As cliches go, the ‘... woke up and it was all a dream’ ending, is one of the laziest tropes out there. However, I did have an experience like that over the weekend. I had one of the most vivid dreams I have ever had: it felt so real, and had a followable narrative to it, and the best bit was actually remembering most of it when I woke up.
Now, my husband is always telling me that there is nothing more boring than someone else’s ‘weird’ dream, however, on this occasion I might have to disagree. That is not to suggest that the dream was a fully formed story that I can just knock out on the laptop and make use of, however this dream definitely has potential if I take the gist of the narrative and develop it.
I’ve always thought about having a notebook by the bed for those ‘aha’ moments, but I’ve not actually had any middle-of-the-night ideas until now so I never bothered putting a book there; a notebook by my bed would be an empty notebook which seems a little lonely and unfulfilling for the poor thing. I’ve had vivid dreams, but the narrative wasn’t very engaging – arriving at school late with no planning prepared doesn’t sound like it would make the most gripping read, even if it is a very real recurring concern that I manage to have despite never not having planned in advance for work. I’ve had dreams from which I wake up and have a strong sense of having dreamt something very exciting and adventurous – generally along the theme of escaping from some kind of undead being - but the memory of the dream has usually fogged up pretty quickly. This experience of having a dream and remembering it, and it being one I can work with, is a fairly new one for me: I may have to reconsider my notebook stance, although at the weekend I just used my phone notepad to scribble the idea down and that does have the advantage of not having to hold a pen when barely awake, plus auto-correct generally knows what I am trying to mash into the keyboard at all times of the day.
Another thing I am reconsidering is the value of my dreams; maybe – buried between zombie chases and unmarked books – there are snapshots from new stories waiting to be written. The story doesn’t have to be the dream, but it can grow from it. The experience has certainly given me some food for thought.