Dreams: Epic Inspiration

I actually wasn't planning on posting on this topic until a bit later since it seems to be floating around, but seeing as my dreams keep getting plagued with insane plots, fantastical worlds, and hidden meanings, I figured that it was time to stop avoiding it.

For me, dreams play a huge role in my writing. They play out like a movie, like I'm watching it through a TV screen. Never is my life have I had first person dreams, only third. People tell me that they must be less scary or less intense since I'm not watching them from my own eyes, but movies generate the same response, the same emotions. I quite like watching them this way. My dreams are very vivid. Colors are bright, sounds are clear, and more often than not, there is a general plot. I've even had dreams about my characters. The first one one was about a month ago. It was the first in almost three years of development. That dream went something like this:

I was in a half-finished skyscraper with my MC boy, Adarin. Someone was chasing us--the man who owned the building wanted me. He was using these flying creatures to track us down and eventually they got me. From here, it focused on Adarin, who found me trapped by the owner. He had my hands handcuffed behind my back and treated me like a welcome guest at the same time--feeding me an expensive, gourmet meal. Adarin saved me and we ran. Then I woke up, but I remembered the sinister owner perfectly. An attractive face with soulless eyes. A gleaming smile, hiding a rabid dog. He became Charles Morrison, my villain. The 36 year old lead Tracker of the Initiative has quickly become one of my favorite characters. Because of that dream, he is one of the most developed people I've created. I'm not sure I could get him and his motives any clearer in my head.

Of course, not all my dreams are about my book, some of them could be possible future ideas if I could fine tune them. Like I said, they usually have a plot, but for the most part, I remember only the middle. This next dream was eerie and fantastic.

I have hazel eyes and so does my friend Kaitlyn. I say this because in the dream, people with hazel eyes had a 95% resistance to a disease that was circulating the world. It was painful--a slow process turning humans into zombie-like creatures. They were angry--furious that people with hazel eyes had some sort of immunity. So they captured us, hoping that that 5% would work. If they were going to go down in agony, so were we.

I love my dreams, I really do. Of course, the ones about snakes and spiders coming out from underneath the furniture in an infinite amount I could live without.

The ones that I've described above are always fun to relay to my friends and family. I get the same reaction everytime: oh no. My dreams do often have a tendency to be completely and utterly random. Something about talking dogs, an alligator, and riding a bike up a steep slope with bare feet. But the ones that are just filled with nothing but epicness...those are the ones I can't wait to have.

So what about everyone else? Any dreams come to you that inspired ideas? What about characters. Have you ever had a dream with them in it or the base of character?