I like reading about your process, Eliot. I never had a start of a writing project from a dream, though certain highly memorable dreams have set off searches for "right things" in my life - like knowing, oh, I really need to find a good therapist now, that dream was BIG. And the therapy lasted longer than I ever could have imagined and produced changes - well, yeah, unexpected. I started writing my very first novel from a journaling session where two people started "dictating" their story to me. I PROTESTED! I don't write fiction, all that, but they returned day after day. Most fun I ever had!
Writing fiction often puts me in a similar kind of creative fugue state where I'm so immersed in the story that it takes on a life of its own. And while it's not therapy, it can sometimes allow you to see things in yourself you would never have noticed otherwise.
I like reading about your process, Eliot. I never had a start of a writing project from a dream, though certain highly memorable dreams have set off searches for "right things" in my life - like knowing, oh, I really need to find a good therapist now, that dream was BIG. And the therapy lasted longer than I ever could have imagined and produced changes - well, yeah, unexpected. I started writing my very first novel from a journaling session where two people started "dictating" their story to me. I PROTESTED! I don't write fiction, all that, but they returned day after day. Most fun I ever had!
Thanks for sharing some of your process, Dana.
Writing fiction often puts me in a similar kind of creative fugue state where I'm so immersed in the story that it takes on a life of its own. And while it's not therapy, it can sometimes allow you to see things in yourself you would never have noticed otherwise.