Night Prompts (June Post by Jody Feldman)

When I was in middle and high school—and things haven’t changed much in this regard—I wanted all the superpowers as they pertained to life. Sure, Superman’s up-up-and-away would’ve been nice. Also Samantha Steven’s nose wiggle which, poof!, would make my room sparkling clean. But the ones I really wanted were those wielded by psychics, especially ESP and future-telling. What were those girls whispering about? How could I read that boy’s mind and discover facts that would get him to like me? Was I going to be happy when I grew up? Would I get married? Have kids? Wear lipstick?

And while the heavens did not provide me with those superpowers, they did provide me with dreams every night. For my 14th birthday, I think it was, my best friend gave me a couple books on dream interpretation. In order for those to be useful, I had to remember my dreams. And so I trained myself, upon waking, to think of nothing except where my mind had wandered when I was fast asleep. No, these dreams did not give me great insight into my future, not even with the interpretations, but they did give me great insight into storytelling and creativity. And my crazy dreams have continued to reinforce the fact that there is a storyteller inside me.

All this leads me to a very simple writing prompt. Keep paper and pencil or a recording device by your bed. Train yourself to note a few details of your dreams every morning. (You may not be able to at first, but eventually, you will.) Besides what you saw or did in your dreams, remember how those circumstances made you feel.

Every night, through the power of dream, you’ve gifted yourself with great ideas. Then it’s your job to sit back and see how your daydreams can pick up the thread and watch where they take your story next.