I often dream about my characters when I'm writing a novel. Sometimes in that half-lucid state I manage to work out problems I'm having with my plots, or realise what I need to do with a scene. Twice, so far, I've dreamt suitable ideas for completely new stories and gone on to write those down the next day. (I'm writing a novel based on one of those at the moment.) Sometimes I just like to spend some time getting to know my characters better, so that I can get a sense of who they are and how they react to situations.
My stories don't tend to come from things I fear - although
after having researched this week's article I think it might be worth making a note of what makes me jump and trying my hand at a horror story one day. It could be fun, I think...
What about you?
Do your dreams inspire you? What about your fears? Have you ever created an artwork in order to deal with something you couldn't face any other way?