What the Dreamscape is about

[Sheilawisz]

Hello everyone!

Welcome to The Dreamscape. This Forum is dedicated to the exploration, discussion and enjoyment of Dreams as a source of inspiration for Fantasy Storytelling. Every night we go to sleep, and that means that we dream. Many times, the dreams that we experience can help us to improve our work with creativity and stories.

Have you ever had a powerful dream that could easily become a Fantasy story? Have you sometimes experienced a meaningful dream that helps you with a particular scene in your story? Do you have intense and exciting dreams in which you explore surprising situations and unusual settings?

In that case, this is the Forum for you!

Even if your dreams are nothing special, here in The Dreamscape we shall discuss techniques that can help you to improve your dreaming life. We are going to talk about Dream Journals, Dream Recall, Dream Incubation and even more. Lucid Dreaming discussions are coming, as well.

Great inspiration and ideas can come from dreams, and that benefits us in Fantasy writing.

We are going to have sticky threads dedicated to certain areas in particular, but please feel free to create your own threads and posts too. That's all for now, and enjoy The Dreamscape!

 

[Fettju]

I experienced something two years ago. Or maybe I had experienced it before but never realized.
I had a few dreams, and in those dreams I had memories from that place where I was. But when I woke up I only knew that I had been in another familiar place again, and I had memories of it and more things from that place inside the dream, but I couldn't recall those memories when I was awake. That happened in a few dreams with different scenes. As if (metaphorically speaking) there was a door in the backyard that was leading out to a park or an alley or a whole landscape where I had been and had experienced many things, emotional and personally important to me, but when I woke up I couldn't even remember the backyard, just that there was a backyard in that dream. Again, as another dream also had before then. (It wasn't any backyard, one was something with old wooden factory houses from the 1800s, and behind them there was a whole life and relationships and adventures I had lived, and another was some road that went up and down a hill and on the other side of the hill was a theme park and a city)

(sorry this is very difficult to explain so I had to edit)
The thing was that I dreamt about those two "dreamscapes" again, maybe there were more than those two I don't remember, but when I was there again in my dreams I got those memories from those places back. It was as if I have memories that I can only access when I am dreaming. I even think I recall that I could access the memories that were locked in one such "dreamscape" from other dreams. The only thing I could recall is that, that I knew things, but I only knew them inside the dreams. As if even the "door" that lead from the "house" to the "backyard" was locked when I was awake. (I say "was" because it haven't happened now for two years)

 

[Azul-din]

I experienced something two years ago. Or maybe I had experienced it before but never realized.
I had a few dreams, and in those dreams I had memories from that place where I was. But when I woke up I only knew that I had been in another familiar place again, and I had memories of it and more things from that place inside the dream, but I couldn't recall those memories when I was awake. That happened in a few dreams with different scenes. As if (metaphorically speaking) there was a door in the backyard that was leading out to a park or an alley or a whole landscape where I had been and had experienced many things, emotional and personally important to me, but when I woke up I couldn't even remember the backyard, just that there was a backyard in that dream. Again, as another dream also had before then. (It wasn't any backyard, one was something with old wooden factory houses from the 1800s, and behind them there was a whole life and relationships and adventures I had lived, and another was some road that went up and down a hill and on the other side of the hill was a theme park and a city)

(sorry this is very difficult to explain so I had to edit)
The thing was that I dreamt about those two "dreamscapes" again, maybe there were more than those two I don't remember, but when I was there again in my dreams I got those memories from those places back. It was as if I have memories that I can only access when I am dreaming. I even think I recall that I could access the memories that were locked in one such "dreamscape" from other dreams. The only thing I could recall is that, that I knew things, but I only knew them inside the dreams. As if even the "door" that lead from the "house" to the "backyard" was locked when I was awake. (I say "was" because it haven't happened now for two years)

I think what you are suggesting is that the dreams actually represent another reality. It's an interesting concept to play with. I wrote a story once where the MC was a somewhat timid secretary who in her nightly dreams became a giant female raptor, with all the thoughts and feelings of that creature. What happened in this case was that the female raptor was such a powerful and dominant personality that she gradually took over the secretary in her waking life. Then it became one of those am-I-man-dreaming-he-is-a-butterfly-or-a-butterfly-dreaming-he-is-a-man situations.

 

[Logomancer]

I experienced something two years ago. Or maybe I had experienced it before but never realized.
I had a few dreams, and in those dreams I had memories from that place where I was. But when I woke up I only knew that I had been in another familiar place again, and I had memories of it and more things from that place inside the dream, but I couldn't recall those memories when I was awake. That happened in a few dreams with different scenes. As if (metaphorically speaking) there was a door in the backyard that was leading out to a park or an alley or a whole landscape where I had been and had experienced many things, emotional and personally important to me, but when I woke up I couldn't even remember the backyard, just that there was a backyard in that dream. Again, as another dream also had before then. (It wasn't any backyard, one was something with old wooden factory houses from the 1800s, and behind them there was a whole life and relationships and adventures I had lived, and another was some road that went up and down a hill and on the other side of the hill was a theme park and a city)

(sorry this is very difficult to explain so I had to edit)
The thing was that I dreamt about those two "dreamscapes" again, maybe there were more than those two I don't remember, but when I was there again in my dreams I got those memories from those places back. It was as if I have memories that I can only access when I am dreaming. I even think I recall that I could access the memories that were locked in one such "dreamscape" from other dreams. The only thing I could recall is that, that I knew things, but I only knew them inside the dreams. As if even the "door" that lead from the "house" to the "backyard" was locked when I was awake. (I say "was" because it haven't happened now for two years)

This happens to me too sometimes. It's as if my dream-self has a separate set of memories. There seem to be dreamscapes I have history with, and in those oneiric realms I oft encounter strange characters who recognize me and greet me as an old friend. But when I wake, I can no longer recall their names - if they ever had any - their faces are lost to me, and their voices are like a half-remembered tune that quickly fades into nothing.