Dreamers dream… Writers write.

Earlier today I was visiting a friend, and she was saying about how one day she wanted to be a writer just like me. She seems to think that now that I am on maternity leave, all I am doing is writing my life away until Bump is born. (I wish!) But I’m flattered that I have inspired her dream of writing… and as this post is titled – dreamers dream. My friend is a ‘dreamer’ until she picks up that pen and puts her creativity to paper. Then she will be a writer. Right now – she just aspires to write one day. (I’m actually quite surprised, considering she lived with me for years and saw how ratty I can get if I can’t get my words out on paper!)

I think that first and foremost – I am a dreamer. Then I am a writer. I say this because of the way that I process and dream up new story ideas, plots, twists, and characters. I often dream about my work, literally! Often I am day dreaming, and often I am asleep and dreaming. There are times that I wake and everything is so vivid that I have to write it down into my notebook, so that I can develop it later.

I dream of writing too. I dream of writerly success… of writing thrillers that some movie director will one day pick up and turn into a block buster movie. This is where I am being a complete dreamer, because until I get my backside into gear and get my bigger work actually published, that dream is what it is. A dream. But it’s nice dream to dream.

Then I have the other side of me who is trying to write thrillers that will appeal to a wide range of people out there, so that I am not limiting my marketability.

So there you have it. I dream of one day selling my work for someone to make a movie out of it. I think that this is a dream that many writers share. We all know that once your work is made into a movie and is reaching a much much wider audience, the rest of your books usually snowball out of control with sales. We all want that. We all want the money. Some even want the publicity. (Strangely – I’m not too keen on the publicity stuff… perhaps that is my inner recluse showing itself!) But this is why we have PR people out there in the world. I’m pretty sure JK Rowling wasn’t too keen on it at the start either!

In the meantime though, I’ll just keep writing. Because that is what I am – a writer – and writers write.

 

Dreaming up ideas

I don’t know about any of you, but I quite often find myself literally dreaming up my ideas for books and potential stories. Some of these dreams have been planned and ideas worked from them… and some have even turned into full-blown novels. I am writing this post, because at the moment, I keep dreaming about this one particular story I have churning over in my head.

Dreaming of Oceans

There are people who believe that each dream means something significant in your waking life. They issues in your life can be represented by an object inside a dream, or even how you feel about the dream can mean something different. They say that dreams are just reflections of your waking consciousness. I’m not so sure that I actually agree with that, but I’m no expert. I have no doubt that there are probably many meanings behind the dreams I have. I can only take what I can from my dreams… and I’m not going to spend huge amounts of time trying to define what a dream actually means in my real life.

I read quite a good article on dream theories that says: “While many or even most of these ideas may be nonsensical, if even a few of its fanciful products are truly useful, our dream time will not have been wasted.” Now that is a passage that seriously gels with my line of thinking.

There is just something rather magical about dreams that just carries you away with them. Your mind drifts into some pretty bizarre places within the subconscious. Some dreams are far beyond reality, and some are just far beyond any sane reality. In other words… you probably wouldn’t base a book on them.

Over the years I have kept notebooks in my bedside table, just in case I happen to have that subconscious idea that potentially inspires a bestseller. Not so long ago, I was cleaning my bedside cabinet out, and found 18 different notebooks with bits and bobs scrawled throughout them. A bit of overkill if you ask me. I remember thinking at the time that if my husband knew I was hoarding notebooks in my bedside drawer so that I could write down my dream ideas, he would probably kill me.

Within my dreams I am looking for storylines, interesting characters, scenery that is inspiring, and dialogue that is catchy and sticks with me. I have had some amazing experiences when I wake from the dream, immediately grab my notebook, and I either start drawing, or jotting down ideas from the dream. I can even start character profiling. But since this is all immediate brain-dumping, it obviously needs quite a few kinks ironed out before I can actually start writing a book based on them.

