How in the world does STEPHEN KING (or ANY horror writer) do it? My zombies gave me nightmares.1/16/2012 Everyone knows who Stephen King is and the books he writes. We also know his books are creepy and terrifying and brilliant in their own way. If you Google his name, you will find various discussions on whether his writing is pure genius or simply a case of the crazies. Is the guy nuts? I'd have to say a little--but not in bad way. Stephen King himself has said, "we are all mentally ill. [And] if we're all insane, insanity becomes a matter of degree." Now, if you asked my husband, or anyone real close to me, if I'm a nut case, they will bob their heads and say, "Oh, yeah! She's a brick shy of a full load." But that's okay. I embrace these bits of crazy. I use them. I value them. I slap them into my writing, because lets face it, most writers have to be a little insane to keep doing what we do, over and over again. We hear voices. If that's not insanity, what is? I heard a quote once that said, "The only difference between a schizophrenic and a writer is that schizophrenics take medicine to silence the voices in their heads. Writers listen to those voices, write down everything they say, and then try to sell it." But insanity aside, the thing I have often wondered about Stephen King, or any other horror writer for that matter, is how does writing about such frightening topics affect their lives, their dreams? Those who know me also know I write about zombies--the good ol' slow moving, brain munching, mouth snapping zombies. I've been writing about zombies for well over a year now and they have taken over my waking day and have even started to permeate my dreams. There is actually a section in WANTED:Dead or Undead that is based on a dream I had a while back (No, I'm not pulling a Stephanie Meyer here). I won't tell you anything about it, because telling someone about your dream is equivalent to sitting and watching someone else's vacation videos. BORING. I also don't want to spoil that section of WANTED:Dead or Undead by telling you about it either. (If you beg, I might tell ya, though. Maybe). But last night, HOLY CRAP, zombies crept into my dreams and terrorized me. No joke. I woke up at four in the morning, tears in my eyes--TEARS IN MY EYES--and I was scared. I actually told my husband (after I woke him up, because heck ya, if I'm scared I'm waking up the guy; that's what husbands are for) that I'm done writing about zombies. I'm such a wimp, I know. Let's just say the dream was pretty vivid and I was ready to throw in the towel. I was ready to be done. I also found out through this dream what kind of a zombie apocalypse survivor I would make--not a very good one. You wouldn't want me on your team. I cry a lot. (I discuss the 4 types of apocalypse survivors here). Anyway, moving on, it made me wonder if other writers, especially those that write horror, have crazy dreams? You can't tell me that Stephen King sleeps like a baby, unaffected by the scary worlds he creates. Come on. He has zombie cats and maniac cars and crazy women and twin girls in his books. REDRUM, anyone? We all know that Stephanie Meyer wrote Twilight based on a dream, she's told us, but what about other writers? Bram Stoker? Ann Rice? Is this a common occurrence? It can't just be me (please tell me it isn't just me). Part of me wonders if it is due to the fact that we writers are so busy during our waking hours, imagining and creating, that our brains (BRAAAINS) just can't let us be when we drift off to sleep and so we carry that creative process into our unconscious state of being? Do creative people dream more than non-creative people? These are the kinds of things I wonder and if I was a scientist, I'd love to research it. But since I'm not, and because it seems like a heck of alot of work, I will just ask you guys. You guys are super smart and know lots of stuff :) What do you think? Do you dream about your works in progress? Do you think you dream more or less than your non-creative counterparts? Oh, and have you ever written a book based on your dreams? You can say so and I promise not to mock you.
23 Comments
1/16/2012 01:21:21 pm
Back in April of last year I posted at my blog (http://lanediamond.com/2011/04/sleep-writing/) about how I intentionally try to fuel my dreams to produce work. One's subconscious mind is such a wonderful tool, and with a little coaxing, we can actually train it to work on our behalf.
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1/16/2012 11:51:11 pm
When daylight came around and I had a good couple of hours to put between me and my nightmare, I realized the dream will be helpful in future books. I need to remember that fear and sense of panic--I have some characters that ain't so tough (like me) and it will come in handy.
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1/16/2012 11:55:02 pm
I've had several horrific type nightmares in the past--usually about the world ending in one way or another. I wake up, see the sun is rising, and then I'm good. I think what bothered me most in my zombie dream was the fact I sucked so bad at being a survivor. It was horrible to watch. Yet, I know I will react pretty much that exact way.
