Last night, I had a dream in vivid color. It jumped around a little and several parts didn't make sense--and one element which did make sense came out of nowhere--but on the whole, it felt like I was watching a previously undiscovered anime series about a space princess with a Way Cool ship and two extremely obnoxious suitors. It was vivid enough that when I woke up and realized that it wasn't an existing story, I grabbed a notebook and started writing down important points (with a note to include the winged man somewhere in the story before the retainer flips the weird floating platform over and needs swift aerial rescue).
This is not the first of such dreams I have had. The first I can remember, where I woke up and said, "Man, I have got to write that down!" was shortly after watching The Fellowship of the Ring for the first time. The element of that I remember most vividly was a particularly terrifying encounter with something like Black Riders at the ford in front of Rivendell. I had another one a few years ago which involved an old house, half of it good, the other half falling into decay, a strange caretaker, numerous unattached children, a grouchy old lady looking for hidden rings, and identical twins whose nail polish color was the only way of telling them apart. More recently, I had one which sparked an entire series of stories, since my dream started on the second 'book'.
I don't know how many people do this. I don't know if it's peculiar to writers, or if some people become writers after waking up and writing out the plotline they came up with while asleep. What I do know is that this one was fairly unusual because I don't normally dream in anime--and I haven't watched any anime in some time. I also find it noteworthy that, while I sometimes have a plot in my dreams, there are usually few to no plot twists, and this story has several. Which will make it more interesting to write down, tee hee.
Looking over some of my more memorable nighttime experiences forces me to admit that I have weird dreams. Sometimes it's just a remix of something I've seen before going to bed, or something I've done during the day. For instance, the dream rehashing Torchlight II was not exactly a surprise, considering that I had been enthusiastically playing it for the first time not long before I went to bed. And it wasn't exactly a shock when I had zombie dreams after reading a few of Clara's library books. It did surprise me to find out I now have a moderate amount of control over my dreams. I forcibly stopped the otherwise bloody ending, gave the main character a magical sword, and restarted the story on a more equal grounds. It was a welcome surprise as it means I don't have to go through with nightmares any more.
Still, I've become careful about what I read and watch. I refused to watch a documentary about the Black Death after a nightmare involving it, and I will not watch any of the 'Jurassic Park' films for love, money, or a gun to my head, as I have seen enough rampaging tyrannosaurs already. I usually don't redo scary stories over in my dreams, though I avoid those as well because of the trouble I have getting to sleep in the first place if I read/watch them.
And I wonder: what makes one dream more vivid than another? Some people blame what they ate before sleeping. I, however, almost never eat before I crash, so that doesn't make any difference one way or another. Going to the movies used to insure the content of my nightly adventures; now it makes no difference. I no longer dream about being unable to move, but I do dream about being unable to open my eyes. It's some improvement over being paralyzed on the road as a car is coming, but I find the new dreams considerably more annoying.
I used to have nightmares about falling from a great height, and what I hated and feared most was the sickening feeling in my stomach as the drop happened. Ironically enough, what killed those dreams was facing that fear in real life: by going on roller coasters, pirate ship rides, and the Rainbow at Wonderland park. I no longer dream about falling. Instead, I fly.
And whether they're wild or boring, I find those dreams pleasant and satisfying.
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