In Dreams, paragraphs will come

Some people are sooooo lucky.

it happens to me, but I rarely remember the words.

This happens to me as well. The voices always come when I'm trying to sleep.

Not paragraphs so much, but I have been struggling to find a name for the continent in my fantasy story, and last night the name just popped into my head as I was falling asleep. That was a good feeling after months of trying to figure it out.

I keep a notebook on my bedside cabinet though, since a lot of my ideas come just as I'm trying to doze off.

JessRamage said:

I keep a notebook on my bedside cabinet though, since a lot of my ideas come just as I'm trying to doze off.

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A notebook by the bed is a good idea. All kinds of things can come to you in a somnolent state. I don't get paragraphs, but I've sometimes dreamed up a story idea.

I accidentally woke my husband up the other night, as I was scrambling to find my pen and then get out of bed to the bathroom where there was enough light to write. I wasn't lucky enough for paragraphs or scenes, but more a final epiphany of the plot for my newest WIP that had been rolling around in my head. I had been thinking, vaguely, about it, and all the sudden a one (long) sentence explanation for the book was just THERE. sweet. I love that.
neato PoP...keep dreamin'!

I used to have a pen and notebook on my bedside table but I found it more frustrating trying to decipher the meaning of, "Bacon mistress, to toe the bagel, while breast flap over omniverous pigmys fleuhabensmeldurife," much more frustrating than not remembering what ingenius line was whispered to me by a sleep deprived muse in the middle of the night.

Oh, yeah, I've experienced this. There've been times when great article leads have come to me almost completely fleshed out and other times when parts of an article that had me stuck suddenly unraveled. I love 'sleep writing.'

popmuze said:

Anyone else get whole sentences and paragraphs and pages almost dictated to them in their sleep? Sometimes I wake up and scribble these things down and have to decipher them in the morning. Other times, like last night, I just keep repeating the lines over and over in my sleep. Luckily, this morning it worked and I was able to get something like a 1000 word beginning to my new novel.
I'm also receiving messages from beyond with my non fiction WIP too. When I write articles, usually the lead comes in my sleep.
What gives?

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Whatever you're eating/drinking before you go to bed, I want some of it.

I've gotten some interesting scenes or beginnings from sleep. Some nights I'll get out of bed and jot these down.

Sometimes sleep is far more important.

If they were that good, you'll remember them in the morning. I've had a few like that.

I wrote an entire novel while asleep. Here's a synopsis.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

(some say it's my best work!)

kap

That's so lovely! Yeh lucky people. The rare occasions that I get ideas in a sleepy-state they're barely articulate.

But there is this daydream-state I get sometimes in (mainly in boring environments) where there's a perfectly coherent story going on in my head. Not perfectly meaningful, but about twice they tied to my WIP, which was really interesting - because they're things I wouldn't think/write consciously, strange, but interesting - like coherent, symbolic dreams (I rarely have that sort of dream when I sleep - I get to dream about absurd stuff like dinosaurs instead )

At times, just after I have woken up, I remember that I babbled out brilliant paragraphs in my sleep; unfortunately I can't remember the words.

I've thought about recording my own sleep just to find out if it was brilliant, or I was simply babbling. I'm inclined to believe the latter.

I've never gotten paragraphs. I want your nightcap recipe!

I'll sometimes wake up with a whole new perspective on some of my characters, or the answer to a plot hole I've been agonizing over, but thus far, never actual words.

-However my weird brain does invent entire soundtracks for my dreams sometimes: I'll wake up with whole songs in my head - lyrics; melody; harmony, the works. I've definitely watched too many movies.

I've never derived a scene out a dream, if I dream about my work, usually I'm dreaming that I am my MC.

Daydreaming, however, that completely works. I used to have 2 45-min train trips everyday when I was in college, and most of that I would spend with a notebook out, pen in hand and stare out the window for half an hour, then scribble something down for ten minutes.

I sometimes wake realizing I've been plotting and orchestrating my dreams as I dream them. They play out visually, but with subtitles in novelspeak, right down to mixing internal thoughts from the pov dream character with dialogue and action. Hard to describe, but it's like I'm practicing for the day ahead.

I've never tried to remember the scene enough to write it down, though. My dreams usually vaporize fairly quickly.

kap

popmuze said:

They're called Mallowmars.

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<runs to the store>

I've dreamt entire stories with complete plots, usually mysteries or horror. Problem is, the stories have absolutely nothing to do with my novel or characters, and I always wake up before the ending wondering just where the $&#*& did that come from. It's very disconcerting.

I've dreamt a few scenes and plots that had real potential, but haven't yet written any of them. I think tho' they would have come out strangely had I tried at the time, but I still remember them enough that they could resurface in my work one day.
I have also dreamt entire songs, lyrics, music and all.

Okay this is weird. I didn't actually go to the store for ooey goodness... but in a state of semi-consciousness this morning I thought of something to incorporate into my first draft that will hopefully make the entire storyline better.

<insert twilight zone music here>

I get my best plot twists in dreams. Soccer Dad is accustomed to my scrabbling for pen and paper and glasses in the middle of the night.