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Have you ever woken up from a dream and thought, "that was genius?" About a month ago, I woke up laughing hysterically--tears in my eyes at 5:00 AM! It's happened to me before, but I usually go back to sleep and forget 99% of the dream so I can't do it justice when I explain it to my friends later.
On this particular night, I thought about that forgetting process. And the material I had dreamed was so good, I forced myself out of bed. I frantically wrote down all the good stuff I could remember--a race against my quickly-fading subconscious memory.
I remember thinking, "oh yeah, that was a good line...got it!" and other thoughts like, "this is a crucial detail--write it down now!" After I had unloaded my mind onto a small paper scrap, I was relieved to go back to sleep--no need to remember it any more. I had it written down.
I left the paper on my desk and for 2.5 days I had no opportunities to sit down and review my genius imaginations--my break-through material as a comedic writer--that great dream I would turn into my best work yet. When I finally sat down and read my scratchy script, I found myself howling once again. Only this time I wasn't laughing at the comedy of the dream, I was laughing at what I once thought was my big hit. I've never done drugs, but after this account, I can say I've been in that state of mind where the ridiculous is hilarious.
Below is a line-for-line disclosure of what I wrote at 5 AM about this wonderfully-funny dream:
- 4 characters who can't accomplish evil missionsI realize this is hard evidence that I'm straight nutty.
- they destroy a hotel by stepping on a dragon's tail
- wrestling ring
- "Get back here you Goonie" - He calls the giant lizard a Goonie
- "You changed colors"
- One guy is a struggling wrestler (fat), his mgr. is gay (short and femmie), "You changed colors
- Most the building was floored, but their portion wasn't--just a few bottle rockets instead of huge explosions
Some of it actually did spark some memories as to what was going on in the dream. I do remember the two most hilarious lines were the two I wrote in quotes--I remember laughing out loud as I wrote them! I also remember the bottle rockets being ROFL* funny.
Here's an image of the actual piece of paper:
I guess the moral of this story is this: ideas that come in the middle of the night are not always as genius as you may think at the moment. Remember, our minds are in an altered state at 5 AM. But the second moral is this: write it down anyway! If it's good, you're golden. If it's insane, embrace the absurdity.
*ROFL = Roll-On-Floor w/ Laughter