Every writer experiences writer’s block.  But there’s an easy, all-natural solution!  Use your dreams as inspiration.  If you have trouble remembering your dreams, start a dream journal and write down anything you can remember, no matter how small.  Over time your brain will learn to remember your dreams (this really works).

Here’s how using your dreams as writing prompts can benefit your writing:

Uninhibited Ideas

When you’re asleep, your mind is relaxed. Ideas flow freely without worrying about your inner editor.  Your imagination takes you to unbelievable places and crafts plots so unique and bizarre that you’d never come up with them in your waking life.

Drawing Connections

Dreams can be chaotic. They can jump around, blend genres, and take you on an emotional roller coaster ride.  Taking the disjointed elements of a dream and drawing a strong, solid connection between them (to create a cohesive narrative) can really put your writing chops to the test.

Symbolism

Great novels have subtle symbolism that affects the reader in ways they may not even realize.  Most people’s dreams naturally contain interesting and complex symbolism that can give your story that extra special something. Check out Dream Moods if you want to learn more about dream symbols.

When using a dream as a writing prompt, don’t feel obligated to stick exactly to what happened. Expand the dream, change it where needed, use it as a jumping off point for your creativity.  The best part about using dreams as writing prompts?  You can manufacture a new one every night!

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