Malloriel
Creative Mastermind
Aww, poor Brain. --Pat pat--
You made me laugh, though, so that's got to be something, right? Right??
You made me laugh, though, so that's got to be something, right? Right??
Does anybody else 'dreamwrite'?
- Thread starter dreir
- Start date
dreir
Flamer of Udun
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2008
- Messages
- 215
Lol. Well if it's any consolation, not all of my dreams are useful, book-worthy stuff, either. Maybe only 1 in 5. The rest are pants, too. Maybe you can try thinking very hard about your latest story before going to sleep. I think I tried it a couple of times and it didn't work, but maybe you'd have better luck? 
- Dreir -
- Dreir -
Interference
Destroyer of Words
For my 21st birthday, my Mum offered to buy me a watch. I said I wanted a dictophone. Eventually, after some negotiation, I got them both. I now have neither the watch nor the dictophone, but I still have the tapes and have never been without a personal recorder of some description since I turned 21.
On these tapes are story ideas, songs, scores and dreams. Some of the dreams have been made into short stories, but by no means all. Many of the ideas are still there awaiting my need for them.
From an analysis of my own dreams and those of others, I'm convinced that they are entirely messages from the unconscious, often encouragement, occasionally warnings. Your dreams in which you write well are telling you that you can write well, that your self-effacing and deprecating assessment of your work while awake is unjustifiably negative.
I have found it important to acknowledge what a dream means to me, the effects its images have on my intellect and my gut, to help me assess whether I'm being guided or warned. I've recognised feelings of fear and concerns for new directions my life has taken; I've accepted loss through acknowledging dream imagery for what it is. I am not smarter when I'm asleep. I'm not a better lover, writer, friend or guitarist because I dream I am. But I'm probably potentially better at all of these things than my conscious mind tends to accept.
And I stopped wearing watches when I turned 50.
On these tapes are story ideas, songs, scores and dreams. Some of the dreams have been made into short stories, but by no means all. Many of the ideas are still there awaiting my need for them.
From an analysis of my own dreams and those of others, I'm convinced that they are entirely messages from the unconscious, often encouragement, occasionally warnings. Your dreams in which you write well are telling you that you can write well, that your self-effacing and deprecating assessment of your work while awake is unjustifiably negative.
I have found it important to acknowledge what a dream means to me, the effects its images have on my intellect and my gut, to help me assess whether I'm being guided or warned. I've recognised feelings of fear and concerns for new directions my life has taken; I've accepted loss through acknowledging dream imagery for what it is. I am not smarter when I'm asleep. I'm not a better lover, writer, friend or guitarist because I dream I am. But I'm probably potentially better at all of these things than my conscious mind tends to accept.
And I stopped wearing watches when I turned 50.
dreir
Flamer of Udun
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2008
- Messages
- 215
Thank you, thank you!! That gave me a real boost!
Wow, those tapes must be a real treasure for you. 30 years or more of ideas and dreams..
I wish I'm as wise as you are when it comes to my own dreams. Sometimes I'd think that I'd understood something about them, but then I'd just get confused again when I think about them some more.
- Dreir -
Malloriel
Creative Mastermind
That's why research is helpful too. There are printed and online dream dictionaries you can peruse. I find that looking up the images that stand out the most when you recall the dream really help in interpretation. You might have to gather several dream dictionary sites together, though, as there are different meanings for certain images, and one site might not have them all. It's up to you, when you're reading the meaning descriptions, to feel out whether their interpretation fits your life and your dream, or if you need to look and see if there's a little something *different it could be.
*NOTE: Don't let wishful thinking disguise itself as intuition here. There are some messages we don't want to listen to that our subconscious mind tries desperately to get across. Not wanting to hear may inspire you to keep looking until you find a site that panders to that desire to avoid looking deeper at what you don't want to see, but don't mistake that as a shoe not fitting.
*NOTE: Don't let wishful thinking disguise itself as intuition here. There are some messages we don't want to listen to that our subconscious mind tries desperately to get across. Not wanting to hear may inspire you to keep looking until you find a site that panders to that desire to avoid looking deeper at what you don't want to see, but don't mistake that as a shoe not fitting.
Interference
Destroyer of Words
I'm dubious about dream dictionaries, but I won't be completely dismissive. My own view is that there are certain images which mean the same to several thousands of people, but there are far more that mean something only to one - yourself. What does a dream dictionary tell you a Raven is? Look it up now, if you feel like it.
If I dreamt a Raven, it would likely be tap-tapping on my window, because of Edgar Allen Poe, because of Hammer films, because of the Simpsons. If my immediate or most important emotional response is one of amusement, then I'll follow the route to the either of the two Simpson's episodes that I remember that referenced Poe, and probably I'll end with Lisa's tell-tale heart episode, which will mean deception to me. Now the question would be is it some deception of me, by me or to me? And so on ....
