Dreams in storytelling

[TJSchongar]

Incorporating dreams in stories of all kinds have gotten some bad press. There are authors and teachers who say it's a lazy way to get magical elements, exposition, and other characterizations across. I've certainly seen them used poorly when restraint or a conversation or something else could have worked just as well without reverting to a cliche "And then he woke up" moment. However, dreams have a very long history of being successfully incorporated into beloved stories. Look at Greek mythology, the Bible - heck, Alice in Wonderland IS one giant dream.

What do you all think about using dreams in your stories? Is there a way you prefer to see them used? Have you used them yourself? Are they a deal breaker when you're reading something, or do they engage you further?

[vothnthorvaldson]

Not a deal breaker for me for sure, but yes, it can look lazy... if other elements in the story make it look lazy.
A story with a clever and/or intricate storytelling won't be ruined by a dreamed sequence, even if this particular sequence is not well handled. And if it is well done, it can be very engaging (and yes, so much classical literature used the technique beautifully. How could we just decide it's not good enough for 2019?). Whereas in a very ordinary, simplistic type of storytelling, using a dream sequence to push the plot forward quickly may be the last straw and make me give up, but these are exaggerated cases.

I don't have dreams (yet) in my main plot, but I have a lot of reveries that fill the same need as dreams in the story line, although I find them easier to incorporate without looking tacky, because there is less rupture (don't require the strong ruptures that are falling asleep and waking up).
I'm also writing a story with a dream as the main element, but it's a short (few pages) light comedy, so I don't really mind if the technique is used in a tacky way.

[Rodimus13]

I use dreams cause it's important because..... robots don't dream. And who is dreaming? The robot. Plus it's working its way towards the mystery of my plot so.... dreams kinda important when they come up.

[silverraven0]

At the moment, there's a sequence in one of my story where I use the "he falls asleep" to close a chapter and then used the next chapter as flashback to "all of those years ago~", and I plan to use the flashback system heavily here, since around 75-85% of the story majorly Focused on the characters past.

And I don't plan to use dream when the flashback happens after this sequence, so it's not fully used as 'dreaming effect' but you get what I mean (do you? I dont even know what I'm really writing here. XD)

This is how I use it for now, but there's also going to be times where I took some very different approach to use the the dream in my story in the future.

[Jenny-Toons]

What do you all think about using dreams in your stories? Is there a way you prefer to see them used? Have you used them yourself? Are they a deal breaker when you're reading something, or do they engage you further?

It depends on the context of your story.

In my case, dreams are an essential part for my developing horror comics. A lot of the dreams sequences I'll be using are based on emotions and inner conflict for various characters.

Some of my characters will have dreams that are based on guilt or trauma, and those dreams will make it harder for them to function regularly.

Others characters will have dreams that are actually warnings -- either by seeing a vision of the future or having someone enter their dreams. For these, I like to play around and make those dreams reality, toying with the idea that everything is not fine and that something bad might happen. These types of dreams are mostly used for foreshadowing, in my case.

[Harmony-S-S]

Some of my stories actually come from my dreams! I write down an entire story from one of my dreams and sometimes I'm shown parts of something that meant for a specific story. And they actually do engage further, I may need to change some things here and there so it matches how I write, but other than that...

[aqua03]

Whaddya mean, Robots can't dream? Everyone knows that they dream of Electric Sheep!

[Rodimus13]

Did you get to the start of the dreams yet in my comic Aqua?

Anyway robots in that universe do not dream. Query even says so.

[aqua03]

Yeah, I did. I was just making a joke about the sic-fi story "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep."

[Rodimus13]

Didn't read it.Sorry.

[aqua03]

It's okay. I just thought that considering how influential the story was back in the day, people would get it.

[nixxusnibelheim]

Didn't know dreams had a bad rep haha ! I wouldn't call it lazy writing tho'.
I heard before that flashbacks were lazy too but the thing is with dreams, flashbacks, hallucinations etc, they usually show something a character can't show/express.
If you strip your writing from these ploy, you had to rely heavily on other things that may not fit your initial intention.

The context matter but if you feel the need to use a dream sequence for a specific situation, do it. Ask yourself if you can do it differently and better, if you can't then it must mean the dream sequence is necessary.
Atleast this is how I try to handle stuff that may look like lazy writing.

[dawgofdawgness]

I think dreams are a good way of blurring the lines between reality and ..not? if it’s used correctly, you can realllly mess with the audience’s head and make them actually read into each scene and analyze it. The only time dreams are used in an ANNOYING way, is when the audience is expecting the plot to move forward only for it to completely HALT and resolve itself in a deus ex machina when the person wakes up from the dream/aka story. Alice in Wonderland works, because the conflict and story are pretty much resolved in Wonderland, and when Alice wakes up, the dream gives her new knowledge to real life.

Also, I recently watched Hereditary and there were a couple of dream sequences that made the story a lot more unpredictable and tense. As long as you’re acyually incorporating the dreams as an element into your story, and not using it as an excuse to resolve the conflict, then you’re fineeee. Dreams are a pretty unexplored psychological phenomenon so when people do stuff with it in stories, it can be really cool! (Like Inception)

[indagold]

I am kinda tired of the fantasy tropes that dreams are real and have an impact on the plot. Sometimes I feel like if it could happen in story, why not just show it in the original story? I tried in my fantasy story to make the main character being stressed and having dreams related to the stress like in the real world, it gives insight to what the character is feeling and makes the reader wonder if some part of the dream is an actual event/prophetic/etc but not be 100% clear it is.

[ratscout]

I know a lot of people don't like it, but I actually adore it. Like all things though, it depends on how it's done. If the author uses a trippy dream sequence to relay important characterization to the reader, I think it usually works very well.

And I know people sometimes don't like it when dreams are used to relate past events or exposition, but hey, sometimes it's the easiest way, and I don't hold it against any authors. XD A lot of people just don't get how hard it can be to incorporate a past event in a really logical, organic way, you know?

But, whenever someone says a certain method of storytelling should be made unavailable just because they don't like how it's been being used of late, I usually just close my ears and do my own thing anyway, haha. Dream sequences can actually be one of my favorite parts of a story. <3

[Rodimus13]

Now I wanna show you the dream sequence for Build-a to see what you think.

[Kann]

I don't mind the dreams in storytelling. I actually like the idea as long as a good plot isn't ruined with "and then they woke up" thing.

There are so many thing you can do with dreams in your story. Foreshadow stuff, mess with the readers' minds, scare them, make them cry or go all the way with making the dream as trippy as possible. You know, like irl dreams. xD

[JeanGuillet]

a dream should always reveal something to the reader that they didn't know before. maybe possibly couldn't have found out any other way? I'm kind of on the fence about dreams. they add confusion, even if done well. I need to keep my nose clean with regards to confusion in my comic so I'm staying pretty clear of dreams.

[jurinova]

I think dreams are one tool among many in storytelling. When used well they can be great and can work as an excellent way to show things that otherwise wouldn't fit into the story. I don't think using dreams is automatically lazy storytelling but I think there's been a lot of lazy writing when it comes to dreams in popular media.

In my comic dreams have a small but important role to play. Of course I worry that some readers will be displeased or confused by this but I consider them a necessary part of the story. In general I tend to write things in a way that leaves a lot for the reader to interpret and dreams are really good for that.