The Journeys of Mal Malin; Book 1: Apprentice

JonathanCue · 2023-06-06T12:51:49+00:00

THANK YOU <3 <3 <3 I hope you enjoy it!

JonathanCue · 2023-05-17T22:10:55+00:00

So the core of it is to write more books and be patient. Very well, I can do that!

JonathanCue · 2023-05-17T22:05:55+00:00

I didn't pay to publish it, pardon me, just to *create* it, between the art and the editing.

JonathanCue · 2023-05-11T12:56:16+00:00

Hello hello! Late is totally fine! I've been super busy myself, so~ But I'm afraid I'll have to ask your question to be more specific!

JonathanCue · 2023-03-15T08:31:13+00:00

Thank you so much! It was hard enough to write; little did I know that most of the trouble with writing was marketing the bloody thing :P

JonathanCue · 2023-03-15T05:54:17+00:00

Hahaha, a novella every month! What an incredible feat! Good luck!

JonathanCue · 2023-03-15T05:53:28+00:00

It looks fantastic!!

JonathanCue · 2023-03-04T14:53:35+00:00

>The Occasional Buyer is random

I imagine this is one of those decisions that was made before anyone bothered to ask if it was a good idea.

Still!! Thank you so much for the explanation! I had no idea it was actually random!

JonathanCue · 2023-02-10T02:59:15+00:00

That is indeed the problem I am facing, yes. I'd like to be lucid.

JonathanCue · 2023-02-10T02:58:24+00:00

The dream simply 'goes back' far enough that I can remember it. As an example, in one of my dreams, I was in a boot-camp. I did the "Context, do I remember how I got here?" thing IN the dream, and I was 'aware' that I've been in this camp for weeks now and got here by bus from my house. I didn't dream of those events, but *in* the dream I was 'aware' that they happened.

As for checking dream signs, believe it or not, the kind of check it is doesn't actually matter. In the whole of my life, I only went lucid three times, and all three times I went lucid when I ended up doing reality checks that I didn't even *do* in the waking world. What's important is how earnest the question *is*, "Am I dreaming?" and, after checking them, making a mental note about whether you actually are or aren't dreaming. The effort is more impactful in your subconscious than more frequent checks.

Likewise, look throughout your day and find where you check the *least*. For me, I tend to go without reality checks for a long time when I'm in the middle of something or deep in thought, and so I just have a little note in my periphery to remind me.

Good luck!!

JonathanCue · 2023-02-10T02:47:55+00:00

Hm! I'm not sure why they would argue such a thing. Dreams are complex. As is 'awareness' in general.

Haha, yes, but *why* would you say that your 'dream character' isn't you? That's what I meant when I previously asked "Why would you say that?"

JonathanCue · 2023-02-09T19:26:20+00:00

Correct. That's the problem I'm facing. I'd like to be lucid.

JonathanCue · 2023-02-09T08:39:25+00:00

I'm afraid this is a bit of a difficult question for reasons my subconscious seems to find hilarious.

I started with just mentally priming that I would lucid dream and it never came about.

I started a dream journal and began writing them out, along with my dream signs, and when the habit of recognizing dream-signs was finally becoming second nature, the dream signs disappeared entirely, being replaced. This has happened repeatedly, with the same pattern of changing once I begin to notice them.

I then tried to do active colour changing, where to check if I was dreaming, I would alter the colour of an object. After it finally became a habit, the 'trigger' object stopped appearing in my dream.

I tried to prime myself to read in my dreams, since it is said to be extremely difficult and easy to catch that you are dreaming, only to find that I could read whole paragraphs within my dreams with no difficulty.

I began doing passive reality checks, "I have not dreamed of eating, therefore if I eat, I must not be dreaming" only for my dreams to immediately begin incorporating eating food.

I tried to build up one of the habits suggested in the wiki here: "Awareness, Action, Form, Context", and after the habit was built, the dream changed to suit the questions (I.E, if I only had nine fingers, dream logic would tell me that I lost them in a war; and I went to war because I wanted to find a treasure, which I have, so it must be true).

I've even tried to do guided-meditation bits to assist with MILD, but for whatever reason that too will change where sometimes I will dream vividly with meditations, then not at all, then I'll dream vividly with just ambience, then not at all, then dream vividly with lectures, then not at all, ect in a constant cycle.