The upshot is, no dream dictionary is going to be right for my imagery because it has no benchmark in my life and experience. But, okay, in some instances of common experience (death is unexpected change, fire is the conscious disposal of something, pain is you're sleeping on your arm again) it can help you to see why and how emotions and concerns become dream images, but, personally, I wouldn't invest too much time in studying dream dictionaries or omen translaters or whatever. Study yourself more, find out what you respond to, what stimulates you, what informs you.
I hope I'm not coming across too critical, I don't mean to. I have my views and I think they have merit, but I realise I could be wrong about that
Last edited:
RcGrant
Loves semi-colons
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2007
- Messages
- 337
I'm dubious about dream dictionaries, but I won't be completely dismissive. My own view is that there are certain images which mean the same to several thousands of people, but there are far more that mean something only to one - yourself. What does a dream dictionary tell you a Raven is? Look it up now, if you feel like it.
If I dreamt a Raven, it would likely be tap-tapping on my window, because of Edgar Allen Poe, because of Hammer films, because of the Simpsons. If my immediate or most important emotional response is one of amusement, then I'll follow the route to the either of the two Simpson's episodes that I remember that referenced Poe, and probably I'll end with Lisa's tell-tale heart episode, which will mean deception to me. Now the question would be is it some deception of me, by me or to me? And so on ....
The upshot is, no dream dictionary is going to be right for my imagery because it has no benchmark in my life and experience. But, okay, in some instances of common experience (death is unexpected change, fire is the conscious disposal of something, pain is you're sleeping on your arm again) it can help you to see why and how emotions and concerns become dream images, but, personally, I wouldn't invest too much time in studying dream dictionaries or omen translaters or whatever. Study yourself more, find out what you respond to, what stimulates you, what informs you.
I hope I'm not coming across too critical, I don't mean to. I have my views and I think they have merit, but I realise I could be wrong about that
Completely agree. Dreams are far too personal, far too complex, and very much ingrained in the psyche of an individual, born of the sum of experiences, thoughts, desires, likes, beliefs, to be summed up in a universal, or simplistic manner like that of dream dictionaries. Not that they don't have their place, and if you are a subscriber of Jung (I'll raise my hand half-mast), certain symbols do seem to transcend the individual, into community/species level, as you pointed out) but I think they should be used with discretion.
Malloriel
Creative Mastermind
I agree too, Interference. I don't keep a dream dictionary on hand, I have a walking interpreter in my best friend. She doesn't just look at the definitions that others have compiled, but helps you dig down to your own set of symbols. After all, what dictionary is going to have the meaning of a friend from high school showing up after seven years without a word to help you fight a giant African lobster? At that point it is really up to you to decipher what that person means to you that they'd show up in your dream.
Then, of course, there's what we call "day residue" where anything you've seen, heard, watched, or eaten could show up in your dreams over the next week. Usually it appears within the first night (e.g. you play a video game for 13 hours, your dream that night reflects the situations of the game starring you). There's probably very little hidden meaning in those situations, as your mind is still caught in the cycle of the game (or movie, or tea cart server), and in those cases I usually don't look in very far when analysing.
Then, of course, there's what we call "day residue" where anything you've seen, heard, watched, or eaten could show up in your dreams over the next week. Usually it appears within the first night (e.g. you play a video game for 13 hours, your dream that night reflects the situations of the game starring you). There's probably very little hidden meaning in those situations, as your mind is still caught in the cycle of the game (or movie, or tea cart server), and in those cases I usually don't look in very far when analysing.
Susan Boulton
The storyteller
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2006
- Messages
- 2,039
Agree.
I have never used "dreams" as the source of my writing.
Daydreams are another matter, most of my writing can be called "organised daydreams." I go over scenes in my head while doing mundane jobs or travelling.
You mean the dream where my and my youth group are jumping on disappearing Fruit Loops over a giant pit of lava was inspired by playing too much Super Mario Brothers? Or that flying through floating red circles, or collecting red dots is also a sign of playing way too many video games? Or that (my FAVORITE!) the blue regulatory option board guiding my dreams means I need to get off the Playstation for a while?
Incidentally, I agree.
Would that the rest of mine had enough in common with each other to define something like "symbolism". They all function completely independently of each other. I write down all my more interesting dreams simply because they're interesting, but that's about it.
I think there's only been once where an actual dream has ended up in any form in my writing. Otherwise it all falls into half-dreaming plotting, or daydreaming. It can be really distracting to go to bed and turn the light on three or four times to write down plot things- perhaps why I rely on reading myself to sleep so much. Also, it tends to happen when I'm about to wake up or have just woken up- the mind is so clear then, and a lot of my big plot break-throughs come this way. Can't remember which, though, as once it goes into the notebook, I tend to forget the circumstances under which I wrote it.
Incidentally, I agree.
Would that the rest of mine had enough in common with each other to define something like "symbolism". They all function completely independently of each other. I write down all my more interesting dreams simply because they're interesting, but that's about it.
