Strange dreams

Introversion

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DW describes my dreams as “cinematic”, meaning they’re often vivid and sometimes feel scripted. Very occasionally, I can trace the genesis of a dream to something I watched or was worried about that day, but often they’re just... Like I’m telling myself a story, that has nothing to do with anything in my life.

How many of you dream like this? DW says she almost never remembers her dreams, and when she does, they’re not cinematic.

F’rinstance, here’s last night’s dream. I was in London, at some large night club. (IRL I’ve been to London exactly once, in 1986, but only briefly in Heathrow for a connecting flight. Also, night clubs aren’t my thing.) It was apparently the 1960s, because I saw both Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix in this club, just hanging out, not treated as celebs or anything. Bruce Lee got into a brawl, though, which Jimi Hendrix tried to break up. London police showed up and hauled them both away. In the dream, I realized that I’d seen Jimi hang up his coat, a long, mustard-colored wool thing, and I was worried he wouldn’t get it back, so I pulled it off the coat rack and ran out of the club with it, but he was already gone.

In the dream, I was thinking that since I traveled around the world often (IRL I don’t travel if I can avoid it), I’d just carry the coat around until I ran across him again. I later tried to return it to him at one of his concerts, but they wouldn’t let me backstage just because I was insisting I wanted to return his ugly coat, since I had to admit that he didn’t know me.

Eventually I spotted him in a hotel lobby in some random city, and called out his name until he turned to me. I held up his coat, which obviously I carried everywhere with me. His eyes lit up, but then he was angry, saying, “Oh so you’re the SOB who stole my coat!” I was trying to calm him down and explain that no, I wanted to be sure it wasn’t stolen, but then IRL one of our cats woke me so I never got to see if he believed me. :Shrug:
 

Ari Meermans

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I don't think I remember all my dreams but those I do remember are like that.

"Like I’m telling myself a story, that has nothing to do with anything in my life." Oh, yes; and I'm fully aware within the dream that I'm doing so—staying with your "cinematic" theme, I'm aware I'm directing the dream.

No data but I would think active daydreamers experience this in their nighttime dreams. (Something new for me to muse about. Thanks. :greenie)
 

ChaseJxyz

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My dreams are all over the place. Some are very obviously based off of my current anxieties or and some are just regular sort of dream shenanigans. There's a few highly cinematic ones and I usually write those down for some sort of future story ideas. One of the most memorable I've had since it was so WTF was the first time I took melatonin (was having really bad insomnia) and it was me watching a new episode of my fave reality TV show...but nothing really exciting happened. The people were talking and complaining about their (real) problems and I kept thinking "wow! This is such a boring episode!" It actually felt like I was there for the entire hour.
 

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I have a range. Sometimes I'll dream something that has an epic feel to it; it feels like I watched a great movie. But when I wake up and remember what I can about it, it doesn't feel epic, isn't special, or sometimes, doesn't even make sense.

I have had a few dreams that were cool story material, and I wrote those down. One in particular I would really love to write one day. It was the start of an epic fantasy and I've realized that right now, I'm not a good enough writer to do it justice.

But most of the time, I know I had a dream, I may remember an image or an emotion from it, but I couldn't even put it into words because there isn't enough there for me to communicate it with,
 

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I have extremely vivid dreams. When I'm dreaming I think I'm living real life. Last night, I had a dream I was back with my ex-boyfriend. I was trying to hide it, not tell anyone. Except a close friend. When I told her, I said I'd had a dream about it!

In real life, I do NOT want to get back together with him. I think my subconscious is feeling my loneliness, and wondering if I'm lonely enough to contact him? LOL - No. Maybe I dreamt about him because there was a notable news story recently that happened in the apt building he lives in.
 

Chris P

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My first-ever published short story is actually based on a very short dream I had. I woke up, wrote it down an hour or two later, sent it in after a couple days of edits and incubation, and *bing!* published in the first place (non-paying, unfortunately) I sent it to.

Most of my dreams lately have been more thinking dreams, usually where I am trying to plan a workshop I know isn't actually being planned, or mentally organizing a review paper I know isn't actually happening in real life, but I can't stop doing it. Or composing emails, or other such stuff. No visuals, no sounds, just an endless arranging and thought process. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night and do stuff because my waking life is much less exhausting than sleeping. It's really turned bedtime into a dreary chore knowing I'm going to be mentally taxed all night. Epic and vivid dreams are a rarity now, but amazing when I have them.
 

Brightdreamer

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I've often had rather vivid dreams (hence the name). Lately I've been experiencing taste more in my dreams: distinct flavors, too.

My favorites are usually the ones where I'm reading/writing/watching/participating in a story. The stories often don't make nearly as much sense when I wake as they do at the time, but they're so immersive and interactive...
 

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I have dreams every now and then about my ex-wife. The dreams are in different settings but always the same feel. We're back together again and I feel like I'm trapped in a bad relationship for the rest of my life.

Waking up and realizing it was a dream is kind of nice.
lol
 

Introversion

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Ugh, I occasionally have “back with the ex” dreams too. They’re in the same box as “back in that crappy job again” and “back in school again just in time for finals I haven’t studied for” dreams. :tongue
 
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Cobalt Jade

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I have those vivid, scripted, cinematic dreams. Sometimes I even know I'm dreaming. At those times I can control the action and elements. Not all the time, though. Sometimes I'm just stuck in the boring dream with no way to get out.

Last nights' dream was very epic. It was a scripting dream, about two young adults stuck on a Canadian Army Base. (Why I would dream about a Canadian army base I have no idea. I've never visited one.) Since the couple was wearing khakis, they were mistaken for soldiers, and ordered to march along to a field where they were doing exercises. Then they slipped off to board a very crowded very weird bus going off the base that I can't even begin to describe -- it had clear lucite sinks in it, some of the passengers had to lie down on army medical stretchers even though they were not sick, and others in folding chairs. There were a lot of houseplants around too. The bus then went off through a very ritzy, tree-lined boulevard of nice brick houses reminiscent of Vancouver.

It made me very interested to know what, in fact, goes on at a Canadian army base, and how it differs from an American one, and how remote they are. The "feeling" of the dream was an interesting YA adventure.
 

TeresaRose

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Yes, Introversion, I have those dreams too - back in school after not having been for months, and back in that crappy job. Often two or three of them are blended together. Pretty weird taking everything seriously and being stressed while trying to sell lingerie at the passport office!
 

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Does anyone else have dreams where you wake up in a bed in another dream?

In one of my dreams I asked my sister something about a movie-acting dog, but I woke up. I thought, "Okay, this has to be real life. I mean, I did just wake up." So, I asked her again about the dog. Nope. It was another dream. I did this four times--asking about the dog each time--until I woke up in real life. (At least I hope this one is real life :tongue). I asked her about the dog IRL, but she had her headphones on. Thank goodness. I would have felt silly asking about it.
 

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I had a dream last night in which someone was speaking ASL in a crowd and I understood just enough to realize she said something funny. She noticed when I laughed and asked me if I understood, but I didn't even know how to say "just a few words." We both got sad that we couldn't really communicate that way. Since actually many of my stories have been inspired by dreams, that made me wonder how I could write a scene like that.

By far the most common dreams I have, after the search for a functional bathroom, are of the “back in school again just in time for finals I haven’t studied for” variety. (To quote Introversion.) Worse are the ones where my teeth all fall out or start crumbling to sand.
 

Words.Worth

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[FONT=&quot]Dreams are supposed to be strange. Imagine normal dreams - no one wants them. I was fortunate to be able to learn how to control them. All stressful emotions I suffer during the day like my boss yelling WHAAAT!!! should they reappear in REM I use sticky tape to seal his mouth shut. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I wake up restful
[/FONT]
 

Cobalt Jade

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By far the most common dreams I have, after the search for a functional bathroom,

You have these too! My bathrooms are too small, too big, have doors that won't shut, no doors at all, curtains instead of doors, have overflowing toilets, toilets stuffed with waste and TP, toilets that won't flush, etc.
 

Gatteau

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My dreams tends to fall into two categories: visceral, where I truly feel the things I’m doing in the dream, whether it’s running my hands through a tiger’s fur or strangling someone, and I’m left with that feeling when I wake, which can be quite jarring; or your very apt word “cinematic”, where I feel like I’m watching the events unfold, participating in them and not necessarily aware that I’m dreaming, but the impression I’m left with is more of an overall story than any particular feeling.
More useful are the sort of half-dreams, I suppose, where I wake up with something like a song stuck in my head, or just the impression of a moment, something somebody just said, and that turns into an actual interesting idea for a story. This is where the main plot point came for my next writing project. Something about the Chicken Dance...
 

TeresaRose

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My dreams tends to fall into two categories: visceral, where I truly feel the things I’m doing in the dream, whether it’s running my hands through a tiger’s fur or strangling someone, and I’m left with that feeling when I wake, which can be quite jarring; or your very apt word “cinematic”, where I feel like I’m watching the events unfold, participating in them and not necessarily aware that I’m dreaming, but the impression I’m left with is more of an overall story than any particular feeling.
More useful are the sort of half-dreams, I suppose, where I wake up with something like a song stuck in my head, or just the impression of a moment, something somebody just said, and that turns into an actual interesting idea for a story. This is where the main plot point came for my next writing project. Something about the Chicken Dance...

Yes, I have very visceral dreams too. I've even pinched myself in a dream to see if I was dreaming. When I felt the pinch, of course, I thought I wasn't dreaming, but I was. Also, waking up with a particularly intense dream, sometimes that emotion, or unease stays with me the whole day. Creepy. Almost like it wasn't a dream, more of a different dimension or parallel universe.
 

MaeZe

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I remember my dreams every morning and forget them by mid-day. They are complex and weird and quite different from night to night.

I'll try taking a few notes and get back to the thread.
 

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I had a dream last night about a girl named Jetpack Molly. She wants a jetpack so she could fly above the robots that guard 100 feet up in the sky. She wants to see if her father is beyond those robots. She ends up finding, in the sky, a utopia.

It was a really charming and exciting dream and might make a good short story one day.
 

Gatteau

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Also, waking up with a particularly intense dream, sometimes that emotion, or unease stays with me the whole day. Creepy. Almost like it wasn't a dream, more of a different dimension or parallel universe.

Yes, exactly, a whole day of creeps that sometimes I can't even explain because I'm too freaked out by what I did in the dream. *shivers* The idea of it being alternate dimension would absolutely be true if this was a book. Eek.

I had a dream last night about a girl named Jetpack Molly. She wants a jetpack so she could fly above the robots that guard 100 feet up in the sky. She wants to see if her father is beyond those robots. She ends up finding, in the sky, a utopia.

Aw, this sounds amazing, I want to read this! :D

And just for something completely different, the only thing I remember from my dream this morning was there being a leftover baked potato after dinner, and me saying well, we can just save it in one of the containers we haven't washed yet, because we'll just have to wash it again anyway. Even subconsciously, I apparently hate doing dishes that much... :rolleyes
 

Jason

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I started a thread a while back about getting inspiration from dreams and apparently it's quite a common source for writing material. The strange dream that I had repeatedly for about a month was of a character that would spontaneously grow hair from their head in a multitude of colors. Like a rainbow spewing forth from the top of their head. It wasn't overly painful for the character, but there was a momentary sensation of itching very near before the growth started, and then the hair would grow - and really fast, as in feet per second.

The character was always embarrassed and felt humiliated when it happened as people would naturally be somewhat taken aback by this strange occurrence. They were living in fear of it happening when out in public. Constantly keeping an eye out for a place where the event could occur in privacy. They also kept a set of shears and scissors in their possession to cut the locks away once the growth completed.

The dream hasn't happened as of late, so it kinda faded from my memory for any writing grist until I saw this thread, and it jostled back to my brain.
 
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Chris P

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It doesn't happen often, but it happened a couple nights ago: I'm dreaming where I remember something, but in the dream I conclude that I'm remembering an older dream. But what I don't know is if I actually had that dream before, or if my dream is just telling me I'm remembering a dream.
 

milotry

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I usually forget my dreams completely a few hours after I've woken up, which is a shame. A lot of the time they're just extremely obvious manifestations of my IRL anxieties at the time. I had two recurring nightmares as a very young child, one where there was a loud ticking timer counting up to 100, and at the 100 mark, I would die; another where my mum was ageing extremely rapidly and then would crumble into dust in front of me. Eek! Maybe they'd spark something for a horror writer, haha.

These days my anxiety dreams are usually more related to being trapped or chased, though I did have the classic one a few years ago where my teeth were falling out (I think my wisdom teeth were just starting to come in, so maybe that triggered it?).

I do have dreams with more continuous narratives, but those are the ones I can never remember unless I write them down immediately, and they tend to jump around a lot. I just checked my notes from one and a part of it says, "I landed in the water and there was a sea giant, and he had like a whole backstory, and a musical number, and then he was an Avatar cosplayer actually", and then at another section of the same dream, "at some point I became this lady with blonde curly hair and a New York accent and I was trying to get my rich husband to take me to a party", so.

The wackiest dreams I ever had were while on sertraline/zoloft, I wish I could remember any of them. I just remember them being jarringly vivid but also absolutely nonsensical, and I'd always wake up so disoriented.