Dream a Little Dream

Did you ever have a really good idea for a story when you were asleep?

Or, at least, an idea that you thought was really good -- until the sleep haze wore off and you realized that the storyline that was so captivating in your dream doesn't... well... make any sense whatsoever?

This happens to me occasionally. I wake up thinking, OMG! This story is going to be awesome! I am so fantastic I am a virtuoso in my sleep!

Then, around noon, I start to spot some flaws. By late afternoon I'm a little embarrassed by my early enthusiasm. And by evening I'm like, "What was I thinking? A story about clown assassains? That would never work!"

Yep, usually it's a big bust. But the morning is fun. Like this morning, for example.

I had a sort of sci-fi dream about two girls, one of whom had used some sort of psycho-kinetical powers to leave the other girl in a permanently cloudy mental haze. I'm not sure why. It was one of those post-apocolyptic dramas, so presumably there were some compelling political reasons.

Anyway, Girl #1 (we'll call her Joan) had been captured by Girl #2's (Wanda's) allies. And they were trying to compel her to restore Wanda to mental health. It was slow going, though; Joan was resolute. But during her captivity, Joan and Wanda began to connect. So much so that Joan decided to go ahead and release the psychic hold -- even though she knew doing so would restore Wanda's previous personality and thus destroy their friendship.

As I write this, it's late afternoon, and the root of the idea still seems halfway solid. Basically, it's about what you could sacrifice for another person. We talk about sacrificing our lives for those we love -- but would it be somehow harder to sacrifice that person's love for you?

Whether anything will come of this idea, I don't know. It's not for a genre I usually work in. But I like the core of the idea, the emotional seed. And frankly, that's more than I usually get out of my dream epiphanies.