What Dreams May Come

Corvid, the Void Boi, wants you to know that his human mom doesn't need to cultivate purposeful day dreams. She has him and he's a weirdo. 

Day dreaming. It's therapeutic and completely necessary for artists of all kinds. Yet we live in a culture that flings all kinds of accusations about laziness, worthlessness, and 'wasted' time. Add modern technology into the mix and most people over twelve have precious little time for the 'silliness' of day dreaming. 

In an attempt to reclaim some brain space, time, and day dreaming, I'm working my way through a book called Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi. It's a treatise on how our devices have stolen away the free time our brains once filled with day dreams and with synthesizing our experiences. 

It's also a useful walk through the brain science that explains why we need wandering minds and 'useless' day dreaming. 

So yes. Day dreaming - the fun, the terrible, the startling. Bring it all on. It's necessary. It's enlivening. Certainly, creativity and stories are built on the foundation of day dreaming.

The interesting piece is that with migraine, you get hallucinations. Not every time. But it seems to be a feature. Hallucinations are the feral cousins of day dreaming. Day dreams can be directed. Hallucinations can't. Yet they're useful, too. Some of the grimmest of my scenes came straight out of migraine hallucination. To be clear, tho, I'd flat give them up if I could exorcise the migraines. There are other ways to get into the altered states required to bring up vision, if not hallucination. I'd take it if I could get it. Until then, day dreams are welcome companions. Hallucinations, well. They show up, welcome or not, and stay until they're good and ready to leave.
 

Purposeful Daydreaming

 I’ve been working on being a professional daydreamer forever. I remember warm summer days spent in the poppy patch watching the bees hum around me and imagining unicorns and trolls adventuring nearby. I remember leaning my head against the glass of the school bus window as I stared out across the fields, imagining the life of a young girl with a pegasus. And I remember hiking and sitting along the banks of a frozen creek with my husky, imagining the hiss of the blowing snow was dragon scales sliding over rock.

Growing up I would chose which dreams I wanted to return to. I’d have a fantastic dream and upon waking, would sit and think about it and examine what had happened—so I could actually remember said dream for longer than an hour—then I would return to that dream before falling asleep by replaying what I’d dreamt the night before. Only the second or third nights I would change things I didn’t like or wanted to happen differently…and then I’d go back to that dream and experience it all over again but better! My pegasus lived in the most fantastical world!

But it wasn’t until I was tipped off on Robert Olen Butler’s book From Where You Dream that I realized what an important writing tool this really was. After reading Butler’s book I’m absolutely sure I’d never want to sit in on his lectures, he’s very black and white in his assumptions and definitions on literature, but I did glean one very useful writing tool. 

Dreamstorming—getting into the dream space. It’s different than daydreaming when your mind wanders and slips away for a few moments in-between life’s business. When you purposefully put yourself in the dream zone you’re examining each scene visually so you feel where the characters are standing and you’re tapped into their emotions and sensibilities.

This is a tool that I like to use before I start writing. Well, I also hang out in the dream space when I’m plotting out a novel, I love watching the action and seeing what the characters do. But it’s a great warm up for a writing session. 

Want to give it a try?

Sit somewhere comfortable. I prefer things to be very hygge, the Danish word that encompasses comfort and peace, and having a blanket on my lap and a warm cup in my hand usually do the trick. Having a fire or a candle can be handy too. I know you’ve all zoned out while gazing deep into the flames before. When you’re comfortable let your mind shut off all the stuff, your to-do list for the day, the dishes sitting in the sick, the email you have to get to, all of that stuff gets shut off and you’re left with your story. Or a character. Or a place. Pick what dream space you want to walk into and form it in your mind’s eye. Then sit back and watch. 

Pay attention to how you feel and what you sense, everything that doesn’t require words. When you’re done, write it out. It doesn’t have to be extremely detailed or long, just jot down what encompasses the scene you just watched. You may prefer to sit at your desk, like Butler, for a short zoning session. Or you may work better by setting aside a half our or more if you’re really comfortable. If you’re stuck, got a plot hole, settle in and watch your story and see what happens when you get to the sticky situation. 

If you give it a go, let me know! 

Daydream Believer

 Do I daydream?

Yes.

On purpose?

Yes.

Is it a critical part of my writing process?

Yes.

Do I recommend daydreaming to anyone even thinking about writing fiction?

Oh definitely yes.

My favorite ways/places to daydream about my works-in-progress:

1. Whilst walking around my back yard and waiting for dogs to do dog business.

2. Whilst driving.

3. In the shower.

4. Whilst doing dishes.

5. When someone else is talking to me about something important.

6. Pretty much any time I do not have easy access to a notepad or other method of actually documenting the genius ideas I come up with during these daydreaming sessions.

