Comments on: Would anyone read a blog about my dreams???

Question: Would anyone read a blog about my dreams???

nintendo — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:11:59 -0800

Would anyone read a blog (if I wrote one) about my nightly dreams, or would that suck for everyone but me?

For about four years I've been writing down my dreams and am getting pretty good at it. Im also a writer for a local newspaper, and I realized recently that my dreams are far more interesting that anything I've written about real life. This seems like a great idea to me, but would anyone read it????

P.S. I did a search and realize there is already a ton out there, but still is anyone reading this stuff??

By: nintendo

nintendo — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:13:40 -0800

P.P.S. Any good Title Ideas (...).com ???

By: devilsbrigade

devilsbrigade — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:17:03 -0800

Read Kerouac's Book of Dreams. Realize that that's interesting largely because its a view into the mind of someone insanely interesting to begin with, and even then many people can't put up with it (I love it, personally).

Basically, the dreams themselves are worthless. The dreams symbolically are interesting - if you can write your dreams in a way in which the symbols are clear & there is an obvious message/point to them, as in a concise story, it could be interesting. You would have to be a very good writer, & have very interesting dreams, for this to work.

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:23:59 -0800

If your dreams are surreally funny or interesting--David Firth's work is mostly based on his dreams--then I think you could make for an interesting site. Also, make sure the website is pretty, and you break it into plenty of paragraphs and write concisely so it doesn't seem overwhelming to the visitor.

By: suedehead

suedehead — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:28:41 -0800

Just thought you'd be interested. everything2.com has had a Dream Log for a while.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:35:03 -0800

I love Slow Wave. It might be interesting if you gave yourself a similar highly constrained format.

By: equalpants

equalpants — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:37:45 -0800

I love hearing about interesting dreams; I'd read it if the dreams are weird enough. Also, I disagree completely with devilsbrigade: I think it's better to just present the dreams as they are. Better to hint at symbolism than to bludgeon people with it.

P.S. You might like Slow Wave.

By: equalpants

equalpants — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:38:24 -0800

aww, crap

By: iurodivii

iurodivii — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:42:16 -0800

I wrote my dreams down for years, but i would not ever actively read a blog of someone else's transcriptions of their dreams.

By: rhapsodie

rhapsodie — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:50:38 -0800

I record all of my dreams in a blog-like fashion. The only people who read them, though, are a few close friends and family who are fascinated by my weird dreams. And, also, the "sex" theme is the most popular and receives all sorts of hits from strange search results ("male midget sex free" is one I distinctly remember). I don't keep it for the readers, though; I enjoy keeping a searchable record of all my dreams and their themes.

By: evariste

evariste — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:08:42 -0800

There is nothing more boring than other people's dreams.

By: ab3

ab3 — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:11:30 -0800

SOMEONE will read a blog about ANYTHING.

probably lots of someones.

but it usually helps if what's being written about is interesting/captivating/engaging/well written/scandalous/explicit/troubled/pained/confused.

By: oxford blue

oxford blue — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:21:17 -0800

Most likely not, unless your dreams a super plus exciting/interesting/prescient.

But as the cliche has it, if you build it, they will come.

By: treepour

treepour — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:23:57 -0800

I have to disagree strongly with the "only if your dreams are interesting" crowd. A good writer can write about nearly anything, no matter how boring, and make it interesting.

If the dream is interesting to you, show us what makes it interesting. To accomplish this, it might help to make a distinction (in your own mind, not in the blog/journal) between the real you and the you-as-narrator. Think of the you-as-narrator as a character; once we care about this character, we'll care about the dreams.

By: TheOtherGuy

TheOtherGuy — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:30:28 -0800

A blog's content is not the only thing that attracts readers. For me, how well the blog is written is just as, if not more, important.

So long as you don't come across as a myspace-twit, filling your blog with LOLz and OMGz, then I would probably enjoy it :)

By: birdie birdington

birdie birdington — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:39:56 -0800

Fart Party sums up reading about/listening to dream descriptions pretty well for me.

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 00:06:41 -0800

Once, I found myself wandering through a sepia park. I think it was night. There were many lamps throughout. Occasionally I would feel lost. But later, I would forget to be lost, as go the logic of dreams such as these. At one point, it came to my attention that the gas lighting was special. They were not simply keeping the park illuminated. They were keeping the park in existence. It grew to be quite obvious that if the lights were to go out, and all went away into the darkness, so too would the park. About then, as I was staring into the curious light, I was woken by meowing cats. In this half-conscious state, I mused over the relationship between lights and the lit. But after shoving felines aside, I returned to the dream. There I strolled up beside myself. I was now fiddling with the gas light. It let out a meow. Startled by my sudden appearance or by the meowing gas valve, I turned around to look at myself. Somehow finding little to say, I decided to relay my findings. "There is always an audience." Then, with a cat paw on my face, I woke.

