Inspiration and Dreams

I've had a lot of fantastic questions in the comments section of my blog tour this month. If you want to read them, please be sure to check out the links for my stops. If you have questions of your own, definitely post them, as well. 

One question really stood out for me, though I hadn't thought too hard about it before. The answer stumped me, at first, and also made me realize how much of my writing is dependent upon my subconscious. Using my dreams to feed my novels is so second nature that I've always taken it for granted, and sometimes forget where my ideas originate. The question came from poster Elise-Maria B.:

"I find it fascinating that you’re able to remember your dreams well enough to put them to paper. What’s the craziest thing you ever dreamt and then used in a book?"

I did post my response on the blog, but for some reason it's still not showing up for anyone but me (gotta love the interwebs!), so here's the answer.... 

The truly crazy things I don’t tend to use (believe me, I've had some strange dreams!), but Cal’s introduction in The Child Returns was a dream and has to be the strangest thing I’ve used to date. He’s what’s known as a Guide in the kingdom of Aerenden. His power allows him to manipulate the elements and at times, he uses rhyme to focus that power.

I have unusual relationship with my characters sometimes. I’ve tried controlling them, but the stories never work out when I do that. And in some cases, new characters simply pop into my head and won’t leave me alone until I write about them. Cal was one of those characters. He first appeared to me as a bodiless voice in a dream, singing the same song he broadcast to Meaghan on the wind. Since I had no idea who he was or his significance, I disregarded the dream. It refused to let me go. For a solid week, I dreamed his silly song until I used it. Of course, he turned out to be a major character, but it took a huge leap of faith to allow that dream into my books. Glad I did!

Thanks for the question and the important reminder, Elise-Maria!

And now I'm curious: Does anyone else ever have great ideas in a dream? If so, what are they?