Do you dream in color? Are your dreams mostly scary and vivid? Mine are and have been for all of my life. In fact, I still remember a dream I had when I was fourteen years old. Back in that day, I was an active church member and part of a Bible debate team. I had watched a horror movie and apparently it stuck with me. I dreamed the most vivid dream of Chuckie as a clock. My debate team had traveled to our next competition and we’d rented a house that was apparently “infested with demons.” As I went through the living room I saw a clock hanging on the wall. It was a male doll. His stomach was the clock face and his arms were the “hands.” When he saw me, his face screwed up in anger and he somehow produced a butcher knife and began to stab the wall. He was trying to escape and come after me.
I’m sure you can imagine the sorts of dreams I have had over the years. Everything from alien invasions to being murdered. I’ve since learned this is an attribute of a writer. Our minds apparently never stop imagining, even when we are asleep. Thus, the curse of the writer life. We don’t rest well, because we are always dreaming – day or night. We tend to be introverts, quiet, and crabby. Sound familiar? Well then, you just might be a writer!
The dream I had that started my novel was about a young woman who learns that her mother is the diabolical scientist who ended humanity. Her biological brother chases her into a crumbling parking garage and she tosses a futuristic explosive at him, killing him and destroying the garage. The mother is enraged and takes the young woman prisoner for execution.
There you have it. The start of Ashes to Ashes. Only, it didn’t quite work out that way. That scene will not come until book 2, which by the way, is in the works.
Did a dream start your story? Tell me about it in comments!
KM
Author KMSlemons 