Thinly veiled catharsis
Mar. 24th, 2011 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
effexMy life’s been very nightmare-centric lately - nepenthe’s asked me for examples of well-written nightmares in fiction (fan and original and if you can think of any, let me know, I’m stumped), there’s a sequence in a fic I’m betaing that needs to be completely rewritten (the author doesn’t know this yet), I’m putting together a creepycreepy music mix (working title. I really shouldn’t be listening to it right now), bookshop just put up a post about Japanese horror films.
Any/all/none of which led to my nightmare last night, the full package: people being snatched from their beds and hung, murderous ghosts stalking the hallways, my siblings going outside to look for something and never coming back, dog-like things loose with the horses. Set in my childhood home, of course. It ended as I huddled on the couch, curled protectively around a bleeding family dog as a ghost came around the corner and my roommate typed on next to me, oblivious. I woke up gasping all dramatic-like, my heart racing.
Good times, right? I don’t get nightmares very often, fortunately, but I do have frequent bad dreams. Sometimes I’m the leader of a group that just failed to save the world, sometimes I know something bad is coming and no one will believe me, sometimes my magic gives out at a crucial moment, sometimes it’s creepy/warped intimacy, sometimes I’m lost. My issues, let me show you, etc. The difference is that these don’t scare me, they just curdle my gut and ruin my day.
I called my mom on my way to work, because some things you just don’t outgrow. And I wanted to check on Connor (the dog) and the horses. We ended up having a conversation about the nightmares she’s had lately, which were significantly gory-er than mine. Locked in a room and forced to reassemble babies ripped apart by vampires gory (look, I put the warning on the cut for a reason).
Which. Thank you, Mom.
It got me thinking (and finally we arrive at the point), though, about the different genres (for lack of a better word) of nightmares/bad dreams. Mine are very psychological - all about the terrible thing in the corner of your eye, the dark shape at the door, the overwhelming sense that something’s Wrong. There’s little gore. I’m never hurt and very rarely in danger. Mom’s are apparently more bloody (she’s a veterinarian, this makes some sense). Popular media tells me other people dream of falling, or showing up to school naked, or creepy crawlies.
I know it’s not a topic some people want to talk about, but if anyone wants to tell me about their nightmares and/or how they affect their waking life, I’d be, uh. Not grateful...interested? Happy to listen? Something.
Wow, I’m tired. Fucking nightmare.
nepenthe’s asked me for examples of well-written nightmares in fiction (fan and original and if you can think of any, let me know, I’m stumped), there’s a sequence in a fic I’m betaing that needs to be completely rewritten (the author doesn’t know this yet), I’m putting together a creepycreepy music mix (working title. I really shouldn’t be listening to it right now), bookshop just put up a post about Japanese horror films.Any/all/none of which led to my nightmare last night, the full package: people being snatched from their beds and hung, murderous ghosts stalking the hallways, my siblings going outside to look for something and never coming back, dog-like things loose with the horses. Set in my childhood home, of course. It ended as I huddled on the couch, curled protectively around a bleeding family dog as a ghost came around the corner and my roommate typed on next to me, oblivious. I woke up gasping all dramatic-like, my heart racing.
Good times, right? I don’t get nightmares very often, fortunately, but I do have frequent bad dreams. Sometimes I’m the leader of a group that just failed to save the world, sometimes I know something bad is coming and no one will believe me, sometimes my magic gives out at a crucial moment, sometimes it’s creepy/warped intimacy, sometimes I’m lost. My issues, let me show you, etc. The difference is that these don’t scare me, they just curdle my gut and ruin my day.
I called my mom on my way to work, because some things you just don’t outgrow. And I wanted to check on Connor (the dog) and the horses. We ended up having a conversation about the nightmares she’s had lately, which were significantly gory-er than mine. Locked in a room and forced to reassemble babies ripped apart by vampires gory (look, I put the warning on the cut for a reason).
Which. Thank you, Mom.
It got me thinking (and finally we arrive at the point), though, about the different genres (for lack of a better word) of nightmares/bad dreams. Mine are very psychological - all about the terrible thing in the corner of your eye, the dark shape at the door, the overwhelming sense that something’s Wrong. There’s little gore. I’m never hurt and very rarely in danger. Mom’s are apparently more bloody (she’s a veterinarian, this makes some sense). Popular media tells me other people dream of falling, or showing up to school naked, or creepy crawlies.
I know it’s not a topic some people want to talk about, but if anyone wants to tell me about their nightmares and/or how they affect their waking life, I’d be, uh. Not grateful...interested? Happy to listen? Something.
Wow, I’m tired. Fucking nightmare.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-17 01:42 am (UTC)