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Sleep isn't rest for my overactive mind.
by Delilah Devlin

Just the process of lying down and clearing my head doesn't do the job of easing me into dreamtime. Those moments when I finally let my crazy mind empty are the ones where my muse sneaks in to detonate a new bomb.

Night before last, I lay down, glanced at the mirror above my dresser with the reflection of my digital alarm glaring in the glass, and WHAM! These waking dreams are like movie reels that play in my head.

The scene that followed that particular night creeped me out so badly I had to turn on the lights and check out the mirror before I could get my heart to slow down again. But that's how it works. Too bad you won't be able to read the story I'm building from that little snippet from my overactive imagination for a while. *shudder*

Getting to sleep can be pretty frustrating with all those starts and stops. I keep my tape recorder beside the bed to capture bits of dialogue that come to me, when the characters I've been working with all day finally decide to spill their
guts. Sometimes, I have to get up, head to the office, and fire up the computer to get my notes down.

If I could nap during the day, it wouldn't be such a bad thing, but I haven't napped since I was on maneuvers in the field with the military years ago. So, many days, I'm grumpy and sleep-deprived which is
probably why I have so many cranky heroines.

Deep sleep, the kind I can't pull myself from when the ideas begin to flow, can
be the scariest. I also can't seem to influence where those dreams go, can't rewind and follow another path if it's not proving productive like my near-sleep dreams. Instead, I follow the roller coaster and hope that at the end I have a good time, a good scare, or at least something colorful to reflect on.

One time I dreamt I was an archeologist aboard a small boat off the coast of Santorini. I was a diver and the team I worked with underwater found an ancient box. When we pulled it up, I had this horrible feeling we shouldn't open it, but
my boyfriend (I'm pretty sure he was a bearded Colin Farrell) took it to his cabin to scrub away barnacles and I went to shower.

When I came out of my room, the boat was completely empty. Well, of course, the box belonged to Pandora and I was the heir to THE POWER, which was why I wasn't incinerated off the boat like the rest of the ash piles I found, including poor Colin.

Haven't used that in a story yet. Probably won't ever. Colin isn't my idea of the sexiest man on the planet and I was a little ticked my subconscious hadn't chosen my then-current crush, Gerard Butler. But I'm sure aspects of that dream, the eerie atmosphere, the sense of complete isolation and confusion I felt will turn up somewhere.

The idea for my DARK REALM series didn't start with a dream. It started with a newspaper article about a flood near New Orleans that swept through cemeteries, leaving bodies and caskets lying alongside riverbanks. The description stayed
with me and, when I started to plot my city of vampires, I knew I'd use it somewhere in the series.

SEDUCED BY DARKNESS begins with a flood overtaking a cemetery and setting a monster free. However, the monster escaping from his crypt, and the vivid, horrific imagery of that scene, came straight from one of my near-sleep dreams that again creeped me out so bad I had to get out of bed and write it down. You'll have to read it to understand why I got very little
sleep that night.

The horror aspects of my darker stories often come that way when I'm falling toward sleep. The sexier parts come from wide-awake daydreaming because I don't like to leave any of THAT up to a cranky muse--I want total control.

33 Comments:

Blogger Tina said:

so you dont have nightmares of the horror?? akkk wouldnt wanna fall asleep thinking of them lol... but of a sexy man now that i can fall asleep thinking of lol

11:00 AM  

Blogger Delilah Devlin said:

Tina!

I don't mind nightmares. Love them, actually. They stay with me longest and feed my overactive brain.

Thanks for stopping by!!

11:09 AM  

Blogger Unknown said:

I can't ever remember my dreams once I wake up. I just finished reading Into the Darkness last night. Great book! I can't wait to read the next book in the series. Love your vamp books!

11:19 AM  

Blogger Selena Illyria said:

This sounds like such a great book. Although, I'd probably have nightmares after reading the article. I love your idea about Pandora's box and can't wait to see how you use it. Big Hugs.

11:23 AM  

Blogger Gena Showalter said:

Can't wait to pick this one up!!

