Oh, dreams. Daydreaming, deep REM sleep dreaming, dreams of becoming a famous novelist… We all have them, right? But… how often do we actually write about those dreams? Or how often… should we write about them?

We all know (or at least I know) that Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series actually came to be after she had a dream one night about a vampire romance. Getting her beauty sleep literally made her a millionaire. Stephan King had a similar experience when he wrote Misery, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein wouldn’t be if she hadn’t dreamt of him first.

So… it’s probably safe to say that writing about dreams is a pretty common thing and can obviously be very helpful to authors.

Here’s the catch, though…

Science has proven that we all have countless dreams every night that we’re able to fall into deep sleep cycles. Of those however many, though, how many are we actually able to recall after we’ve awaken? And then, of those select few, how many are actually of value and have the potential to be the base of a storyline?

Probably .0005, if you’re lucky.

If I were to write a about the dreams I had last night, I would end up writing just a quarter of a page about a girl eating Chinese food while waiting for the WiFi to reset.

Yeah, we can’t all just wait around, hoping that our subconscious minds bring us our next big hit book in our sleep. If you are lucky enough to receive it, though, all the power to you.

But just because we haven’t been given the gift of a good enough dream to write about while getting some shut eye… doesn’t mean that we can’t still write about our dreams.

Finish this sentence.

I dream of becoming a…

Or this one.

I wish I could have…

You dream of becoming the world’s next alien abductee? Or you wish you could have a robot wife, a big boat to sail the ocean with solo, or the chance to go back in time and witness your parents’ first encounters with each other (oh, wait, Back to the Future…)?

Well, no matter what you “daydream” of, you can write a story about it. Yes, it will take some thought on your part (rather than your sleepy mind), but I promise you it can help you create an amazing, one-of-a-kind story. About 96% of my own stories are written in this way, and I’d highly recommend any writer who has not already tried to daydream of stories test it out.

Plus, if you’ve wished for it on your own, then you’ll be more than passionate about whatever your subject may be when you write it.

So… just try it out! Ask yourself what you dream of, what you’d think would be cool to do or have, or even just what topic you find interesting but never thought much to write a story about. Think outside the box and let your imagination run with it!

Just some of my suggestions… but, as always, you do you!

Let me know how often you daydream or use your dreams as inspiration for your stories!

-iKari