Of Muses and Dreams (How I got the idea for my new novel)

One of the questions I get asked most is where the ideas come from. Usually, an idea starts as a spark.  A simple "what if," that grows as it knocks around the noggin.  If the spark isn't that interesting, I'll eventually forget about it and move on.  It's the ideas that percolate and persist that end up on the page.

For the most part anyway.

The Bridge Between Stars was a little different. It began as a dream I had back in the summer of 2009.  The dream was vivid and felt real, and it stayed with me upon waking, and I wrote it all down. I wrote about images I'd seen, the sounds I heard.  The docks.  The lapping water.  The reflection of the night sky.  the burning cities.  The invaders.  Something about the dream was important to me, but I couldn't place it. 

Half a dozen years passed until I was ready to flesh out the story.  I had attempted to write it several times before, but each time I felt that I wasn't ready.  Until now.

There is still something very personal about this story.  Something very important, and I think the timing for this story in our world is just about perfect.

Below, I've pasted the exact words I wrote upon waking from the dream, nearly a decade ago  (typos and all).  The idea for The Bridge Between Stars came from this:

From A dream I had 7/21/09

the days before the endd--live beneath in the tunnels--RED graffiti everywhere

warriors coming, Aztec?--feathers, clubs, swords--BRUTAL illusions?

(desolation))

Warriors are supernatural--no one believes in God, or anything

 the warriors slaughter their victims--no survivors.

Family (group of people) w/ small children--twins??

Maybe MOm comes in from another City, saying that the warriors are

coming--then she is killed.  (Warrior is blury?? in the shadows--it is the spirit of a warrior sent to finish off the

victim--can only finish what the physical warrior started) 

RED HUES

leave.  north

hear drums all around, FIRE.  cities burning. skylines with smoke and red glows.  sun doesn't rise. ash like snow.

north

Family flees --YELLOW hues, even in MOON LIGHT, like

mars, otherworldly--warriors hunt them.

They follow the paths, climbing high into the yellow, shale mountains.

Higher and higher, to the top of the mountains--climb through a crust of snow)

train going north

--BLUE HUES--beautiful blue--serene

docks from the banks of the lake/ocean.  maze of docks.

water is calm.

I can see stars in the water.

Ocean, lakes, at the top (Wierd, like death valley)--surrounded by

mountains and glaciers, and ice.  ALWAYS NIGHT, DARK BLUE HUES.

White caps on the water, waves--docks running everywhere--like a maze

of docks.  rickety, some painted, some not--some only big enough for a

few people. The run on the docks.  The warriors hunt.

North.

The finished product is more polished than these notes (as we would hope), but the themes remain in this dark apocalyptic thriller.

So, where do you get your ideas?

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Pre-order The Bridge Between Stars for the Kindle!

Chaos reigns. Fear and terror run rampant. War is inevitable.

An ancient tribe of primitive people rises to save the world from its own destruction.

At least, that’s what we think…

The Bridge Between Stars is a nightmare come to life. A haunting tale of a family’s will to survive at all costs, even when hope is lost, and a love that spans galaxies.