Keeping a Dream Journal

By Ashley Gilland

There are only so many hours in a day… but we forget about the ones we set aside for sleep. Dreams can provide valuable inspiration just as well as our conscious experience. Some people can write novels and musical compositions in their dreams while they serve simply as the messenger, transcribing it the following morning. I am not so lucky. Very few of my dreams are interesting to anyone but me; only I can pull apart the motives and fears that drove them, only I can point out the scraps and details paralleled from the previous day that my subconscious has clung to. My dreams are messy and fragmented, but abundant with small fruits of creativity, tiny berries and seeds. They rarely have a steady plot or original characters, but that’s where the work comes in. It would be nice if our subconscious could write it all, but it would produce something so unfiltered that I doubt it could capture the larger message we hope to tell. Dreams can provide the foundational spark of inspiration for the larger construction of the conscientious storyteller.

Many people don’t remember their dreams, or at least claim so, but in my experience, keeping a consistent dream journal improves my ability to remember my dreams. I get into a routine of actively trying to remember as soon as I wake up, rehearsing the details mentally while I’m between states, then I copy it down before it disappears. I personally use my phone notes and transcribe it into a physical journal later, but it’s usually difficult to type correctly at such an incoherent hour, and writing it down helps to jog the memory.

Dream journaling can serve as a rewarding writing practice, exercising our ability to assign words to abstract fragments, which our memory tends to do when it simplifies larger memories into key details. If the dream is just flashes of very specific images, hold on to as many specific details as you can and try to articulate them and mold them. Looking back at past dreams often enough, I am able to reconjure the specific images forever and can continue to try to put it into words. No one else will ever have that exact image. Claim it, own it, even though you don’t remember creating it.

It’s important to be able to escape the mindset of our culture and society – of our subjective reality. Dreams abandon all logic and restrictions, which forces us to consider a world with different rules; dreams create impossible situations while freckling in themes from our daily life. They are the writings of your unconscious, sharing themes with those you’re drawn to… what you fear, what you regret, and what you long for. Our sleeping and wakeful minds aren’t so different. It’s important to understand these motives because it can clarify your larger purpose and message in your writing.