Dreams
Writers talk a lot about dreams, the dream of selling a book, the dream of making the best seller lists, etc. But what about our actual dreams? Do people in creative professions dream more than the average person? Do we dream in color? Do we dream about our books or our characters?
I've have once in a great while had dreams about my characters or a book I'm writing, I more often dream about what's going to happen to my books. Much in the tradition of the standing in front of a group of people naked, or variations on the career nightmares we all have, I have had my share of writing nightmares -- usually consisting of something like an editor telling me everything they want changed in a book (usually everything) or, opening a book and finding when I read it, I'm usually thrilled to have it in my hands, and then I open it and it's all different. They changed everything, even the characters' names! I will sometimes wake up from a deep sleep with a complete plot or a writing problem solved -- so my writer brain is working on it somewhere, maybe in dreams.
I usually know what my dreams mean. I guess my psyche is not too complicated. ;) I do dream in color, and while I like to think about dreams and what they are trying to express, I've never owned one of those books that tells you different symbols, etc. I think whatever is in our heads is probably unique to us, and we have to figure out what it means, if anything. Sometimes it's just brain crud, or leftover stress from the day. Somehow, I usually know the difference. I once dreamed in German, back in high school, when I was taking foreign languages. I have had two precognitive dreams in my life. I won't share details, but I think about them often, and how that could be.
I did take a Sleep and Dream course in the psychology dept once, and it was cool, and I learned some interesting things. One, lucid dreaming -- focusing on your dream such that you can control what happens in it. I did this once to get rid of a repetitive nightmare. It worked. I also used a different technique years later to get rid of another pestering, repetitive dream: I wrote out all the possible endings to the dream, and thought about how each one made me feel - when I realized what the dream was about, it stopped. Thank Goodness. :) However, I found that keeping a dream journal shut down my dreaming altogether. Apparently my psyche does not like to be kept track of.
I like to think about dreams, they're healthy, and we can learn from them. I don't obsess about them unless it's one that really bothers me, or a repetitive pattern. Sometimes, though, I am more relieved to have sound nights of sleep with no dreams or dreams I don't recall. Sometimes I dream so much I wake up tired!
How about you? Do you dream a lot, pay attention, try to analyze, or just ignore them? Do you believe that you can use your dreams to solve daytime problems or make yourself a healthier person, or do you think they're just indigestion? *G* (Which they sometimes are...). Share, and if you are a registered user, you might win a $25 Amazon gift card, and if you use it to buy a Dream dictionary, you can let us know how it works. :)
Sam
Dreams
I usually don't remember my dreams, I wish I could. Sometimes I will remember bits a pieces of dreams, but never remember the whole thing. This bugs me sometimes because I don't know what happens in my dreams.
They say that writing down
They say that writing down your dreams will help you remember them, though for me it worked the opposite. Still, for many people it's like building a muscle, comes with practice, that's what I hear, anyway. :)
Sam
Lucid Day Reminents
Most of my dreams can be traced back to something I either experienced or thought about during the day. If I fall asleep with the TV on, occasionally a show will work it's way into my dream. I had a really weird one about House!
Looking up my dreams doesn't make sense to me since I can usually trace them back to a real or imagined event. I've never solved anything or had a prophetic dream.
I am also a lucid dreamer, I can control my dreams. If I am having a nightmare, I can either change it or wake myself up.
Sorry, my dream stuff is a bit dull.
LOL
I think most people's dreams are more interesting to them, or the people close to them, but largely sort of either dull or weird. Stuff we may not want to share, LOL. :)
I have done the lucid dreaming thing, which is slightly different than waking yourself out of a nightmare -- I can do that, and many people will tell themselves to wake up from a nightmare, but lucid dreaming is controlling the action of your dream. The one I had years ago was about a cast of very strange characters (like the Wizard of Oz, sort of, but really creepy) who kept coming into my house -- they would just walk past me and come right in. So I had to focus on how I would act in the dream differently when I went to sleep, and after a few nights, I was able to block their path on the porch and yell at them quite loudly that they weren't coming in the house. It worked, and the dream went away, though I tend to think those sorts of things also link to daytime issues, but I can't remember how now -- it was probably 20 years ago.
