Writer's Life: Dreamers of Dreams (Sarah)

For as long as I can remember, dreams have played a role in my writing life. I’m not talking about daydreams, though certainly those are vital, but actual dreams that come by night. In my current manuscript, a gaslamp mystery novel, the first glimpse of the protagonist came to me in a dream. Jessa has evolved a great deal, but those initial glimmers of appearance and personality sprang into being in the night, as did the core concept of the murder mystery (in another dream, years apart). These glimpses and glimmers take daydreaming, brainstorming, and creative work to become an actual story, but I love discovering story seeds in dreams.

And apparently, I’m not alone. CS Lewis talks about having many dreams of lions, before Aslan sprang into his mind, and from there, the entire Narnia series took flesh. Tolkien speaks of recurring dreams of a tremendous wave consuming a city which gave rise to his tale of the Downfall of Numenor. There’s even a book on writers dreaming (which I have yet to read, though the subject is certainly intriguing) including authors such as Stephen King and Anne Rice.

Our thoughts and creativity run unfiltered by logic as we dream, so it makes sense that we would find in them unusual ideas and inspiration. When I find story seeds in dreams, they’re often dreams carrying emotion that bleeds over into waking, which in turn makes me eager to dig deeper, furthering creativity and story-telling. Certainly, I can’t make these inventive dreams happen, and I have my share of the peculiar or nonsense dreams (and nightmares, unfortunately) alongside those that provide a creative spark, but I appreciate the way God designed us to dream and create even in our sleep!

Are you a dreamer? And if so, do dreams ever fuel your stories? I’d love to hear your experiences. 

Top 3 "Epic" Escapes (Julie)

A few months ago, I had what I like to term as one of my "adventure" dreams. A group of bad guys was chasing me through this house because I had something they wanted. The house turned out to have an unlimited amount of doors to run through. The more I ran, the more doors kept appearing. It was kinda like the house wanted me to escape. I did eventually escape from the evil gang of whoever they were.

I tend to have quite a few of those "adventure" dreams to where I'm trapped but somehow find a way out. If only writing escape scenes were as easy for me as they are for my brain to come up with in my dreams!

If you've ever read any fantasy, sci-fi, or pretty much any fiction story, then you've probably read dozens of escapes...some death defying and others slightly implausible, but still fun nonetheless.

So journey along with me as we explore three "epic" escapes from some of my favorite adventure books.

1) Imagine if you suddenly found yourself in your nightmare, in the flesh, being chased by an enormous house on two chicken legs maned by a large, evil cat (who wants to eat you)? Your options include outrunning a chicken house, getting squashed by said chicken house, or get eaten by large, evil cat. Unfortunately, you know you can't really outrun the house. It does have longer legs than you. Just as you except to get squashed or eaten, your rescue arrives in the form of a small, yellow convertible driven by a demented looking clown twice the size of the car. The clown hops out and distracts the chicken house while you make your getaway in the toy car.

Sound pretty awesome? Check out the whole story here: Nightmares by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

2) For this adventure, you find yourself burglarizing the local library (gasp)! Your objective: abscond with the bottled ship, USS Stargazer, and return it to a suspected witch. You and your friends gain the ship and all is going well when you come face to face with the school bullies. Who also want the ship. And will beat your brains out to get it. Your friends yell at you to run, as you have the ship, and they will delay the bullies. The only way out of the library is through a second story window. Options: get beaten to a pulp or smash through glass and plummet to the ground. You choose the window. You plop a piece of candy in your mouth and run straight through the window. Wait, a piece of candy? Yes, but this isn't an ordinary piece of candy. It's an Ironhide, which makes your body as strong as iron. So crashing through a window and plummeting two stories is nothing. You make your escape just as a police car heads toward the library.

Want to know more about this peculiar brand of candy? Check it out here: The Candy Shop Wars by Brandon Mull

3)  This one may be more familiar to you. You've just destroyed a powerful, dark magic ring and saved the Earth. But now you're stranded on a rock as the mountain erupts and spews lava all around you and your best friend. Options: well...there really aren't any options. As you lay there thinking about your home and what could have been and listening to your best friend mourn the loss of the love of his life, giant eagles swoop in and carry you away to safety. Talk about an unexpected escape from certain death!

Many of you may have guessed this famous escape from The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien.


These are just a few of the terrific near-escapes to be found in books. If you've read an award winning escape, I'd love to hear about it!