Do your characters dream? The real question you should be asking yourself is…am I writing about a person? You are creating a human so your answer should be yes (well unless you are writing about a vampire, alien or something, who knows maybe they dream too, in your story you can interpret them however you’d like lol) .
As humans we dream, heck even animals do. Some people disagree with that but our dogs have very vivid dreams, they bark (probably at birds and squirrels), make drinking noises, and even run in their sleep lol. So that being said I believe they dream almost as much as we do, maybe they are simpler dreams but they still count. So it would be only natural to include that in our stories, humans dreaming I mean (or animals too if you want).
I’ve read several books with, what I believe is a missed opportunity, to learn about a character by what they dream about. In my case I like to drive the point home for the characters emotions by including their dreams.
- What are they afraid of?
- What are their hopes and secret desires?
These things can be explored through dreams as well. They can make you understand the severity of the situation. Like when one of my characters experience fear in life, they may have a nightmare to help the reader understand the emotions involved in the situation.
If a person experiences a traumatic situation, most of the time there are dreams to follow. There are many people who don’t dream and I get that, but I have a storyteller mind as I’ve said before so even subconsciously I am always telling myself a story lol. So I dream almost every night and usually multiple dreams. You don’t have to write every one of your characters dreams into your stories but you can write significant ones in.
Drive the point home to create that extra dramatic effect into your story. Meaning if you can make them seem like a real person with real emotions, and real fears, then why not. Or maybe that dream will effect multiple characters. There are several times I tell my husband my dreams, especially bad ones because since I was a kid I was told if you tell someone your bad dreams they can’t come true and its just something that has stuck through the years. So, maybe your character tells their significant other. Then it effects a decision or a thought process for both characters later in the story. There are many possibilities and many ways to handle dreams in a novel, just find what works best for you.
Another thing that I have read in the many social media groups is writers asking about how to write a dream….
-First of all I always italicize mine to separate it from the regular text, that’s just what I like in my stories.
-Next I make a point to mention, in one way or another, that they went to sleep before the dream or that they woke up suddenly In order to paint that picture for the reader.
-Then finally think of what you might dream about in their situation, whether its a good dream or a nightmare, think of how you would interpret it in your dream then try to think like your character. How is their thinking different than yours?
Ultimately it is their dream that will influence their story. Our characters have a mind of their own sometimes and all you can do is embrace it lol. I believe that all dreams mean something, whether it is something that you are hopeful for in life or as simple as you have to go to the bathroom. So make it mean something to them and it can add that dramatic effect I mentioned earlier.
Dreams can be realistic or so far-fetched that you wonder why you didn’t wake up sooner, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some hidden meaning. If you dream of a garden gnome biting your finger maybe you watched Harry Potter too much lol. Or if your bed turns into a raft in the middle of a deep lake than maybe you have to use the bathroom (or you’ve been pranked lol).
In real life we dream of fear, love, sadness, really any emotion you can think of. So one could say, that our dreams can be considered some of the most emotional moments in our lives. Whether or not you are awake, your body is still going through the process of that emotion. You may be relieved when you wake up but your body is still catching up. Describing the emotional turmoil, and confusion your character goes through when waking up from said dream can help a reader relate to what your character is going through. I mean we all dream, some significantly more than others but if we were going through what most of us put our characters through I would say you might have a dream or two on the subject.
Don’t hesitate to make your characters as real as you possibly can. That builds that emotional bond between character and reader. As writers we create and as readers as well, we know better than anyone about that bond. So help your readers become emotionally involved in your story by letting them dream with your characters.
Thank you for reading my blog and until next time….JUST KEEP WRITING.
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Tiffany’s Writing Journey 