Sam
I can do both. Although, I
I can do both. Although, I find the dream I change isn't as intense or as entertaining as the one I left.
Nightmares
I don't usually remember my dreams but I do wake up a lot of times with a feeling of panic so I must have been having a nightmare. That being the case I'm glad I don't remember.
I am always happy if I have
I am always happy if I have a good dream in any detail I can remember. I, like many here, have extremely vivid and frequent nightmares, and unfortunately, do remember them. Sometimes when it's several nights running, I get to a point where I hate to go to sleep.
Sam
My dreams...
are weird, and have been since childhood. I've always dreamed a lot, and in color. While I've never had a repetitive dream, there's a repetitive theme that runs through many of them. To make them sound less scary than they usually are, I'll just say they frequently involve someone chasing me with the intent to harm me. But if I get too scared, I can always tell myself I'm only dreaming and wake myself up. I was quite surprised to learn that's a skill some people have to practice, because I've always had it.
Oddly enough, I've never had a writing-related dream. Not one. One of my favorite authors, Jeaniene Frost, has discussed her vivid dreams on her blog and how she dreamed the plot of her vampire series. Boy, I wish I got that kind of help while I was asleep!
Of course now that I said I've never had one, watch me have a dream about writing tonight. ;)
Fun topic!
Cari
http://cariquinn.blogspot.com/
I guess there are some
I guess there are some common dreams among people, like the one of being chased, naked in a public place, or flying. I don't have flying dreams, but I do have running dreams -- I love those. I'll find myself running (like jogging, not running away from anything) and I love it, I feel good, and I'm not winded or sore, and I just enjoy moving. Those are fun.
Sam
I usually don't remember my dreams
I had one class (I think it was some kind of art class) where I had to keep a dream journal and they were very surreal and nonsensical. The only thing that struck me was how people I haven't seen or thought about in decades would crop up.
I did have one writing related dream that I still remember. It was before I sold and I'd been invited to the Silhouette offices. The editors were there and I could tell they were going to offer to buy my book (this was a book that finaled in loads of contests including the GH, but never did actually sell!) They all had 1970's hairdos like the cameo-style pictures in Kathryn Falk's "How to Write a Romance and Get it Published" (a fantastic book) and I remember all the suspense and tension I felt waiting for them to come out and buy me.
Of course in real life it was a phone call, LOL.
I remember reading somewhere that Sharon Sala dreams ALL her stories. That would actually drive me nuts to be so out of control. Still, I guess it makes plotting pretty easy :-)
Jen
http://www.jenlewis.com
If it's a happy dream, I
If it's a happy dream, I love seeing people I miss, especially my mom and my son. Only when they are good, though. I had one dream about Blaze once, years ago, and I can't remember what it was, but it was like sitting at a boardroom table and people talking, but that's all I remember now. I never had writing nightmares until the last few weeks -- I had four -- so you can tell I am stressed about submissions, especially the mystery, which is usually the focus of the dream. Ugh. But, my mom used to say that sometimes when you dream something, the opposite is really what's going to happen -- I think she told me that because I had chronic nightmares when I was a kid, but I've found sometimes it's true. I just hope that still means someone will want my book, but maybe they won't want to change everything in it. ;)
Sam
Last night I dreamed I won
Last night I dreamed I won tickets to a huge Supernatural convention but couldn't go because it was a week long and I didn't know what to do with my kids. I think I decided to take them along (and leave them in the hotel room!! LOL!)
I dream in vivid color, I almost always remember them in great detail, AND I often lucid dream.
I love dreams!
M
Darn kids
Can't even get them dealt with in your unconcious, LOL.
I would like to have more positive dreams, but my brain just goes its own way -- much like in the daylight, LOL.
