Hi Leijona. It’s a huge task to read over the entire thread so I wouldn’t feel bad about it.
I’m already having a little success with CALD. While I haven’t had an LD using it yet I feel like I’m getting closer every day.
One thing I have noticed is during the day Nova is very visual orientated. By this I mean that instead of having huge in depth conversations with him like I try to do at night he instead makes his presence known through action. For example if I think it is cold then he walks beside me wearing a thick jacket. We walked passed a sausage sizzle and suddenly he’s enjoying a free lunch.
I think the best part of the whole thing is that we both know he is what he is. Just a character in my mind, he doesn’t have problem with that at all. So instead of trying to come up with a backstory for him he instead can focus on what he’s supposed to do. Which is helping me to dream.
A couple of nights ago during a normal dream a friend introduced me to a boy. I don’t remember the details but this boy was really excited to see me. We were sitting down and he jumped on top of me. Sadly it’s a little unclear and I didn’t pick up on the situation at all but after the fact I believe it was indeed Nova. So that’s something.
Even without having any LD’s yet I still think the technique is fun. The whole character creation aspect is fun from a casual writers perspective and seeing what an invisible young teenager who lurks around me everywhere I go can come up with is amusing to say the least.
Stick with it. The more Takashi is on your mind the more likely it is he’ll be useful to you. You might see him in a dream and realize you’re dreaming or maybe he’ll even show up to make you realize. Mind telling us a little about him?
Sounds like having a child is weighing very heavily on your mind. Before you decide to use the boy in your dream for CALD you may want to try and learn more about him. Try and remember what he looks like and ask him why he keeps getting into trouble. You’ll only want to use CALD if you think the boy can help you to dream. Then again using CALD might help you learn more about him whether he’s helpful to you or not.
Okay, I’ll tell what I know about him so far, treating him as a real person might make him truly more real, so here we go.
Takashi, he’s a thin, tall young man, hasn’t reached his twenties yet, he has blue hair (it seems strange, but somehow it seems just fine on him) and wears simply. Likes old music, of most kinds, and just likes to enjoy life, accepting his flaws, and always trying to improve. I take him as a reflection of what I’d like to be, he seems to live in the past, in a rather beatiful place, and we’ve become friends rather quickly, heh.
Takashi sounds like a pretty solid character so far. Blue hair would certainly stand out so if you saw him in a dream it’d be pretty easy for you to recognize him. Remember that he doesn’t have to be perfectly normal, since he exists in your mind he can have any number of unusual features.
The more you interact with him the more he’ll develop. At least that’s what I’ve found with Nova (my character). He has developed a somewhat cheeky side that he certainly didn’t have when I first created him.
I believe I myself have had a CALD, but since my DR was very bad at that moment, I’m not entirely sure. People definitely reported having success with CALD, and if I remember correctly, there was someone named tribemaker (?) who claimed to have tons of LD’s using a mix of CALD and VILD.
I have quite a hard time talking to my characters before going to sleep (mostly lack of discipline from my part, I guess). However, the amount of visual presence is more affected by distractions or whether there are many other things going on around me to which I have to pay attention. I think my characters are more action based, so the Character Chat helps me a lot to have some decent conversations with them. When you say that Nova walks besides you, do you imagine him being IRL?
IIRC some people had issues with the fact that their characters couldn’t handle it as soon as they came to know that they are only creations of the mind. In my opinion it makes a lot more sense to let your character know that he is simply an imaginary character (besides it’s much more fun when they are aware of the endless possibilities of existing in someone’s mind).
I agree. I especially think it’s interesting to see of what a human mind is capable of.
Characters don’t even need to be human. A character can also have several appearances, just any other DC. Like in CyberD’s dream, you might meet a DC who doesn’t look at all like your MC, but you will know that it is your character.
I’ll start at the beginning. I created Nova based very loosely on a character concept I came up with and named several months ago but never ended up using in a story I was playing around with. The character was an artificial intelligence programmed onto a portable device, like a futuristic Iphone or something. The character was like a personal assistant, keeping everything organized and giving reminders etc. Reading over the threads made me remember the character so I took the idea, cleared his backstory and made him a character for CALD.
Nova’s appearance was originally that of the character. He is 14, kinda on the slim side with blond hair, bright green eyes and his outfit some kind of battle armor. In an effort to find some normal clothes for him I stumbled across a picture of a clothes model in an advertisement and the image of this new boy stuck.
So now Nova has short brown hair and a green fleece jacket which is on sale Random how these things go. I look at the image occasionally to help visualize him. (I’ve used photos of random people to help develop characters before but it’s interesting how well it worked for this)
Since the character in the story didn’t get used it provided a blank slate. The only thing Nova has really held onto is the name. He can make fire with his hands, turn into fire etc. Conversely he hates the cold and especially the rain.
I try to imagine Nova everywhere I go. If I only talk with him at home then he might only show up when I dream I am at home. So he walks to work beside me, he hangs around while I’m working sometimes and I try to get his opinion on things I see as well as getting him to remind me to do RC’s. Now that might all sound crazy but since he’s just a character in my head I don’t see the problem. It’s not like he affects my performance at all.
The other day there was a very distracting jumping castle nearby as I was working so Nova occupied himself with that for a good while.
Typically though I am more focused when I’m using the computer, like now. He sits a few feet behind me in a very laid back way. I’ll ask him about things I come across and try to get something smart out of him before I get distracted again.
This was one of the first things I found when I read over the thread so I made sure right from the beginning this could never be a problem. Not only does Nova accept this but he embraces it. Existing in my mind means he is free from limitations and that he has full control over all dream matter (if you can call it that.) Last night he told me he will never feel physical pain, which makes sense, and that he thinks I am strong for enduring even a little pain.(I had a headache.)
I remember reading this. Animals seem popular particularly wolves. I’ve also seen elves, robots and other bizarre alien creatures. There was also one character I remember that was completely formless.
I actually had a discussion with Nova about his appearance in my dream. We concluded that the form of the boy in the dream more closely resembled his original design and that might be why I didn’t recognize him. Nova says he’ll try not to use that form again but dreams are random places so who knows what’ll happen.
So much typing. Maybe having the idea in my mind for so long will help to see it in a dream. It’d be wonderful if I could have another dream with Nova in it.
A quick update regarding my characters: On Thursday Gan left indefinitely for reasons not known to me (as excursive as he is, he might as well appear again in a few seconds), if he doesn’t come back in a few days I’m going to check up on him.
Neila and I decided to frame a few rules about CALD and everything in general soon, as we both noticed that there are small quarrels over more or less the same topics every once in a while (between me and my characters or only between two of my characters). Do some of you have your own rules for you and your MCs?
I have had some interesting dreams about my MCs lately, one was one of these dreams where I am Neila. Which made me wonder, do any of you have dreams where you actually are your MC? How often do you dream about your MCs in general?
A character can also have several appearances, just any other DC. Like in CyberD’s dream, you might meet a DC who doesn’t look at all like your MC, but you will 
Random how these things go. I look at the image occasionally to help visualize him. (I’ve used photos of random people to help develop characters before but it’s interesting how well it worked for this)