Yesterday I dreamt -
gulls cried in falling sunburst
in the frozen bay.
Dreams are an amazing source of inspiration for a writer, especially when engaged in the process of a larger writing project. Often, when I find a hole within the structure of a plot, or discover a seemingly insurmountable inconsistency in one of my characters, studying the patterns of my dreams can offer answers.
This pattern of dream reflecting fiction becomes a habit of the subconscious when writing a novel as the characters take on a life of their own. Large portions of your daily thinking time gets taken up examining a character's actions, thoughts and feelings. This process bleeds into your dreams, causing the concerns of your own life to merge with those of your characters like a drop of ink in a glass of clear water. This might seem like a scary prospect, but as all good writing comes from yourself, your own experience, the intrusion of your characters into your dream-scape is part of the magic of creative writing. If you can unravel the threads of your subconscious, it becomes a powerful tool for breathing authenticity into your characters, setting and plot.
One of the most powerful tools a professional writer can utilize is that of a dream diary. Along with a more traditional journal, a dream diary records in detail the elements of the puzzle your subconscious orders each night. It is only through keeping and studying a dream diary that you can harness this resource to the fullest.
"In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself. The journal is a vehicle for my sense of selfhood. It represents me as emotionally and spiritually independent. Therefore (alas) it does not simply record my actual, daily life but rather — in many cases — offers an alternative to it."
— Susan Sontag
As Susan Sontag says the journal offers an alternative to your daily life, and the dream diary even more so. When put together as a daily practice, the waking journal and dream diary map out the path to the alternative reality put forth in a novel.
Keeping a dream diary:
Keep a pen and notepad on your bedside cabinet.
Record as many of your dreams as you can upon waking, focusing on the elements that stand out clearly. Note down the actions, sensory impressions and any conversation in the dreams. Note down if there were any friends, family or anyone you recognized. If you are deep in the process of writing a novel or short story, note down if any of the people in your dreams reminded you of any of the characters in your fiction, or if they faced any of the same problems.
After writing down your dreams walk away and get on with your day.
Leave studying your dream diary for 2-3 days. Often it takes time for the subconscious to process the information in our dreams, if you wait a few days before reading it you will gain extra insight into the messages in your dreams.
If you are engaged in a major writing project, when looking back at your dreams see if any themes resonate with those of the characters in your story. Look for similarities in setting, maybe there is a reoccurring place in your dreams, or the same person pops up over and over. Read with an openness of mind, with a quiet mind, perhaps after meditation. You may be surprised to find how many questions are answered in your dreams.
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To read more about the aesthetics of true haiku, and the difference between haiku and senryu, please check out my post: Haiku Vs Senryu - The Aesthetics of Form
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