Writing dreams in your stories? (share your examples)

I absolutely love writing dream sequences. Dreams are something that is always featured in my work. Here’s a fave scene from an unreleased chapter…

Her voice was there, a quiet melody in the light of the sun. A flash of a thought of a time long forgotten. He felt her hand in his, pulling him forward.

_'Silas! Come on!' There was laughter in an echo, floating away on the wind. _

Fingers entwined, he saw her smile. Red hair lifting on the breeze as she turned. Green eyes of an emerald forest known only to him. He tried to keep up with her pace, pushing his legs against a world of weight pulling them down.

_Suddenly her hand slipped from his and in desperation he tried to snatch it back but she became a ghost in his sight. The sky darkened to black and in that darkness, Silas watched helpless as Sky was sucked away from him. She screamed his name and the remnant of her voice lingered. _

'No,' Silas breathed.'No, no, no, no, Sky!'

_He grasped the black, pushing his hands through it as though he himself were swimming. _

_The black was blinding and even without a sense of direction, Silas shuffled forward in the way he thought she had gone. _

_'Sky!' He heaved her name, beginning to slow. His body a lead weight against his will. He stumbled, hitting his knees against hard ground in a world that was an obscure black. _

_He stopped where he was. Clenching his fists, Silas howled into the dark but its sound soon died away and even Silas soon ceased his struggles. Hanging his head, he panted for air. His eyes shut against the black, his body rising and falling against the deep breaths he pulled into himself. _

Slowly, alone in the darkness, he began to remember. Everything.

Another deep breath. His body shuddering, his marked hand gripped his chest. If he wanted to save the light of his life, he would have to descend deeper into the dark. He would let it in, all to become something more. He would not resist any longer.

'Make me yours and I will follow.' He breathed.

**My Silas,**

_His head stirred. The black speaking his name, the shadows surrounding him swirled. _

listen.

_Silas' eyes remained closed and he listened. His mind calmed, and his body stilled. _

Hear it.

_Silas nodded, the shadows whispering nothings in his ear in passing. _

_Feel it. _

The black flowed through his fingers.

_Taste it. _

_Into his mouth and nose, the darkness seeped. _

_Touch it. _

Flowing across his skin like cold water, Silas shivered.

Obey it. The darkness calls to you. It is time to answer it.

_It caressed his every limb. The shadows enticed Silas into the embrace it offered and he accepted its touch. _

_ If you can pay the toll for your soul's passage, then without chains or the plague of corruption for your sins, you may have your desired place among the Fallen. There is no going back. You will either pass through the flames of what you may become, or die. _

Opening his eyes, the black pools of Silas' eyes began to change. They smouldered with a fire that revealed every mystery that had been hiding in the dark.

My Hellhound. Cerberus.

I added noise and blur on panels depicting the dream

I have two specific dream sequences that I really found fun to right! Getting to play with scenery and ignoring certain 'laws of reality' can be so beautiful (or terrifying LOL)

Chapter 1 - Conri, after lying to his therapist, finds himself stranded in snow. A metaphor to his upcoming predicament

Chapter 11 - A nightmare of past trauma and memories that sends Conri off over the deep end (Mentions of SA)

but they're still SO fun!!

Well, it's far too early for my sequence, so SPOILERY maybe? But I'll drop this sketch here cause I was doodling it a few days ago where a certain character goes down below in a dream.

To answer your question, that thing this person encounters represents the person's guilt or sins, and fears of said sins coming back to bite them in the butt - not saying if that happens or not. It's a very early concept still.

And the thing depicted is literally my interpretation of Anzu, a Sumerian diety who delivered written law to man (to fowls too in my story's weird lore) but he's punished for his actions, so I saw it appropriate to include it in this dream as a "divine judgment" entity. Again, it'll be a while (like a few seasons) before you see this nightmare, but it's planned...

More of a daydream, but I think it counts.
--Thunder crashed in the distance, and when it did, his surroundings flickered from his dusty, close room to an open-aired utopia. The ceiling had become a limitless, black sky, the walls had become an open and sandy beach, and the smell of the dusty room had been replaced with the fresh smell of greens wet with water. The moon and stars were reflected like beautiful sapphires in the clear and glassy sea. The pleasing sound of water-on-water blessed his ears, and the sand beneath his feet felt rough, but warm and comforting. The iridescent water in front of him beckoned him to it.

He dipped his hands in, shivering at how cold it felt. He had read books about the ocean, but it was not the same as experiencing it for himself. He had the vocabulary to describe it, at least, because vocabulary was all he had.--

The very first scene in Apparent Secrets is a dream.
Dreams play a huge part in the novel...

It was happening again. That strange feeling, so real, but impossible at the same time. She watched through eyes that were not her own, as the being she inhabited crept from the shadows to the light. All around the darkness, the faint glow of iridescent blue crystals guided travelers along the severe, weather-worn tunnel. From within the coolness of the darkened cave, one could feel the rays of searing red-hot summer sunlight pouring in from the gaping entrance.

