Manic Scribbler's A-Z Challenge - D is for Dreams

D is for Dreams

In common with many other writers, most of the ideas for my stories come from my dreams.  I also notice that I tend to include dreams in my stories quite frequently, so it seems natural to give the subject of dreams and dreaming a little blog space in this A-Z Challenge.

Everyone dreams but not everyone can remember their dreams.  In fact even those of us who have good recall will forget more than 90% of our dream content.  Waking up or being awoken during the REM stage of dreaming is the surest way of recalling dreams, but  to continually deprive a person of this important phase of dreaming can have serious consequences on a person's health.

Many dreams are universal and the symbols in them have been interpreted throughout the world and

throughout the ages as people have always wondered about their significance.  But dream interpretation can be quite a hit and miss affair.  The fact is that dreams carry deep and obscure meanings that only the subconscious mind can make any sense of.

Unconsciously, I seem to have made many of my heroines orphans or bereaved of one parent, so it's perhaps not surprising that when they dream, they seem to be searching for the parental love of which I've cruelly deprived them.  (Note to self: must be kinder to my next heroine and give her two healthy parents).  Their dreams mark or prompt a new turning point in their lives.  Even Ellis, in Killing Jenna Crane dreams, but his dream is brought on by his powerful fears and nagging guilt.

He didn't have too long to think about it, however.  That night he dreamt Emily was with him as her usual provocative self.  She invited him on a location hunt - which turned out to be a cemetery - one of those large, rambling spaces you find dotted around London filled with neglect and decay but among ancient, tired old tombstones newer burials are evident as old family plots are invaded by younger inmates and a few fresh flowers appear to mark the new arrivals.

Emily took his hand.  "Come and see what I found," she said encouragingly, leading him between the weather-worn stones of older graves.  "It's just perfect."

She pointed to a headstone without a surround, crammed in between far more imposing funeral masonry depicting cherubs and angels.  He saw Chloe Winterson's name engraved in the marble headstone and the dates.  In a simple small urn beneath the headstone sat a large posy of primroses so many, in fact, that the little yellow flowers spilled out all around it.  Primroses: I can't live without you, he remembered.  He looked at Emily who shrugged her shoulders to demonstrate her lack of concern.  "I always thought it must be so easy to be a man without a conscience.  Now come over here, there's something much more interesting for you to see."