All I Have to Do Is Dream
Last night, I dreamed that vampires were chasing me. I wasn’t myself; instead, I was a little girl, about 6 or 7 years old. I was at a truck stop of some sort, next to a lonely, deserted highway. Only a few other customers were in the truck stop. I think I was eating a meal when the vampires came in...
Last week, dear inklings, I shared with you my thoughts inspired by Jennifer Brown’s post about “backseat dreaming”.
Jennifer is my Muse once more today. Her post Dreaming Life and Living Dreams reminded me of my fascination with nighttime dreams.
In Living Color
Once upon a time, when I wasn’t writing much, I dreamed in vivid detail and color — every night. My dreams were intense enough that I rarely woke up feeling refreshed. My husband told me that while he had a nice, quite, empty warehouse in his head at night, I had an IMAX theater in mine.
There is no better description.
After I finally realized that I was, indeed, created to create — i.e. after I let myself start becoming the writer I was meant to be — I stopped remembering most of my dreams.
And I started sleeping again, can I get a hallelujah?!?
*ahem*
Anyway, during my years of crazy dreaming, I kept a journal in which I recorded over 150 dreams. And today, my darlings, I’d like to share with you one of the weirder ones. I hope you enjoy. : )
Mortals Akseptans
Dream #67, recorded May 13, 2004
Last night, I dreamed that vampires were chasing me. I wasn’t myself; instead, I was a little girl, about 6 or 7 years old. I was at a truck stop of some sort, next to a lonely, deserted highway. Only a few other customers were in the truck stop. I think I was eating a meal when the vampires came in. I knew they were after me, so I ran outside.
I thought that being in sunlight would save me, but these vampires were immune to the sun. Several of them stayed inside the truck stop, hunting the other customers. Four or five vampires pursued me, and I ran into some sort of tunnel.
The walls were curved, and the whole place was made of metal, so I was running through a long, metal tube. Occasionally, there were large round openings in the ceiling. A male and a female vampire chased me through the tunnel, and the others started dropping in through the openings in the ceiling.
Finally, the vampires surrounded me. As they closed in on me, I turned frantically from side to side, looking for an escape. I caught sight of something strange written on the wall: the words “mortals akseptans” printed in the middle of a sun symbol.
When the vampires saw what I was looking at, they turned away and fled down the tunnel, as though they were afraid of the words. Knowing that they would soon recover and come after me again, I started running in the opposite direction.
I found my way out of the tunnel and ended up in a marshy area. The sun was shining bright, but water was rising all around me, as though I were in the middle of a flood. Suddenly, I realized that the vampires had caught up with me. I was trapped on a tiny little spit of land surrounded by water, and the vampires had only to grab me at their leisure.
I knelt and drew the sun symbol in the sand, then scratched the words “mortals akseptans” in the middle of the sun.
The symbol protected me for awhile, keeping the vampires at bay. But eventually, water eroded the ground and my feeble defense with it. The vampires came closer and closer, and I could see their hunger and desire in their eyes. Several of them were licking their lips, which were wet and red with blood. Then the dream ended.
_______________________
I’ve since Googled the word “akseptans” out of curiosity. Apparently, it is Turkish for “acceptance.” There’s probably something Freudian in there somewhere, but I don’t think I want to puzzle it out. ; )
If you, however, want to analyze my dreams or tell of your own, please share in the comments! I’d love to hear!
Courtney it is great that you’ve turned to creative writing. The dream sounds like the landscape that is your novels now, from that rich source inside you. There are the stories we tell ourselves, then there are the stories we tell others. I feel it’s always healthier to have an audience. Thanks for being brave enough to share your dreams, even the not so nice ones. –Jennifer
Jennifer, I agree that it’s healthier to have an audience for these things. When I’m my own audience, I just end up confused and discouraged. But when I share with others, I gain encouragement from their positive responses and clarity from their good critiques.
Thank *you* for inspiring me to share these weird dreams! I plan to post more in the future. It all appeals to my sense of whimsy. : )
I might be a little jealous since I never have dreams that are coherent enough to be story ideas. They’re rarely on point enough to suggest a scene.
Then again, my waking mind spends most of its time thinking about last survivors of doomed planets, magic wish ring space cops, and Dracula fetishists punching muggers. It seems conceivable my dreaming mind just can’t keep up.
Josh, taking that cramazing, descriptive list into consideration, I’d say you’re not missing much if your dreams don’t provide you with coherent story fodder. No jealousy necessary. ; )