Dreams: The Landscape of the Mind

Hey everyone!

Hope your week is going well and you’re having a great Wednesday. I have a question for you all. What makes a character compelling? What is it that makes you interested in them? I’m sure there isn’t an exact answer and it’s probably different for everyone. For instance, from my own personal experience, I really enjoyed seeing the character Anomander Rake in the Malazan series. He was built up as the epitome of badass that you don’t mess with without a good plan and plenty of backup. But there was more to it than that. In the first book you only hear about him for most of it. Characters would talk about him in such fear that you could almost mistake it for reverence. Kind of like how characters speak about the John Wick in his films. Unlike Mr. Wick however, Rake is an otherworldly being that is similar to a dark elf or a drow from what I understand to be another dimension. On top of that he’s thousands of years old, a skilled sorcerer and arguably the best swordsman in the books. Now a lot of people don’t like Rake because of this, and I understand why. This guy is just so powerful, which is something that can leave a bad taste in a reader’s mouth. Apparently, he was originally a tabletop character played by Steven Erikson. Many have called the character a self-insert, but I would argue against that claim because he’s not the main character of the story. Furthermore, he’s not a Mary Sue/Gary Stu that goes around fixing every problem whilst being praised by every other character. That said though as much as I like him, I believe it was his limited appearance in the first book that made him so interesting. You hear more about Rake than you see of him. Then when he does appear it is brief but intimidating. Eventually there is a payoff towards the end of the book where you learn just how powerful he is. The lesson I’ve learned from Anomander Rake is that it’s alright to have powerful characters in a story so long as you keep the reader’s exposure to them limited. It’s as if there is an unspoken law of writing that the stronger a character is, the less they should be seen. Interesting stuff and I may discuss this further in its own post but for now let’s dive into dreams for today’s topic!

Dreams are a wild occurrence, aren’t they? One minute you’re flying and then the next you’re seen as a block of cheese and you’re running from a horde of people who want to use you to make nachos. Amazing and horrifying. I’m not sure what a dream interpreter would have to say about that but I’m sure it would be interesting. Dreams can be surreal. What is the wildest dream you’ve ever had? Feel free to share it in a comment.

Something that I have heard that is interesting about dreams is that they are our brains way of processing what happened through the day. Now I understand that a lot can happen in the span of 16 hours, but I don’t know how a normal day can translate into a nightmare about my teeth falling out. But then it can also flip, and I could have a bad day but then I dream about flying or travelling to new places or just anything that is generally a great time. It all seems a little funky but who am I to say what a dream should or shouldn’t be. Something that I have found to be interesting is how a good dream can set the mood for the rest of the day. I’ve had some great dreams and while I was upset to wake up from them, I’ve often had good days. So far, I’m happy to say that nightmares don’t have the same affect on my day. Do good dreams have the same effect on you? How about nightmares?

Easily the greatest type of dream to have is without a doubt a lucid dream. I can count the number of lucid dreams I’ve had on one hand. These dreams are just that rare for me. I’m guessing they’re also rare for many of you. If you don’t know what a lucid dream is, it is a dream where you become aware that you are dreaming. Suddenly, the dream becomes whatever you want. Talk about awesome. I believe you can also have semi-lucid dreams, and I’ve had a few of those. You’re aware that you are dreaming but you don’t get full control over it. For instance, I had a dream that was about WWII. I realized that it was a dream, so I dreamed up a lightsaber to run around with, but I had no control over what was happening. So even though I could do some fun stuff, I was reacting to whatever crazy events my subconscious would conjure up. It was fun, but it wasn’t a full lucid dream.

I did have two lucid dreams that I had full control over. The first was an interesting experience. I woke up around three in the morning for whatever reason. My guess is I just wasn’t having a good night’s sleep. I took advantage of the situation and used one of the techniques to lucid dream. I believe it’s called the wake back to sleep method. I fought with myself to lay still whilst trying to trick myself into going into a waking dream. There must have been an owl that moved into my neighborhood because I could hear it hooting outside my window. I focused entirely on the owl. Then, I felt myself being dragged off my bed, which is a sign that you’re falling asleep. I gave it a few moments and opened my eyes. My room wasn’t dark, in fact my light was on. Also, everything was foggy. As I maneuvered around my room, I found that nothing made sound and I couldn’t speak. I dreamed up a necklace that would let me speak. Turns out it let me hear instead. I was so excited that I woke myself up. Talk about a bummer. My second experience with a full lucid dream I realized I was dreaming and decided to have to some. I was in some cityscape reminiscent of an old European city. I ended up getting into a firefight with gun wielding ninjas. I know, weapons that go boom defeat the purpose of being a ninja, but it was cool. Do any of you have tips on how to lucid dream? Leave a comment, I’d love to lucid dream more often.

I’ll wrap the post up for today. Keep a lookout on Friday for the next part of the Cinders series "Sword of the Saints." What are your thoughts on dreams? Have you ever lucid dreamed? Share your thoughts and experiences in a comment! Thanks for reading and have a great one.

Best regards,

Aaron Kirby