Do you need a story?

Browsing the forums I find that a lot of people talk about exploring their dream world, talking to DCs, and accomplishing various goals they have set for themselves. Why do we do it? Just because we can? In the few lucid dreams I've had that lasted longer than a few seconds, I follow a story. I will either continue the plot the dream has set for me, or I will create a new story and steer it in my desired direction. I feel an alternate reality inside my head needs an alternate story line. That, and it's just incredibly fun. I can accomplish the unthinkable, but if I do, don't I want it to feel as real as possible? I want to do crazy things and feel the impact of my decisions, I want to feel like my dream characters are real, and I want to be a hero!

I also think that this helps greatly with dream control. If I have a reason to be able to do something in the story, I should be able to do it, right? If I am a superhero, for a simple example, I should be able to fly or do other such things. Only once have I even tried to do something that I didn't assume I could do had the story been real, and that was in a really strange semi-lucid dream. I have also become lucid, successfully remembered a story from a really fun lucid I had before hand, closed my eyes, imagined myself where I was when I woke up last time, opened my eyes and continued the story where that last lucid had left off.

I guess the question I'm asking is: do you guys need a story? Why or why don't you follow a plot? And do you try to continue stories from previous dreams?

Hi.
first of all it's your choice to make a story or just have fun but what is best: talking to your friends ,or exploring the universe?
A story can be made to remember your goals (like a plot) like: go to the moon throw it to the earth than explode the sun and enter a black hole. But if you mean story in the dream , it can be fun if it is already but if it is not do whatever you want.
Its like a story with your goals in it.
There is Expert lucid dreamers that can make what they call a persistent dream, its a dream where everything you do will not reset in youre next lucid dream its like a sandbox game. And yes , if the dream were awesome LucidDreamers can reenter it.
(If i am wrong in anything correct me)

Thank you very much for your reply. I agree with what you said and It taught me some things I did not know.

However, I do believe I can explain my intent a little better. I was looking for personal experiences and preferences, what have you yourself done in your lucid dreams? Do you have more experience with a dream story, or without?

Hi, i dont have enough experience to have long dreams so i just had two long lucid dreams (2mins) but in it my dream where changing the location and after each location i will have an other idea to do it.
So i had my last lucid dream , i was in my school bus and i got lucid by a RC and then i jumped out of and began flying. My dream teleported me to somewhere there is a lot of water so i remembered a waking-life friend challenge to bend water so i had fun. But i didn't have any long lucid dream in wich there is a cool story to live it.
Others lucid dreamers may have 1hour lucid dream and they will experience both story and goals in it. Hope i answered your question.

I have a persistent realm that I go to often called Zödra. I really am "there" more than I go there. It is a world that a persistent character introduced me to, and I can't seem to get away from it. I also have a mall that is the size of a large city and it has amazing booths and things that you can buy with in dream money (you can also set booths up, but that is a convo for another time. I am not a fan of short stories, I like long ones, even if they are in a world that I really don't like and would rather go to a different one. I generally check the plot of a dream and see if I want to go with it or go away from it.

I love stories in waking life, books, movies, and dreams, so I like the stories that I can read in dreams and direct in my own way. :) it is awesome. That is why setting boundaries after you get too strong or good at dream control is a must. :)

Hi sensei, do you have regular lucid dreams because of your persistent realm?
If so how to have a persistent realm?

I have a persistent realm due to the lucid dreams. It is pretty rare for me to get lucid because of the persistent realm. I ld all the time due to hard work! :)

In order to have a persistent realm you must think of the place as persistent.
Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Hyu's Adventures - Dream Journals
Has a good idea on how to make persistent realms.

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Originally Posted by Zneeker

I guess the question I'm asking is: do you guys need a story? Why or why don't you follow a plot? And do you try to continue stories from previous dreams?

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Though I've had many memorable times following a story, or creating my own, I think in general that for me a story simply does not matter. So I guess I don't need a story.

I will follow an already existing plot if it seems interesting or fun, and no other reason. I will not follow a plot if I have something better to do (which, BTW, is most of the time).

Also, something else you mentioned caught my eye:

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I can accomplish the unthinkable, but if I do, don't I want it to feel as real as possible?

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I see no reason to expect a LD to feel as real as possible, and have never judged the quality of my LD based on realness. Why not just accomplish the unthinkable without worrying about it seeming real?

I for one have never understood this popular need for a LD to seem real; lucidity is not about vividness or realness. After all, the place you are -- your dream -- is not real, so why not let it be that way, and enjoy the non-reality? Also, the time that a dream seems most real is when you are not lucid and are assuming that everything is real; leaning towards non-lucidity doesn't seem like the best idea, I think.

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Originally Posted by Zneeker

I guess the question I'm asking is: do you guys need a story? Why or why don't you follow a plot? And do you try to continue stories from previous dreams?

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I suppose the short answer for me would be no. It's an interesting question though because the way people answer will reveal something about their personality.

I used to engage with the plot more, but lately I tend to interrupt what's happening and turn my perception inward. Though about as often, I feel mischievous and harrass DCs by ruining what they are doing. In some sense, there's no escaping plot. A story, in the plainest sense of the word, is a retelling of a sequence of events. Our logic and memory are wired to connect things in sequences of causality. That's why creating a plot is an effective way to achieve goals: you're leveraging strong mental faculties that are already in place.

For me, I think destruction can be creative. In the way a forest fire clears the brush and allows cones to open and sprout new trees. Or how the discontinuity of a joke--breaking the normal flow of logic--can create humorous effect. That's why I like to go off the script and mess with DCs. It's amusing to me and that is an end in itself for me.

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Originally Posted by Sageous

Why not just accomplish the unthinkable without worrying about it seeming real?

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I'm not sure exactly why, making it more real just feels fun to me. Maybe it is the challenge, or maybe I just feel more connected to my dream world if that makes sense. I suppose it's a common mistake I make to automatically assume everyone is like me. Which, in lucid dreaming, I would say that is almost never true. We all have wildly different experiences and desires when it comes to dreaming.

I don't necessarily need a story but I definitely like it because it often makes the dream feel more realistic. Also, I like to make decisions without having to worry about the consequences, because it's all "just a dream".

I don't really think of it as a story, but I guess it could be. Lately my ongoing goal is to attend lucid dreaming lessons, and have in-dream tests to learn and grow as a lucid dreamer. This has some continuity as I progress through the stages.
But rather than a story, I think of my lucid dreams as real experiences, another part of life. But really, that could be viewed as a story too.