Have you ever watched the Linklater movie Waking Life, Jay?

I have another theory about dreaming, specifically with reference to writers. Writers seem to have a lot of basically abnormal dreaming behavior. Aka, you're not supposed to dream immediately after falling asleep, but you are not the first writer I've known to report vivid dreams after taking a very short nap (myself included). I think this may be one of the few things we have in common. Perhaps it drives our creativity. Or maybe it's the other way around, and by poking at those centers in our brains, we are creating monstrous dreaming muscles. Either way, I think it's a mixed blessing. I sometimes dream stories, but on the other hand, I've had some very bad and also disturbing dreams. *shudder*

I meant one of the few things we ALL have in common. I'm sure you and I have many other things in common. (And as soon as I post this, someone will pipe up and say they have published 58 fantasy novels and never dreamed a night in their life...)

Heh. Actually, I was going to suggest that you and I do have a bit more in common. If nothing else, we like and respect each other. :D

We have the same snappy fashion sense, and are both obsessed with formula 1 racing.

For which we are justly famed, I do believe.

While you may be quite right, it's also possible that as writers we're all chronically sleep deprived. :-)

When it comes to dreams, some experts say that the entire dream--that seems like Hours, days, weeks long...--actually occurs in just the few minutes in REM sleep, or just instantly.
Fascinating, no?

PS-do you remember Jennifer Archer from the FiW conference (2006)? Well, she just put me as the featured author on her website, isn't that neat?

All the best.
Christen

Cool!

I think one of the saddest things about having a sleep disorder is that so much of the mystery has been taken out of dreaming. While I don't really object to the knowledge I've gained, there's not as much of a feeling of magic about my dreams any longer.

And I do miss the post-apocalyptic ones. But, on the other hand, I can count the number of nightmares I've had since I was a teen on one hand.

I have also noticed this thing. A friend of mine once told me that many dreams only last a few minutes, even if they feel long and drawn out to our waking selves. I'm not sure if this is true all of the time. But I certainly have experienced the long, detailed dreams that took place between smacks of the snooze button.

I should also say that I've experienced many dreams that I know occured over long periods of time because I kept partially waking up during them. Of course, this usually means I don't get any good sleep because I'm exhausted from dreaming. And it occurs more often when I'm sick.

Some of my longest seeming dreams occur between hits of the snooze button. I wonder if it's just that I remember these bits better as I'm dipping in and out of REM quickly. Like the one a couple nights ago were I was in the Bahamas and stepped into a teleporter which was in fact a lidless, coffin-like box on a quick moving rail system that was to take me home to the northwest. I did get a nice view of Disneyworld (my version, lots of colorful spires and towers) as we went by Florida.

Additionally, I wonder how dreaming for someone who suffers from sleep apnea, as I do, differs from a sound, healthy sleeper. My apnea attacks bring me out of REM frequently. That said, my cpap machine hasn't had an apparent affect on the surreal quality of my dreams.