11:25 AM  

Blogger Hot Ash Romance Novels said:

Yup. I have dreamed the 'solution' to problem scenes or even had my characters act them out for me. How cool is that!

More often though, i get ideas or the next lines in the shower and then have to either try to remember them or jump out and drip a damp trail all the way to my computer. LOL.

Ash

11:25 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Most of my best ideas come while I'm in the shower. Guess I need a waterproof tape recorder! LOL

Can't wait to read the book Delilah, especially since I'm on the Mississippi Gulf Coast next door to New Orleans.

I'm also looking forward to the next plotting bootcamp with the Sisters!

Peace y'all,
Savannah

11:39 AM  

Blogger Delilah Devlin said:

Amy!
I only remember dreams if they make we wake up quickly, which is probably why the scary ones seem to linger longest.

Selena!
SEDUCED is what I label "Monster Erotica." Plenty of scary with the sexy. It will definitely give you nightmares. LOL

Gena!
Thanks so much for stopping in! And HUGE congratulations on your #1 bestseller with your daughter. How awesome is that!?

Ashlyn!
You crazy girl. Guess the next time I blog, I'll have to talk about my "blowdryer muse." :)

Savannah!
We'll be revving that workshop up in August-September. Hope you can join us. It's always a blast.

11:41 AM  

Blogger Shada_Royce said:

Hey Delilah!

My best ideas come to me on my long commute home after work. I used to carry a tape recorder (but I can't stand to hear my own voice) - so that didn't work - LOL.

I also come up with my best scenes right as I'm drifting off to sleep. If I don't get up and write them down - I usually forget them.

My inspiration for stories come from everyday life - a song, a newspaper article, the woman and child on the corner in a bad part of town waiting on the school bus. I think "I wonder what that person's life is like and what would make it better?" - then BAM - I have a story.

11:50 AM  

Blogger Myla Jackson said:

That's my sister, always dreaming and always wanting total control. I remember when we were very young, she told me she'd dreamed she was eating one of those great big colorful lollipops. In her dream, she stuck it under her pillow to save for when she woke up. I can still remember her disappointment when she woke up, checked beneath her pillow and what do you think she found? Nothing. That's my sister, the creative flake. Don't you just love her?

11:53 AM  

Blogger Delilah Devlin said:

Shada!
Thanks for stopping by! I can't wait to see you tomorrow!

Myla, oh sister o' mine!
You just had to tell that story, didn't you?!! LOL

12:00 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hi, Delilah :)
Love your series :)
As for dreams, I love them and can usually remember most of them... love to daydream, too... though, that can usually get me into trouble, lol

12:16 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hey Delilah!
My brain starts churning the minute my head hits the pillow...if only I could invent a device that would automatically move the scenes in my head to my computer, I'd be one rich b*tch! LOL

I remember most of my dreams, but they are SO strange and disjointed, writing them up have men in white jackets visiting, if you get what I'm saying!

See ya!

12:23 PM  

Blogger Delilah Devlin said:

Ali!
I'm so glad you love my DARK REALM books! We all get into trouble daydreaming. One of my favorite places to do it is in the car while I'm driving. One of these days...

Cyndi!
Ah...that won't be the only reason the white coats show up at your door. LOL

12:34 PM  

Blogger Fedora said:

Congrats on your books, Delilah! They look gorgeous, but I'm so easily spooked, I don't think I'd better read them. I'll definitely recommend them to the less faint of heart though! :)

1:06 PM  

Blogger Keri Ford said:

Howdy Delilah. Scary dream you got there. I have nightmares but they never feel very suspenseful like I might die and I typically wake up smiling. Expect for one time I dreamed I shot a man and it freaked the crap out me. I can still feel the weight of the gun and the *clink* sound it made when I set it on a glass table top. Not to mention the guys eyes when I shot him.

And to those of you who think best in the shower...get some dry erase markers! They rub right off my shower walls ;)

1:27 PM  

Blogger Delilah Devlin said:

Flchen1!
Yeah, SEDUCED might be too much for you. INTO THE DARKNESS hasn't got the horror aspect, it's more the vampire erotica you'd expect, so you might give that a try.

