Shine on you crazy diamond
Dreams are crazy things. I don’t know about you but I keep a dream diary. My dreams are so vivid that sometimes I wonder if I’m living this life – or living life in an alternate universe and this is the dream.
I occasionally read about people who create books and art and music based on their dreams. I’ve put a few below that I’ve plucked off the top of my head (please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong or add any famous ones I’ve left out).
- Sting dreamed of blue turtles and named his first album Dream of the Blue Turtles
- Paul McCartney’s song Yesterday came from a dream
- Mary Shelley dreamed of Frankenstein
- Robert Louis Stevenson dreamed of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
- Stephen King dreamed of woman who held a writer prisoner – hence Misery
And the list goes on…
I’m certainly not in the same league as the people above, but most of my stories come from dreams.
I wrote The Everything Theory after a dream where I found a diamond in the desert that turned into a book with strange symbols on the cover. When I opened the book it only contained five words – find out what it means.
I wrote The Eleventh Question after a dream where a man kept asking me a question and telling me I had to remember it. He even made me write the question in the sand with a stick so I would remember. When I woke up I couldn’t remember it!!! (Good grief – that was annoying!)
But I’m not going to take up this entire post with my weird dreams. I want to know if you have been inspired by dreams – and if you have any thoughts on what they might actually mean.
Dianne Gray author 
I’ve written a song from my dream. I didn’t remember the whole thing, but just one catchy bit thankfully. I’m always dreaming tho, sometimes remembering 4 a night, so it’s kinda hard to keep track of it all, but the important ones usually stick out.
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That’s exciting! You may have to share that song on WP one day 🙂
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I wish I could remember my dreams. The only ones I do remember are the scary ones, so maybe I could write horror novels. 🙂
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Oh dear! Maybe you’re another Stephen King!
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😆
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scary ones seem to be very vivid for me too!
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I would be very happy to have a dream give me a book…but I haven’t had one that I remember in ages..
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Oh no! You’ve gotta dream! Maybe someone out there knows a trick to help remember dreams 🙂
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yes please! I want to remember them..
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Can’t repeat half of my dreams, can’t remember them, but those I do are really weird, like opening a door to look at furniture and finding a heap of saw dust… frightening…
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Oh, that is weird! We need a dream interpreter for that one 🙂
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My dreams are really vivid and also feels I have another life!!
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I’m hearing you 🙂 Maybe what they say about muti-dimensions is true 🙂
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I very seldom remember my dreams and even when I do, I can never make sense of them.
Now day-dreaming is a whole other story, I’m quite good at that!
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So true! Daydreaming is wonderful (but go me into a lot of trouble at school) 😀
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As it did most of us!
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This is synchronistic – having just mentioned dreams in my comment on your previous post. For me dreams are very valuable – when I can remember them! I have been recording my dreams for many years and find them most useful in correcting me and giving me an indication of what may lie ahead for me. I have read much about dreams from Freud to Jung and the latter is clear about interpreting the images in our dreams – not literal events – but as an indication of future paths for us. Some of Jung’s dream interpretations are uncannily accurate in forecasting events to come. If you have read his autobiography ‘Memories, Dreams and Reflections’ you will have an idea of his approach. Again, I say: Too valuable to ignore.
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Hey Richard, I was writing this post when I saw your message on my last post and I’m thinking – ‘Is Richard a psychic?’ 😀
Jung’s dream interpretations relating to forecasting events is fascinating!
Next on my ‘must read’ books list – Memories, Dreams and Reflections
Thank you so much!
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It’s nice you have a dream diary – good ideas won’t get lost to time and forgetfulness.
And probably I overwork my subconscious so it doesn’t give me anything valuable.
Come to think of it, my favourite childhood book was written by Pierre Grippari, and before the actual story begins, there’s a story of a Muse and a Writer, who saw this Muse in a dream as she told him the story. He wanted to write it down as soon as he woke up, but lazy as he was, didn’t come around to doing so until poor creature was on the brink of death. So you are very right to be writing things down 😉
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Is that Tales of the Rue Broca?
