Dreaming

[pameladlloyd]

Do you dream in stories?

While some of my dreams are clearly linked to my everyday life, I am also sometimes blessed with dreams that feel like stories. These dreams are peopled by characters I've never met and are set in in places I've never been. I may be present only as a watcher, or I may enter the dream through a viewpoint character, but I am rarely present in such dreams as myself.

Sometimes, when I'm lucky, my dreams can serve as the kernel for a written story, although often the things which made so much sense in the dream would be difficult to incorporate into something written for others to read. Still, I usually enjoy such dreams immensely.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

These days I rarely remember my dreams, but I've certainly had the experience you describe, and it's truly wonderful--and yes, I've used things that happened in dreams as inspiration for stories.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I go through periods when it's hard to remember dreams. I find this is more likely when I'm very busy, especially if I'm woken by an alarm, rather than waking naturally.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Not always, but the dreams I remember tend to be story dreams. I'm usually present, but not in the incarnation that I wear during the day (I might be male, or able to fly, or whatever) I've had serial dreams, repetitions, and there's a whole world that I visit regularly which sort-of-maps to ours: I often recognise places as 'oh, that's _this city_ (which has no relationship to the real one at all), and I get to know more and more of it over the years, and every now and again I recognise a location and think 'oh, that's how it fits in with this bit' - the awesome bookstore I was talking about the other night for instance is connected to the main university.


I've started two books from dreams. One was a confrontation between two old friends during which one of them said 'your aura has more holes than your favorite shirt' which turned the scene from hostile to a shared experience; I had to backtrack 80K before I could get to that place again; the other was 'but you can't trust me. I can't trust myself' which obviously involved demonic posession.

Working out what those dreams are about is another matter entirely...

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

…there's a whole world that I visit regularly which sort-of-maps to ours: I often recognise places as 'oh, that's _this city_ (which has no relationship to the real one at all)…

Oh, yes. I often recognize places in dreams as being analogues to places in my waking world, even when there's no visible similarity, or only a tenuous one. And there are dream places I return to, sometimes after only a short while, but it could also be years later.

I've started two books from dreams.

I've got a partial book that was inspired by dream occurrences, but I've never been able to get things to quite mesh in that one. On the other hand, I once woke in the middle of the night and scribbled down a dream which was a story in its entirety. Despite the fact that it has never sold, it remains one of my favorite stories.

Working out what those dreams are about is another matter entirely...

I prefer to treat my dreams as a source of inspiration and entertainment, rather than messages from my unconscious self. Right up until the point the my unconscious self gets downright demanding, anyway-lol.

[pjthompson]

I dream stories sometimes, too. In fact, I've converted several to actual stories or parts of stories. It hasn't happened in a while, though.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I wonder how common this is in writers, in comparison to those who don't write.

[pjthompson]

I know my friends who are visual artists tend to dream images—like paintings and things. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was common with writers. You dream the art you know, I guess.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Sounds reasonable to me. :-)

[marycatelli]

I seldom remember my dreams but the fragments I do remember tend to be story related.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Remembering dreams on a regular basis seems to require an intention to do so, along with practice. When my focus is on more mundane aspects of my life, my dreams tend to fragment very quickly.

[wild-heart.livejournal.com]

I very often dream full stories with character development and parallel story arcs.

I've also been going to "my seaside town" in dreams for about 25 years now. What started as a nightmare involving a causeway to a barrier island has turned into repeated visitations to a town that's gone from a seaside summer resort to a year-round residential/business city. I've been down every street, have friends in houses and apartments, have shopped, have been on the boardwalk . . . just like a real place.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Wow! It's like you have access to an alternate reality, or an aspect of Faerie. Have you ever read any of Charles de Lint's stories? There's a woman in some of them (I forget her name), who has a similar experience; she winds up with a boyfriend in that other place.

[wild-heart.livejournal.com]

I've lost count of how many people have asked me if I've read de Lint. Maybe it's time I started, eh?

Can you recommend a good starting place?

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend starting with one of his short story collections. Perhaps, The Dreaming Place would be good place to start, since it's fairly early in his writing (#2 in his Newford works) and has a dream focus; I don't remember for sure, but it seems likely to have one or more of the stories with--Sofie, I think it was--the woman I mentioned before.

He has a complete bibliography (http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/biblio-novels01.htm) available on his website.