I plucked one of my characters from a dream I had last year. He had a blueprint written inside of him, from his qualities to where he came from. I thought it was fascinating that one image could hold so much history, even how he moved was inspring. He's nobody I know, yet he sparked part of my novel Do you get some of your inspiration from your nightly dreams? Does what happen in them nod you in a creative direction?
My MC came from a dream. So did my Big Bad, come to think of it. I dreamed about a fight and in the morning, I started tracing back what could have led the two characters to that point. When I got to what I felt was the beginning, I started to write.
Oh yes, my first big novel - one I'd love to rewrite came from a dream. It started only as a brief image in the dream a girl being chased and kidnapped on a high cliff - and spun off into a ridiculously long book. The character, a girl, still shows up in dreams occasionally with other characters ( mainly the villain ) from the book as if trying to nudge back into writing it. I heard The Narnia series came from a dream C.S. Lewis had - just one image of Mr. Tumnus under a lamppost.
I don't get plot ideas or characters from dreams, but I often get fully formed lines of poetry in my head, which I remember till the following day so I can write them down. Weird. But cool.
So far unfortunately not, I mean do have "characters" in my dreams that do not exist in pop culture or real life. I have to force and threaten my damn brain to create some characters.
Not so much a character but if I go to bed anxious that something in the story is not happening, a solution will usually arise. The best one yet was when I was woken around three AM one morning with one of my characters screaming five words over and over. Three days later, I had written around 10 thousand words which make up the last two chapters of my second book. I absolutely love it when that happens. For me, writers block is really just the days when my characters stop talking to me. Does that make me sound a bit mental???
No, not all. As long as they are not telling you something like "Burn them, Burn them all, you know you want it."
Laughing loudly! There have been a few moments where more than one was talking at the same time and did actually say "shut the hell up or I will kill you off ..." My husband was walking past me at the time, he quickly moved away and made me a coffee!
No characters, but my first novel was inspired by a 'scene' in a dream. The actual story only barely resembles it, but it was such a compelling idea I couldn't get it out of my head until I wrote it all out. The story is also way outside of what I normally would write.
Almost everything I write has come from a dream in some form or another.. The first novel I started working on was originally completely based off of a dream, but I ended up changing it so much, I don't see my dream in it at all. The next novel, I took two settings from two different dreams and used them to form a story. I had another novel that was only about dreams, so I kept a dream journal to record anything that would fit into my book. This newest one that I'm focusing on is based on creatures that I dreamt about. Whether or not it works out is yet to be seen. Also two short stories are based on dreams. Do I have a problem? lol
I once tried to write a story from a dream I had once. It involved vampires who were allergic to tea. It didn't work. When taking something from a dream always be cautious - the human mind does not adhere to common logic and if you keep too close to it out of some sentimentality for your own mind some parts of the character could prove to be faulty and not work in a story.
I've used people I've met in dreams as inspiration for characters before. Most often people in my dream are either directly someone I know or a vague shadowy person who could be anyone I know and obviously using either of these as characters wouldn't work just like putting all my close friends into my WIP wouldn't work. I use dreams as a source of inspiration not as a foundation.
That does sound cool. I have remembered strange lines too, that accompany my night time dreams, as if i am picking up someone elses thoughts, though not mine. If i can enter a lucid dream again, i am going to see what I can feel and see if i can spontaneously form some commenary!
Generally easy, but...the idea the dream spawned actually fermented in my head for several years before it burst forth through the keyboard. I started with the idea in the dream, then created characters, then a back story to explain how the 'idea' could exist, then pieced the story together in my head before ever writing a word. I envision my stories in my head as 'movie scenes'. I'll generate some compelling scenes and/or dialog, then try to mentally tie them together or find ways of explaining them. Eventually, the bulk of a story will have come together, and then I write it chronologically, filling in all the details and other minor scenes as I work my way through it. That book-inspired-by-a-dream was my first novel I ever wrote and finished, and it poured from my like rushing water. It was an amazing experience.
There was an occasion where I saw two already-developed characters interacting with each other in a dream. The setting didn't tie in with the plot at all, but the character interaction and chemistry was much needed
The only character that comes from my dream was a womaniser. However I could never get his character nor did I know his name - I simply based his appearance from my dreams and gave him his own name.
My dreams straight up don't make sense. Novels inspired by them would have no plot and involve characters that occasionally shape shifted but nobody would notice.
This is one reason why I keep a pencil and paper by the bed. If something wakes me at 2am, I know I won't remember it when I get up at 6 so I jot it down, in the dark.
I should definitely get around to doing that, because some of the ideas I get from my dreams are much needed. I tend have dreams with emotional scenes, and those are good to keep track of so I can apply them to my (mostly emotionless) characters. Usually when I first come to consciousness I think of some of my characters, and if I'm lucky I fall back asleep and have a quasi-lucid dream about them.
I actually have like half-a dozen stories that I created that were based on dreams. After I had the dream, I summarize what I saw and think of ways on expanding on it or grab some key ideas and work. I have one story that did come off a dream that I may share with. Other dreams I had just don't make any sense. Like that one dream I had where I was Wonder Woman and having to toss giant tree branches into a volcano and fighting an flying evil baby that can shoot lasers out it's eyes. Then be scorned by a family for doing such of thing in their backyard. Must of been something I drank the night before. Also chased by giant spiders in one dream. It surprisingly wasn't as horrific as it sounds. So yes, I do have characters that I have created based on dreams. Oddly, they are mostly female characters though.