Yes – I sleep with a note pad next to my bed.Every couple of years I read back over them and have a bit of a giggle – they really bring back memories that I would never have had if I didn’t write them down 🙂
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Oh dear, you’ve heard of him? http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4468268-histoire-du-prince-pipo-de-pipo-le-cheval-et-de-la-princesse-popi – This is the story.
It’s a great self-understanding tool, I guess – to see your dreams throughout the years…
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Oh, thank you!
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Thank you for reminding me that Frankenstein started with Shelley dreaming of it 🙂 It’s my favorite classic.
I’m quite intrigued by your dreams, Miss Diane. Especially the five words. I must say that you’re an introspective type of person. 🙂
The way I look at dreams is largely influenced by studying Psychology. So for me it ranges from simple things done the previous days to unconscious desires. This day I actually dreamed again of stairs. It’s confusing, though. So I let it pass 😀
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Oh, that’s interesting 🙂 Stairs going up – or stairs going down?
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Up 🙂 Are you familiar with Freud’s Dream Analysis?
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Not really – but stairs going up sounds like a good sign to me 🙂
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I’ve been thinking about it too. Before I used to dream of going down the stairs. A lot of times. And I just made the connection last night while leaving my first comment here.
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When I was young and in uni I was in a class with a lecturer who wanted us to meditate before starting the days lesson. She had us close our eyes and imagine we were walking down a dark staircase. The outcome was to find out what was deep within our souls. So I don’t think walking down is necessarily a bad thing 🙂
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I hope it’s the same with me 🙂 Sometimes all I get from thinking of its meaning is a dead-end 😀
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Those who were seeking practical methods toward remembering more of their dreams can benefit by learning more about topics like “Lucid Dreaming” and the Aboriginal (also Zen) concepts, where it’s asserted that the existence we have in dreams is the “real” one, and what we are doing HERE is the “dream”. One easy method is hypnotic auto-suggestion. As you become sleepy, tell yourself mentally, verbally, “When I wake up, I will remember my dreams.” With repeated practice it works very well.
I love this topic. Sometimes I am facing hard truths asleep that I’m afraid to do awake, and sometimes I’m providing entertainment programming for myself. Yesterday I dreamed I was on a cruise ship, put on a dress for laughs, and then was pursued romantically by William Shatner! My wife asked what I thought it meant. I was still giggling and I said “Don’t put on a dress near William Shatner. He’ll go after anything.” Symbolically viewed, it’s the balance of my own inner male and female natures. I’m wearing the dress, and I’m also Shatner (a satyr), and a good time is to be had by all in the chase.
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Lol – That’s a classic. I’m trying to read this at work with no one noticing and I just let out a belly laugh!
The lucid dreaming and Aboriginal and Zen concepts are highly intriguing and something I’m going to look into to find out more. Thank you so much for suggesting.
Oh my god, still can’t stop laughing about William Shatner – what a great dream 🙂
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Hey, Mikey. I’ve got a new page called Memories and Dreams where I put the best comments I’ve received from my posts. I’d like to put this one in there if you don’t mind 🙂
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Mind? Moi? Of course not. I’m flattered, plus there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
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Hahah – excellent. I should have it up there by the time I write my next post today or tomorrow 🙂
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I’m giving you The Liebster Award. Check my blog for details: http://randomdorkness.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/the-liebster-award/
Keep up the great blogging!
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Thank you, Eleanor!!! I’m chuffed 🙂
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Dreams are good and you need dreams to know who you are….
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So right:) I don’t know what my life would be like without them
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Love this post! I have had some dreams that are so literal it’s crazy. I should keep a dream journal and there are some I have written down. Once, in a dream, I had written an important note to myself on the palm of my left hand, a name of someone I was looking for. The dream woke me up and as I scribbled it out on paper to remember the key points and sequence, I looked down at my left hand to see the name I needed to write down and remember and I was shocked that there was nothing written on my hand! I was able to remember the name though, and wrote it on my notes!