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1/17/2012 06:15:43 am
Whenever our conscious minds work on a problem or toil on something for long, it is inevitable that after we fall asleep that our minds will continue to work on them. This is why you can sometimes go to sleep with an unresolved question in your mind and wake up to suddenly have the answer. It doesn't surprise me at all that if your conscious mind is thinking of zombies, then you've also trained your subconscious to do so as well. It's like Forbidden Planet...only a much smaller scale. Monsters from the Id.
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1/19/2012 11:16:16 pm
You're absolutely right. You think about something long enough, you're bound to dream about it. I get that. I just wish it wasn't so scary :) It is interesting to see how many people use their dreams to come up with novel ideas.
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1/17/2012 08:45:23 am
As a horror writer, I've been embracing my nightmares since I was a kid. As I got older, I just learned to put them in coherent order so I could commit them to the written page. I look at it this way, if it scares the you know what out of me, a jaded horror hound, then it will certainly put a chill down a lot of other spines. As much as they sometimes leave me gasping for breath in the dark of night, I welcome them, my terror-bearing muses.
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1/19/2012 11:18:35 pm
As a horror writer, I could see where this would be embrased. For me, the wimp and non-horror writer (okay, I write about zombies, but not like horror-horror) some nightmares are just a bit too much. BUT, saying that, after a few days to think about this whole thing, I have found things in that zombie dream that can be helpful in my next book :) Silver lining.
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1/18/2012 04:11:21 am
I actually have the opposite problem. When I am actively writing, I don't dream--or at least, don't remember my dreams. I wake in the morning and as far as I know nothing happened in my head all night. It is when I can't write, when I have been away from the creating for too long that the dreams creep back. It's as if when I write I get out all the dreams during the day, and when I don't they fight to get out at night.
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1/19/2012 11:19:52 pm
That is really interesting. Thanks for sharing that, I hadn't even thought of that as a possibility.
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1/18/2012 05:50:21 am
The few moments that I DO dream about my WIP or a new story I know its one of those moments when I better sit up and pay attention! And for heaven's sake write it down! Otherwise, by morning I've forgotten the whole dang thing!
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1/19/2012 11:24:44 pm
Mostly, I do the same thing. I've had a couple of great ideas come from dreams. I just can't imagine being a horror writer and going through having nightmares all the time. I guess that's why I'm not a horror writer :)
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Sandra Tyler
1/18/2012 07:18:52 am
My 8 year old is into zombies. Great bed time reading :)) . Glad to find you, as I'm also an author, struggling my back to the written word now that my kids are in school.
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1/19/2012 11:22:25 pm
My kids are into zombies, too. They kinda have to be. BUT, my ten year old is sensitive to them. He tends to have his fair share of zombie nightmares. It's hard. There's zombies in everything now days.
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1/18/2012 09:01:09 am
I don't think writers actually dream more than regular people, but I do think we pay more attention to them, so we're more likely to remember them.
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1/19/2012 11:26:15 pm
You know what, you're probably right. The regular Joe just dreams and thinks nothing of it. We writers search for golden nuggets :) I hadn't thought of it that way before.
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1/19/2012 10:56:54 pm
I wish I could write my novels based on my dreams, some of them are very cool and actually think (while I'm dreaming) wow, I have to remember this, cause it's really cool! Then I wake up and it makes no sense at all!
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Sadie Thornton
1/29/2012 11:27:46 am
I've had bouts of night terrors, nightmares, sleep paralysis and of course insomnia as long as I can remember. For me writing is a way to exorcise my demons and bring the things that go bump in the night out into the light of day. I don't know where all the weird scariness comes from, but I'm grateful for a creative way to deal with it. :)
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2/11/2012 09:32:01 am
I have freak a** dreams... I had them here and there back in the day before I started taking my writing seriously. Now it seems every other night I am having some sort of whacked out nightmare about being chased through West Philly by a gang of murderous crack heads or trying to catch a trolley but always just missing it.
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2/11/2012 09:41:22 am
My last ms (in intensive edits at the moment) woke me up at 1 am last September out of nowhere. I'd been in a slump with no fresh ideas and nothing in the creative banks. The story was one I used to tell myself to sleep back when I was young and never considering writing, then I just forgot about it. Until September. I dreamt about it in its entirety, pitch and all. It came out of nowhere and is currently the fave among my writing peers.
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Justin Holliman
2/11/2012 11:27:26 am
I don't know if I am abnormal here, but I almost never remember my dreams. My ideas come mostly from my observations of the world and how it interacts. I do have a very active imagination, and I personally think it comes from the fact that I never dream. Sort of like my mind is compensating.
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3/2/2018 07:14:14 am
I love that I found this particular post. I've been asked the question, are horror writers insane? lol I think your explanation here is perfect!
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