There are many other authors out there that have written books based on ideas from dreams. Some of these books have even hit the bestseller lists. Some of the more well-known are:

• The Twilight Series, by Stephenie Meyer
• Misery, by Stephen King
• Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Stuart Little, by E.B White

I’m sure that there are plenty more out there as well that have been inspired by dreams, but I thought that this small list was substantial enough to give you the general idea. Oh yes, Jane Eyre was another book as well.

So where do you get your ideas from? Have you ever had any come to you within a dream?

I know that I’ll probably keep hoarding notebooks in my bedside drawer just in case. And who knows – one day there could be a bestseller scrawled in there somewhere. (I know… I should probably just keep dreaming.)

 

Wanted: Pieces of clarity

Recently, I know that I have been shocking at the whole blogging thing. But actually, it’s not just the blog that is suffering right now, it all my writing endeavours. Except dreaming up new storylines – I still seem to be good at that!

Journey into Imagination - Claude McCoy

There has been much going on in my life recently that is distracting the crap out of me, and I just can’t seem to gather one clear thought together. Everything is scattered about and most of the time I feel as though I am scrambling around trying to find pieces of clarity amongst the mess.

But I know that this will pass. That is one of the reasons why I am taking a forced break from writing. This is so I can let my head clear from whatever fog has formed around it, and to see clearly once again on the other side.

This has happened to me before, but never for such an extended period. And when it does happen, I feel completely unstuck from everything. Some people call this writers block. I’ve always called it ‘middle-book blues’.

However, this time I’m not so much in the middle of a book. I’m in the middle of writing a series, and I am literally pages away from finishing the second book. But for the last five weeks or so, I have been at a loss of what to do with the ending. I just simply cannot decide.

I have been thinking that perhaps I should just start writing a bunch of alternate endings, and putting a poll out for people to vote for their favourite. Only, I know that would take too long and I really need to start writing the third and final installment shortly. I have set myself a deadline to get this trilogy finished, and I plan on sticking to it.

So there you have it. I am a little unstuck from my writing at the moment. I know I have been on ‘radio silent’ on my blog for a while now…  But I will try to be better. (You would not believe how many blog posts I have written over the past five weeks that are partials, unfinished, unclear, and randomly all over the place.)

Ah well, that’s life, and this is where I am at.

 

My world in Monterosso Bay

Cinque Terre - Monterosso

As a writer, I am often writing about different locations around the world… some that I have never even been to! Needless to say, I need to do my research on them before I can place my characters there.

One of these fabulous places is the seaside bay of Monterosso, situated in the Italian Riviera. Beautiful setting, with calming and serene local energy, and always basking in the warm glow of the Mediterranean.

Monterosso Sunset

In my house this morning, we were talking about the fabulous places we would live if we won Lotto. I chose Monterosso Bay. Everyone looked at me as if I had just made it up until I explained that it was in Italy.

I see this bay as being a writing and surfing retreat for myself. This is not a place that I would probably take my family to, as I can imagine that since they love a faster pace of life – they would probably get rather bored. But for myself? There would be wine on the terrace in the dusky evenings, early morning surfing in the bay, food markets with the locals, and writing the Great Kiwi Novel during the day. Sounds like heaven? Well in my mind – it is.

There is just something about the Italian people that inspires me. Working hard, playing hard, and generally enjoying love and life. This seems like a wonderful way to live. Wholesome produce to eat, good wine, and salty water. Most important of all I feel that this environment would give me the mental space and inspiration to write.

The Dream Door of my writing retreat

Places are a great way to inspire you… sometimes it is as simple as your own personal writing space in your house. Other times this inspirational spot could be the beach, your office, the train (I love writing on the train), or even a coffee shop.

My other writing retreat is my library that we have built in our house. Beautiful room, with dark army-green walls, rich fabric curtains, the most amazing surround sound-system for my writing music, not to mention it’s lined with books by inspirational authors. It looks out over the garden, my favourite tree, and towards the morning sun-rise that creeps over the mountains in the distance.  It’s hard not to feel inspired in that room. And I guess that until I win Lotto, that’s where my current writing retreat will stay.