Like everyone out there, I have some days where I'm on the go from the minute the alarm goes off in the morning until I fall into bed at night (often with plenty of things remaining on my to-do list). On those days, actual writing seems like an impossible task. So I resort to thinking and planning scenes as I fall asleep. I began noticing that I would wake up with a fully evolved description or bit of dialogue rattling around in my brain just waiting for me to type it into my laptop. Sometimes these impatient pieces of writing would even wake me up before the alarm buzzes.
Weird, right?
Maybe not. When I looked into creativity after sleep I learned that scientists have been studying the link between sleep and creativity for years. Seems Thomas Edison was a big believer in the power of that state just before falling asleep for helping come up with creative solutions. And who can argue with Thomas Edison?
Researchers at MIT and Harvard Medical School recently took the link between sleep and creativity a step further. They encouraged people to guide their dreams to a certain topic or theme and then write something on that topic when they awake. When study participants practiced "targeted dream incubation" - basically thinking about a specific topic or problem while falling asleep - they were judged to be 43% more creative than those who didn't attempt to guide their dreams. And it doesn't have to be a whole night's sleep. It works just as effectively (some scientists say more effective) with naps of 45 minutes.
Are we all just one good nap away from banishing writer's block forever?
Do you find solutions to writing problems when you awake from a good night's sleep? What else gives you a creative burst?
.jpg)
1 comments:
This is not something I've ever experienced but . . . maybe I should be more intentional about noodling over my WIP as I fall asleep.
Post a Comment