Monday, February 25, 2013

Dream a little dream...


I've been complaining to Minxes about my odd dreams. I hardly manage to close my eyes before they start. Always detailed and in colour – and sometimes in anime.

And they can be scary stuff.

In one, that has been recurring since I was about five, my family is taking tea on the elegant terrace of a large country house. We’re having a great time, when my sister suddenly transforms into a howling, snarling German Shepherd.

Not nice.

In another more recent one, I’m being hounded by a nameless, faceless monster. Chased into all manner of unsavoury corners of the world as this beast tried to derail me from my vital quest to buy a sink. Seriously. A sink. And, even though my task is of great importance, nobody will sell me one.

But that was better than the night I was going to a wedding. I spent ages finding the perfect outfit – a floor-length red dress which made me look stunning AND thin (I liked that bit of the dream). I was devastated, though, when I was told I couldn't wear it because it was exactly the same as a dress chosen by one of the bridesmaids. And nobody seemed to think it odd that the bridesmaid in question looked better in the dress than I did – even though he was a six foot tall, middle-aged man with a moustache.

Every morning I seem to wake with that uneasy feeling of something not quite right. And, even though I know it was all a dream, it’s very hard to regain a sense of normality. And I’m permanently exhausted.

I have no idea why this is happening because I try to never put anything bad in my head. I don’t watch creepy films or read scary books. And I always drift off to sleep thinking happy thoughts.

And these dreams are useless to a romance writer.

But could you imagine how lovely it would be to dream in romance novel style? New stories acted out by a dreamy cast; plot problems ironed out as you sleep; characters assembled and reviewed for suitability before you commit a single word to the page...

It would make writing so much easier.

So, what I want to know is, how do I turn my dreams around? How do I control these night-time mental images so I dream of handsome heroes and lovely love stories that I can type up as soon as I wake?

4 comments:

jolliffe said...

In my experience dreams can sometimes reflect how we are feeling at that time in our life. As your dreams are scary and about things not going your way. Maybe you are dealing with some things in your daily life that are outside your comfort zone. If you can resolve them. I think your dreams will change. Hope so anyway.

Caroline said...

Perhaps you need to write a vampire/horror/werewold romance's, Suzanne! Only kidding, I never know what dreams mean. Caroline x

Romy Sommer said...

Sorry, Suz, I have no good advice on how to change your dreams around, but I second Caroline's suggestion - maybe you need to tap into your dark side through your writing rather than let it go unexpressed!

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

Hi jolliffe, thank you for dropping by and for your comment. That's a really interesting point, I'll have to do some research into that.

Thanks, Caroline and Romy - I may well give scary stories a go. Watch this space :0)

xx