On a slightly more serious note, some of us have these weird writing processes where we think-think-think for like months and then BOOM write a full novel in a couple of weeks. All of that think time could be described as daydreaming, I suppose. It's definitely time I spend putting the story together in my head, and I almost never document all of that work on paper. (Which is why my word-count tracking is super sketchy.) If this is your process or you're thinking about trying it out, stop telling yourself that you have to make a daily word count and get to daydreaming instead. (I know, it sounds miserable, dunnit?)

New Fantasy Romance: The Golden Gryphon and The Bear Prince by @JeffeKennedy

This week our favorite hard-working, award-winning Sunday blogger, Jeffe Kennedy, released the first book in a new fantasy romance series Heirs of Magic! 

THE GOLDEN GRYPHON AND THE BEAR PRINCE
Heirs of Magic: Book 1

A Legacy of Honor

Crown Prince Astar has only ever wanted to do the right thing: be a credit to his late father’s legacy, live up to his duties as heir to the high throne of the Thirteen Kingdoms, and cleave to the principles of honor and integrity that give his life structure—and that contain the ferocious grizzly bear inside. Nowhere in those guiding principles is there room for the fierce-hearted, wildly free-spirited, and dizzyingly beautiful shapeshifter, Zephyr. Still, even though they’ve been friends most of their lives, Astar is able to keep Zephyr safely at arm’s length. He’s already received a list of potential princess brides who will make a suitable queen, and Zephyr is not on it.

A Longtime Obsession

Zeph has wanted the gorgeous, charming, and too-good-for-his-own-good Astar for as long as she can remember. Not that her longing for him—and his perfectly sculpted and muscular body—has stopped her from enjoying any number of lovers. Astar might be honorably (and foolishly) intent on remaining chaste until marriage, but Zeph is Tala and they have no such rules. Still, she loves Astar—as a friend—and she wants him to at least taste life before he chains himself to a wife he didn’t choose. There’s no harm in him having a bit of fun with her. But the man remains stubbornly elusive, staving off all of her advances with infuriatingly noble refusals.

A Quest to Save the World

But things change when a new terror threatens the Thirteen Kingdoms. Following prophecy, Astar and Zeph—along with a mismatched group of shapeshifter, warrior, and sorceress friends—go on a quest to stop a magic rift before it grows beyond anyone’s ability to stop. Thrust together with Zephyr, Astar finds himself increasingly unable to resist her seductive invitations. And in the face of life-and-death battles with lethal monsters, he begins to lose sight of why having her, just once, is such a terrible idea…

BUY IT NOW: Amazon | Apple Books | B&N | Kobo

To Dream, Perhaps to Write

 Dreamzoning is the catch phrase this week. 

Dear Heaens, of course, I daydream. It's all I do.  It's part of my job as a writer. Back in the day Warner Brother Looney Tunes cartoons did stories about a little kid named Ralphie Phillips. That was his job too.

Inevitably, no matter what he was supposed to be doing ARalphie would spin off in his own head and be off on another adventure. first time I saw one of those cartoons I thought that at last somebody understood me. 

I still feel that way.

It's my job to imagine new place, new situations, and then dream up the people to explore them.

If you write fiction, or want to write fiction, what could possibly be more important/

Oh, to be sure there's the craft of writing, but with9utmthe dreams, there are no stories to tell. 

I have so many tales to tell! I'm late on one of them right now, actually, two of them, so back to it for me. 

Good luck with the dreams. Make the time for them. 

Why Daydreaming Increases Productivity

Our topic at the SFF 7 this week is: Dreamzoning (term from Robert Olen Butler’s book From Where You Dream): Do you daydream on purpose?

I'm not familiar with this book, but I absolutely daydream on purpose! I call it The Dreamthink. 

The Dreamthink is so central to my creativity and productivity that I gave it to the heroine of my Forgotten Empires trilogy. For her it's an actual form of magic, and you can see it referenced there in the whim for the upcoming THE PROMISED QUEEN. 

In my Forgotten Empires trilogy, the heroine—Queen Euthalia of Calanthe—uses the dreamthink to maintain her world. Because she’s magically sensitive, messages come to her in nightmares, when her mind is vulnerable. The world is a chaotic, broken, and wounded place—and it cries to her for help. When she wakes from these terrible dreams, she pretends to be asleep still, just to calm herself so she can face a day of politics. 

In some ways, she isn’t entirely faking it. She wakes, then goes into another stage of sleep: the dreamthink. 

Lia, who lives in a world that celebrates science and knowledge, but is not technologically advanced, has given this state its own name. It feels to her like a kind of light dreaming, where she can also guide where her mind goes. Those of you familiar with meditation or sleep stages, might recognize this as a trance state. Or it could be a Stage 1 sleep with theta waves (which are also present during meditation) or Stage 2 with sleep spindles in the brain activity. Magical or not, those are states of mind we all experience at some time or another. 

