A while ago I picked up a book called ‘Writers Dreaming’ by Naomi Epel that I was reminded of last night when I had a funny dream. In the dream, I was walking down the street when I heard a loud, sustained roar from way up high that got my attention, and I turned to see a space shuttle hurtling into orbit. Just as I and several strangers laid eyes on it, the pilot started doing barrel rolls and other crazy tricks on their way up into space. The gathered crowd couldn’t help but laugh at the particular breed of insane you’d have to be to do some hotdogging in a hundred billion dollar spacecraft. I had to write that one down as soon as I woke because it was just too entertaining to ignore.

I don’t know if I’ll ever use it in a story, as ridiculous as it was, but as many of the authors in ‘Writers Dreaming’ said, it’s not like it hurts to keep it around. It’s also not the kind of idea I would have ever come up with during my waking hours. Those are often the most valuable ideas to me, the ones that are so out of left field that I’d never even consider them in normal circumstances. It’s not enough for a story all on it’s own, but it is enough to get me thinking. What kind of character would do a barrel roll on their way into space? Probably a pretty interesting person. An extreme hotshot, so desperate for an adrenaline high that strapping a million pound rocket to their back is not enough. Or maybe the shuttle launch had become so common that the pilot was terribly bored, fed up with a straight drive up to space and back. Maybe they were just trying to piss off their boss, scare an unruly passenger, or maybe it wasn’t intentional at all. A wasp snuck into the shuttle and attacked the pilot, sending them into evasive maneuvers, meanwhile all of us on the ground cheer as we think we’re watching the coolest pilot ever do something incredible. The possibilities are endless.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley