Recurring set-pieces.

[matt_doyle]

So last night I dreamed about Norse deities riding flying iceberg, my maternal grandfather hanging out with JRR Tolkien, and parts of The Hellion Prince taking place in Hobbiton.  There was a plot in which a magically caused drought was ruining the land, and in searching for the magic item that was causing it, I passed through set pieces from previous dreams (which have been recurring before):  the gloaming forest of the fey (which is even rather setting-appropriate), and a mountainous, mazy set of plateaus and ridges that I think has been a feature in dreams I forgot to record (or at least, dreams in which I forgot to record that feature).  Those plateaus always show up representing the same sort of thing -- a distant land outside the bounds of civilization.  They are Foreign Country, writ large in dream letters.  I'll try to make a note of it if they show up again. 

I've discussed before how various set pieces recur in my dreams (actually I think I've discussed it in a different post, too, but I cannot find that one), and it always fascinates me how much re-purposing my subconscious does.  Am I on a limited shooting budget or something?