I know I do! I made up the term “dreamthink” for myself. (Even though I do understand meditative trances and sleep states – lol.) Once I became a full-time writer, I gave myself the gift of waking according to my own natural rhythms. I don’t set an alarm, so I emerge from sleep gradually. Often I’ll lie in bed in that light sleep state a while longer, and mull over the story I’m writing. That’s why I call it the dreamthink—because I can guide my mind to that particular story thread, and then dream about what might happen. It’s a lovely, low-key way to puzzle over plot issues, and wonderful ideas present themselves to me. 

In the first book of the Forgotten Empires, THE ORCHID THRONE, Lia uses the dreamthink to wrestle the nightmares. As the story progresses into the second book, THE FIERY CROWN, and as Lia begins to use her native magic in a more deliberate way, she summons the dreamthink to quiet her conscious mind and unruly emotions. The trance state of the dreamthink allows her to access the magic of the land, to expand her mind into other realms of reality.

If only we all had magic to heal the world in these troubled times! But we all can find a sort of dreamthink for ourselves. I think you’ll find it’s a great salve to worries of all kinds.

For those hoping to access the creative subconscious, this deliberate daydreaming brings its own kind of magic. Productivity comes in many forms - and sometimes that's when you appear to be worlds away, magicking up your own.  

Finding Jewels

 

Cute cat for tax.

Pointers for finding New to You Authors:

• Judge contests
• Twitter

Of course there are more ways, but these two were the ones I didn't see mentioned previously this week. 

Contests

The great thing about judging contests is that you learn as much as you judge. Most contests won't allow you to judge in the category you write (if you entered the contest). This is an excellent way to find new to you authors in genres you might not normally read. There's also no thrill quite like finding that an entry you judged and loved actually won the contest. It's rare, but it happens, and it's a bit of a rush.

Twitter

Now. Lest anyone go dig up all of my earlier posts about how I doubt that Twitter sells many books, I still think it's true for the socially awkward among us. But. My Twitter account is awash with romancelandia people and altgov political resister types. So when angst breaks in either, it's almost inevitable that a rash of book recommendations follow whatever tidal wave of drama washes over. This was how I managed to go out in search of authors of color. Recommendations began rolling on Twitter and I looked at my book shelf. Lo, it was pasty and lacking meaningful representation. I aimed to change that. As with all things, some authors have been a joy to finally stumble upon. Some are less to my taste, but so goes life. I'm refining what makes a story work for me with each one I read.

So I add to James's recommendation to read outside your genre. Consider reading outside your personal experience, too. There are jewels out there and a lot of joy to be had in finding them.

Just Keep Reading

I recently had a call with someone who is starting out on their first novel. It was incredibly exciting to listen to them talk about their love of reading and their eagerness to dive into writing their first book.

One of the knowledge bits I shared was the importance of continuing to read. Writers start out as readers and when we can’t get enough books, or can’t find ourselves in enough stories, we turn into writers. But then you get busy drafting, editing, submitting, formatting—and on and on. It’s easy to get so busy that we end up not reading!

I’ve seen authors that proudly claim they don’t read. I’ve read their books. And I still say it’s important for an author to read and to read outside your genre! Why? Because a great book has more than one genre element in it. A SONG OF WRAITHS AND RUIN by Roseanne A. Brown is fantasy with a little mystery. THE LAST ASTRONAUT by David Wellington is science fiction blended with thriller and horror. Pick up your recent read and see how many elements you can pull out. 

But where do you find books when you’re busy wiring your own novel or promoting your newest release? Check out my fellow SFF Seveners’ posts from this week, there’s some gems in there. And if you need some more ideas, here you go:

1: Your local library. I love my library! They’ve always got a surprise read or two facing out on the shelves, and I’m such a sucker for a good book cover. 

thank you Dakota County Library!

2: #writingcommunity I spend my social media time on Instagram and follow this hashtag because it’s filled with authors in all stages and they’re either sharing their release news, posting book birthdays, or shouting about whatever great read they just finished! It’s fantastic! (if you’re on Twitter you’ll find writers using the same hashtag)

3: Blogs! Yes, I still follow a handful of blogs that have proven time and again that their book tastes run similar to mine and undoubtedly sway me into trying reads I wouldn’t have picked up otherwise. 

Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell

The Fantasy Inn

SFF  World

Reading Between the Wines

4: follow me on Goodreads. Kidding, but not kidding. Goodreads is a never-ending supply of book choices and if you follow people with similar tastes, or maybe completely different, you'll see what they're reading and reviewing and find some books to add to your own TBR (to be read) list! 

Alexia's 2021 Goodreads shelf as of Jan 21st, 2021

I hope the information I shared with the aspiring writer was helpful, at least I know it helped me when I was starting out. And I hope one day, when he’s further along in his writing career, he lends a hand back to someone else that’s on their way up. Because I believe that’s how things should work, by receiving and giving, giving and receiving. And reading! 

Now, go find some great new reads this weekend!