Great post today, such an intriguing topic!
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Thanks Bonnie! It’s so interesting that you were shocked there wasn’t something written on your hand.
Definitely start up a dream journal. Occasionally I look through mine and read dreams I had in the early nineties (when I started it) – there’s so much writing fodder there it’s ridiculous!
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Great idea, and you are right, never thought of it before as writing material! And yes, it was so bizarre, I couldn’t believe that it was not actually written on my hand! Crazy!
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Oh, Shucks I never have but it sounds pretty inspiring to write of what we dream!
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Start writing them down – you never know 🙂
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It certainly does pay to pay attention to dreams! I just ordered the kindle version of your book The Everything Theory. And am looking forward to reading it. I have two pages left in the book I’m reading now and I wondered what I would read next so The Everything Theory it is. My brain, Peanuts, is big on dreaming silly phrases. One was “I love you Hearth Burl” and another one was “Goats on the skids. I’m going to program Peanuts to dream an idea for a book though! That’s much better!
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Wonderful, Linda. I really hope you enjoy it! (I’m sure this is the second time I’ve responded to this – maybe my computer is playing up – or I just dreamed I responded!).
Love the fact that you call your brain ‘Peanuts’ – fantastic (read this this morning and I’m still giggling)
😀
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Specific dreams haven’t entered my work, but they are part of the framework for one WIP. The main character believes that vivid dreams, for example, really are glimpses of our lives in alternate universes. Now if I can just finish the other WIP first and start shopping it, I can get on more revisions to her story!
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Great concept! I thought I was the only one who had several projects going at once 🙂 Good luck!
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A few of my tales have sprung from dreams, and I’m smart enough now to just go with it, even if it means waking up and writing them down. As to what they mean, beyond novel fodder, I haven’t a clue! 🙂
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Good to here your dreams have inspird you, Anna! 😀
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Fascinating. Would you believe that I hardly ever dream anything, or if I do I have no recall of it. Not much hope for me as a writer then 😦
Thanks for the comment on my ‘male feminist’ post on Romanian women. I just took an early morning walk to buy a fish for dinner (a 2kg carp); if I were a young man I’d be in trouble.
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I don’t know if dreaming makes people writers – hopefully not, anyway because they’d give up trying! 🙂
I like the way you bought a fish – in two weeks time I’m hoping to post a similar sentence stating ‘I CAUGHT a fish on my holiday’!
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I’m waiting to see your fish!
Here in Romania you can in fact catch one to eat (the river Prut is not far away and they can reach 25kg (50lbs) or more there). In the UK they are caught only for sport and several eastern Europeans have been arrested for taking them. They can’t understand it – they fish to eat – and I sympathise with them. But I’m not a fisherman.
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That’s pretty sad 😦 I love fishing – but where I’m going there are a lot of crocodiles, so I’m going to be treading very carefully
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My dreams are weird in epic proportions. Then again, I guess I shouldn’t expect anything different from this brain. I should keep a diary too! More blog material!! LOL
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Someone should change the name of ‘dreams’ to ‘weirds’! If everyone in the blogging world put together one paragraph relating to a really weird dream they’d had – it would probably be a best seller 😀
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I’m so jealous of all you dreamers! *pouts like a small child* 😉
The only dreams I EVER have are nightmares and they are usually about bad things happening to my family and pets *shudders*
Xx
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Oh no, Vikki – that’s awful! You must feel very protective of them.
I don’t know how to stop nightmares but wish I did so I could give you some advice (actually, if I did know how to stop nightmares I’d probably be a millionaire by now!)
Actually, that’s a great premise for a novel – the person who can stop nightmares, but where do they go? Hmmmmm, now my minds working overtime 🙂
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Ha ha ha 😉
Thanks hon….I guess I could use the nightmares, but I’d probably find it too upsetting 😦
Xx
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Do you ever wake up from a dream and think, “What the hell was that all about.” Weird. No. Bizarre!
