I've had dreams on my mind a lot lately…. not dreams of future successes, but those nightime screenplays that dance behind our eyelids. In part, this recent dream obsession is because I've had a favorite song stuck in my head. When I taught at Milwaukee Jewish Day School, at the eighth grade graduation, students always sang a Debbie Friedman song called “And the Youth Shall See Visions.” I don't have a video of the choir doing it at my school, but here's a version if you're unfamiliar with it:
And, if it becomes an earworm for you, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Often in this blog, we share ways that we gain inspiration. We've talked about writer's notebooks, keeping lists, using holidays, writing prompts but we haven't talked much about our dream life. A writer friend of mine, Laurel Landis, was inspired by a dream she had to write a story that was later published in Rosebud Magazine and was runner-up in their Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley contest.
Famous songs and books inspired from those nighttime screenplays include:
*Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
*Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
I love a quote I found by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) who described dreams as occurring in “that small theater of the brain which we keep brightly lighted all night long.”
My attention to my dream life comes and goes. At times, I can go weeks without remembering anything from my dreams. Then, at other times, scenes – vivid and strange – stay with me when I wake up and I write them down in my journal. The other morning, I woke up with a sentence in my head:
“He sat with the book in his lap, surprised by the weight of things he didn't know.”
And, yes, I wrote that down and am working on a story about him, the book and what he didn't know. A story that came from a sentence that concluded a dream. A gift.
So, when have dreams given you ideas?
Happy #writing!
10 Comments
So many of my novels started out as dreams, from the silly ones that will never see the light of day to the ones destined for publication. I’m convinced that dreams and stories come to us from the same place in the Great Beyond.
Thanks!
Merry Farmer – you are most welcome! And, I do find silly dreams tend to give me great writing warm-ups, just getting them down.
Pam,
The song in the video, based on Joel 2:28 or 3:1 (depending on which Bible you’re using), is pretty chipper, but the dreams cited in the following verses are of “blood and fire and columns of smoke” in which “the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood.” Cherry-picking the Bible this way seems to me a lot like using “Born in the USA” as a campaign song to show how much you love veterans.
On the other hand, I have been inspired by such dreams, including one in which I fell into a pit where I could sense an evil presence lurking in the darkness. I started to write a screenplay called Soultakers, but then the Harry Potter with the dementors came out. Oh, well. At least I know it was a good idea.
Dave
Oh, kind of glad you mentioned the bible – I totally forgot to reference that and not everyone would know. (I’ll leave the cherry-picking the bible idea alone.
) I don’t often get ideas from my dreams, but I go with them when I do. Sorry you bumped into Harry. 
Oh, those are dreams. Here I thought they were reality. Anyway, I of course write them down.
LOL. Thanks for stopping by!
Never. I have read about writers being inspired by dreams from Coleridge’s ‘Kubla Khan’ on but I never have. I do dream, now more than at any other time in my life, but not one line of poetry, not a single sentence of prose. You should have a look at Annandale Dream Gazette where poets are free to record their dreams. I even cameo in one.
Well, if your dreaming has increased, it could still happen for you. I will hope so. And, I will check out that link – thanks!!!
Wow, Jim, totally forgot to pass along another dream link you might enjoy Dreams of People You Will Never Meet.
Sometimes we get stuck on one page and never live the adventures we could have or meet some of the interesting people along the way.