Sam
Dream Talk
Sam, breakfast at my house almost always involves a discussion of the previous night's dreams. I have vivid dreams and am pretty good at recalling them once I'm awake. Both of my girls seem to dream a lot, and love to discuss their dreams. My husband tends only to recall nightmares, and they usually involve him trying to attack or capture whatever it is (like the rat he once trapped under the blankets of our bed! I flipped the light on and he whipped back the blankets and there was nothing there, but he was yelling at me to get something so that he could kill it, and I realized he was still asleep and dreaming). So his dreams always end up scaring me, too!
I once had a dream that my editor called me and fired me, and told me not to bother submitting any more manuscripts to her. That was a horrible dream.
Your husband and I are alike
Your husband and I are alike in that -- I have more nightmares than anything (they seem to run in the family -- my son, nieces, and my mother had them, too), so we often talked dreams, and even Mike and I share in the mornings, too. They are sometimes just so vivid I have gotten out of bed or done other "activity" associated with my dream, like hitting the bed to kill a spider. I don't talk in my sleep too much, but I do act out now and then. I think that's only when I'm really stressed. That writing nightmare does sound awful -- I hate those!
Sam
Dreams
Reading a scary book or watching a scary movie right before bed will definitely affect my dreams. This is one of my many good reasons to read romance novels because even if there are scary parts in the book I know that the ending will be a good one so they really don't affect.
Oh, geez, me too -- it's why
Oh, geez, me too -- it's why I try not to watch anything too intense before bed, and it's become a reading issue, too -- never used to be, but it is now. It can really rob us of sleep. I also try not to eat anything after 8pm or so, or nothing heavy, for the same reason. It can really kick up dream activity, as do hormonal swings.
Sam
Nah, I don't analyze them. .
Nah, I don't analyze them. . . because I know it's just a jumble of images that I see. . . either a mix of tv people or the news. Heck, I already knew I watched too much CNN or election coverage because I had a strange dream that was a botox commercial (which was the talk about Joe Biden) staring Sarah Palin and a third person, I just don't remember if it was Michelle Obama or Laura Bush. Sure don't need anyone to tell me what that was about. . .
time to shut the tv news and internet news off!!!!!! LOLOLOLOL :)
Lois
LOL
Yes, all that stuff from the day gets in there, I hate that. It's like clutter. :)
Sam
Doesn't everyone...
dream in color? I heard somewhere that you can't read in your dreams, but I do that all the time.
Dreams are definitely where I work stuff out, but they're also practically another form of reality for me, and very hard to wake from, even when I'm conscious. I remember a lot of my dreams, especially my nightmares (which I have an inordinate amount of, dang it). In my case, dreams are often a portent of things to come, as well, so I have to sort my emotions and the things the dreams are showing me very carefully to be sure I'm not just scaring myself. (Have yet to dream of being insanely rich, but I did dream all my children years before they came along and I dream frequently of owning a home. Really hoping that one comes true!)
Hugs,
Dee
I don't know...
I heard not everyone does (dream in color) but maybe they do.
I hear you on the nightmares, they suck. Has been a problem since I was a kid, and for several members of our family. Every time I see those TV trailers of Ghost Whisperer or Medium where they jerk out of sleep from nightmares, I'm like, yeah, try it for real and see how it is. Though mine are not precognitive, or only were twice, and those two times, with great detail. I still think about that, even though one was 30 years ago.
I hope you have those happy dreams, too. I get one every now and then, and I'm always thankful for it.
Sam
Dream in Color
My husband really got into dream interpretation a few years ago. He'd wake up and chart his dreams, look stuff up in a dream dictionary and then share it all with me. Ad infinitum. *yawn*
I've had a couple of precognitive dreams. They were years ago.
I can control my dreams to a certain point but I can't control my nightmares. I wish I could because I'm subject to them.
Most of my dreams, though, are an odd mix of places I've been, people I've seen (a lot of actors which is odd given how little TV or movies I watch), people from my past and one of my brothers usually makes an appearance at least weekly.
ani
Celebs
I don't dream too often of celebs, but only if one is really stuck in my mind, and sometimes they are fun dreams and other times, just strange.