I think there's only been once where an actual dream has ended up in any form in my writing. Otherwise it all falls into half-dreaming plotting, or daydreaming. It can be really distracting to go to bed and turn the light on three or four times to write down plot things- perhaps why I rely on reading myself to sleep so much. Also, it tends to happen when I'm about to wake up or have just woken up- the mind is so clear then, and a lot of my big plot break-throughs come this way. Can't remember which, though, as once it goes into the notebook, I tend to forget the circumstances under which I wrote it.
Malloriel
Creative Mastermind
The dream I just had:
It was surprisingly cohesive in that it built its own foreshadowing and tied things together on its own.
It was a world with traces of magic, I lived next door to some witches, for instance, but magic didn't take centre stage. Everything starts out well enough, but following the attack of a very large, very stompy ogre (who destroys part of the witches' house), some chemical agent is released that kills humans. For some it strips the flesh from the bones, and for others it turns them into zombies (because what post-apocalyptic world doesn't have zombies?).
While most places are left severely underpopulated, to the point where you can't even imagine having neighbors any more, there's actually a sort of government facility working on fixing the problem to help what's left of the population come back nice and healthy. They're doing something to the water, kind of a sparkly magical additive that's just about a panacea that could potentially also raise people from the dead if not too much time has passed.
The character I was had sort of inherited a child. He had been visiting when the ogre attacked, and we remained inside in a safe place when the chemical agent was released, and so we lived. I think he was about eight or nine, and surpisingly well behaved and mature. We got on quite well. I took on the role of parent, but our relationship was more like siblings.
We sort of pick up a man and his son who find our little home, and when you don't know if anyone else has survived, when you find someone who isn't out to kill you an ally is generally made.
It turns out that when the ogre had been stomping around, he made little fissures in the ground, and from one we got a little spring welling up. The water was always clean, so it was used for our baths and everything else. Apparently it had a nice scent to it, because the man commented on how nice the boys always smelled. Not because of soap, but something in the water.
As you know already, a facility (quite near) had been adding things to the water to help already, and we were benefitting from it, which meant we were probably doing better than most.
There's an infiltration of the facility, a great chase scene, and a special agent out to catch us, or more specifically me. Upon waking, I knew I had to keep it in mind, and I'm going to see how well it would fare as a written story. ^_^
It was surprisingly cohesive in that it built its own foreshadowing and tied things together on its own.
It was a world with traces of magic, I lived next door to some witches, for instance, but magic didn't take centre stage. Everything starts out well enough, but following the attack of a very large, very stompy ogre (who destroys part of the witches' house), some chemical agent is released that kills humans. For some it strips the flesh from the bones, and for others it turns them into zombies (because what post-apocalyptic world doesn't have zombies?).
While most places are left severely underpopulated, to the point where you can't even imagine having neighbors any more, there's actually a sort of government facility working on fixing the problem to help what's left of the population come back nice and healthy. They're doing something to the water, kind of a sparkly magical additive that's just about a panacea that could potentially also raise people from the dead if not too much time has passed.
The character I was had sort of inherited a child. He had been visiting when the ogre attacked, and we remained inside in a safe place when the chemical agent was released, and so we lived. I think he was about eight or nine, and surpisingly well behaved and mature. We got on quite well. I took on the role of parent, but our relationship was more like siblings.
We sort of pick up a man and his son who find our little home, and when you don't know if anyone else has survived, when you find someone who isn't out to kill you an ally is generally made.
It turns out that when the ogre had been stomping around, he made little fissures in the ground, and from one we got a little spring welling up. The water was always clean, so it was used for our baths and everything else. Apparently it had a nice scent to it, because the man commented on how nice the boys always smelled. Not because of soap, but something in the water.
As you know already, a facility (quite near) had been adding things to the water to help already, and we were benefitting from it, which meant we were probably doing better than most.
There's an infiltration of the facility, a great chase scene, and a special agent out to catch us, or more specifically me. Upon waking, I knew I had to keep it in mind, and I'm going to see how well it would fare as a written story. ^_^
Daniel Hetberg
Reader of Books
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2007
- Messages
- 109
This so owns Harry Potter.
Malloriel
Creative Mastermind
Harry Potter didn't eve have zombies. How can he even compete? My dream zombies would eat his brains and then mob Ol' What's His Face.
ChrisBfla
Chris Berman
That is pretty a awesome ability! Most of the time, I can't remember exactly what I had for a dream, it's all sort of jumbled up. However, I did write in a section for my published book where one of the main characters is getting a call at 3:00 AM. He's having a dream that is part post-traumatic stress related. He was an astronaut abord a Space Shuttle that was hit by a piece of space junk and he is trying to patch a hole that is sucking out the ship's air. It's a very panicked sort of dream and one that I have from time to time. I ran my air tank dry while Scuba diving. I was down about 40 feet with no air in my lungs, panicing and trying to get out of my tank and weight belt I came very close to death that afternoon in the waters off of Cape Cod. I tried to use this to good effect in my book.
Chris
Chris
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