If you’ve read my blog since its early days (thank you!), you might remember a post I made called “Sleep On It.” I recommended sleeping on a problem if you hit a snag trying to solve something in your writing.
Boy, did I ever take my own advice to heart last night.
You see, nightmares are a big part of the sci-fi novel/series I’m writing. (Don’t confuse this with the movie “Dreamscape,” please—it’s not the same.) I have my protagonist go through a particularly nasty nightmare in the first book, and I’ve been working on another nightmare for him to navigate in the second book. My first attempt at the latter was less than spectacular.
Yesterday was a rather bad health day for me. I spent most of the day in bed, trying to get over Lord Knows What. With each cycle, I’d try and think about nightmare scenarios while falling asleep. My advice was backfiring on me—nothing came up. I’m going to blame my illness for that.
I woke up several times overnight, each time feeling like my illness was receding. Starting around three o’ clock this morning, I finally got a good chunk of sleep that ran until I woke up for good, and I tell you—it was brimming with nightmarish images. It could probably stand on its own as an episode of the Twilight Zone, if the show was still on and if the dream hadn’t been so gruesome. It’s safe to say that I’m going to try and work a version of my dream into the second book.
I’ll say it again—if you run into a problem, sleep on it. You might not like what you get, but you’re bound to get something.
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