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How to Write Dream Sequences in Film — Format Story Tips Featured

Scriptwriting

How to Write Dream Sequences in Film — Format & Story Tips

I t is not uncommon for writers to find inspiration from their dreams. Dreams are a canvas of the subconscious that humans have innately interpreted throughout history. This allure to deciphering dreams has made them an incredible storytelling mechanism. Many screenwriters utilize dream sequences for their strong imagery and effective storytelling abilities. In this article, we’ll analyze how to write dream sequences in film and the do’s and don’t of the craft.

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How to write dream sequences in film

Define the purpose of the dream.

The very first step in learning how to write dream sequences in film is to ensure that the dream sequence you are writing has a purpose. Whether it is thematic , plot-driven, or character-driven, a dream sequence should serve the story just like every other scene. Here are a few ways your dream sequence and function for the story of your screenplay.

Advance the plot

While they may not be rooted in reality, dreams can be a part of cause and effect sequences. Specifically, a character’s actions may be prompted because of a dream they have.

Take this scene from Terminator 2: Judgement Day for example. Sarah Connor has a horrible nightmare in which a nuclear explosion wipes out everyone around her.

Example of a dream sequence • Terminator 2

This dream prompts her to try and prevent this event from happening. Not only can these dreams be a tool for foreshadowing , they prompt actions in characters. Because this dream is a part of a cause and effect sequence, it effectively advances the plot and moves the story forward.

Another way dream sequences advance a plot is by incorporating them into the structure of your screenplay. Dream sequences literally become plot points that move a story forward.

Illustrate a character’s desires

Dreams in films tend to reflect the psyche of a character. Therefore, they often reflect what a character wants. Dreams that show characters achieving or obtaining what they desire perfectly show the audience very clearly what their internal or emotional goal is.

In this scene from Dumb and Dumber , Lloyd’s day dream wanders off as he thinks about the best case scenario when finally meeting Mary.

Dumb and Dumber • Example of a dream sequence

The dream is a hilarious moment that also informs the audience on Lloyd's desires as well as expectations. This effectively raises the stakes for when Lloyd finally meets Mary.

Portray internal conflict

Some dreams, however, don’t portray future events in the best case scenario. Some dreams reflect a character’s fears as well. These dream sequences effectively illustrate a character’s internal conflict as they weigh the possible outcomes of their decision, both good and bad.

A great example of this type of dream sequence can be found in Superbad . When Seth walks into a grocery store to try and buy liquor as an underage teenager, his mind wanders as he weighs the possible outcomes.

Superbad • Example of a dream sequence

While these dream scenarios are hilarious, they all capture Seth’s fears and internal conflict in buying the booze. Rather than seeing him walk in, look around and walk out, we get a glimpse at what he is thinking that led to his final decision.

Remember, these are only a few ways to define the purpose of your dream sequence. Whatever the purpose of your dream sequence may be, make sure you can define the specific way it serves the story of the film.

How to Write ‘Realistic’ Dialogue →
Inception Ending Explained — Dream vs Reality →
The Difference Between Internal and External Conflict →

How to write dream sequences in film

Determine the logic of the dream.

After defining the purpose of your dream sequence, it’s time to determine the rules it plays by. Dreams, as they occur in our own lives, can be either uber realistic or incredibly far-fetched.

Dreams in a film can also behave in either way.

It’s important to determine what type of dream your sequence will be. What logic is the dream founded in. Is it so realistic that the character and/or the audience thinks it is reality? Or is the dream so surrealistic that it draws attention to the fact that it is a dream?

Surrealistic

The surrealistic dream is so illogical that it makes the audience aware of the dream state of the sequence. This can be used to create intriguing imagery that portrays a character’s subconscious.

This dream sequence in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World increases the levels of surrealism through a seamless transition from reality to a dream state. We brought the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World screenplay into the StudioBinder screenwriting app to take a better look at how it was written.

How to Write Dream Sequence Scott Pilgrim vs The World Example StudioBinder Shot Listing Software

Scott Pilgrim VS. the World • Script dream sequence

Notice how the slug line even says “DREAM HIGH SCHOOL” drawing attention to the obvious dream state. The final cut of this scene even uses sound design and production design to further elevate the surrealism of the dream sequence.

