All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.
--T. E. Lawrence
A writer is working even when he's looking out the window...
As a kid, the woods in my back yard were filled with ewoks and jawas. Godzilla was often in the field beyond. An old, big-trunked tree that fell served as a horse, an elephant, and a speederbike. The top of that fallen tree became the base for a hideaway. I had a kite I flew in the field until the string broke. That winter, my kite came down from the trees and we played again the next spring...but he was so much more than a kite. He was a falcon trained to work with me. He was a space ship.
Looking back, I was alone in those woods a lot. It started when I was young, I guess, because my dad used to carry me out there and I always wanted to hug the trees.
I bought my childhood home a few years back and now my bedroom windows overlook those same woods.
Yes. I daydream. A lot. I play in my fictional worlds. I listen to movie scores that have the same tone of the scene I'm going for, assemble my cast, lean back in my chair, shut my eyes and let them loose...or I write my own score and discover them through the melody that is them.
I've been working on something with dark, horrible events. It is not as easy to tap into. I have found that active thinking through logic on the side of ego and considering the attitude of "more more more and I don't care who it hurts I must achieve my agenda" create that part of the story. Daydreaming doesn't get me there. Maybe I have not found the right music for that.
Otherwise, daydreaming gets me through writer's block...or a walk in the woods does. :)