I did have the most wonderful dream about Clint Eastwood once, that he was our neighbor, and I went to his house and he was so nice, and lent us DVDs of a bunch of his movies, LOL. I woke up liking him more than I did before I had the dream (and I've always kind of liked him anyway), and I still do. LOL
Sam
Twilight
I read that Stephanie Myer's first book, Twilight was based on a dream she had, that haunted her for weeks until she finally had to write it all down. I've had dreams that were so vivid that I've had to write them down, but they're usually just a snippet or a scene from something that I sense is much bigger.
When I was a young teenager, I used to have apocalypse dreams all the time...dreams of deadly black clouds raining acid on everyone, or tens of thousands of people being herded to the edge of an enormous river and then executed, and their bodies pushed into the water. In one of these dreams, I was in line waiting to be executed, and then I was lying on a grassy knoll watching the grisly scene, and God was sitting beside me, explaining why mankind would ultimately destroy itself. I think I was eleven or twelve at the time, but I've never forgotten that dream.
Creepy!
I would have dreams of family dying, or sometimes of me dying or trying to kill me. I had this one awful dream when I was a kid of my mom dying and then coming back to make me go with her, which I still recall. It completely freaked me out.
The repetitive nightmare I had that I got rid of was of my ex-husband dying -- and I used to wake up feeling terrible, in tears. However, the dream experiment I did in that class, writing down all the endings, revealed to me that the emotion I had was guilt -- largely because I was *relieved* -- I wanted out of that marriage long before I left, as you can see. ;) But it was a revelation of my mind seeing what was coming, but until I did that exercise I didn't even recognize the emotions that went along with the dream.
Along with a publishing nightmare I had the other night, I had a dream of an plane crash explosion in NYC, and these fireballs were just blasting down the alleys of the streets and burning people alive (yes, welcome to my psyche) and weirdly, some of the people were laughing even as they disintegrated. I was stymied, then I realized it was another form of a publishing fear dream -- fearing that I would "crash and burn" in New York (which is how people often refer to mainstream publishing houses) and maybe that they were laughing?
Aiy.
Sam
Dreaming...
I can't say that I pay a whole lot of attention these days to my dreams--I did go through a short period where I tried to remember what I'd dreamed and log it and the whole thing, but I don't recall ever remembering anything particularly interesting! I do remember having more vivid dreams during pregnancy, but they still weren't answers to life's problems or anything :p Now I'm just extremely happy when I get a night of uninterrupted sleep--bliss! ;)
Hormones make a huge
Hormones make a huge difference, it's almost scary. At various times of the month, I will have nightmares for several nights solid, and then it passes. Drives me nuts. I love uninterrupted sleeps. I have had enough dreams to last me a while, and love stretches without them.
Sam
I wake up and know for about
I wake up and know for about a minute or so that I dreamed and what it was about, but then it's gone. I have a sense of it being a good or bad dream by the way I feel, but that's it for me. I couldn't even tell you if I dream in black and white or color.
Actually, the psych prof
Actually, the psych prof that I took my course in Sleep and Dream from said knowing or naming the emotion you feel during and after a dream is far more important than the dream itself. I've always clued into that, too.
Sam
Dreams
I usually don't remember my dreams either. Once I wake, the dream is gone from my memory. I know some people like to keep a journal nearby so that they can write down their dreams as soon as they wake. I guess it's a good thing that I can remember my nightmares, too.
Dreams
I most always dream, in color and sometimes with the full array of sounds and smells. I've had a few prophetic dreams, but nothing like my mom who has these all too often for comfort. Recently many of my dreams have revolved around my childhood home and a few places that were important to me while growing up. My family members, both living and deceased, are often key players.
Few quick notes, early in my marriage I had some dreams where I became very angry with my husband and woke up still mad at him. It was hard to pull out of those negative emotions, though now we laugh about it.
Lately I dream a lot about my mom and this concerns me as she is getting up there in age and is always doing too much. I tend to make a point of calling her sometime the next day to check on her.
