Wednesday, July 05, 2023

Insecure Writer’s Support Group and Garden Update


It’s time for another edition of The Insecure Writer’s Support Group, founded by Ninja Captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

Today’s question: 99% of my story ideas come from dreams. Where do yours predominantly come from?

I’ll let you in on a little secret—I came up with that question. Because yes, my stories all come from dreams. I used to always write down my dreams and they’ve inspired many of the books I’ve written.

I dreamed of a beautiful, blonde high school girl who was a swimmer – and that inspired the five book series, The Circle of Friends.

I dreamed of a terrible creature in a tall castle fighting people – and that became The Vampire.

I dreamed of being in a strange place and meeting this mother and son, from which a chase through a vineyard ensued – and that became The Alien.

I have dozens upon dozens of stories written or outlined and they all came from my vivid dreams. Most won’t make it to full story form, as turning a crazy dream into something believable (or sellable) doesn’t often work. But for those ideas that do, I will write them.

Where do most of your story ideas come from?


And on the garden front, green beans are winding down, blackberries still going strong, and I recently harvested my first potatoes ever! (Those are from just two plants.)

I’ve also been drying quite a few herbs – cilantro, oregano, catnip. And it looks like despite the fact I didn’t plant any tomatoes, I’m going to get a bunch thanks to my composter. I’ll take it!


37 comments:

Leigh Caron said...

Wow! You have very creative dreams. And great that you wrote about then. I don't even remember mine. I've grown many things, but never potatoes.

Leigh Caron said...

Actually I'm posting as Leigh Caron,

Loni Townsend said...

Looks like your garden is growing great!

I rarely remember my dreams, but the ones I recall often involve me running and hiding, trying to escape whoever is hunting me down. Might be a good plot for a suspense novel, but I never really liked the feeling when I woke up.

Jan Morrison said...

I do get ideas from dreams but mainly for my poems, not my novels. My novels can be inspired by anything overheard, consumed on the news or in reaction to known situations. Or at The Ideal Idea Emporium - a fabulous place to shop!

Natalie Aguirre said...

That's great that you get ideas from your dreams. I can't even remember my dreams.

Nick Wilford said...

You're lucky. I rarely remember my dreams. I've no doubt thousands of great ideas have gone by the wayside because of that!

emaginette said...

No doubt my biggest mistake is not writing my dreams down. They fade pretty fast, but I have been known to daydream. I guess that counts. :-)

Anna from elements of emaginette

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I never remember my dreams.

Carol Kilgore said...

The fruits of your garden look so good! We've had horrible gardening weather. Way too much rain followed by way too much heat. What didn't drown burned up.

Sarah Foster said...

That's amazing that you've gotten so many ideas from dreams! Most of my dreams aren't interesting enough (or they're too weird!) to spark a story idea.

Gwen Gardner said...

Whoa, you have awesome dreams! Sometimes I get ideas for dreams, but mostly I get them from my titles, which I create first.

Love your garden cache.

PJ Colando said...

I'm so glad your bountiful dreams have generated a bountiful bunch of books!

Patricia JL said...

I've had a few stories come from dreams, but most of my dreams are on the WTF side too much to make use of in stories. LOL

Fundy Blue said...

I dream all the time, but I've never used my dreams as story ideas. That you do is so cool, Diane! I remember the first time my Grandmother MacBeath had potatoes in her garden in Charlottetown. She was shocked because she hadn't planted any. I was the culprit. As a small child I had heard somewhere that potatoes grew from potato eyes. I was amazed and disbelieving, so I planted secretly some eyes in one of her rows. Nana grew potatoes every year after that. Enjoy your harvest. Freshly dug potatoes are great.

Sherry Ellis said...

It's amazing you remember your dreams! What a great and creative source of inspiration.

Looks like your garden is doing great! Enjoy the harvest!

Olga Godim said...

