Fantasies and daydreams

Daydreams are a huge component of any crush. It is difficult for any one-sided love affair to develop into something meaningful without generous application of one's imagination. After all, you can't fully experience loving someone without shouting out your feelings at a New Years Eve party, telling off/slugging their callous Significant Other, or running off behind the building with them to steal a secret kiss. And since attempting any of these things in real life would result in them finding out that you like them, the only rational option is to set it all up in your mind. There are so many different directions to go with your fantasies, and I do not want to stand in your way by suggesting that the ideas presented here are the only "correct" options. They are merely suggestions to get you started.




An easy way to hone your daydreaming skills is to simply replay the day's events in your head, perhaps with minor variations. You could improve your performance in this way, or maybe add to your Adored One's actions subtle signs of attraction to you.


When composing fantasies, you may be inclined to stay away from cliches and extremely cornball dialogue or events. If you're sure that it's not your thing, that's cool, but I do urge you to at least give it a chance. The whole point here is to be self-indulgent, so, you may as well go all-out on occasion.


Why don't you and that special someone go out together on a quasi-date? You could spend an afternoon at a museum and then have a little picnic in the park while watching an outdoor drama production, or go to a medium-nice restaurant after catching a movie, or take a hike through the woods to a waterfall. All with the pretext of being completely platonic, and all activities which you could quite legitimately share without being secretly in love with them. (I've experienced all of these with no angsty subtext.) During the course of the quasi-date, you will undoubtedly be mistaken for a dating couple at least once. You'll laugh, pretending to find this as silly as your Adored One does. As evening comes and it gets chilly, the lending of a jacket will be in order. Your quasi-date could conclude with a romantic development, or end as ambiguously as it started. Try it both ways and see which you like better.


One of the most popular and emotionally gratifying storylines for a daydream is centered on the idea of winning your Adored One over by sheer force of the power of your love. There are two major variations here: hot and cool.


After telling them everything, how should your beloved's simulacrum respond?


This one is set at some point in the future, at least a year -- maybe several. You long ago resigned yourself to the fact that your Adored One would never see you in the way you see them. Despite this, your feelings have not really changed. The two of you have, thankfully, developed a strong, deep friendship which has served you both very well. They have gone through many unsuccessful relationships while you've remained almost perpetually single (nobody else can really grab your interest). Eventually, though, the gatekeeper of your bliss comes to an epiphany of sorts, wipes the obstructions from their vision, and realizes not just that you are perfect for them, but that you have been in love with them all this time. (This epiphany could be gradual, over the course of a few weeks, until they decide to bring it up. It could also be relatively sudden; maybe you are having a conversation about their latest breakup... "I don't understand it... why can't I just meet somebody who won't go weird on me or treat me like dirt? Why can't I find somebody... like... you...?") After the idea settles in their head, they initiate a kiss, which naturally leads shortly afterwards to hour upon hour of slow, tender, and spiritually transcendant lovemaking. The critical factor here is that you do nothing to reveal your feelings or win them over -- it's all them.


Well, you've been pining for your Adored One for what seems like forever, and nothing has come of it. And sadly, because of work or school, you have to move away, leaving them behind. Over the next few months, though, your Adored One becomes restless, and then distraught as they realize that your departure has left a void in their life that they hadn't anticipated! You can choose between a first or third person perspective for the unfolding events... Imagine the whole scenerio from your own perspective, perhaps receiving emails from your beloved in which they describe their increasing restlessness, even before they realize how much they miss you! Or, you can watch the events of their life directly like a movie in your mind. This approach allows you to witness their epiphany, which is a plus.
--Suggested by "Jessica" in Tacoma


Tragedy can be an emotional catalyst. You may like to try out a "damsel in distress"/"strong man with irresistable vulnerability" type fantasy where you place your Adored One in a bad situation and then swoop in to save them. They could be grieving over the loss of a family member or pet, for example, and in need of comfort. Maybe they were in an accident -- hit by a car right in front of your eyes! Quickly, run to them! Cradle them with tears running down your cheeks and ride along in the ambulance. (They'll be okay, don't worry.) You could go as far as to rescue them from a mugging, if that's your thing. There are many variations on the "mistreated by their S.O." theme, too, ranging from melodramatic physical or emotional abuse to a more subtle form of hurt brought about by callousness, spite, infidelity, or a plain failure to understand the heart and mind of your beloved.


