Thread: Plot from a dream turned into a novel

Hello there. It's been a while since I posted. I've been so darn busy lately and I've hardly had time for quite a few forums I'm on. A lot has happened since I was on here last and I won't bore you with all the gory details. I had to close down my business and I've been doing a lot of freelance work to try to pay the bills, most of that writing related.

A few months ago I decided that I would try my hand at writing novels, so I blocked out about six hours every day where I work on that only, no other writing. I had an idea for one book and I knocked that one out in a couple months and that draft is now in the editing process. Then while I was still writing that one, the weirdest thing happened.

I had the most vivid dream involving time travel. For most of the dream I didn't even know I was lucid, which is not the norm for me because most of the time when I'm in a dream that vivid I go lucid. Eventually I did, but that was near the end right before I woke up. The gist of the dream was that I found out that some bad dude was going to go back in time and kill George Washington. I figured I had to stop him, so I went back to look out for this guy to show up so I could stop him. I never did confront the guy, but spent most of the dream talking to Washington's parents when he was just a baby and telling them that I thought someone was going to show up to do them harm.

I woke up and thought that would be a good novel plot and I just finished the first draft. It was a blast. Bad guys think that would be the best way to do in America by preventing it from ever founding, good guys go back to stop it, and accidentally bring an infant Washington back to the current time, only to find themselves in an alternate world that came about by him not being around. Then the good guys have to try to go back to fix things and the bad guys don't want that to happen. I wrote it as something of a light hearted comedy and not a hard core sci fi.

Anyway, since I haven't published either of these two books yet, and since putting links here could be construed as shameless promotion, I'm not going to do that. I just thought it was amusing that I got a book idea from a dream. I wonder how often that happens with other writers.

Hi CharlesD. Although the general plot idea has been explored before (Terminator; Looper; a dinosaur-hunting one, whose name escapes me, etc.), don't let that put you off. Although you may envisage a future manuscript assault on various publishers out there, frustration at their lack of interest and general inaction may nudge you onto the rocky road to self-publishing (not to be confused with Vanity Publishing - beware of those charlatans).

I see that you're in Ohio, so I'm not sure if any of the following will apply at all, but from a UK self-publishing perspective, the book "How to publish yourself" by Peter Finch, is invaluable. All the info that a UK wannabe publisher needs is contained therein: how the industry works, why you should do it and how to do it from scratch, ISBNs, barcodes, typography software needed, legal deposit etc. etc. I don't know if the original edition has been updated to include the surge in all things digital, however, but it's still a seminal work from a UK perspective and well worth the cost of c. £9.

If there's one thing I can add from my own experience, it's that the writing, typography, editing, cover design and other pre-printing prep is the easy bit: it's the selling of the end product that is hard. Be prepared to take a financial loss (the more prep you can do yourself, the less this will be), but don't let that put you off. Do it.

Good luck with it all and all the best.

Yeah, I've explored all the options. I'm working on my third book and I'm going to pursue a mix of traditional and self publishing. I've encountered the Vanity folks. Like I'm going to pay someone a huge sum just to get something in print. I think they're aimed at the "write a book to cross it off bucket list" crowd.

I didn't really want to delve too much into publishing and what not, just that I found the whole getting a plot from a dream angle interesting. I know certain elements of my story have been used before, but probably not the way I put it together. My three protagonists are two rednecks from rural America and a Cockney girl from east London. There is a lot of humor to be had with that combination.

didnt know i was lucid

uh...

anyways! regarding the book! in the future i plan on just reading more books in dreams and rewriting them! plageurism! well... against myself. haha. anyways, I think that it sounds like a fun book idea and i think that lots of dreams could be made into novels if people had the time to write them. I dont think there is anything wrong with posting a book if it is dream related, so just PM an admin and ask about it. i know sageous has posted his book on here due to request, and the forum has recently become a bit of a daniel love fanclub, so you should be fine posting it.

Originally Posted by Sensei

uh...

Typo, meant to say dreaming. See, editing is important.

Your dream reminds me of one of the tasks of the months we had this past year. Plagiarism? Yeah, you may have a little problem with that.

Originally Posted by Sensei

I don't think there is anything wrong with posting a book if it is dream related, so just PM an admin and ask about it.

That is a good Idea.
May I suggest that before you post your draft in here, if you ever do that here, it would be critical to do some grammar check on your work. The last thing you want is people commenting on how your grammar and paragraph structure and such is not good. Even I try to make it a habit to grammar check before I post. I'm never perfect at it. You need to be prepared for critical comments here on the forum.
However, if you truly do not want such commentary left on your stuff, just leave a notice in your writing to this effect. Readers will almost always honor requests from authors they respect. I hope to read some of your work in the future!