Dreams

J. Garrett · 02-21-2013, 10:15 AM

I don't often get ideas for a story from dreams, but I had a good one the other night. It was weird, in that it actually played out like a movie [as in, I wasn't the main character, but rather I was watching the main character]. At least two scenes were really vivid and managed to stick in my mind, along with four distinct characters [although at least two of them are a bit too ridiculous].

I really wanted to see what was going to happen next, but I woke well before the end of the story, which means that I'll have to actually write it to find out.

Anyone else wake up from a dream and immediately run to their computer/notebook to write everything down?

crich70 · 02-21-2013, 11:05 AM

Not usually, though I have had some odd ones. One writer who did have an experience like yours though was R.L. Stevenson who dreamed of Dr. Jekyll. His wife woke him up just before the good Dr. transformed into Mr. Hyde the 1st time.

Bilbo1967 · 02-21-2013, 11:36 AM

The poet Coleridge did. Coleridge apparently dreamt the poem Kubla Khan and rushed to write it down but was interrupted whilst doing so and so the poem is considered incomplete.

Wikipedia link here.

J. Garrett · 02-21-2013, 01:50 PM

I wish I could have more dreams like that, honestly. They're always the most interesting [instead of the standard "I'm in an ordinary setting but something weird/illogical is happening" that I usually get] and those "stories" always feel so much more compelling than if I was just reading a book or watching a movie.

Oh, and I'll expound a bit on my dream. It involved zombies [ugh, I know], but they were ECOLOGICAL zombies instead of the normal biological kind. There was weird plant stuff everywhere, including mutant plants that attacked people. The main character was a girl who became infected, but not zombified. Also, she was apparently a cyborg of some kind, but I'd probably cut that out if I actually wrote the full story.

Freeshadow · 02-21-2013, 08:23 PM

Once as a kid I dreamt a series. One episode per night... happened never again.

crich70 · 02-21-2013, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

Once as a kid I dreamt a series. One episode per night... happened never again.

Interesting. What was on the dream channel? I've had dreams that I'm certain I've had before. I guess you would call them re-run dreams.

Freeshadow · 02-22-2013, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

Interesting. What was on the dream channel? I've had dreams that I'm certain I've had before. I guess you would call them re-run dreams.

The fun thing is it was really like a TV action series. With some minutes of "what happened before" included at each episodes beginning. Were I old enough to write down complex stories I 'd have transcribed the episodes. It was absolutely above my then ability to imagine my own stories so it really was like watching TV. Even better because it was in colour

. Don't remember the contents - I think I was about 7 when it happened. Certainly younger than 9. I also had a re-run dream once. 5 days in a row.
These are the two strangest things ever happened to me dream-wise.

VydorScope · 02-22-2013, 06:47 AM

You know the fun thing about it? You do not actually dream in color, nor do you dream in black and white. But when you REMEMBER the dream, you mind notes that the color information is missing, and fills it in based on what your life experiences taught you the colors should be.

At least that is what some random articles on the net that I was reading a while back stated.

gmw · 02-22-2013, 07:03 AM

I rarely dream (in the sense that I think most people mean) or, if I do, I don't remember them ... not since I was a kid. I do still remember a couple I had back then, which may explain why I've avoided them since. (I'm not a cat person, and those childhood nightmares may have something to do with that.)

I do day-dream, or waking-dream, quite a lot. Often quite vividly. That seems quite strange to me since it seems to suggest a level of conscious involvement that I'm not always aware of.

