For several months I've been playing around with the idea of a fantasy story based on an actual dream, but the story hasn't jelled. First, the dream in its context:
The day before I had gone to see the musical Wicked, and afterwards I had been thinking about musicals in general and how the plot requirements were different than for a book. In my dream I was watching a musical based on the general idea of "Thomas the Rhymer": a mortal man is captured by the fairy queen and forced to serve her until either (1) rescued by his own true love, or (2) all the people he had known have died of old age, while he is essentially unchanged. In the musical in my dream, the man is singing to his captor that he has given her his heart, as:
"Not a gift but a loan,
To hold in your keeping,
For as long as I'm sleeping,
Till I find my way home."
As a member of the audience, I was carried away with sympathy for the man and also admiration for his spirit and determination not to give in entirely, but to remember who he is and know that he's held in a sleeping state, from which he will try, if at all possible, to escape.
Then on waking I was struck by the fact that I had composed a verse of a musical in my sleep, and I wanted to resume the dream and see if I could come up wi
Then on waking I was struck by the fact that I had composed a verse of a musical in my sleep, and I tried to resume the dream and see if I could come up with the rest of the song or songs, at least the lyrics. And what did it all signify? Was this a musical that I was supposed to write, or was the story not the plot of the musical, but of the dream itself? What if I had actually made contact, in my sleep, with the hero of the tale, who was condemned to communicate only in song (as is Thomas in some versions of the story) and could only contact others who were asleep? And that's as far as I've gone. But I feel that, having been given this much of a story (by my subconscious, presumably) I should go on to complete it. Somehow.
Comments (1)
Lucy . . . You should absolutely continue working on this idea. It sounds very interesting. . . I'm not sure which part sounds the best--the story itself or the idea that Thomas has contacted you in your sleep. Dreams are powerful things . . . give voice to yours and see where it goes! Good luck!
Posted by Jennifer | November 24, 2007 9:19 PM
Posted on November 24, 2007 21:19