Writing Dreams

[Angelica]

^For least of a better title.

Anyways, I'm running out of muse for writing the dreams my character has. The dreams pretty much all have the same elements; a forest, the dark, a strange man and usually something bad happening to the family of the main character. I already have five dreams she had, pretty much one for each chapter, through I'm thinking of spreading them out a bit more.
So, my question is this, do any of you have any ideas for dreams my character can have?? Or where I can get ideas to write the dreams??
Thanks.

[Raphael]

Well you could of course take some of your own dreams, if you can remember them (I never can). Or you could have her in other places with the strange man after the bad things happen to her family. You could put her in places all alone, and she knows that her family is dead. But the cool thing about writing in a dream is that you do not have to have it make sence, anything goes.

[Endovia]

With dreams, I think focusing on fears and subconscious desires and feelings is the key to making the dreams meaningful and revealing. If a dream does not have a purpose, then don't include it in the story. A lot of people don't remember their dreams. Usually if they do remember their dreams it's a vague feeling or a memory or just a snippet. For example, one dream snippet I remember is crocodiles. I don't remember the point of the crocodiles or what I was doing, nothing like that, just this very dry, very still crocodile.

If it's the same dream repeating, then don't go into detail about each time, just give this feeling. Feeling of fear, flying, falling, running. I've woken up from a dream because I've felt like I was running/falling and I was actually moving like I was doing something/running away from something though there was nothing else/anyone in my bed besides me.

Working things into your dreams from reality is great. Usually something with sound. You hear music playing in the real world and then it is incorporated into your dream somehow. An example of mine that wasn't really a dream, but I heard the telephone ringing. I kind of half woke up and I remember thinking Don't answer it! Don't answer it! Just stop. Stop ringing. Don't answer it! because I had such an alarmed feeling to this telephone ringing. The ringing did stop and I was so relieved I fell back asleep. In the morning, I found out that the telephone call was real and that it was a call to say my grandfather had died.
I'm not saying you need to use a telephone, but sound is really powerful when your sleeping. Your hearing is your last sense to kind of 'fall asleep' when you sleep and it's the first sense to 'wake up'.

As for inspiration, I would take your own dreams into consideration. Details that you remember, feelings you had in reaction to specific dreams. Dig to find out why you had those reactions to those dreams the way you did and apply it to your character. I feel like a huge thing for people and characters is fear. Find out all of the nooks and crannies of your character's fears. From there you can write really compelling dreams.

If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend that you do. The start of Batman Begins is a dream/nightmare that is taken from Bruce Wayne's past and his fears. Trauma of his parents being murdered before him and the fear of bats. This guilt, anger, and fear is what creates Bruce Wayne's alter ego of Batman. Your character needs a drive. The best one is fear.

[sapphire]

I agree with Endovia's advice.

Also, keep in mind that dreams rarely make sense. You can go through a door that you know leads to your bedroom, but end up outside. Or your high school can be held in your middle school building. Or a zombie apocalypse can break out and you can have to fight them with soccer balls (I totally had that dream once). Since you're writing a story, they need to mean something - otherwise there would be no point to putting them in - but they can seem completely random until the meaning is revealed.

If the dreams you character has need to be similar to each other, don't describe them each time. Just let your character wake up with a bad feeling.

J.K. Rowling used a really good strategy with Harry's dreams in the fifth book - they all started the same way, but he got just a little bit farther each time, and that kept them interesting. If that's a strategy that could work with your character's dreams, it might be worth trying.

[Angelica]

Jan 5, 2013 16:58:37 GMT -6 sapphire said:

J.K. Rowling used a really good strategy with Harry's dreams in the fifth book - they all started the same way, but he got just a little bit farther each time, and that kept them interesting. If that's a strategy that could work with your character's dreams, it might be worth trying.

That's an interesting idea. I would love to try that.
And to everyone else, thanks.

[crystalpisces]

Writing dreams is always difficult for me. Dreams never make complete sense, and you should take advantage of that.

You can always have the same common elements, but throw in something crazy or weird. Or maybe there is something new that pops out. Once I had a dream that really disturbed me. I don't remember much of it now, but I do remember that almost everything was square. Islands, a skeletons eye sockets, etc. were all perfect squares.

[Zoom]

The great thing about dreams is that they're usually metaphors. For example if you're worried because exams are coming up and you haven't been studying much and you don't think you'll do very well, you might dream that a big creature that controls your future is slowly walking towards you and all you have to fight him with is the blueprint for a sword.
So if you're looking for new and interesting dreams, you can basically just do the same dream, but translated.

[sapphire]

That's a good point, Zoom.
Angelica, maybe you could look at dream symbolism online. Pick out a few symbols and base a dream on those things, if you're looking for something fresh.

[Endovia]

Dream symbolism is a really cool, but sometimes really whacky, too. I love how dreams usually represent something and they tend to be specific to the person and time.

I recently dreamed that we were writing an essay in English and the prompt was discussing the theme of justice in a work. We had the option to select any book or play we wanted (in real life, my teacher assigns a book or play, we don't get to pick) and I was torn between Batman or The Merchant of Venice (which we had just finished reading in real life). I was going through the points I could make for each one and debating which one would be stronger. Oh, it was great and so nerdy.

[sapphire]

Ah, dreams like that are so weird!

The other night, I dreamed that I was going to a concert put on by Daniel Radcliffe and Darren Criss, and it was in a theater, so stadium seating. During intermission, I went to see the miniature goat (like, small enough to fit in the palms of both hands cupped together) with red ears, named Winona. When I got back, I realized that I hadn't latched her cage properly, so I had to go find her. I ended up backstage, where Daniel Radcliffe and Darren Criss were relaxing after having just finished the show, and Darren Criss talked to me for like ten minutes and was really nice. I was so disappointed when I woke up.

[Endovia]

Oh my gosh, it's terrible having an amazing dream and then waking up and realizing that it's not real. Gah. But then it is nice to wake up from the bad dreams.

The little goat sounds so cute! It reminds of Gulliver's Travels with the little sheep.