dreams are wont to do, and I had to spend the morning untangling the dream events from the outline events in my head.
Not so far, but maybe one day I’ll get so ingrossed in the story that it will happen. I secretly wished I’d had dreams of characters from my novel Evergreen. Replaying the scenes over and over in my head. It would be like watching a movie adaption. I think my characters can dream. Rose dreamed of her mother, and a peaceful life. She sure as heck earned it with the things she went through. Lyla dreamed of acceptance and overcoming her jumbled feelings for Rose. Violet dreamed of sharing her mothers’ Story, even if she had to relive the horrible moments.
I have once or twice. And a number of times dreamed about things remarkably similar to parts of my story.
I haven't dreamed about my characters yet. Though while I'm actively writing, I've noticed that my dreams become more interesting and story-like. They're still disorganized as one would expect from dreams, but there are ideas that may merit working into a story in future. While I'm writing this happens more frequently. Similarly, when I'm deep into a coding problem around bedtime I will sometimes have dreams about code. Though those dreams aren't nearly as useful as a good writer's dream. They just kind of don't make sense after I wake up and think about them. Apparently Stephen King got at least one of his book ideas from a dream. Misery, specifically.
Never. Not even the characters I spent years writing about as a teenager. (And when I say writing I also mean thought of most the time even when I didn't write) I'm the sort of person who normal remembers big chunks of their dreams, but my own characters never seem to play a part.
I know it sounds weird to you all but last night I had a dream about being in a way different house or apartment that I'll use for my story.
I call that daydreaming. I daydream about my characters too when the writing gets good. Actually, the characters in my favorite piece of writing I still daydream about sometimes and I created them in 1997.
Last week I did for the first time. The character for my outlined book showed up four times, each time different, until at the end she was a characture of a character from a movie I like. Very strange.
I often dream about my characters, usually in the context of a story yet to be written or a chapter yet to be finished. It more often than not helps me figure things out, flesh out the plot or resolve a problem I'm having with the narrative. Very useful!
I've had several different dreams with the three main characters of my manuscript. I've only had one or two where all three of them were in it at the same time, though. The rest of them it's just one or two. Most of the dreams have no significance to the actual story. Spoiler: But... I did have a dream that the protagonist was forced to to go to a psychiatric hospital. A couple months later I ended up deciding he needs to be in one for the beginning of book two. When I had that dream there was no book two, so... I read/heard somewhere (take this with a grain of salt because I don't know if it's true) that everyone in your dreams you've seen somewhere in real life, even if just in passing. With this I've concluded that maybe I dream about my fictional characters I've never met because I know what they look like through my drawings. So, if you want to dream about your characters, maybe try drawing them or make them on a video game with character customization? It might not work, but it can't hurt to try, right?
No, nor have I ever written anything even closely related to one of my dreams. How the hell do you write about a giant Mars bar chasing someone down a street? Mine are just too wacky!
Frequently enough. But usually not ideas that I can simply copy/paste to a story. I love vampires but don't write about them. Best dream I ever had with characters was that my main character was a vampire. That was neat. It was like watching a movie with my character written by someone else. A bit like fan fiction. With the bonus that it was on movie and in colour! I wish I could dream it some more. Still won't make me write about vampires, though. I prefer my vampires written by someone else. The dream was all a big cliché, to be honest. But boy did I love it!
Sometimes. Often before I fall asleep at night is the only time I have to freely think about my characters (if I can stop myself from stressing over whatever I need to do the next day at least) and naturally sometimes those thoughts extend into dreams. Unfortunately those dreams aren't always helpful. The scenes that come to me in dreams are usually too sentimental to work with the tone of my novels.
Very rarely. Instead, I tend to have what I call "original story" dreams which tends to play out like some indie movie or TV series. Those dreams somehow have their own storylines and characters. Sometimes months or years would pass me by, and I'd get a "Part II" or "Episode 2" that serves to continue the first part of the dream. Its all a bit strange to think about, really.
The Circle stemmed from a years-long recurring nightmare about a visceral erotic situation. I was forced to confront a decision I avoid, and at that moment I awake. There's no resolution, ever. In desperation, after years of torture, I decided to try resolving it by doing the one thing I hate most - writing. My hope was to burn myself out or write myself into a corner, and be over it for a stupid idea. Bring the monster into the light. A paragraph at most should do the trick. It became two. At a full page, I started sabotaging my work by creating ridiculous situations, characters, and directions. It takes story to create a character. Pages later, I had an epiphany - characters had feelings, and problems to overcome, and they reach out to each other, and fall in love. People falling in love for the first time do ridiculous things - It all fit together. 450 pages later, I'm a third of the way in, and well into a second story. Dammit!
