An example I like, that still has its explanations (interactions of unconscious & imagination & emotion, for example), but at the time was very strange, was due to a period where I was anxiously trying to understand a difficult situation of separation from a woman I had recently become very attached to. I would find myself making up sentences that I thought "said" how hard it was for me, and a few times I fell into an analogy with hunger. Trouble is, I have written a song romanticising and mocking hunger, and its words would haunt me and deny my use of that analogy.

Then, at some point where I was probably beginning to accept in some way the situation, I just had this idea come into my head, with no form to it whatsoever. It did not come in words, or a sound of music, or anything, but I "knew" somehow what it was. This was an odd feeling, because I did not want it to escape my mind, and yet I had nothing in my head to "memorise"! A struggle ensued, while I tried to translate the idea into some form whereby I could express it. The words came slowly, and insisted on remaining as raw ideas. This was very weird for me as I usually am very verbal, having no trouble expressing my ideas. Eventually the idea formed a few brief lines, and there was even a sense of some music that should support them.