In general, my dreams are pretty entertaining (excepting
that week where I dreamt I was doing really boring things like cooking and
shopping…no idea what that was about). They’ve certainly yielded a lot of potential
stories for me, and if I was ever a famous writer being interviewed on
television and they asked where I got my ideas, I could answer “From dreams”
and it would be true. Although perhaps not exactly the whole truth.
Dreams, or at least, my
dreams, are both hectic and scattered, so writing a good story from them wouldn’t
be translating exactly what happened because that would just be a big mess. And
also a bunch of stuff I’d be embarrassed for people to see.
Saying I get my ideas from dreams undersells the whole
process. While a dream inspired me to write COLLAPSE, exactly none of it made
it into the final product. Hell, none of it made it into the first draft.
The creative process isn’t just imagining something and
making it happen. It requires thought, it requires focus, it requires a bunch
of stuff that’s BOOOOORING to the casual observer (and about everyone else,
too). But “From dreams” is the easy answer, the one that doesn’t require me to
explain every detail about my thought process, some of which even I don’t fully
understand.
So now I’m opening the floor to other opinions: How do you
(or will you) answer the question “Where do you get your ideas?” Is it even
possible?
I totally get that a dream can be the original inspiration behind a dream -- an image or just a feeling -- and never actually make it into the story. Ideas are fluid and recursive and elusive. It's hard to say how and why some of them evolve the way they do, but yes, dreams are one source.
ReplyDeleteCertainly not from my dreams. The ones I remember are usually boring.
ReplyDeleteMost of mine come from movies or music.
I've been inspired by dreams before; a lot of my earliest story ideas were spawned from my subconscious. My most recent ideas all come from girls I like - imagining various scenarios with them. I guess that would be considered daydreaming, so in a way all of my ideas come from dreams. :)
ReplyDeleteHi JE .. I usually see, hear or read about something that interests me and then I know there's a blog post coming ... quite often I'll have a few items that tie ..
ReplyDeleteI do weave aspects into my blog posts ... dreams don't feature though, I don't dream often ... I guess I do - but they don't materialise afterwards ... cheers Hilary
I think I pick up ideas like a child gathers stones.
ReplyDeleteI pick up ideas in various ways, people watching, catching the news, things like that.
ReplyDeleteI rarely remember my dreams, but I'm aware that I dream extensively in my sleep.
To be honest, I get them while I'm in the shower or before I go to sleep. I let my mind wander and often a character shows up in my mind and a bit of their story emerges. When I'm done with the shower, I go back to my computer and jot it down. The ones before I go to bed I actually remember in the morning for the most part. If I don't, it comes back when I get into the shower. I've gotten ideas for my sci fi novella (novel?) and my alternate Beauty and the Beast novella. It's also where the start of most of my as yet unfinished novels have started.
ReplyDeleteI had a dream last night that I thought might inspire a book, but when I really thought about it, I decided it wouldn't. The feeling my dream gave me this morning about someone from my past wouldn't last. I've already forgotten it. It seems the ideas that really make it into complete novel form are the ones that I think about for a long time and they just fester...and grow!
ReplyDeleteI address that somewhat in my post today, actually. (Have you been stalking my dreams? :P) I get them from just about anywhere - even got one from a silly video clip on AFV.
ReplyDeleteTo the question: where do you get your ideas? My answer is: everywhere. A snippet of conversation. A TV show that pisses me off. The book I'm reading. The car travelling down the street in front of me.
ReplyDeleteNot all ideas are good ideas, but some make it into a story in one form or another.
My wacky dreams make me want to write stories about them, but then I end up writing about something I've seen in real life.
ReplyDeleteI'd probably have to steal Liz's answer and say, "Everywhere."
ReplyDeleteBecause there really is no one place they come from. Dreams, definitely, but also books, movies, television, customers who come into the store I work, etc, etc, etc.