NaNoWriMo

I had forgotton all about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month which occurs in November every year) until Hervor asked if I had any ideas for it this year. I never gave it another thought until about 2am this morning when I woke up and thought that my experiences with brain fog over the past few days could make a good basis for a horror novel. A few minutes thought and hey presto, a fully formed plot.

Added to that was that I dreamt I was at some kind of shop/kiosk thing and the person behind the counter asked me to read their cards for them. I told them that I wasn't any good at it, but they insisted. The woman handed me the cards and left to come around my side of the counter. So much happened in that space of time before she reached me (eg, my dogs got lost at a cancer hospital out in the desert, I was at a trial in which I couldn't stop interfering [asking questions, directing etc] fights with the dead etc).

I finally found myself at this kiosk thing and some guy was setting out different types of knives in front of me. He set them out randomly but he did so with considered precision and a great deal of pretension. He then looked at me expectantly and wanted me to interpret them. Obviously I didn't know what to say, but I tried to bluff my way through with general statements like, "This knife suggests that you see yourself in a way others can't conceive."

By the time I got to the second knife which was sitting across the blade of another, I looked at the shadows and images began to form and gradually took colour. Even though the scenes made no sense, I told onlookers what I was seeing, as though I was narrating a movie that only I could see:

"...and in the waves there are warriors brandishing spears and what looks like a type of wooden pitchfork. The wave is cresting, carrying the warriors higher. There is a Shaman with a straw and feather headdress coming out of the wave as it breaks..."

I woke up thinking the dream carried much significance....If only I could decipher the dream as clearly as I had seen the pictures in the 'knives'.

I'm sure I can utilise this dream in my November Novel.