Can plot dreams become dream plots?

I love it when my dreams have a plot.

The best plot dream I ever had ended up being the inspiration for my novel Conjured in Flames. The final story turned out a little different from the dream, but overall the important kernel of the story was there.

Conjured started out as a dream about a fire in a strip mall. In the dream, I was a real estate agent, showing strip mall to a prospective buyer. When the fire began, we went into the basement [probably not a good place to go if the mall is on fire in real life] and when the flames finally died down, we emerged in a different place. Where the town had been in the distance before, now stood a castle.

The dream didn’t go on much farther than that, but it was enough to build a story on. The story took on a life of its own and the details changed a lot, but the idea of fire as a catalyst for change remained the same.

It’s interesting how the brain works. Last night I had a plot dream. Technically it was a fan-fiction dream. I love those, too.

I was only a passing fan of the TV series JAG, but being a die-hard shipper, I had a soft spot for the relationship between Sara MacKenzie and Harmon Rabb. In the dream I had, Mac and Harm were in a car driving to a naval hospital. They were arguing about the transfer Harm had requested. Mac didn’t want him to leave but she didn’t want to admit how she felt about him. [Unresolved sexual tension, even in a dream!] They arrived at the hospital and Harm went off to a meeting and Mac went off to one of the wards to investigate and an epidemic broke out. Mac was trapped in the isolation ward with the sick patients and Harm was on the outside, unable to get in because of the lock down.

I never get to sleep long enough to finish these really cool dreams, so I don’t know what happened. But I’d love to find out. This certainly isn’t a unique plot, but it made for a great dream and who knows, it might even provide an ‘adventure seed’ for a future story. Not that I need any more seeds. What I really need is a bigger garden to grow them in.

Ah well. Off to sleep, perchance to dream…