I need a word that goes in between the brackets: "the [] of sleep." I don't want a generic adjective, I want something that conveys the emptiness or otherworldliness of sleep. You know that moment when the dreamworld evaporates and your epistemic grounding shatters. The moment when you just realize that you are truly awake and reflexively try to unscramble your recent memories from reality. That's the kind of thing I'm looking for. It could be a phrase as well. But I'm certain it's there. Ideas?
Are you looking for a term for sleep ending or the cognizance of consciousness beginning? I know those ideas seem similar, but different all the same.
If I were you I might use rather than something definitive, an abstract and ambiguous neologism or something. Perhaps 'unsequence' or 'transmemory' or something like that. That way it will be easier to find a suitable word because all of them will be somewhat ambiguous, and will, in my opinion convey that idea more fully.
"that moment when the dreamworld evaporates and your epistemic grounding shatters. " I suspect that you are going to need more than one word. Preferably, one that will not require the dictionary.
I think of waking like the pre-dawn period of a new day. Just coming out of total darkness where dark shapes start to form but one cannot yet see well enough make their way, but waits with expectancy. Does your character feel the new day, though still nebulous in form is pregnant with hope, opportunity, or possibilities? john
I'm not sure how great these will be but I thought I'd give it a shot: either: drunkenness - depicting the fantastical happenings that come while dreaming but with a foot in the real world. Likening the waking up process to that moment just before you had too much and throw up. The "amazing" feeling of freeness while you're drunk brought back to reality of getting sick. or: sobriety - depending on if you are going for the feeling of just having woken up after being asleep and are kind of in a daze. That "this is real" shock of being hung over after the sleeping world of being drunk.
I think we'd be able to help more if we had a context to put it within, a sentence or two afterwards would work, if not the paragraph it is contained in. Tough to fill a sentence with a word if we don't know specifically how it should be used. ~~SP
I haven't thought of a sentence yet. To be honest, you should have all the information you need. Something like this: "The endless noise forced me out of the [] of sleep."
The requests for a little surrounding context is valid. They don't know if you've written description prior or subsequent to where you want this word to go that they might simply duplicate in the effort to help you. If a one word fixer is the requirement, my offer is limbo.
Various possibilities depending on whether you are trying to allude to its mysterious nature, or whether you are simply trying to set something up for what comes next as the story unfolds. Some ideas: alterworld (but do some searching on that) portal trance spell fog Good luck.
The endless noise forced me out of the [catatonic] sleep. *I probably am not understanding but I tried*
Hi, I've got a couple of ideas but they vary depending on whether you're waking from a sort of dream filled sleep or just darkness. In the latter case I like oblivion as mentioned above (and it was a cool game!) In the former I think you want something that conveys the unreality of sleep. For simplicity I'd probably look at something like "fog" of sleep, just to convey the confusion of dreams and waking up - especially if it's a practical gritty sort of novel - eg crime fiction. If it's more fantasy, you might use something more fantastic, e.g. the "confused tendrils" of sleep or the "wondrous chaos" of sleep. For sci fi something more scientific might be in order, say the "aether" of sleep (a good ancient and disproven theory) or the "restless beta rhythms" of sleep. Cheers, Greg.
Hi, I've got a couple of ideas but they vary depending on whether you're waking from a sort of dream filled sleep or just darkness. In the latter case I like oblivion as mentioned above (and it was a cool game!) In the former I think you want something that conveys the unreality of sleep. For simplicity I'd probably look at something like "fog" of sleep, just to convey the confusion of dreams and waking up - especially if it's a practical gritty sort of novel - eg crime fiction. If it's more fantasy, you might use something more fantastic, e.g. the "confused tendrils" of sleep or the "wondrous chaos" of sleep. For sci fi something more scientific might be in order, say the "aether" of sleep (a good ancient and disproven theory) or the "restless beta rhythms" of sleep. Cheers, Greg.
Not sure it's what OP is looking for, but I love this as a picture of sleep. The noise forced me out of the ________ of sleep. Sanctuary Refuge Abyss Limbo Realm Embrace