The stuff of nightmares
Having a bit of 'flu at present, I had a broken night's sleep last night. As usual when I wake at two in the morning, I started fretting about all the things that are going wrong in my life. Irritation at having to sort out blocked email accounts hardly counts as a nightmare, but it got me thinking about how we could use nightmares in our stories.
A character who was abused as a child might have nightmares about it later. And we know the cycle of abuse perpetuates through generations. But if your character is determined to break that cycle their struggles can make for a great story.
The nightmare of a failing business in a recession, or of being the partner of the owner of a failing business, provides lots of scope for tension. Does their relationship survive the nightmare, or do the partners split up and have to deal with the new nightmare of relationship failure?
A current topic here in the UK which I'm sure will start appearing in magazine short stories soon is the nightmare caused by the extraordinary amount of flooding we've suffered in the UK this winter. How will characters who've had their homes flooded three times in three years react? Is this the last straw that drives them to leave? How will the young woman who has just opened her dream business deal with its failure?
The television and newspaper news is always full of stories that are the stuff of nightmares. Use the real stories there as a launching-pad for your own fictional nightmares.
A character who was abused as a child might have nightmares about it later. And we know the cycle of abuse perpetuates through generations. But if your character is determined to break that cycle their struggles can make for a great story.
The nightmare of a failing business in a recession, or of being the partner of the owner of a failing business, provides lots of scope for tension. Does their relationship survive the nightmare, or do the partners split up and have to deal with the new nightmare of relationship failure?
A current topic here in the UK which I'm sure will start appearing in magazine short stories soon is the nightmare caused by the extraordinary amount of flooding we've suffered in the UK this winter. How will characters who've had their homes flooded three times in three years react? Is this the last straw that drives them to leave? How will the young woman who has just opened her dream business deal with its failure?
The television and newspaper news is always full of stories that are the stuff of nightmares. Use the real stories there as a launching-pad for your own fictional nightmares.
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