Hey everyone!
I’ve been wondering for a while whether anyone else experiences dreams the way I do, because I haven’t really found a term that fully describes it.
I know about lucid dreaming, but what I experience sometimes feels like more than simply knowing I’m dreaming and controlling my surroundings.
Here’s what happens:
Before falling asleep, I can consciously come up with an entire story that I want to dream about. It’s a bit like writing a book or planning a movie in my head, except that I can actually experience the story in my dreams.
I can plan the plot, characters and events beforehand, and the dream usually follows my original idea quite closely.
Sometimes I consciously guide every event, while other times I let the story develop on its own and surprise me. I can also switch between being different characters, depending on what I feel like.
The dreams themselves are usually very vivid and cinematic.
Most of the time, I experience the story from a third-person perspective, almost like watching a movie, but I identify with the character I’m playing. Sometimes I experience things from a first-person perspective instead, and I can influence which character I am.
Time can work differently, too. Sometimes events feel like they’re happening in real time, while other times there are time skips or I experience what feels like weeks passing within the story.
There are also two ways this happens: sometimes I can feel myself transitioning from imagining the story while falling asleep into actually dreaming it. Other times, I fall asleep normally and find myself in the story later.
If I don’t focus on creating a specific story, I can still have ordinary lucid dreams.
I’ve started wondering whether there’s a specific term for this combination of conscious story creation, dream incubation and lucid dreaming.
So, my questions are:
- Does anyone else consciously create entire narratives before falling asleep and then experience them as dreams?
- Can you control both the storyline and which character or perspective you experience?
- Do your dreams sometimes feel like complete movies or books rather than individual dream scenes?
- Is there a specific term for this, or is it simply a form of lucid dreaming combined with dream incubation?
I’d really love to hear about your experiences, even if they’re not exactly the same as mine. I’m especially interested in finding people who experience the storytelling aspect in a similar way!
Thanks for reading! 