Freeshadow · 02-22-2013, 07:36 AM

The term you look for is "lucid dream". A skill I don't have.

crich70 · 02-22-2013, 09:53 AM

I've had a few lucid dreams, though it hasn't happened that often. I once had a dream that I was sure I'd had before and I knew something bad was coming up so I forced myself to do something else (opening a door rather than going up some stairs) and I found myself looping back to the start of the dream when I did it. There is one dream I've had a various times (more so when I was a young kid). I would enter a room of the house I lived in at night and would be unable to find the light switch. I had a sense that someone was in there with me but I wouldn't be able to see them. Later I came to understand that I was probably under some stress at such times and I didn't want to face whatever it was so the conflict would come out in my dreams as an unknown someone in a darkened room.

crich70 · 02-22-2013, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

The fun thing is it was really like a TV action series. With some minutes of "what happened before" included at each episodes beginning. Were I old enough to write down complex stories I 'd have transcribed the episodes. It was absolutely above my then ability to imagine my own stories so it really was like watching TV. Even better because it was in colour

. Don't remember the contents - I think I was about 7 when it happened. Certainly younger than 9. I also had a re-run dream once. 5 days in a row.
These are the two strangest things ever happened to me dream-wise.

The real fun thing is I had a story idea pop into my head based on your earlier posting yesterday. "a character has nightly dreams that tie into a mystery around the old house where he/she is staying/visiting." I can think of several ways that such an idea (involving episodic dreams) could fit into a possible storyline.

morriss003 · 02-23-2013, 03:38 AM

I am real heavy dreamer. Sometimes I wake up angry from something that happened in a dream, and it takes me a few minutes to calm down. Sometimes I have reoccurring dreams and then realize that I'm dreaming. Unfortunately, if I try to manipulate the dream, I wake up. I have dreams where I'm conversing with loved ones who have passed on, but I'm not sad when I wake. I'm not crazy about dreams where I'm back in the Army, but I enjoy dreams where my kids are little again.

I've never ran to the computer when I woke from a dream, but I've forced myself to get up in the middle of the night when I was awake and created a good scene or some dialogue I wanted to remember.

crich70 · 02-23-2013, 04:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by morriss003

I am real heavy dreamer. Sometimes I wake up angry from something that happened in a dream, and it takes me a few minutes to calm down. Sometimes I have reoccurring dreams and then realize that I'm dreaming. Unfortunately, if I try to manipulate the dream, I wake up. I have dreams where I'm conversing with loved ones who have passed on, but I'm not sad when I wake. I'm not crazy about dreams where I'm back in the Army, but I enjoy dreams where my kids are little again.

I've never ran to the computer when I woke from a dream, but I've forced myself to get up in the middle of the night when I was awake and created a good scene or some dialogue I wanted to remember.

I've had dreams like that. Not where I'm back in the Army (as I never served) but dreams where I am back in my own past. An old job or something of that nature.

VydorScope · 02-23-2013, 07:03 AM

They say everyone dreams... but I almost never have any recollection of anything.

Once though I dreamed that I woke up, and started getting ready for work, and then woke up and started getting ready for work, and then woke up and started getting ready for work.. was real enough that by the forth time (the time I really woke up) I was really unsure it was real for a while. Freaky.

02-21-2013, 10:15 AM	#1
J. Garrett Enthusiast Posts: 46 Karma: 1000010 Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Oklahoma Device: Kindle, 6" E-Ink	Dreams I don't often get ideas for a story from dreams, but I had a good one the other night. It was weird, in that it actually played out like a movie [as in, I wasn't the main character, but rather I was watching the main character]. At least two scenes were really vivid and managed to stick in my mind, along with four distinct characters [although at least two of them are a bit too ridiculous]. I really wanted to see what was going to happen next, but I woke well before the end of the story, which means that I'll have to actually write it to find out. Anyone else wake up from a dream and immediately run to their computer/notebook to write everything down?

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02-21-2013, 11:05 AM	#2
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,306 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	Not usually, though I have had some odd ones. One writer who did have an experience like yours though was R.L. Stevenson who dreamed of Dr. Jekyll. His wife woke him up just before the good Dr. transformed into Mr. Hyde the 1st time.

02-21-2013, 11:36 AM	#3
Bilbo1967 Not scared! Posts: 13,424 Karma: 81011643 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Midlands, UK Device: Kindle Paperwhite 10, Huawei M5 10	The poet Coleridge did. Coleridge apparently dreamt the poem Kubla Khan and rushed to write it down but was interrupted whilst doing so and so the poem is considered incomplete. Wikipedia link here.

