Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.
Don’t forget to click the purple button to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.
How did you
decide that you finally wanted to write your stories?
The simple answer is that I didn’t.
Anyone who knew me before I was a writer is amazed by my sudden ability to churn out over half a million words a year.
I hated writing, as a child, a pupil, a college student and in my job as a professional mariner, who had to write letters home as well as official reports.
So, what’s the answer?
The characters decided for me. They kept on and on pestering me, showing me their stories on a screen in my head.
At first, they confined themselves to showing me what they were getting up to in my dreams. I initially ignored them, but the dreams kept repeating.
I had exactly the same dream and watched the same events take place, night after night.
Every night.
To begin with, I thought that I was going mad, that I had some sort of mental illness. I never told anyone what was happening, for fear of their reaction. I was too frightened to go to my doctor. I didn’t know what to do.
Eventually and in desperation, I wrote every detail of my dream down, hoping that would make it go away.
It worked, only to be replaced by a vision of the next chapter of the story. At that point, I took the hint and adopted a more serious approach to writing down what I was seeing.
From then on, who or whatever was producing the dreams accepted that I was paying attention. They graduated to showing me the action when I was awake.
This was initially disconcerting, especially when my character’s antics were overlaid on what was actually going on in my life. Like driving up the road or trying to have a conversation.
Over time, we seem to have reached some sort of understanding.
The images don’t conflict with my reality, at least not too much. In return, I write down everything I see.
Incidentally, when I joined a local writer’s group, I found that I wasn’t alone in getting my stories in this way, which was a relief.
So far, everything I have been shown has been useful and fitted in somewhere. Even if it wasn’t apparent at the time.
Now, more than twelve years on, when I hear about people struggling for inspiration, I smile to myself.
If only I could get the voices to stop for a moment.
What do you think about this week’s subject?
Let me know below.
Then, please click the purple button to check out what my fellow writers have to say about this week’s topic.
Until next time.
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Stevie Turner
I only remember one dream… and that was 25 years ago telling me which numbers would win the lottery. I’ve used them every week since, but so far no luck, lol.
Richard Dee
I would have won the football pools the week after I cancelled my standing entry. Very frustrating.
Darlene Foster
I always liked telling stories so it made sense to want to write them down eventually. I also loved reading books which also inspired me to write books. It was my grade three teacher who encouraged me to write my stories down.
Richard Dee
I sometimes wonder what might have happened if I had been encouraged to start writing earlier. Or perhaps I was just waiting for the right moment?
P.J. MacLayne
My dreams are so crazy I couldn’t turn them into a story.
Richard Dee
Never say never!!!!
Samantha J Bryant
I love it when it feels like I’m channeling stories, just serving as a conduit. @samanthabwriter from
Balancing Act
Richard Dee
It’s an incredible feeling, especially when you look at what you’ve written and can’t remember typing it.
Kelly Williams
The dreams never stop. They used to scare me terrible as a child, but I learned to embrace it in the years to come. Here’s to many more years and ideas!
Richard Dee
The knowledge that it happened to other people helped me to deal with the dreams. Now, I would miss them.