I’m one of those people who dreams vividly and, more often than not, I remember my dreams. As I’ve previously noted, I also dream about story ideas and stories I have in progress. Over the past week, I’ve been having the same story dream every night. It’s one that I started drafting a while back, but I only had a premise. However, these nightly dreams have allowed me to flesh it out into a complete story with a satisfying ending. Now the task is to transfer it from the dream to the page.
Initially, I only wrote about two pages before I stopped, mired by a lack of direction. I run into that with on occasion with story ideas. I have a flash of an idea, an interesting situation, a ‘what if?’ scenario, and I write it down. Then I file my notes into a draft folder on my MacBook and forget about it.
The story hibernates for a while. Maybe a few weeks or months, sometimes for a few years, then suddenly I find myself dreaming about it. After a couple of nights, it starts to come together. Presto!
It’s an interesting way to create fiction and I enjoy the feeling of seeing the stories play out in my head while I’m semi-conscious. (I honestly don’t know if I’m actually fully asleep when I story-dream, or if I’m in that in-between state). In fact, many of my stories develop this way. Of course, the difficulty is then trying to transfer what I see in my head to the page in a coherent fashion.
I find converting from the dream to the page difficult because I put too much emphasis on writing it exactly the same as I experienced it in my head. It feels awkward, like I can’t quite get it just right. Sort of like when a screenwriter tries to convert a novel into a screenplay. It’s almost impossible to capture all the nuances. Each medium has its own storytelling quirks.
But I persevere. I get the draft rewritten, then rewritten again, rinse and repeat until it’s as close as I can get it to the dream. Of course, I don’t think writers are ever truly satisfied with the ‘final’ version. As I’ve heard from more experienced writers: We don’t actually finish writing a story. We abandon it.
Once I finish with this story, I’m hoping I’ll dream about another one soon. There are several drafts that have been in hibernation that I’d like to get back to and see where they go.
And I can’t help but wonder if I’m the only writer who dreams of their stories or who writes about what they dream. If you do, let me know.
RB
I wish my dreams were more coherent. Just as one episode begins to unfold the dream state segues into something unrelated. Regardless of this, I jot down the outline of scrambled visions so as to see if there is anything useful I need to understand more deeply. Perhaps once or twice per year, a story-like dream occurs. I jot outlines of them on my bedside notepad immediately upon waking.
I sometimes feel the discombobulated bits and pieces are more interesting than the full dreams. Like seeing random jigsaw puzzle pieces and trying to figure out how they all fit together.
Some of the snippets serve as prompts.
Very vivid dreams here also. I forget mine soon after awakening most of the time. I need to start following the advice to write something down as soon as I wake up to help remember them.
Oh and yes, there are times where a fragment of a dream has either helped with or inspired a story.
I’m lucky enough to lucid dream on occasion, which may be why I can usually remember my dreams. I recommend the advice you mention about writing it down when you wake in the morning (or at 3 am). Even a few lines can help you remember more the next morning.
Thanks for the reply!