Here is a series of further fantasies using on the "rescue" motif, sent by 'Hannah from Great Yarmouth', who is clearly an expert daydreamer:

If you have reached the stage of saving the Light of Your Life, and you are in need of a fantasy of a more elaborate construction, try turning the tables. In the format for the classic ‘rescue me’ -- to be fluffed up with your own details -- you have just had a furious argument with your loved one in which you perhaps condemned them for their harsh treatment of you in your despair. They have replied in a suitably uncaring-seeming manner (disguising their deeper, untapped feelings for you). In your angst you turn and run from them, sobbing your little heart out, only to head blindly into the path of a car. As the speeding vehicle approaches your Delight is struck with terror at the thought of losing you and runs to save you, heedless of the danger they are putting themselves in. Here you can split, depending on your mood or preferred style.

In the first your Hero succeeds in reaching you, knocking you out of the path of the car and taking the brunt themselves. Here we revert to going with them in the ambulance etc, except this time when they wake up and you are the first person they see, holding their hand, never leaving their side, they break down, professing their undying love for you, and how it never hit them until that split second in which they thought they might lose you forever.

In the second, slightly more self-indulgent option (but hey, what’s a little ridiculous sentimentality for if not for fantasyland?), something happens that stops your Beloved from reaching you (perhaps -- if you are in the mood for it -- the classic Two Men With an Obscure Pane of Glass routine) in time, and the car hits you. You fly up into the air as the vehicle screeches to a halt, and land unconscious on the ground. At this moment you switch to third person and watch as the Adored One runs to your side, believing you to be dead. As they accompany you in the ambulance and hold the vigil by your bedside (holding your hand and kissing your peacefully closed eyes) you could even replay all your encounters from their point of view, seeing them from a new, loving light. When you eventually wake up and switch back to your own perspective, it is to find them holding your hand, white as a sheet and -- can that be tears in their eyes? You are confused and scared to find yourself in a hospital and full of tubes, but your Treasured one recognises your panic right away, calmly shushes you, perhaps stroking you hair soothingly, then leans forward and kisses you gently. You then fall asleep happily in their arms.


There are a hundred variations of the ‘rescue me’ theme. Another simple favourite is to pick a ‘friend’ that is being particularly mean at the moment (such a ‘friend’ is, after all, dispensable). In this situation they have said something especially hurtful, and you have run away to a hiding place of your own (probably a classroom, but adjust accordingly). All that has to happen now is for the One You Desire to happen across you in your hidey hole, take you into their arms, and to hold you close against them. As you pour your troubles out to them they take one look at your puffed up, red, blotchy face, and fall helplessly in love with you.


A short but sweet one is to come home and find them sitting in the rain on your doorstep. When you approach they say nothing, just stand up, take one look at you and take your breath away with the most amazing kiss ever. No explanation. No storyline. No complaints.


Finally, there is the Old Faithful. Works in every book and film you care to name, and so is naturally suited to fantasies. Let it be midnight. Let it be raining. Let you be running away in despair, certain that you have lost them forever. Let Loved One realise their undying love for you, and come chasing after you. Whilst you are wrapped up in your raincoat, they are wearing just a thin white shirt. Let them eventually catch up with you on a bridge (an old haunt where you used to stand together and discuss your love lives, which you have visited as a last goodbye to your life of misery, and where they instinctively knew you’d be). Let them beg for your forgiveness over some cruelty. Be vigilant. Don’t give in just yet. Are you sure they are worth your love? In fact, you might even turn away from them. But not too fast, so that they have time to catch your arm and make some final impassioned attempt. Then give in. Stand there kissing in the rain. All night.

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Last modified on 2005-February-11.