Woman turns nightmare dream into six-figure book deal
A woman who had a terrifying nightmare dream has turned the idea into a six-figure book deal.
During lockdown, Kate Gray, 38, dreamt that she was alone on a beach, hunted by a bloodied stranger and savagely attacked.
During her vivid nightmare she realised her own hands were stained with the man's blood and she was locked up where she couldn't speak the language.
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The terrifying dream gave her an idea for a novel which she set about writing - and she later secured a six-figure deal for crime thriller 'The Honeymoon'.
The Honeymoon is currently a WHSmith book of the month in its airport stores. The book is released in hardback and e-book form this week, and paperback will be released next year.
"The nightmare was surreal and horrifying. The realism was overwhelming, and I was gripped by terror," Gray, from Helmsley, North Yorkshire, says.
"My husband had to console me, reminding me that we were safe at home in lockdown, far from the scene of the nightmare. I couldn't let go of the dread and panic. It felt so real, I could almost smell the suncream and hear the waves hit the sand."
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Gray adds that she couldn’t get back to sleep after the dream and so she wrote as much of the nightmare down as she could remember, trying to "capture that intense fear".
"The idea stuck with me," she continues. "I wondered what would happen if this sort of thing happened on your honeymoon and how you might go about starting married life having to share the darkest of secrets."
Gray had the dream in July 2021 when the writer was "crippled" by a pandemic-induced creative slump.
She had already published six popular women’s fiction books under the name Katy Colins, but struggled to find inspiration to write a thriller.
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"There were times when I thought it’d just be much easier to get a regular job," she adds. "But the nightmare was just the kick I needed - it fired me up so much.
"I wrote every single day, waking up before the kids, staying up late once they were in bed, and locking myself away just to get some more words down."
The Honeymoon is available on Amazon for £10.89 for hardback or £5.99 for e-book.
Additional reporting by SWNS.
