Hey Writer!
This is the third lesson of my free writing course, the Fawn’s Formula. This lesson is a chance to express your creativity by harnessing the power of dreams and daydreams. Let’s dive right in!
Idea 1: Dreams and Daydreams
Have you ever had a wild dream that you just know would make a blockbuster movie, but forgot as soon as you woke up?
Dreams may seem crazy and fast paced when you are actively in one. But have you ever noticed how creative they can be?
Dreams allow us to connect the most unrelated ideas – from dogs to the sun to anger to a breezy sunday morning. They may not make the most sense, yet a little refinement can go a long way to creating an original story.
But what about Daydreams? Essentially, they have the same use, allowing us to connect unrelated ideas. But instead they are our conscious yet zoned out thoughts. Have you ever sat in that lecture, where you didn’t understand a thing so your brain simply stopped listening? Then all of a sudden you realize you completely dissociated into a different world – analyzing all your past conversations and what could have gone differently? Or you imagine you are running away from a tiger hunting you down for carrying a lost treasure from an underwater island?
Don’t let them just pass. Sometimes they hold gateways to the best ideas, the best plots, the best storylines.
Exercise 1: Writing Down Your Dreams
- Set apart some time in the morning to write down your dream. Ideally, you should write it down within 15 minutes of waking up to remember most of it.
- Answer these questions:
- What about the plot made sense? When did it start falling apart or when did it start making sense?
- What new character traits (both physical and personality) did you see in the story?
- Was the dream in first person, second, or third? What was the setting(s) of the dream?
Exercise 2: Writing Down Your Daydreams
- Take some time to turn off all the lights except one, place your phone and any other distractions in another room, and write down your thoughts.
- Let your thoughts pass you. Do not place any constraints on yourself, just notice as your mind thinks about anything and everything. Write these thoughts down.
- Answer these questions:
- Tracing the path of your thoughts, what made you move from one idea to the next? What connections did you make between seemingly unrelated thoughts?
- How could you incorporate these ideas and their connections in your writing?
Conclusion
By the end of this lesson, you’ll have a better understanding of how to use your dreams and daydreams in a constructive way to fuel your writing. With this lesson in combination with the previous lesson, it should be easier to overcome writer’s block or get an initial idea for your story.
If you’d like to learn more exercises for overcoming writer’s block, check out my post: 4 Effective Tips to Break Writer’s Block.
The next lesson jumps into the first “backbone” of your story, the plot. Ready to jump in? Let’s go!
Here is Lesson 4.
This course is still in progress, with a new lesson coming out each week. If you would like an email update for when a new lesson is available, fill out the form below!
