Weird Dreams & The Coronavirus

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Paul Whybrow

Full Member
Jun 20, 2015
Cornwall, UK
We’ve discussed dreams and writing in several old threads, including this one.

An article in today’s Guardian looks at how lockdown is affecting people’s dreams:

So you've been having weird dreams during lockdown, too?

My dreams have been affected by the crisis, but, thankfully, not in an overtly nightmarish way. Instead, I’ve been having lots of organizing dreams, in which I file away solutions to the crisis written on index cards. I’m on edge while doing this, as I know that sooner or later, President Moron will appear to tell me I’m doing it wrong and that he as a “stable genius” could do a better job. I wake myself up then to get away from him!

I’m five chapters into writing the third novella about an American Civil War veteran. Plot ideas are coming to me while I sleep. I love it when this happens, but research into the era has affected my dreams with thoughts of the coronavirus. Union and Confederate soldiers were more likely to die of disease or surgery than being shot, owing to poor hygiene standards. I awoke last night to the acrid smell of pus!

Novels about historic plagues are proving popular with those who are self-quarantining:

The Best Pandemic Books to Read During Coronavirus

The authors’ dreams must have been affected by those pandemics.


Have any of you had strange dreams recently?

iu
 
Maybe it's with having very little else to focus on, but mine have become a lot more work-oriented.

The other day I dreamt I dropped off some papers to somebody's office, and they were eating a fry up. I said 'that looks nice.' They said 'it is.' And then I left.

Not exactly thrilling, but at least it's not virus-based I guess...
 
Last night, I dreamt that my best friend, who lives in NZ, was in a desert happily building sandcastles. I called to her, asking if she was OK. She replied that she was, suggesting that I join in her activity. Looking down, all I could see was a dark lino floor with no sand in sight. Then, I realised that I was in an unlit corridor with no sign of a light at the end of the tunnel. The symbolism must be linked to NZ going into a freer Alert Level 3, while we in the UK are still housebound.

I'm not alone in having strange dreams:

Why are people experiencing particularly vivid dreams during lockdown?
 
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