Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop!

Today’s topic is: Do dreams/nightmares influence your writing? Do you keep a notebook by your bed to write down ideas?

And remember to pay a visit to my fellow writers to see what they have come up with. You can find their works here!

Ideas come from all manner of places. I take ideas from the world around me – things I see, things I hear, things I experience. It might come to me from something seen on TV, a spark from a book I’ve read. Sometimes a snatch of conversation overheard in a coffee shop triggers an idea. Sometimes, and this was very much the case with Chasing Shadows, ideas rained through the ether, some landing in my mind and taking root.

So do ideas come to me in dreams? Yes, they do. Do I always remember them though? Well now, that’s a very different question. In short, no I don’t. But do I keep a notebook by my bed ready to write down the withering vestiges of dreams as they fade in the light of day? No, I don’t. In part, I am just not that organised. But I also find that scrabbling to scrawl out those dying images things get missed, and as the memory fades, so does the worth of it in my writing.

Ideas that strike me throughout the day, these tend to gain more credence. I dwell on them, think about them, mould and evolve them into something more usable. Or at least they usually do. Just a handful of weeks ago a fantastic idea struck me for a core narrative theme for my possible third book. Having recently started a new job, things have been pretty hectic. By the time I finally sat down to note it down, I couldn’t for the life of me remember that idea, and still can’t. Damn it.