Keri!
Nice dream. So much better than the ones where you're naked in public and no one seems to notice. Hate those!! Now, the dry erase markers in the shower give me an idea for something else entirely...

1:32 PM  

Blogger Judith Rochelle said:

I'm with Savannah-my ideas come to me in the shower. But then again, when I'm just faling asleep at night and I want to really clear my head, those wild scenes and pesky characters jump all over my brain. Good thing you dream, girl, because Seduced By Darkness is one of the best books I've ever read. And read. And read.

1:36 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I've already devoured the book Delilah. So hot, hot, hot. When can we expect another one? Where do you get your inspirations for your characters?

2:14 PM  

Blogger Delilah Devlin said:

Judith!
You're so prolific, I know that shower must be working overtime for you! Thanks for the compliment. *hugs*

Lisa E!
I love hearing that you "devoured" the book. Book three has been turned in. We'll see what my wonderful editor thinks. Maybe she'll think I jumped off the ledge with this one. LOL

I do hope it will be out Spring of next year.

As to where I get inspiration--absolutely everywhere. And, I'm a little pink-cheeked to say, from some of my own life's experiences. I love men. Love everything about the way they think, even when they drive me crazy. My heroes may be vampires, but there's usually a kernel of a real guy I've met somewhere buried deep in that character's heart.

2:47 PM  

Blogger Selena Illyria said:

I love that title. I can't wait. *Grin* As, long as there is a sexy hero to save me from the nightmares I don't mind. *Grin*

3:39 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Sounds like my kind of book, will have to put it on my to read list!

4:41 PM  

Blogger Delilah Devlin said:

Selena!
Monster Erotica? Yeah, it pretty much sums up my kinda story too.

Alison!
I hope you do. Then come and tell me what you thought! I love hearing from readers.

5:25 PM  

Blogger Selena Illyria said:

LOL. Does sound good. :-)

6:08 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Delilah, you are a woman after my own heart. I love love love your cover and your title. This is going to be a good read. ((Hugs)) your creative genius.

AJ

8:46 PM  

Blogger Delilah Devlin said:

AJ!
Thanks so much. I fell in love with the cover too. SEDUCED BY DARKNESS isn't the origianl title I suggested, but my editor knew better. :)

9:10 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

LOL. Don't the editors always know best?

Who ever used the word "Tempest" deserves some kudos. It's one of my favorite words. Dark, seductive... Hell, its just sexy. ;)

AJ

12:17 AM  

Blogger N.J.Walters said:

I wish I could dream book plots. I get a lot of ideas as I'm starting to drift off to sleep, which I sometimes have to jump out of bed and write down.

And of course the guy who was killed in your dream was Colin Farrell. That left you free and clear for Gerard Butler. :-) Think of it as a cameo appearance. LOL

8:04 AM  

Blogger MJFredrick said:

I get a LOT of ideas from dreams. Sometimes when I write them down, they sound weird, but other times, they're golden!

And I'm with you - Gerard over Colin ;)

9:35 AM  

Blogger Pamk said:

lol it's funny but I'd choose colin over gerald.

11:14 AM  

Blogger Unknown said:

cant i have BOTH colin AND gerald?

and i love the book covers, so you get to choose your covers?

5:32 PM  

Blogger Delilah Devlin said:

Thanks to everyone who came by to say hello!

AJ!
Tempest is a great word and I'll have to work it into a title for your somewhere. :)

NJ!
I was surprised to learn how many of us get some wonderful ideas right when we're falling toward sleep.

MaryF!
Congratulations on your first release! And Gerard is the man. Wonder how many women have seen 300 repeatedly just for all that lovely beefcake.

Pamk!
Scrawny Irishman over studly Scot? It is a hard choice.

BlackRoze!

Of course, I don't get to choose my covers! I've just been really lucky so far. LOL

9:47 AM  

Blogger Unknown said:

o yes then you have been very lucky

does the book cover pickers, read the storys, cause they sure do a good job matcing them

10:29 PM  

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