Every writer knows a thing or two about daydreaming. But what about dreamzoning? What’s that—and how can it help you cultivate inspiration for your storytelling?
Put simplistically, dreamzoning is basically just daydreaming on steroids. It’s purposeful, focused daydreaming. It’s intense. It’s fun. And if you’re a writer, it’s the mother lode of all story ideas.
I’ve named-dropped “dreamzoning” a lot in recent years, but after an exchange on Patreon with Susan Geiger, I realized some readers may not fully understand what I’m talking about. Susan said:
I look forward to trying out “dreamzoning” (I’ve heard you talk about it on your podcast before but never fully understood it….).
Because dreamzoning is such an amazing tool and experience, I figured it was time to do a core post about it.
What Is Dreamzoning?
The word “dreamzone” came into my consciousness years ago when I read From Where You Dream, a transcript of Pulitzer winner Robert Olen Butler’s lectures about “the process of writing fiction.”
In the book, he talked about how he would take the time to find his story inspiration by sitting back at his desk and “zoning out.” He’d watch the pictures in his head, following them, not guiding them but just watching to see what would unfold. Later, he would record the snippets of his imaginings on index cards and use them to formulate an outline. If he ran into a plot problem or question, he would revert to dreamzoning to find the solution.
From Where You Dream by Robert Olen Butler (affiliate link)
Like many writers, I immediately resonated with his description of this deeply intuitive mental space. I’d naturally gone there for years, even calling my imaginings my “movies” when I was young. The dreamzone was the space I lived in between waking and sleep every night, as well as the space I physically played in as a child when acting out my stories (a practice that only petered out in my twenties). It’s where I went mentally when doing the “creative lollygagging” chores of dishes or weeding. It’s the space we all go when we’re in the throes of writing—particularly when we’ve hit that sweet spot of “the zone.”
That said, the act of “dreamzoning” itself is, as Butler indicates, always intentional. It is a purposeful quest into the land of stories in order to excavate needed inspiration. Dreamzoning is a way to fill the well so our creative output doesn’t drain it.
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