Ok. Probably the best way to bore your friends and family is to start a detailed description of this fantastic dream you had the night before. But, if they provide some sort of window into my subconscious, then I think I should use them in the creative process.
The playwright Bill Naughton wrote a whole book on his, having recorded them meticulously for a large part of his later life, because he thought they were useful to the writer-it didn't prove to be an exciting read.
So, I wonder what other people do with their dreams. Do you write about them? Do you have notebook by the bed to record them? And, most importantly, do you find they contribute to your creative work?
PS: I hope none of you have dropped off whilst reading this.
I haven't ever had a dream that turned into a story, but I do believe in sleeping on a problem - for example, when writing my first book one of the characters changed so much that I could no longer justify him doing something that was a major plot point. So I went to sleep with that idea in my head and when I woke up I had the answer - so perhaps that's one way to use the dreaming process as your subconscious working things out. I don't remember what I dreamed that night though!
I share same story as Debbie, I always have notepad and pen next to my bed and as soon as I wake up I write my dream, If one inspect them carefully they sometimes fortells future too(happens with me a lot).
And also before sleeping or when I am halfway to sleep I got so much creative ideas, so I pen them down instantly, otherwise they never came back.
I read an article that when you're tired you write better same as in dream, they are not that rational and hence lot of stupid things going on around and I think writing is all about thinking out of the box.
It's what you do with it that counts. A simple retelling of a dream is likely to not be wholly interesting, especially as they jump around. A dream turned into a story and given the right creative touches is a very different thing.