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All the time! “Why would I think that/do that/want that?” A lot of the time I wake up and think “was that really me?”
I had a great conversation one night with a policeman whose head was on his body backwards. Gee – seemed really normal during the dream 😀
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I should keep a dream journal. I used to, but got super lazy. Most of my dreams, that I remember, are where I am running or escaping or something and usually it is quite dramatic. The one I remember the best (because I wrote it down) was where my little brother and I were running away from something, and then a bi-plane came zooming along a la red baron and starting shooting at us with a machine gun. I pushed him away at the last second and got shot up my body. I woke up to tingles in the spots I was shot. Which was scary. I always thought of it as a mama bear thing coupled with older sister martyrdom. LOL
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Wow, Elisa, that’s a pretty dramatic dream! I particularly like the fact that you could still feel where the bullets hit after you woke up. No wonder this is one you wrote down!
It really intrigues me as to where these images and feelings come from (and why they happen).
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I have very vivid dreams as well and I love it! Sometimes they’re extremely strange, okay – most of the time. But one in particular that I had recently inspired the entire idea for one of my two current WIPs. Its amazing to me how strange yet creative the subconscious can be. I love it! I think its very cool that you incorporate your dreams in your novels.
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Too true, Daphne 🙂 Which WIP? Am I allowed to ask what it’s about – or do I have to wait until it’s published 🙂
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LOL Of course you’re allowed to ask. Actually, I’m working on that. A couple of bloggers have asked if I’m going to do any sort of post on what my two WIPs are on. I’m still trying to figure out what on earth to say.
I’m working on the elevator pitch (logline) for both WIPs right now, then I’m going to post them. After that, I’ll figure out what else I want to expose. I just don’t know where to draw that line of letting on – what to tell, what not to tell. Ya know?
Thanks for your interest!
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I once dreamed that I woke up as a spy in WWII. This became the entire premise for my book, Beneath the Satin Gloves. Thanks for the idea, crazy subconscious!
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That’s fantastic, Britt! Thank you for sharing 🙂 I’m going into Smashwords today to check it out 🙂
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Neat! : )
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For me, the most interesting dreams are the ones that incorrectly combine people and experiences from my past. This week, my dream included a previous supervisor from a coffee shop in Arizona, a new job here in Portland not at all related to coffee, and one of the places we stayed when we travelled to Turkey this May. Nothing fits quite right in dreams, and yet this feels entirely normal and even expected.
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This is like a tapestry of memories! And it all seems so ‘normal’ at the time until we wake up and wonder what it all means:)
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I’m fascinated by dreams. They seem so bizarre to my conscious mind, but they often have seeds based in reality. Unfortunately, if I dream regularly, I don’t remember them, so I have to settle for reading about others’ dreams.
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Oh – there must be a way you can remember them 🙂 I find writing a few words as soon as I wake up helps – otherwise they vanish! Tricky little dreams 🙂
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Wow that’s pretty amazing. Reading this post definitely piqued my interest when it comes to you writing. Are those novels or short stories?
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Thanks, Tiffany – they’re novels 🙂
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Send me the information links to them. I would like to find put more about them…
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Hi Tiffany – they have pages on my blogs. I’m not very technical, but think I have pictures of them on the right side of my page. If you click on them they will take you to Amazon for more information 🙂
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I was just linked here by a follower who saw my post on writing stories based off my dreams.
Mine are also quite vivid, and I can also lucid dream which helps stop dreams getting silly. I also dream music often – basically, I think my subconscious is a hundred times more creative than my awake self haha.
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That’s great, Jessica! I just read your dream post and commented and followed you!
Glad you liked my post – I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts 🙂
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oh wow thank you!
And the same to you – followed, and excited to read more posts 😀
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I’m terribly behind in my blog reading, but trying to catch up! I always find it fascinating when people regularly remember their dreams, because I almost never remember mine! In fact, I don’t remember my dreams to the point that when I DO remember one, it kinda freaks me out! LOL!
