Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with imaginary

Fictional Almost-Factual Encounters

taramosalata — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:39:21 -0800

Seeking relatively well-known, canon-caliber fictional accounts of imaginary encounters between actual, historically significant figures -- especially encounters that could well have taken place, but which we know did not or remain undocumented. Philip Levine's poem "On the Meeting of Garcia Lorca and Hart Crane" typifies what I'm looking for. Mark Twain's _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court_ does not (respectable evidence out there of a historical Arthur notwithstanding). The literary field is rife with examples, I know -- say, some novel casting Charles Lindbergh and Adolf Hitler into a tete-a-tete. But, ack, I'm drawing a blank. Two addenda:

1) I'm not really looking for contemporary sci-fi, especially as possible encounters wouldn't have required time travel....

2) I confess disapproval of AskMeFi users who amass answers as shortcuts to journalistic brainstorming or dissertation research. Your answers will purely be helping me to compile a personal reading list around a curious subgenre.

Thanks!

Imaginary friend the evil monkey appears in toddlers nightmares

dabitch — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 07:56:34 -0800

Imaginary friends - my daughter has a "bad monkey" she's recently developed. Now the monkey appears in her nightmares, causing "terror dreams" where she looks awake but clearly isn't. [mi] The monkey has only recently appeared, and I understand the need for an imaginary friend has probably cropped up due to her being quarantined at home (chicken pox and other things) while I've still had to work (at home next to her). She's lonely. However, the monkey, whom she blamed for broken things and spills and even claimed "hit her/pushed her" at times is now in her dreams at night causing terror-wakeups at the same time every night. The monkey "bites her neck" (points to the throat) and "pushes her back" (points to the small of her back). She'll seem awake, eyes open and all, but can't seem to see or hear me or her father until several minutes of screaming later. I've heard that "terror wakeups" can be cured by gently waking the child each night before the terror usually sets in and keeping them awake for ten minutes or so, and a week or so after doing this each night they'll stop. I'm also just generally worried, she's 2 years and 5 months, should she already be having such dreams and evil imaginary friends? She's slept in our bed with the lights on during this time. Last night we searched the house for the monkey, and declared it "thrown out of the house" when it could not be found, which made her very happy but she still woke up from a nightmare at a quarter to two on the dot as usual. I'm not sure if I should acknowledge the monkey - explain that it doesn't exist - or tell her to tell the monkey to go away. What's the best way of dealing with this?

The Lifecycle of the Imaginary

laughinglikemad — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:18:05 -0800

Who has imaginary friends, and why? As far as I'm aware, I never had imaginary friends. Awesome dreams, fantastic family, wonderful friends - but no invisible playmates.

Is it a matter of isolation - do they only show up after nobody comes to your birthday party? Is it a cultural thing? I don't recall many tales of Bobo the Fantasyland Dinosaur from my Turkish, Ethiopian, or Romanian friends. Is it a middle- or upper-class phenomenon, that dwindles the closer you get to food stamps? Is there a neurological basis for best friends that live in your head?

To those who had imaginary friends: how were they born? To those who still have them (and I know you're out there): how did they survive?

I've invented a complete imaginary world. Am I insane?

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:25:47 -0800

I've invented a complete imaginary world. Am I insane? Since I was about 13 (I'm 24 now) I have, over time, constructed an imaginary story that I focus on whenever I'm alone - walking somewhere, doing the dishes, tidying my house, etc - but it's not just some little silly story, it's like I'm literally living another life, or other people's lives. To make this a little clearer:

The "story" consists of not one character, but a whole family of characters, who all have their own stories (I know their names, the names of their partners, the names of their ex-partners, their best friends, their best friends' stories), their own careers, I know what they look like, where they live, I play out scenes in my head of different people each time - talking to one another, them at work, I can do it for about an hour and almost script up pages of conversations that they'll have/experiences they'll have, imagine them in interviews (the central family are all famous - I've imagined a family where three of the kids are basically the biggest movie stars in the world, and link real life celebrities to this - guest stars have involved George Clooney and Johnny Knoxville.. wtf...)

Let me just state this has NEVER been a dream. It has always occurred when I am awake. Usually when I'm slightly down (I suffer from depression, I suppose that it could be a form of escapism - I imagine myself with this perfect Hollywood movie star life, instead of my own)

I'm just wondering... erm... I've never EVER told anyone about this. Not family, friends, anyone. This is the first time I've even written about it. Is it totally and utterly deranged? I mean it's a pretty big deal. I could tell you the birthdays and eye colour of every single 'character' in this imaginary world - that's got to be about 20 people I've invented. What the hell am I doing? And has anyone else ever done this?

I'm starting to wonder if I'm all there, upstairs. And yes, if anyone asks, I'm being totally serious. This isnt a joke question.

"Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 05:15:18 -0800

When do daydreams become harmful to your way of life, and is there anything you can do to prevent them from making you miserable in the "Real" world? I'm a pretty creative person, and I've always had an overactive imagination. It's proven to help me out tons during photoshoots (i'm a photographer and model), so I suppose I'm thankful. However, I've started noticing that my daydreaming is becoming more frequent, more vivid and well, more real. I've always had them - at least for the last 10 years, possibly earlier but I didn't pay attention. But lately they're more... "powerful", I guess is the proper word.

On a 1-10 scale, 1 being suicidal and 10 being completely 200% content and happy with my life, I'm at about a 4 or 5 - maybe even a 6. I'm usually not depressed about my life, but I'm doing something that I love and will (hopefully) pay off one day as far as financials and benefits. Only a few things need to change for me to be happier (more money, more benefits, less work).

However.

I've noticed that whenever I'm not busy and not thinking about 20 things at once (which is usually how I operate), I immediately fall into a daydream. I have no control over them - as soon as my brain shuts down the "work side", the "dream side" kicks on the generator and I'm plunked down in the middle of something already going on. Usually the daydreams consist of, for lack of a better phrase, "alternate universes" where overall, my life is far better. Sometimes book and movie settings, characters, etc are present. Sometimes, not. But the things that happen in the daydreams are things that can't possibly happen in the real world - they're too mystical, too unrealistic, too fantastical. This isn't the case but it's a good example of what I mean: I wouldn't have a crush on a celebrity... more like, I'd have a crush on a character the celebrity played and the movie setting in which the character lived. The only way I can explain this - and I haven't seen this movie since it was in theaters, so I might be way off - is to compare it to The Matrix... just not as superheroey.

Using that same 1-10 scale from before, my "alternate" life is about a 9, and it's making me hate my (real) life more and more. It's becoming harder and harder to shake that feeling and at least once or twice, I've woken up and have been depressed because I'm not "There" in the daydreams - I'm here in reality.

Yes, I can work to improve my (real) life - work harder, make more money, downsize my responsibility, make more friends, etc. I recognize that and I've been working on it. But is that going to help?

My questions, finally: When do daydreams become harmful to your way of life? And if they're harmful, how do you make yourself stop daydreaming - or at least, how do you put a cap on what you do/don't daydream and how frequently you do it? Does everyone daydream this much? Is this happening because I work too much? Is there any way that I can make it chill the fuck out? Am I going crazy?