Your dreams are amazing. I never remember mine, so I can't draw inspiration from them. My ideas usually come from books. Sometimes, I would take one little factoid, one small twist of the plot, turn it upside down, insert it into a different genre, change the sex and age of the protagonist, and voila, I have a new story that has no resemblance whatsoever to its origins. Sometimes, the seed that gave life to a story doesn't even make it to the written version.

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

It's YOUR brilliant question. Good one, Diane.

I just commented on Alex's page that many or most of my story ideas also come from my dreams. I thought about this before reading that question-answer (which I assumed was Alex's). Even though my writing is mainly nonfiction, sleep takes us to the most imaginative of places.

Cheers and be well.

Rebecca M. Douglass said...

I wondered who was the person with useful dreams! My dreams, if remembered at all, are usually either too incoherent, too personal, or too terrifying to use in any way. But sleeping on a writing problem can still help :)

pjmaclayne3@gmail.com said...

Rebecca, I'm like you. My dreams are too incoherent to be useful.

Jemi Fraser said...

Great harvest from the garden!!
My dreams are way too scary and messed up to write about!

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I'm so surprised at the number of times I've read that a writer's ideas come from dreams.
I admire your gardening. I love blackberries. I haven't grown potatoes since I was still on the farm.

Sandra Cox said...

Oh my gosh. Look at those potatoes and blackberries. They look luscious.

Liz A. said...

You've had some interesting dreams. I can't write from my dreams. I find that what I dream doesn't work in the light of day. Or, some of my dreams are truly horrifying, and I can't deal with them in a fully conscious mind. I wouldn't want to.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Loni, the creepy ones are hard to write about.

Carol, things are sizzling here now, that's for sure.

Louise, that is so funny.

Robyn, I really thought more people would say their ideas come from dreams, but only a few of us did today.

Susan, they are one of the easiest things to grow.

kimlajevardi.com said...

I envy people who can mine their dreams for ideas. My dreams refuse to cooperate.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

I love that your dreams have given you so many great stories. I used to write down my dreams too.

Liza said...

Sounds like you put some vivid dreams to good use. Makes me feel like you are very tuned in to your subconscious. Fresh potatoes are amazing! Happy writing and happy gardening.

Tonja Drecker said...

What a lovely harvest! I just thought the other day that my gravestone will say 'could grow everything but tomatoes'. I'm sinking in cucumbers, at the moment. And catnip? That's a good idea.

Steven Arellano Rose Jr. said...

You sound like you're really good with turning your dreams into stories. You're right about it being difficult in most instances. I tried writing a story based on a dream I had and it didnt work out good. I think it's difficult because on the surface level, most dreams are so illogical that it's hard to turn them into narratives. I can draw and paint them better than I can turn them into stories.

Steven Arellano Rose Jr. said...

Oh yeah! I meant to say, so you're the mysterious writer of that question! I've never seen a question of the month using the first person pronoun so I was wondering who it was. You picked a good one!

H. R. Sinclair said...

Ah ha! 'Twas you! :) Very cool. Mine come from random things, strange cloud pattern in the sky, an house with broken windows...

cleemckenzie said...

It was a good question, Diane, because it generated a lot of interesting answers. Thanks for coming up with it.

Arlee Bird said...

Dreams are like an endless mine of creative ideas. I wish I had a dream recorder so I could playback my dreams to remember more about them. It's such a wild crazy world that is often wonderful as much as it is frightening.

Lee

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Tonja, plant catnip once and you will have it forever.

Steven, thank you! I just happened to word it that way because it fit.

Lee, thank you.

Sandra Cox said...

I'm growing potatoes in my mulch pile:) LOL

Damyanti Biswas said...

I'd love to be able to get ideas from dreams, and translate them into my writing! And wow, your dreams sound incredible!

Find Meaning in Adversity said...

Personally I love to write about my dreams when I have a particularly interesting one because usually they're vivid, meaningful, and somewhat out of the ordinary. Usually I write about my life, life experiences, life lessons, etc. at my blog Find Meaning in Adversity