02-21-2013, 01:50 PM	#4
J. Garrett Enthusiast Posts: 46 Karma: 1000010 Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Oklahoma Device: Kindle, 6" E-Ink	I wish I could have more dreams like that, honestly. They're always the most interesting [instead of the standard "I'm in an ordinary setting but something weird/illogical is happening" that I usually get] and those "stories" always feel so much more compelling than if I was just reading a book or watching a movie. Oh, and I'll expound a bit on my dream. It involved zombies [ugh, I know], but they were ECOLOGICAL zombies instead of the normal biological kind. There was weird plant stuff everywhere, including mutant plants that attacked people. The main character was a girl who became infected, but not zombified. Also, she was apparently a cyborg of some kind, but I'd probably cut that out if I actually wrote the full story.

02-21-2013, 08:23 PM	#5
Freeshadow temp. out of service Posts: 2,790 Karma: 24285242 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Duisburg (DE) Device: PB 623	Once as a kid I dreamt a series. One episode per night... happened never again.

02-22-2013, 06:47 AM	#8
VydorScope Wizard Posts: 3,418 Karma: 35207650 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: iPad	You know the fun thing about it? You do not actually dream in color, nor do you dream in black and white. But when you REMEMBER the dream, you mind notes that the color information is missing, and fills it in based on what your life experiences taught you the colors should be. At least that is what some random articles on the net that I was reading a while back stated.

02-22-2013, 07:03 AM	#9
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,809 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	I rarely dream (in the sense that I think most people mean) or, if I do, I don't remember them ... not since I was a kid. I do still remember a couple I had back then, which may explain why I've avoided them since. (I'm not a cat person, and those childhood nightmares may have something to do with that.) I do day-dream, or waking-dream, quite a lot. Often quite vividly. That seems quite strange to me since it seems to suggest a level of conscious involvement that I'm not always aware of.

02-22-2013, 07:36 AM	#10
Freeshadow temp. out of service Posts: 2,790 Karma: 24285242 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Duisburg (DE) Device: PB 623	The term you look for is "lucid dream". A skill I don't have.

02-22-2013, 09:53 AM	#11
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,306 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	I've had a few lucid dreams, though it hasn't happened that often. I once had a dream that I was sure I'd had before and I knew something bad was coming up so I forced myself to do something else (opening a door rather than going up some stairs) and I found myself looping back to the start of the dream when I did it. There is one dream I've had a various times (more so when I was a young kid). I would enter a room of the house I lived in at night and would be unable to find the light switch. I had a sense that someone was in there with me but I wouldn't be able to see them. Later I came to understand that I was probably under some stress at such times and I didn't want to face whatever it was so the conflict would come out in my dreams as an unknown someone in a darkened room.

02-23-2013, 03:38 AM	#13
morriss003 Evangelist Posts: 438 Karma: 3409790 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Maui Device: kindle	I am real heavy dreamer. Sometimes I wake up angry from something that happened in a dream, and it takes me a few minutes to calm down. Sometimes I have reoccurring dreams and then realize that I'm dreaming. Unfortunately, if I try to manipulate the dream, I wake up. I have dreams where I'm conversing with loved ones who have passed on, but I'm not sad when I wake. I'm not crazy about dreams where I'm back in the Army, but I enjoy dreams where my kids are little again. I've never ran to the computer when I woke from a dream, but I've forced myself to get up in the middle of the night when I was awake and created a good scene or some dialogue I wanted to remember.

02-23-2013, 07:03 AM	#15
VydorScope Wizard Posts: 3,418 Karma: 35207650 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: iPad	They say everyone dreams... but I almost never have any recollection of anything. Once though I dreamed that I woke up, and started getting ready for work, and then woke up and started getting ready for work, and then woke up and started getting ready for work.. was real enough that by the forth time (the time I really woke up) I was really unsure it was real for a while. Freaky.