Silent Lucidity...Writing from Dreams

To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.
Anatole France (1844 - 1924)

Hope is a waking dream.
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers

Dreams that do come true can be as unsettling as those that don't.
Brett Butler, 'Knee Deep in Paradise'

To want to be what one can be is purpose in life.
Cynthia Ozick, O Magazine, September 2002

He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001), "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), "Eleonora"

The wisest men follow their own direction.
Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Dreams are sifted reality, our mind's way of filtering through the thoughts we don't dare think during the day. ~ Alisha Paige


How do you come up with new ideas for your latest novel? I'm always curious to see what inspires writers. I'm a big dreamer..yeah, I dream big and I actually remember very vivid dreams. I've been known to wake up from a dream and jot down everything before I forget it. Have you done this?

Once I dreamed I was this teenage girl that moved to a new world (Early America) with my parents. I was very wealthy and our home was ready for us when we arrived, built with the best materials of the day. Servants were carrying my large trunk inside our new home. I watched from the windows, looking out at this foreign, new land as a very handsome man rode up on a horse. I'm watching all of this out the wavy oval glass of our front door. A bear approaches and the man pulls out a knife and spars with it. I gasp and know right then and there that I will marry this man one day. Then I woke up. Ahhh! How disappointing! I immediately wrote the dream down. I usually don't dream of other time periods. This was really odd.


Another night I dreamed I was the member of a wedding party. This is the weird part..my ex husband was there too. After the wedding, there was a huge party in this hotel and we were all staying in two adjoined, very luxurious hotel suites. It was late night and everyone had crashed. In my dream, I wake up when I hear voices, whispers really and doors creaking open. I look over the shoulder of the person sleeping next to me..again, this was highly odd....I don't make a habit of sleeping with a herd of people...and I see all these men coming in, posing as waiters in white coats, pushing room service trays. Very methodicallly, they go from room to room, executing people. They had come from the room adjoining where the bride and groom slept. I watched from the dark as they lifted sheets off of faces. Some they killed. Some they did not. When they finally, very quietly left, everyone is on their feet, screaming. The police are called and word spreads that the bride and groom are dead. I awake for real, shortly after and jot everything down. This dream was so real. I was shaking when I woke and remember the feeling of utter terror. I wrote the introduction to a story called Wedding Day Massacre but have not finished it. Maybe I'll dream the rest of it.

I had a very disturbing dream just a few nights ago. I was vacationing with all my family near NY. We rented a home on the water. It was summertime and we were swimming when we noticed all this debris blasting through the skies above her heads like there had been an explosion. There's total confusion and then we witness a hideous thing. The statue of liberty shoots way into the sky. Everyone is pointing and screaming. It was awful. I don't even want to write about that. **Shudder**



Dreams are fascinating. I remember once being terrified in a dream and I actually knew it wasn't real. I spoke to this ghost and said, "Hey, this is my dream. I'm in control, not you." I stuck my tongue out at the phantom and she disappeared. I always have ghost dreams. Very strange.

I never dream about werewolves or vampires and I write about shapeshifters. Why is that? Has anyone out there studied dreams? I really should read more about them. In my opinion, they are our thoughts sifted. In other words, the stuff we think about but don't dare admit. Who dreams about your ex boyfriend or ex girlfriend? Hey, I don't share these with Michael. I think those dreams are about unresolved issues...maybe things we should have said to the other person...for closure. They seem to be for me at least.

What about when you dream about someone you loved who has died? Now I'm not convinced those are real dreams. I think they're REAL, but that's another topic all together.

Do dreams help you come up with new ideas? I'm dying to hear about your dreams!



Happy Reading and Writing
~Alisha