Emerging into the crimson rays, a tall, stately avian figure took up a sturdy stance to brace for the fierce, warm winds. From this high and mighty peak, an alien landscape of cliff and forest charged ahead to greet the jagged horizon. The valley below stirred with the movements of wind-swept aromatic grasses and strange, foreign animals. The unearthly scenery was as breathtaking as it was lonely, as there was nothing familiar in sight.

Looking down from the mountain made her nauseous, but her host body did not seem to mind. From the apex of the craggy peak, her host unfurled their long, folded wings and spread the gold-tipped, creamy-white feathers wide. Each plume became a finger, stretching to catch the thermal updrafts from below. Her stomach lurched at the prospect of sudden descent, and her tongue felt thick and dry from sticking to the roof of her parched mouth. Without pause, the host leapt from their perch, pushing off the rocky landing with long, bird-like legs.

Freefall. Dreadful, terrifying freefall. Her host's wings clamped to their backside, and arms and legs were drawn up to maximize velocity. She wanted desperately to look away but was compelled to watch as the ground rushed towards her with horrifying speed. She tensed and lurched, feeling the tightness of anxiety and panic all over. Gripped with fear, she inhaled sharply as her host finally unfurled their wings to take flight. The immense feathers kissed the rocks below, deftly avoiding a disastrous collision.

The sound of her heartbeat rang out in her mind. Too fast, too fast indeed for comfort. Each echo of 'lub-dub' deafened her to the caws and brays of creatures below. Her host's rhythmic flapping of wings went unheard. So too did the whistle of passing tendril-covered trees. Her host climbed higher and higher towards the crimson skies. From this lofty height, one could surely see the whole world. Impressive, beautiful, imaginative, and unreal...

Her eyes opened with a start, in concert with the deep breath she forced upon waking. Iris Alcazar found herself back home, the vision all but a memory now. It wasn't a dream, at least it couldn't have been. She was convinced that this recurring projection was just the latest of her adventures delving into an alien world. She would have thought herself foolish, if not for the evidence of it being true in her own apartment.

so far, I've had three dream sequences

The way I make it visibly so is the black negative space a more restrictive margin, and the same setting.

However, when I have a flashback sequence (which in a way is still kind of like a dream sequence anyways), I also have the black background as well, but in contrast I do not follow the restrictive margins, and add a CRT scan line filter to the images

Lucian drifted in a realm of swirling shadows, the edges of his consciousness blurring between sleep and a strange, unsettling awareness. Then, a voice, deep and resonating, pierced the inky blackness. It was Vornath.

The shadows coalesced, revealing Vornath's imposing form. Flames danced in his piercing red eyes, casting an eerie glow on Lucian's face. An icy dread snaked down Lucian's spine.

"Lucian," Vornath's voice boomed, echoing in the boundless void, "the time has come. Your part of the bargain nears. I have a lead on the second gem that we were discussing." Vornath’s gaunt frame moved closer to Lucian. “The gem lies in the jagged hills a few days' journey north of where you are now.”

Lucian, his jaw clenched, asked, “How do you know where I am?”

A cruel smile played on Vornath's lips, devoid of warmth or humor. "Lucian, I'm in your dreams. I am a part of you. You think I can’t pinpoint where you are? Now listen to me because this gem will not be easy to get to. The Jagged Hills are a forgotten place. At the heart of the hills there is a cave with the gem in wait.” Just as Vornath finished explaining the gems location to Lucian his almost skeletal claw wreathed in a green fire motioned to the void.

An image flickered into existence a jagged mountain range unlike anything Lucian had ever seen. Its peaks clawed at the sky like the grasping talons of a beast, a landscape that seemed to defy the very laws of nature. Nestled within a treacherous ravine, a dark opening marked the entrance to a mine.

"The Serpent's Maw," Vornath's voice dripped with a chilling cadence. "There, the gem rests, guarded by darkness and peril. Retrieve it, Lucian. Prove your worth."

“What am I looking for once I get into the cavern? What does the gem look like?” Lucian demanded in exasperation, “Stop speaking in riddles, demon.”

Vornath now seriously looked at Lucian. “As you wish. The gem you are looking for is the color of amethyst. I cannot tell you exactly what you are looking for in the cavern because I myself have never been there. All I know is you better be ready for a fight because the gems are never unguarded. Sources of great power are rarely left undisturbed.”
Lucian turned his back to Vornath. “Why don’t you just go get the gems? You have more power than I do. It just seems like poor planning on your part. What if I fail?”

Vornath hissed. “I can’t obtain the gems myself. I’m not able to leave hell where I reside. At least not without heavy scrutiny. Just the little time I took in Archanella offering you a bargain was questioned. Trust me I want nothing more than to forget you exist and to just go get them myself.” Vornath sneered. “And if you fail I'll find another weak adventurer and convince them to do it for me.”

The image dissolved as abruptly as it appeared, plunging Lucian back into the suffocating darkness. Vornath's words echoed in his mind a gem, a hidden mine, a place called the Jagged Hills.

I like to use mine for gods and lords to communicate with the main character. It keeps it a little more low stakes for more often encounters.