A few years ago I had such a vivid dream of my father, who has been gone now for 17 years, that I ended up reliving a lot of the grief I felt when he first died. We were at our farm and he was telling me he had to go out this barn door that looked like a garage door, and that I couldn't come with him. When he hugged me goodbye I could feel his strong arms around me and smell the hair product he regularly used. He walked away and I was trapped behind that door watching him walk away. When he turned back to wave I woke up. It was incredibly painful for me for a few days after that.
Often my dreams are disturbing, but there are times I'm having such a good time in my dream world I don't want to wake. Then after a few minutes what seemed so important upon waking is gone forever.
I'm sure this sounds rather strange.
Weird
It's weird that you're discussing this today, I don't normally remember my dreams. The last two nights I've had a vivid dream that I cut the bottom of my foot. Every time I took a step it opened the cut and I was bleeding really bad...but I kept putting off going to the hospital because I needed to take care of things for my kids and hubby. I've felt kinda lousy for a couple of months now, I decided to make an appointment and get in to see a doctor because the dream scared me.
My oldest son had a dream right before Christmas when he was about six. He woke up screaming that someone was trying to snatch him while we were shopping. His dad was coming the next day for his weekend visitation and I told him to keep an extra eye on him. My ex got this weird look on his face and said they had planned on doing their Christmas shopping that weekend. Needless to say, they didn't take our son shopping for a long time after that.
Hey Chelle :)
I have some memory of hearing something about feet dreams... might be worth looking up that symbology, even though I don't usually do that, but you do hear of these common symbols or events, like running, falling, being chased, or another one is teeth falling out (which I forget what it means), but I seem to remember something about feet too. It's good to make your dr appts, no matter what, and maybe that's what it was about, but I tend to think it's probably more symbolic.
I don't know if I have ever changed my actual plans or behaviors from a dream... interesting...
Sam
Cut Feet??
Dream interpretations say that your feet are your moral ground. So if it's been cut (and continues to be cut) it means that your moral compass (whatever that is for you) has been hurt in some way.
If it's your right foot, that means you're headed on the right path towards having it repaired. If it's your left foot then you're headed in the wrong direction. I don't know if it's both feet.
You need to figure out how your moral compass has been compromised and how to fix it.
ani
Oh!
How interesting ani! I take it back, finding out about general dream symbology is interesting, but I think maybe it can work in the way that brainstorming works in writing -- we think that interpretation either fits or it doesn't and if we know at the gut level that it doesn't, then maybe we are closer to figuring out the real idea (which is how writing works sometimes -- you brainstorm all these ideas with friends, and you realize all the stuff that won't work before you realize the stuff that does) LOL
What do you think, Chelle? I also wonder if the dream could be about your writing/books -- as if you feel led in the wrong direction in some way?
Sam
That makes sense
at least to me. I like to know the general symbology of stuff if I continue to dream about it. As you said, it either works or it doesn't but it's still interesting.
When I continued to dream about dead babies, for example, I learnt that babies aren't babies (humans) but the birth of new ideas or new directions. It made me consider which of my ideas wasn't working and how could I change it. Once I figured that out, the dreams went away.
Which was a good thing since they were kinda gross!
Yeah, I know!
Like my screaming, burning people dream the other night (though some were laughing) why do dreams have to be so gross sometimes? LOL I dream things I wouldn't even watch on TV!
I suppose to catch our attention, like advertising. ;)
Sam
Oooh!
You're so right!! How interesting! I actually have had issues with my direction as to who I should target and haven't felt like writing.
I remember it was my right foot because it was the one I'd cut when I was in high school. But we're also dealing with problems at hubby's new job. The powers that be aren't following through with promises when they hired him.
I thought it was weird to have had the same dream several nights in a row. I chalked it up to my recent stress level.
You hit a note
I wonder if we all have those dreams about being angry with a spouse? I've had them, and Mike actually had one the other day, woke up and told me he'd just had a dream about being SO angry with me over a remodeling issue, LOL. We do laugh about it, but it's disturbing, sometimes, isn't it? And trying to figure out what it was about?
