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Dream Sequences?



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Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:44 pm
Cspr says...



So, I probably should know how to write dream sequences. But I don't.

It's sort of a flashback dream, anyway, the thing I'm thinking of writing. It won't be obvious then, but...yeah.

Anyway, the novel itself is in third person, with one main character per chapter--past tense. I'm thinking of putting the dream sequence in italics. But what is the correct way of doing it? Suggestions? Pointers?
Yeah.
Help?
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Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:17 pm
Rosendorn says...



You can write a dream sequence in any way you want, although the most common way I've seen it is italics. You can also use something like present tense/first person to differentiate the dream from the rest of the story, but I'd suggest italics because of how standard it is.

I'd also ask why you're writing a dream sequence, because they can come off as a bit cliche/obvious foreshadowing— but they can work so it's best to write out the dream and see how it works in plot before deciding if it stays in or not.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:36 pm
Cspr says...



Okay. I'll read up some more on it, but that's good.

It has to do with the plot, by the way. It's fantasy and one of the people get attacked by a creature that's known to cause visions. It helps move the plot along, because the reader already knows what's going on, but the character is stubborn and won't accept it--so it's shoved in his face. I know they can be a bit bad, but I'm not going to be completely obvious with it, I'm just going to force him to question what 'reality' is. As mentioned, the character's personality includes stubbornness, but it also includes rather, ahem, brutal loyalty.
What he needs to do is leave his family. But he won't.
He needs to think that they are truly in danger, otherwise he wouldn't go and I really need him to go, because otherwise I don't have a story.

Yeah, maybe too much of an explanation. I guess it isn't that much of a dream sequence. He's asleep, but he isn't dreaming--he's seeing things that have happened, just not clearly or in the right order. Later I'll probably make him see things that are happening, or are going to--with a touch of unreliability, sooner or later. Spice things up.

See, I'm editing a novel I wrote when I was eleven. Let's just say I know it's probably going to be 'bad', but I want to make it as good as possible to let my family finally read it. But, yeah, if you have any further suggestions on how to make things less 'cliche' without wholly changing the plot, I'd love them. But that's more of a specialized problem--not meant for this forum, I think.

Thanks for your time, by the way, and your help. And sorry if I went a bit off tangent.
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Sat Feb 12, 2011 12:22 am
Rosendorn says...



S'okay for the tangent. ^^

And that sounds like it would work and not be cliche. If it's part of the powers and is causing a lot of character conflict, then it's more like a twist on a cliche.

Remember— cliches aren't bad in and of themselves. It's when you're not actively twisting around/examining the cliche that it becomes boring.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  








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