Strange Nightmare - Writers Forum

Jusso · 03-05-2008, 06:05 PM

Disclamer: I am not insane.

Several months ago I heard about writers using dreams and nightmares for their inspiration like surrealists (my knowledge of art is terrible) but the problem was that I have never had any real or interesting dreams. Two nights ago I finally had one which was pretty much completely random. This is how I wrote it in my journal:

Baby up on a dresser in a room that seems to be old and dirty, reminds me of the plague with a sickly greenish filthy color. The baby has odd greenish hued skin, strange face and eyes. Person walks over to “kiss”, “inspect”, or basically picks the baby up. It vomits on the persons face & the person who is covered in it starts to vomit profusely. Then my vision cuts to a strange man thing in a odd cape or some sort of cloth. Face is definitely not human, has holes and strange markings all over body that kind of reminds me of a mix of some kind of alien and the eyeless monster of Pans Labyrinth (I have never seen the movie but I have watched previews) . Bluish colored skin with a mix of grey. Opens mouth and starts chanting. My vision comes back to the baby who devours the person who is screaming with blood spurting everywhere. I see things that resemble the strange man except they have hunchbacks & are naked around the man in the center of a large red pentagram like symbol.

I am trying to think of a way to make this into a story but so far I am still having trouble putting the pieces together. Any opinions or advice?

Destroyer · 03-06-2008, 03:56 AM

I was going to try that, but with the kind of dream I have it'd be like something Dr Seuss wrote.

Olly Buckle · 03-06-2008, 04:49 AM

My immediate response is to quote Dylan (don't worry about it none son, them old dreams are only in your head)

How about an inter planetary war, the technologically developed species has conquered the other planet but they are fighting back using telepathy and telekinesis to subvert the minds and genetic structure of the conquerer's offspring to make them turn on their parents? Just a thought.
Destroyer:- Don't let that stop you, Dr Seuss's royalties must be very worth having.
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Mike C · 03-06-2008, 05:01 AM

I think if it ain't happening, don't force it. Just because some writers have used some dreams for inspiration doesn't mean every dream will work for every writer. And the subconscious is a funny thing. Leave the idea alone and it'll either fade away or it'll untangle itself and come back to you of it's own accord.

seigfried007 · 03-06-2008, 05:41 AM

Well, I'll ditto Mike C, but letting it sit awhile to pair up with other ideas, but please don't forget it.

Personally, I thought it was cool.

Plagues are always going to be something people fear. Great horror and sci-fi seem to be brewing in that dream.

I've had similar dreams--but at least that surreal--and I've worked them into stories (try working in a city--ravaged by plagues and political turmoil--whose inhabitants worship and giant, diseased, mutated, insane dolphin. And, oddly enough, the story works. Hardest part was getting an animal like a dolphin the size of a football field while having animals of typically similar size be drastically smaller.

Diseases are very satisfying subjects--as are extra-terrestrials, IMHO.

quarterscot · 03-06-2008, 02:07 PM

I think it's a dream about the tragic decline and fall of Paolo Maldini

Jusso · 03-06-2008, 03:37 PM

I wouldn't say tragic decline and fall, even at 39 he is the best left-back in the world. But I will miss him

. I was plotting stuff out today during some free time and I have a couple of rough ideas. I will try to think of some more things, I like the giant insane dolphin idea

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Truth-Teller · 03-06-2008, 05:10 PM

You can not use dreams to outline a story for you.

You need plot, character, and message.

Jusso · 03-06-2008, 05:33 PM

I know, I am using my dream as an idea.

richdj · 03-06-2008, 05:52 PM

Dreams should be like any other situation that you read or come across.. It's an idea, or the start of one. It might be you use the whole 'scene' or it might be you use one specific element from it, and brainstorm (OK, it's not PC - I'm not sure of the PC term for it) to make a story or scene for your story. I generally don't remember my dreams, or I remember them for 2 minutes and thats it. Remember we all dream throughout sleep, alot of us forget most of them before we wake, or shortly after.. I once read of a writer that kept a notebook by the side of his bed (I know, It's always good practice to keep a notebook handy, oh yeah, a pen as well), he made vigerous notes of his dreams and used parts of them regularly within his writing.

Rich

richdj · 03-06-2008, 05:54 PM

Forgot to say: I am writing a script for an animation (computer generated) and I have managed to work in a couple of scenes based on dreams...

Rich

Mishki · 03-06-2008, 06:58 PM

Once I had a dream that I was a detective investigating a missing person, and when I found her she had been pressure cooked to death. I've also had a dream about zombies and zombie babies being born with ragged holes where eyes and mouths should be and limbs that were all torn off in utero. And I've had a vivid dream in which I woke up, went to the bathroom, and came back to discover the heap of my boyfriend's dismembered body parts piled on the side of the bed, with nothing but his little fricking eyes following me as I moved around.

I always have these dreams after I eat pizza.

I don't write about them. They're kinda vile.

Mike C · 03-07-2008, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Truth-Teller

You can not use dreams to outline a story for you.

You need plot, character, and message.

Why do you keep doing this? You onbviously have no idea what you're talking about.

Sekaya · 03-07-2008, 01:46 AM

I'm writing a book now spawned from a dream, but like an earlier person said, I put it aside for just about a year before I dared pursue writing it. I altered some of the elements and a clear, simple message rings through in my mind when I go over what I still remember of it. (I'm a lucid dreamer)

Its not for everyone, but from any dream you have you can often get some ideas. whether their large enough to spawn a book or their smaller ideas that can fit into a problem spot in an already established story is for the individual to find out.

I agree: it sounds like it would make an interesting basis for a horror/sci fi novel.

W.I.T.S. · 03-07-2008, 04:37 AM

I've had dreams that were like that, all too strange and hard to comprehend. If you want to run with it then I say go for it. Dreams are not the easiest thing to interperet.