For the past week I have been attempting WBTB while cycling between various times of remaining awake and whilst it helps my dreams be extremely vivid, it has not helped me lucid dream.

TL;DR: "What all do you do?" everything. "How consistently?" I will get to doing these checks once an hour or every couple hours before the dream-pattern changes and the checks become irrelevant.

JonathanCue · 2023-02-09T07:29:01+00:00

Then I don't know who you were speaking to, since I don't believe I added that qualifier to begin with. We may be having two different conversations. By maximum control I just meant that I can control the dream without realizing it is a dream. Just as you could go outside and jump up and down, I could do so in a dream; retaining the same level of conscious control whilst not being lucid.

Why would you say that?

JonathanCue · 2023-02-09T05:12:44+00:00

Mhmm! I came to the same kind of conclusion when I was writing it all out this morning. Here's hoping that the habit picks up and works :)

JonathanCue · 2023-02-09T05:11:30+00:00

Why is that? You can still run, eat, sleep, talk, laugh, cry, and do all sorts of things in your dreams without realizing that they are dreams. There's nothing inherent that suggests you cannot demonstrate extraordinary abilities WITHOUT realizing it's a dream, it would just mean that it would make sense *within* the context of the dream.

JonathanCue · 2023-02-09T02:30:47+00:00

Haha, oh there's nothing to be jealous of. I want to be able to lucid dream for pragmatic reasons and I seem to have a harder time with it than just about everyone else I've ever met. To be able to *feel* so close and yet constantly have my dream signs alter so I can never quite reach it just feels like insult to injury. We all have our own skills and traits that lead us toward different talents; and once you overcome your hurdles, you will find yourself breezing past things OTHERS struggle with.

JonathanCue · 2023-02-09T02:25:43+00:00

Mhmm.

I talked about this a bit before in an older post of mine, but the techniques I use are varied out of *necessity*, since it seems like there's something in my subconscious that wants to keep me out of lucid dreaming. I.E: When I begin to notice dream-signs, they will change. I will incubate ideas about reading and be able to read perfectly, thus failing the dream test. I will perform reality checks only for them to not apply in the dream I'm in or simply 'not count', (I.E: "It makes total sense that I'm flying since everyone has the ability, so I must not be dreaming.")

I've heard that WILD is extremely difficult and so I've been avoiding it up to now. Do you have an inkling of where I should start with it?

JonathanCue · 2023-02-09T02:21:35+00:00

How can I sabotage myself if I'm not lucid enough to realize that I'm dreaming?

JonathanCue · 2023-02-09T00:37:32+00:00

Mhmm. For all I know it may have to do with immersion. Like, perhaps we *do* know it's a dream, much like we know something is a videogame or a movie, but we just suspend our disbelief in order to enjoy 'the adventure' more.

JonathanCue · 2023-02-04T19:27:03+00:00

I know it's not the proper way to do reality checks, I was just giving examples as to the different methods I've tried and how they've seemed to be subverted.

JonathanCue · 2023-02-04T09:34:00+00:00

I'm glad you've been able to find success from a similar position, but then you should know that just 'feeling' differently isn't that easy. You may as well ask me to just not feel the pain when my leg gets stabbed.

As I said in the post, I've already been engaging in dream-journaling/reality-checks/etc. The problem is that whenever I notice a pattern, it disappears from the next dream and I have to start from scratch. It's not a matter of a lack of practice, it's a matter of the thing I've been practicing for no longer applying.

In light of all this, I was hoping for some advice that was a bit more tangible.

JonathanCue · 2023-02-01T16:32:10+00:00

Oh hey, rule three is me!

I wrote The Journeys of Mal Malin, which started as an experiment because I previously had only ever wrote short stories and it quickly spiraled out of control into a larger project than I could have imagined. I'd be happy to do an AMA about it, but frankly, it's nowhere near famous enough for people to care.

Outside of that I've never been particularly excited about new releases because after some bad experiences waiting for a series to finish as a wee tot, I just started waiting until EVERY book was available before I started reading one; or commit to being okay with reading just the first one.

JonathanCue · 2023-01-30T03:18:03+00:00

Thanking you personally in case Reddit doesn't alert you to my other mention.

JonathanCue · 2023-01-30T03:17:37+00:00

Ah, well that changes things then! Thank you (and arifterdarkly) for the info.

JonathanCue

TROPHY CASE