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Ruskin Bond Says He Gets Most Of His Story Ideas Lying in Bed

Need Story Ideas? Just Relax In Bed Like Ruskin Bond
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KOLKATA -- Do you know where does noted author Ruskin Bond get his story ideas from? He just lies down on the bed and ideas flow, whether he is awake or sleep catches on.

"I get my best ideas when I am lying on the bed awake or sleeping. It lets my imagination flow. I have often worked out stories while lying down, but remaining awake. And in sleep, even the dreams can set off a story," Bond told PTI in an interview here.

It was one such dream, a nightmare rather, that helped him build the plot of his latest book Rusty and the Magic Mountain.

One night, the celebrated author, who was here to participate in the just-concluded Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, dreamt of encountering a tiger while reading a book on the veranda of a forest bungalow.

Sharing the story, Bond whose stories are part of school textbooks, said that he kept running around closing all doors and windows, but the tiger finally crashed the door and came inside.

"After that I woke up. Just on time," the 81-year-old said with a laugh.

Giving it a twist, he kept this dream in the book just like what he did with many other.

Besides being bizarre sometimes, the biggest problem with dreams is that we forget most of them, said Bond who has written works like Room on the Roof, The Blue Umbrella, Funny Side Up, Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra and A Flight of Pigeons.

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-- This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.