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On no! I hope it’s a good freak out and not a bad one 🙂
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I have so many dreams… Crazy ones, vivid ones. Ones that bend reality. The craziest though, are the ones where I dream things before they happen.
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Oh – that’s interesting! I wouldn’t mind reading more about that. Will it be a future blog that you can share with us? 🙂
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Eventually it will be! 🙂 Probably not for a bit still– I have some material I have to finish working through first.
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This is too bizarre! Last night I dreamed of a book idea. I’m a journalist, not an author and all my writing life people have encouraged me to write a book, but I never felt it. The idea that came in my dream is nothing extraordinary and actually against my beliefs, but it’s so vivid like someone was channeling me. And first thing I read this morning was your blog! Maybe this is an omen that I should write this crazy book. I have so much on my plate as it is, but I should probably go with it.
That’s so cool that you write books from your dreams. You make it sound easy, so thanks for the inspiration 🙂
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That’s fantastic, Maryanne! Go for it – and thank you for your lovely comment 🙂
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I’m on it already — I found a co-writer that I highly respect. Thanks so much for this blog, it was truly encouraging. I’m a huge fan of signs and omens 🙂
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I did dream journaling for years, in order to remember them more clearly. Eventually I started Morning Pages and found dreams became short stories quite readily! It’s a rich vein of images, places and adventure for me. Last night I was prowling through a hospital ward for very ill children, and deeply moved by their suffering. Enough to distract me from my nefarious errand. What was that? I’ve forgotten!
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Thanks, Patrise. What an amazing gift it is to be able to do this 🙂
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over the weekend a dream spawned a short story, a type of tale I don’t normally tell. Follow the Muse!
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Phew, this provoked a good response! Now what was I going to say now that I’m down here? (apart from thanking you for the follow). I really don’t remember dreams except those scarey ones that you can’t get out of your head for days. Usually I’ve done, or not done, something awful, or something unspeakable has happened to someone I love. Bad times!
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Oh no! They’re not good dreams 😦
Thank you so much for dropping in – I’m looking forward to following your blog 🙂
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I have those dreams too … sometimes whole movie plots with full technicolor and sound effects, starring people I’ve never met in places I’ve never been. Have you ever had a very good friend that dream with you? I have a friend who dreamed of me when she was a child and we had never met. Now, we often have the same dreams at the same time. I do not try to explain it.
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This is truly amazing! You must be kindred spirits 🙂
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Absolutely, Dianne! Most of my stuff is also “conceived” in dreams – and these which isn’t directly from ‘dream-o-sphere’ are also from middle world between me and the outer reality (or – above it…) i don’t know how exactly to explain it, but i do know that you know lol!
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I know exactly what you mean, Ruth! I had one of those today when I started to fall asleep on a plane (which is something I never do because I hate flying!). I found myself in a world where no one aged (long story) and I knew all the characters and their strengths and weaknesses and their fates. I opened my eyes and said to my hubby ‘I’ve just dreamed a whole story between waking and sleeping!’ and he just gave me a really strange look. Oddly enough, I’d completely forgotten about it until I read your comment. Thank you so much!!! 😀
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Thank you that you are, dear friend!
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Dreams can be so fascinating. Sometimes I wonder “where am I going tonight” in my dream…
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That’s exiting. I do the same – it’s like going to a ‘mystery movie’ ! 🙂
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The book I’m working on now (The Trial of Trudy Castor) came entirely from a dream. Well maybe not entirely because the setting is a familiar place–from the stories of my bootlegging grandfather. But the plot and the characters are from the dream. I woke up and wrote it down–this will be a first for me. The other two books came from that meditative state I have when I paint (rooms, not paintings.)
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This is great! I love hearing stories like this 🙂 Dreams are the best! You’ll have to let me know when the book is finished 😀
When I paint (rooms) I just end up with a headache 😦
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