By: lois1950

lois1950 — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 00:08:33 -0800

My friend says, 'don't tell me about your dream unless I'm in it."

By: elr

elr — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 01:08:05 -0800

I frequently blog about my dreams. In fact I posted one yesterday. The handful of people thst read my blog may or may not read my dream journal posts, but I'm sure it's a low point (and a low point for a blog is, of course, a very low point). I would be interested in a blog about dreams but, without some rock-solid writing and regular updates, I would forget about it fairly quickly.

There was a really good Zippy the Pinhead comic where one guy tries to dissuade his friend from talking about his dream, which is guaranteed to be boring. If I was at home, I'd scan it, but I'm not so I never will.

/unhelpful

By: pracowity

pracowity — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 01:19:29 -0800

...I realized recently that my dreams are far more interesting that anything I've written about real life.

To you. To others, maybe not so much. News is interesting because it is real; if it was fiction, no one would care about another car crash on another local road, but a real incident might matter to people. Likewise, if you really can fly and you really drove a train through a tunnel, well, that's possibly interesting, but another guy talking about how he dreamed he was flying and dreamed that he drove a train into a tunnel might not be so fascinating.

But you should post some and see.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 01:20:54 -0800

My friend says, 'don't tell me about your dream unless I'm in it."

Exactly. And that's why people love their own dreams -- they're always in them.

By: malevolent

malevolent — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 02:12:44 -0800

Generally I'd agree with the usual "There is nothing more boring than other people's dreams." quote, but how about twisting them into something more unusual? Maybe write the blog from the point of view of your dream-self, who goes to sleep when you wake up and almost acts as a distant observer of/participant in your life? That kind of thing could be interesting if you're an interesting writer with an interesting life, but it's bound to have been done before.

By: intermod

intermod — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:16:03 -0800

Write for yourself. I have a blog and couldn't care less that nobody else reads it. I have to get this stuff out of my head.

By: popechunk

popechunk — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 05:45:53 -0800

I would not read your blog. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. I cannot stand having someone tell me about their dreams. It's like talking on the phone to a four year old.

By: Mr. Gunn

Mr. Gunn — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 06:23:07 -0800

It might be interesting if you made it a dream database, where users sent in their dreams and you did some kind of collective log-analysis of the collective unconscious.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:04:52 -0800

I enjoy reading the text on bags of fertilizer and hearing about what you had for lunch, but I draw the line at other people's dreams.

By: gmarceau

gmarceau — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:10:40 -0800

Kelly Link's books have a dream-like quality to them. And they are excellent.

You might be able to embelish your dreams into good stories rather than writting your dreams strait.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:12:00 -0800

There is nothing more boring than other people's dreams.

Seconded. Write them down if you must, but don't expect other people to read them.

By: JJ86

JJ86 — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:14:11 -0800

It depends on how good your dreams are. Do they read like a Stephen King novel, a Russ Meyer movie, or a description of a Owsley acid-trip?

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:29:57 -0800

My dreams are always vivid, and often lucid, but I can rarely explain them in an interesting way. Still, if you can bring a journalistic approach to yours (and it sounds like you've been practicing for a while before deciding to publish) then it could definitely be worth reading (for some reason, I love hearing about dreams myself, and loved reading TwelveTwo's above, for instance.)

But that's not the point. It's a blog. With rare exceptions, blogs aren't known for their readership. My blog is only read by a few of my close friends (shameless link here) but I write it anyway just so I can write sometimes.

You're keeping a journal of your dreams anyway, so just change the format, and anyone who wants to read it will be happy to find it there. Do it.

By: sluggo

sluggo — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:38:08 -0800

If you have dreams as crazy as Dion McGregor (complete with a podcast of sleep-talking narration), then yes, you should do this immediately. If you don't, maybe just stick with the dream diary.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:45:59 -0800

Don't write a blog for other people. Write it for your own benefit. If other people enjoy it, that's gravy.

By: baylink

baylink — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:21:09 -0800

I wouldn't read it, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't write it.

By: bink

bink — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:29:53 -0800

It's down right now, but the forums at ld4all have an area for dream journals. You'd be right at home, particularly if any of your dreams are lucid.

By: Rash

Rash — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:26:25 -0800

By: m@

m@ — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:26:04 -0800

These folks love to read each other's dreams why not just join them...built in audience.