Starting your story within a dream

[Terra Arkay]

So I've just about completed the skeletal structure for my story-eth. I've got a great handful of characters, places and events and what not. Though I shall continue to develop-eth my story, I haven't really thought about how I'm going to write it... It shall start within a dream and that's for sure... but how shall I go about putting that into words?

 

[TWErvin2]

Terra Arkay,

You may read and get advice that starting with a dream isn't a good way to begin a novel. In general, that is probably true. It all depends on how you acccomplish it and the purpose for beginning with a dream sequence.

Of many pitfalls, a reader can feel mislead or 'tricked' when they discover what they just read--began reading, isn't what's really happening in the story, but rather a dream of one of the characters, and they have to 'start' over with the 'real' action/content once the dream has ended. Begin to get oriented once again.

Good luck moving forward!

 

[sashamerideth]

Dreams, real ones rarely make sense, are fragmented, and just don't flow like reality. Maybe if it's clear that the character is dreaming, I won't feel quite so cheated as a reader.

 

[Devor]

It shall start within a dream and that's for sure... but how shall I go about putting that into words?

It's really hard to answer the question without understanding why it needs to start in a dream. Normally people really hate that, and I join a chorus of people who question why writers insist on doing it. But there might be legitimate reasons, especially if you're writing in a world where dreams have a prophetic or psychic meaning.

Just a thought, but as a dream is a reflection of a character's thoughts, it might work to set off the dream in the same way you would a character's thoughts. That is, write it first person present-tense and in italics, maybe in the voice of a person repeating it to a psychiatrist. I'm not sure if this works or not, I'm just trying to brainstorm thoughts.


Thomas was sitting at his desk, listening to the teacher prattle, then mumble, then whisper.

I'm wondering alone in the woods, when I look up, and I realize my mom is there. She's laughing at me. I look down and see that I'm wearing clown pants. It smells like the sea and I can feel the dirt on my toes. Why am I barefoot?

And then Thomas awoke, feeling strange about what he had just experienced.


That may in fact be a horrible idea. I can't tell right now anymore.

 

[Elder the Dwarf]

Or, you know, you could go with the suggestion from earlier and hint at the dream.

Jeremy was dying, he knew. Thomas knew he was dreaming, had to be dreaming, but it all felt so real. He couldn't escape from this dream world.

Obviously not very well written, but you get the point.

 

[Phoenix]

Or maybe you start out like its reality, then tell that he woke up from it.

 

[sashamerideth]

Or maybe you start out like its reality, then tell that he woke up from it.

Not only is this a trope, but it is a bad one that serves only to cheat the reader.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

You could start it explicitly as a dream:

It began as a dream: Thomas found himself walking through golden fields, places he'd never been, blah blah blah

I usually hate dream sequences in stories, unless there's some explicit plot reason for it (e.g. Tel'aran'rhiod in the Wheel of Time, or, you know, the entirety of Inception). Partly because they tend to go on too long and be very oblique, and I usually have no idea what they're supposed to mean. I understand they're often used as a mechanism for character development, but I think that's a lazy mechanism. Since you can make anything happen in a dream, it's not honestly earned.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

Maybe start the moment after the character wakes up? Then he can analyze the dream....better than a dream sequence.