Amanda Hocking

Amanda's Blog Post

something about a train ride, Germany, & a missing ring

April 22nd, 2012 by
This post currently has 15 comments

Ascend is coming out on Tuesday, and I should probably be talking about that. But I’ll talk about it more on Tuesday, because that makes sense. I should also have some other fun news regarding Wake on Tuesday.

Instead I am going to talk about the fact that I have the most awesome dreams ever. And I know, people always think they’re dreams are awesome, but they’re wrong, because my dreams hold that title.

They can be annoying, too. Like a few weeks ago I had this really bizarre, really vivid dream that I was riding on a train with Ryan Gosling (I’m pretty sure it was in Chicago), and we got in a really big fight because I wouldn’t stop talking about Drive, and now every time I see Ryan Gosling I feel vaguely afraid of him, like I’m a battered spouse and he actually beat the crap out of me.

Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between my dreams and real life, which is obnoxious. This is also amplified by the fact that I sleep a lot. So if you added it all up, my life is probably equal amounts being awake and equal amounts dreaming. Or close to it, since I’m not dreaming every second I’m asleep.

But despite the fact that my dreams are completely awesome, I’ve never used one as the basis for a novel. (However, often times, the dreams I write into books are ones I’ve had in real life.) I know some authors say that they do. They say ideas came to them in a dream. That’s never happened to me.

Last night, I had a dream that was vivid and long and somewhat elaborate. I don’t remember all of it anymore. But it had something to do with a train ride (think more Harry Potter, less L-train), and Charlie Hunnam, and Germany, and a really pretty cottage in the snow, and a missing ring. Look, it doesn’t sound that great when I just list things that were in it, but I enjoyed it. And that’s what counts.

So today, I woke up with the determination to somehow turn it into a novel. So when people ask, “Where did you get your ideas?” or “What’s the inspiration for the novel?” I can be all, “It came to me in a dream!”

I actually can break it down to where it came from, though. I watched Daniel Radcliffe on SNL, which had me thinking about Harry Potter. I watched an episode of X-Files where they spoke Norwegian, and I was thinking about how I wanted to learn German. I forgot to wear my Batman ring yesterday. It was cold in my room, which had me thinking of snow and winter. And I think that Charlie Hunnam is the most attractive person that has ever lived (not so much in Sons of Anarchy or Cold Mountain, but in Undeclared and Abandon).

So those would really be my inspirations for this alleged novel I’m working on. But I don’t care. I’m going to somehow turn these fragmented ideas into a novel. You’ll see. Maybe.

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  • Melanie says:

    I turned a dream into a novel… But after years of rewrites and editing, I have a great story, but almost all elements of the original dream are gone. (Which is probably better for everyone involved)

  • Melanie says:

    Also, I learned German, and it’s a lovely language 😉

  • Melanie says:

    I turned a dream into a novel… But after years of rewrites and editing, I have a great story, but almost all elements of the original dream are gone. (Which is probably better for everyone involved)

  • Rocky Cole says:

    Amanda, Freud said that dreams were the ‘royal road to the unconscious’. His method of dream analysis is very close to what you did with this great dream: Looking at each individual image and then seeing what may have triggered it in the previous few days. It is fascinating how our minds work and how these disparate images are weaved together into something fairly coherent. Keep dreaming.

  • Lilly Rose says:

    Hi Amanda,

    I enjoyed reading your post! Last night, I dreamed of a sudden flight to Helsinki, Finnland. I have never been there and so far it is not my plan to travel there anytime soon. So I was very confused and wondered how I got into the airplane. My biggest concern tough: “Wait guys, I don’t have a travel guide for this country!”. I was shocked to wake up and remember that this was my only problem with the whole thing.
    And now I am curious: Why in all world would you like to learn German? Can there be a post about it?

    Lilly =D

    • Amanda möchte sicher deutsch lernen, weil sie schwierig ist und trotzdem lustig klingt. Aber nicht nur das. Wir benutzen so viele Wörter doppelt. Es muss für Amerikaner ungefähr so sein deutsch zu lernen, wie es für uns deutsche interessant ist englisch zu lernen. Unsere Sprache ist super alt. Ich bring es dir gerne bei amanda 🙂

      German is just great. Thats Why 🙂

    • Amanda möchte sicher deutsch lernen, weil sie schwierig ist und trotzdem lustig klingt. Aber nicht nur das. Wir benutzen so viele Wörter doppelt. Es muss für Amerikaner ungefähr so sein deutsch zu lernen, wie es für uns deutsche interessant ist englisch zu lernen. Unsere Sprache ist super alt. Ich bring es dir gerne bei amanda 🙂

      German is just great. Thats Why 🙂

  • Hi Amanda. I had a dream that I turned into a novel a few years back. I shopped it around, etc. etc. and it flopped. LoL I’m going to dig it out again sometime next year and have another try. But dreams definitely mean many things. Pay attention to them.

    You’ve inspired my post of the day. Thanks! 😀

  • Vetsy says:

    Charlie Hunnam is so fine! Have you seen him in Greenstreet Hooligans. I fell in love watching him.

  • dbstevens says:

    I’m not going to admit out loud that I may, perhaps, covet your batman ring.