This week in the Sovereign Writers’ Knot, our focus is on dreams.
As our group is made up of writers of all kinds--novelists, poets, bloggers, and memoirists--I invite members to approach prompts in either the first person, or as a character in their current work. I think some interesting things will come through as the writers play with their characters’ dream worlds and begin to wonder if their non-human story elements have dreams, too.
I want to share one of the prompts from yesterday’s writing practice session because I think it speaks to a question all creatives ask at one time or another: but what if someone has already said all this before?
Writing Prompt: A Brand New Dream
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
- Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”
Is it possible to dream something no one has ever dreamed before? We might say, “Sure, that’s true if you are Edgar Allan Poe, but for the rest of us…? HA!”
Modern advice around creativity (which I often give myself) declares that there may not be any more “totally original” ideas under the sun (or in the darkness). Instead, it is our sacred task to call universal, timeless ideas, images, and emotions through our own beautifully particular lens of experience and wisdom.
If you’re someone who finds yourself tangled in the “but it has all been said before!” blues, I invite you to take on these demons and say, “maybe it has, but no one has said it like me!” And then, proceed to tell a story or explore an emotion in a way that is totally original to you.
It’s important to note: The Raven is actually just a poem about being unable to get over a lover and we have certainly all heard that one before!
(Would you like to write with us? We’ll be forming a new group for another 13-week writing adventure in late January. Learn more and sign up to join the interest list so you’ll be the first to know when registration reopens.)
Want some further proof that you don’t need a brand new dream, you just need your dream?
Pick up that copy of Big Magic you very likely have on your shelf. If you don’t have it, I highly recommend you ask a friend for her copy (honestly, you know someone who has this book), or just order it right now because it’s an important piece of the modern creative canon.
Elizabeth Gilbert says just about all the things about creativity I would like to say to you (she happens to say them in her way with the authority granted to her by writing a mega best seller and several other fabulous books). The way she talks about creativity gives us all permission to keep writing about creativity:
“If it’s authentic enough, believe me, it will feel original.”
She expands on that idea in this blog post too.
Speaking of New Creative Dreams… Have you heard about my new creative project?
It’s a variation on something that has definitely been done before, but it’s also a universe of ideas that has more than enough room for my own creativity and authenticity.
Debuting 2/2/22: The KnotWork Podcast: Untangling Our Myths, Reweaving Our Stories.
In this new show I’ll have a chance to reach back to my studies of Irish lit and Celtic mythology and shape it with all that I’ve learned in the twenty years since I last sat in a university classroom.
Each episode will begin with a story (mostly from Ireland in our first season, but we’ll reach out into the entire world of ancient tales as we go) and will be followed by a deep-dive discussion into why this myth still matters.
Want all the insider details as I do my research, line up my guests, and live the ups and downs of creating a new thing? Join the Facebook group and/or follow @KnotWorkPodcast on Instagram!