Is it good for a writer to be mugged by Morpheus? Morpheus was the Greek God of Dreams as well as Lawrence Fishburne's character in the Matrix. Albuquerque might not be the Matrix, but it might as well be the Matrix Adjacent, when you write a novel, where you have to shift between the real and the imaginary. As many of you slog through your National Novel Writing Month novels, today's blog is going to focus on dreaming and writing.
When I first starting writing in my twenties, I would drink coffee before bed to deliberately force dreams in the middle of the night. Morpheus would talk to me, both awake and asleep, and yes it was in Lawrence Fishburne's baritone voice. Your main character needs to do this, he needs to go here and he needs to fall in love with the female lead on page 38. It felt magical, or even better it felt "matrixal" like it came from a different world.
I might as well have Morpheus at my co-pilot when I'd wake up at five and start cranking the story for the day. I didn't know where the good ideas came from, but they came from somewhere deep within.
As I grow older, sleep became more of a commodity. Sleep was less just a journey to magical world, sleep became about rejuvenation--about forgetting the day before and planning the day ahead. I had long dreams about work and clients as well paying the mortgage. Paying mortgage dreams are not usually worthy of a great novel. I now get just as many ideas from exercising as I do from dreaming.
But Morpheus isn't quite done with me...
These little blogs come from Morpheus, they come from dreams. I wake up in the middle of the night and come up with a good idea for a little blog. When I get to the computer before dawn, I can usually crank something out from memory.
Or is it something from the Matrix?
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