I personally think that sometimes we have dreams that are just mechanisms to let us express some repressed emotion about something that may have nothing to do with the dream. So, for instance, when I am super-stressed but keeping it inside, I'll have dreams that make me cry -- I literally wake up sobbing. The dream means nothing, it was just a trigger to help me let go of some of that bottled up stress.
Maybe the anger dreams work the same way, but don't really mean we are angry with that person?
Sam
I dream a lot and can most
I dream a lot and can most of the time remember a fair amount about the dream. I don't analyze too much because I think dreams are lots about what is on your sub-conscious. I dream in color, too.
Dreams
I pretty much ignore my dreams. They're so mixed up that I wouldn't possibly be able to decipher most of it anyway. Then they disappear practically as soon as I wake. When I was pregnant, I had nightmares, so I'm really glad that I'm done having babies. LOL
Deidre
i do rember them and tell my
i do rember them and tell my friends and ask what do u think they mean. i do have a good memory so the dreams stick with me and i have to anylis it lol.
geez
I was attacked on the batcave on eharlequins yesterday why? because I was trying to make one feel better and he insulted me. Then I said it's really retarded how your treating me and another one went and Jumped my bones for it and embaressed me in frount of everyone instead of just telling me like every other blogger on eharl does when they somebody says something unapreciated. So it didn't stop there more and more happened until finally I just removed the batcave from my favorites and decided never to blog in that area again. Sapphire went and also embaressed me by talking down to me and scolding me then removed my comments so I've had nothing but hell since I got home yesterday and embaressment and I just want it all to end already
Ummm
Rose, I feel for you, but this blog is about dreams -- I don't want to get into this other stuff, it's eHarl business which can be handled by hosties, but isn't anything we can discuss or deal with here. This is not an eHarlequin blog, it's a site run by a few authors, just to be clear.
But feel free to join in on the topic. :)
We all have sympathy for when computer discussions go bad, but I'd appreciate anyone else wanting to discuss this emailing Rose or talking about the eHarlequin issue elsewhere, please.
Thanks!
Sam
oh ok
oh ok no prob.
My dogs just reminded me...
On another note, I find animal dreams, and the fact that they dream, really fascinating, and I'm not sure what that says about the fact that we all dream, too. ;)
I saw bunnies sleeping at the Fair this summer, and kicking their feet and quivering -- they were dreaming like crazy (Carrots?) LOL
My dogs dream and we get a kick out of watching them run in their sleep, or they will also bark and howl in their sleep, which, in the middle of the night, has us talking to them and waking them up to make them stop, LOL.
Just saw my lab jerk awake after a dream -- she had the same look on her face I imagine I do when that sudden wake-up happens. :)
Sam
I don't remember a lot of my dreams
But the couple I do remember have stayed with me for years. I do semi wake up and change the endings of dreams but can't recall what they were about the next day. My husband talks in his sleep when he is under stress and I usually have to talk to him to wake him up. If I just try to shake him awake he flings his arms out at me so I start in quietly and then more loudly until we wakes up.He nevers remembers what caused him to talk though. LOL on the pets dreaming as my cats do I'm sure.
Cats
I don't notice our cats dreaming -- not as much as the dogs.
Mike was talking in his sleep the other night -- nothing interesting, but he started arguing with me when I told him not to worry, he was just dreaming, LOL -- I just wanted to go back to sleep!
Sam
Probably dogs, LOL
Just like dogs probably dream about squirrels and rabbits! ;)
I wish...
I remembered my dreams more often. I do remember last night's. I was in a pool with Mark, who was dressed in a uniform, I think, and when he turned to face me he has embroidered spirals in rose pink and poison green all over his face, including one on his eyelid. It was BIZARRE.
My sister remembers her dreams every morning and they're so vivid. I feel like I'm missing out on some key component or access to my psyche. Maybe I should try a dream journal!