Hello all! I would like to take this opportunity to pick the brains of all fiction writers. I want to know, what is it generally like for you when you come up with a story? Reason being, I have been having this reoccurring dream about a woman and a man who are destined to b e together. Their names are Kathleen and Edric. I am not a writer. I am a college student majoring in Communications/ Public Relations. I have always had a rather imaginative and creative mind. My mother has been telling me to “get back in the box” since I was a child because I would often let my imagination wander and forget about reality. The only reason I had thought about writing this down is so I can get it out of my head. Kathleen and Edric have literally become the voices in my head. Their faces and adventures have consumed my brain and it is all I can think about to plot out how their story ends. Their story has become so detailed and intertwined that it dates all the way back to their great grandparents. I can see it all so vividly; it is as if I am watching a movie, narration and all. The whole nine yards! Now my question is, Is this just a dream? Does everyone experience this? Do I have the beginnings of a novel on my hands? What is the process like for those of you have already gone through it?
Although I haven't wrote an entire novel. Yet! Story ideas come at me in many different ways, I get very creative when I need to use the restroom. Yep as strange as it sound, I am telling the truth, and afterward I am ready to do what ever I was doing before. But to answer your question: I don't know much about Kathleen and Edric (I do like that name by the way.) But you do and so it all determines how it is written. Just sit down and write the rough draft, it was very difficult for me to write, because I would want to prefect every word as I wrote it, and that hindered. Stephenie meyer's got her idea from a dream she had one night, so sure as heck you can dream a story. All she had was a small scene when she had the dream and then she added to it to make the story. Hope I helped some
Anyone who's got a story is a storyteller/dreamer. Try to write your novel down, and then you'll discover whether or not you are a writer as well.
It could be schizophrenia... that or inspiration! I'd say write it and see what happens. Hell, if you enjoy the process of writing (and subsistent reading), and no one else on the entire planet shares your sentiment, I'd still say it was worth it.
Sounds like you need to write it just for peace of mind if nothing else. Who knows, maybe you have the beginning of something.
Just write it. I did a similar thing and the words/plot poured out of my mind as I went along and I had the first draft done in under four weeks. It's now with an agent. Good luck!
i'm going to agree with Dalouise, write it. why not, if nothing comes other than a way to let it out and understand it for yourself, well that isn't a bad thing either. good writings to you
Inspiration comes from various sources for me, the simplest things can lead to a thought process that results in a fully-fledged story... I am also something of a dreamer (though, I tend to be awake when I drift off in that direction :redface. I actually believe that some stories choose their voices. People often say things like "there are no new stories, just new ways of telling them". Given that, I think it's perfectly reasonable to say that there are certain stories that have always been in existence, and just wait patiently for the right person to come along and hear them (then they pester them incessently, keeping them awake at four in the morning singing old sea shantys until they get the attention they want...) In other words, that's a repeat of what everyone else has said - write it. No need to question why, or think about what happens after it's written, just trust and tell the story that wants to be told. After that, you can decide if that's all that you want to do with it.
I so feel for you TC.....I am in the same boat....Mine started as action scenes I played out in my head while listening to music. Now, I have characters that I absolutely love and I feel like I have to tell their story. I'm no writer. Never have been. I am pretty smart and I am going to try my best to make it come out on paper. Right now, self doubt is what is killing me and every time I tell myself I'm crazy for thinking I can do this, guilt hits me like a ton of bricks. Something in me keeps telling me that this story has to be told. I'm gonna give it a shot and I suggest you do the same.
Anything that kickstarts your imagination is fine, whether it be dreams, cheesy TV sitcoms, or the daily news. Of course, if the voices in your head are telling you to do things that make you nervous, you should seek professional help.
I have a tendency to start writing, just to see if an idea will survive the process. Sadly, Sylvia Plaith has a poem that spells out the fate of most of these ideas. Just start writing. See if it's viable. If it is, this will be the greatest thing you do.
I love Plath, but shes not exactly someone I would turn to in times of need, lol. Its funny how much of her writing was actually inspired by her own perceived shortcomings as a writer. How ironic that inspiration can come from ANYTHING, even a lack of inspiration. LOL So yeah, definitely write about it.
LordKyleofEarth has given me a lot of advice, read his story and found that my imagination needs to expand, read his rooster story, it is great.
Is this just a dream? Yes and no. Yes in the aspect that it is just a dream, but no in the aspect that it doesn't have to remain a dream. Dreams take on extremely vivid perspectives sometimes, and yours seems to be one of them. Does everyone experience this? Everyone has a vivid dream at least once in their life. But concerning your character creation about them and their stories, I'd say no. Not all writers have these kinds of dreams, but that doesn't make them any less of a writer than you or I. Do I have the beginnings of a novel on my hands? I would say so. I've had dreams like those before (check my topic Kiss Me.) and they're very potent; they'll dig into your subconscious and remind you when you least expect it. The more you push it out of your mind, the more likely you're going to think about it at one point or another. If you really believe that you need to tell this story, write it down. Write anything and everything about it; the littlest piece of information, the biggest part of a plot or subplot, anything. What is the process like for those of you have already gone through it? For me, it was a lot like this persistent, nagging feeling. I woke up with a determination to write it down because it came to me so strongly. With my main story, Statues, I'd woken up from a nap with the sensation of being bitten by a vampire lingering from my dream. I didn't know what overcame me, but I sat down and just started writing the first five pages of my book without blinking; it was crazy. I felt so drawn into the characters, their voices chattering like parrots in my head. Each one is individual, crafted out of my subconscious and determined to have their say. Unfortunately, because of this, I've spend a sleepless night or two writing down their conversations and descriptions of events. If what you're experiencing is anything like this, don't deny it. And even if it isn't, still write it. You shouldn't let a story go untold.
the first screenplay i ever wrote came from a vivid dream i had... i woke at 4am with the scenes playing as if on a movie screen, wrote them down and went back to sleep, putting myself back in the dream to see what happened next... i woke again at 6 with the rest of the basic story and several more scenes that went to pen and paper easily, though it was hard to read my notes when i finally got up and went to work on them... i thought it was to be a novel, but the scenes were still so visual, playing over and over in my head, that i got myself a final draft screenwriting program and in 10 days had turned out a 122-page movie script, never having written one before... it's still a very marketable sci-fi flick, but i'll never sell it, since i gave up writing for money and took a vow to never write or help anyone write anything with violent content... and to my ever-lasting shame, my 'sons of adam' script contains some of the most unique violence i've ever come across in my 70 years of reading and movie-going... end of story...
I get quite a few of my ideas from dreams. Most of them actually. Mine aren't very indepth, more like small scenes that I start with and then branch out on. Go with it, you never know what could happen. Twilight started with a dream, Harry Potter with a random idea, just go with it. ^.^
I am a very vivid dreamer and have occasionally written very short things (usually not complete stories) after having particularly neat ones. I mean, I've had dreams where I was a child soldier avoiding falling bombs, dreams where I was part of an army platoon of dragon-riders (that one was pretty fun), dreams where I was flying, dreams where one of my books' magic systems was fully functional. The real challenge may be to just write it out - to do a scene here and there and to connect them, so that you can get Edric and Kathleen's romance down accurately. Good luck!
If you never try you'll never know. I say go for it, at least until your convinced that writing is either for you or not your jazz. Best of wishes.
