What a Unique Experience!
Oct. 9th, 2005 06:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenoftheskiesFor the past week, my sleeping habits have been evolving into something that I hope will ultimately lead to sleeping through the night. It could just be that I've been so tired from having rushed all day, or maybe the stress is finally starting to drain away.
I do still wake up during the night, but except for the night I didn't close the cats out, it's only once or twice. And, I don't lie awake thinking of things. I'll generally either go right back to sleep, or go to the bathroom and fall right back asleep. No lying awake. Which is wonderful, even if I have awakened and interrupted my sleep.
Also, I've been sleeping very deeply. Of course that happened to me some over the past five or six years, but not often. Once every two or three weeks if I was lucky. Now, it's every night.
And, when I sleep deeply, I dream. Not just one dream or even two, but all night. And, not the kinds of dreams that make me restless and make it difficult to sleep. The kinds of dreams that flow and refresh my brain, and leave me feeling pleased that I dreamed when I wake up. Often my brain is recharged and, when it isn't, it's at least rested, if I went to bed at a decent time.
Well, last night, something totally unique happened.
I've had dreams that were good enough to use for novel/screenplay ideas. I'm sure all of us writers have. That's not what was unique about last night.
Sometimes I even remember enough to jot ideas down when I wake up. Sometimes, I only know I want to write the feel of the dream because it was so awesome.
This morning, I was so overwhelmed, I had to get up at 5:50 to write it all down.
Why?
Because my dream did something it's never done before. It gave me the entire plot for a novel. Not just a scene. Or even two scenes and the hint of a plot. An entire (except for tiny details), fully-formed novel.
I dreamed that I had a dream. I've done that before. Nothing new there. Probably everybody has done that.
But, in my dream about having a dream, I thought, "Hey, that dream would make a great novel."
And, while my dream's dream was unfolding, my brain was dreaming, "Let's make it a novel, and plotting the entire thing in the dream while watching the dream it was having!!!
I have never ever in my entire life plotted a novel in my sleep. But, it flowed, from start to finish, with no hitches in plot whatsoever. It was just...THERE. It was awesome and magnificant and I was allowed to see the characters and some of the scenes that made up the novel.
And, when I woke, my brain was still plotting. My first thoughts were of plotting and the realization that I'd been given something I'd never been given before.
This was not a novel in my series. It didn't have anything to do with any of the universes I've created. Nothing I've ever written about before. No relation at all.
It would require research for backstory, because it deals with something I know nothing about. Which also surprises me. Why did I dream this? What prompted or provoked it? It's not something I'd even consider. But, it was wonderful and now I love it.
It's kind of like the night before. I remember one specific dream. About a person I met maybe 14-15 years ago. I didn't know her well. I'd spoken with her some. She was a friend of a friend. Haven't seen her but once since...at a distance in a restaurant. It wasn't even recently. And, yet, she popped up in my dream and what I dreamed about her is something I'm going to use in a novel. Not her, but what happened to her.
Very, very strange indeed.
And, wonderful. I can't forget wonderful.
I do still wake up during the night, but except for the night I didn't close the cats out, it's only once or twice. And, I don't lie awake thinking of things. I'll generally either go right back to sleep, or go to the bathroom and fall right back asleep. No lying awake. Which is wonderful, even if I have awakened and interrupted my sleep.
Also, I've been sleeping very deeply. Of course that happened to me some over the past five or six years, but not often. Once every two or three weeks if I was lucky. Now, it's every night.
And, when I sleep deeply, I dream. Not just one dream or even two, but all night. And, not the kinds of dreams that make me restless and make it difficult to sleep. The kinds of dreams that flow and refresh my brain, and leave me feeling pleased that I dreamed when I wake up. Often my brain is recharged and, when it isn't, it's at least rested, if I went to bed at a decent time.
Well, last night, something totally unique happened.
I've had dreams that were good enough to use for novel/screenplay ideas. I'm sure all of us writers have. That's not what was unique about last night.
Sometimes I even remember enough to jot ideas down when I wake up. Sometimes, I only know I want to write the feel of the dream because it was so awesome.
This morning, I was so overwhelmed, I had to get up at 5:50 to write it all down.
Why?
Because my dream did something it's never done before. It gave me the entire plot for a novel. Not just a scene. Or even two scenes and the hint of a plot. An entire (except for tiny details), fully-formed novel.
I dreamed that I had a dream. I've done that before. Nothing new there. Probably everybody has done that.
But, in my dream about having a dream, I thought, "Hey, that dream would make a great novel."
And, while my dream's dream was unfolding, my brain was dreaming, "Let's make it a novel, and plotting the entire thing in the dream while watching the dream it was having!!!
I have never ever in my entire life plotted a novel in my sleep. But, it flowed, from start to finish, with no hitches in plot whatsoever. It was just...THERE. It was awesome and magnificant and I was allowed to see the characters and some of the scenes that made up the novel.
And, when I woke, my brain was still plotting. My first thoughts were of plotting and the realization that I'd been given something I'd never been given before.
This was not a novel in my series. It didn't have anything to do with any of the universes I've created. Nothing I've ever written about before. No relation at all.
It would require research for backstory, because it deals with something I know nothing about. Which also surprises me. Why did I dream this? What prompted or provoked it? It's not something I'd even consider. But, it was wonderful and now I love it.
It's kind of like the night before. I remember one specific dream. About a person I met maybe 14-15 years ago. I didn't know her well. I'd spoken with her some. She was a friend of a friend. Haven't seen her but once since...at a distance in a restaurant. It wasn't even recently. And, yet, she popped up in my dream and what I dreamed about her is something I'm going to use in a novel. Not her, but what happened to her.
Very, very strange indeed.
And, wonderful. I can't forget wonderful.
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 03:26 pm (UTC)The reason you dream about people you met once is because your subconcious is trying not to let you forget them, and since you don't think about them, you're likely to forget. So it brings them back in a dream just so that memory is used.
Or that's one theory anyway. "They" aren't totally sure about much when it comes to memories and dreams and how they relate. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 06:08 pm (UTC)I've had one dream which gave me a complete short story, and I haven't yet written that story.
I had one dream which was cut short because I thought the plot was lousy.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 06:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 12:28 am (UTC)