Hi all!
This week I'm going to talk about dreams and how they can help your writing.
I've had most of my book ideas from dreams; including Elemental Dragons and Street Rats. Although I've adapted the story line slightly, it's still very much true to the original dream. I keep my phone by my bedside just in case I dream something up which I think would make a good book idea. Some are better than others, I've scrapped three book ideas because I just couldn't make them work despite dreaming them so vividly.
Characters.
Character appearances or names can come to you in dreams. Rocky was one of my dream characters that I put in several books before he found his place in Elemental Dragons.
Plots and subplots.
Although dreams can be crazy and unpredictable, some can give you a rough idea of a plot. You can then rework this so it fits in with the book or characters.
Writing blocks.
Sometimes we get writer's block, which is okay. Usually it's temporary and just puts us in a writing slump for a while. However, if you're thinking about your book a lot while you're awake, you might just be able to dream up a solution.
Covers.
As authors, we often spend far too much time thinking about what our book cover will look like. A specific colour or theme could come to you while you sleep.
Book names.
As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, Blood and Water wasn't the first name of my book. More like the third or fourth. I came up with half the name, water, while I was dreaming. If I hadn't then it might still be going through name changes today!
Book ideas.
A lot of my book ideas have come to me from dreams, which I have then changed to fit in with a story. The Curse of Anubis series started out as a dream about zombies, and has now turned into a four book series.
Sequels.
Dreams can often give you ideas for sequels, which you can then choose to write if you wish. Some ideas may just make no sense when you try to put them together, but at least you've tested out the idea instead of just jumping straight in.
That's it for this week! I hope you enjoyed the blog post, see you next week!