Scott Pilgrim VS. the World • Zelda Fairy Fountain Dream Sequence

On the other side of the dream sequence is the realistic dream. These dreams play by the same logic as reality and can therefore be mistaken as reality. Realistic dreams can be tricky because you don’t want to outright mislead the audience for the sake of a twist (more on this later).

But realistic dreams that appear to be reality can be an important thematic point or plot point that plays into the story. Few examples of this effect are better than the final scene in Inception , one Christopher Nolan’s best films .

The entire plot and structure of Inception is based on dreams and many of them tend to veer toward surrealism. However, the final scene of the film utilizes the “realistic “ dream so well that many still argue whether the final scene was a dream at all. We reviewed the various interpretations of Inception's dream vs. reality debate in another post. (Spoilers ahead)

Inception • Ending Scene Full

Walking the line of misleading the audience versus intrigue the audience can be difficult. But as Nolan shows, the payoff can be incredible. We brought the Inception script into the StudioBinder screenwriting app to analyze how Nolan introduces the dream world to a story’s characters as well as the audience. In fact, Nolan does it in the very first scene.

How to Write Dream Sequence Inception Example StudioBinder Shot Listing Software

Inception • Ending Scene Full

Planting the idea (no pun intended) of dreams is critical in the beginning of the film as the plot unfolds.

Because dream sequences are a matter of walking a narrative line, it’s also important to talk about the things to avoid when writing a dream sequence.

Avoid the flashback dream

Exposition can communicate key information for audiences to latch onto and invest in a story. Executing exposition is one of the toughest things to do as a screenwriter. All too often, screenwriters utilize the flashback dream sequence to lay out exposition.

The problem with this technique is that it is rarely done well. Flashback dreams that serve as exposition are often on the nose and work as a crutch.

In other words, using dreams for exposition is often considered a lazy way to communicate to the audience.

If you’re looking for better ways to lay out exposition in your screenplay other than the dream sequence, check out this video by Thomas Flight. The video is a supercut of exposition done properly. Note how none are a dream sequence.

Script dream sequence • In Praise of Exposition

If you’re wondering whether or not your dream sequence is too on the nose as exposition, ask yourself “Is this the only purpose the dream serves?” If it is, try to find another way to lay out your exposition.

Download the Screenplay for Inception →
What is a Flashback? Definition and Examples →
How to Conquer Writing Exposition in a Screenplay →

Dreams shouldn’t mislead the audience

An overarching mistake screenwriters make when writing dream sequences is intentionally misleading the audience. This is often done to raise the stakes of a story. While this may help get you to an exciting climax, it also leads to a lackluster ending.

Misleading dream sequences can get more and more consequential to get the audience more invested. But when the climax happens and these stakes are revealed to be grounded in a dream, audiences may have enjoyed the ride but they will hate how it ends.

An example of this can be seen at the end of Click (spoilers ahead). At the climax of the film, Michael finally faces the consequences of fast forwarding through everything he hates in life. However these consequences are merely wiped away when we find out they all occurred in a dream.

How to Write Dream Sequences in Film • Click Ending

Sure the film tries to tie the knot by saying it was really the Angel of Death that gave Michael another shot. The damage, however, is done. That emotional climax becomes less memorable when the audience realizes it wasn’t real.

These misleading dreams are usually intended to fake out the audience into a more exciting climax. Ultimately, it leads to a subpar ending that leaves an audience feeling misled.

Human beings are naturally drawn to interpreting dreams, even if they belong to characters in a story. Using this to your advantage as a storyteller is a great idea. Executing this idea, however, can be tough. Hopefully this article has informed you on how to write a clever, story-based dream sequence that may end up being the most memorable scene in your screenplay.

Dream sequence screenplay format

Once you’ve decided on the content of the dream sequence and dialed in on how it will contribute to your story, it’s time to put it into the screenplay. Let’s take a look at the Superbad screenplay of the scene we mentioned earlier.

As we look at the script in the StudioBinder screenwriting app , we can see how Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg formatted different dream sequences with slug lines . Within the script, it may be important to tell the reader that the scene that is about to occur is out of the context of reality. Goldberg and Rogen add “Fantasy” in the slug line of each dream sequence to make this clear.

How to Write Dream Sequence Superbad Example StudioBinder Shot Listing Software

Dream sequence screenplay format • Superbad

Learning how to write slug lines will give you the tools needed to bring your dream sequences to life. When it comes to screenplay formatting , remember, your script should create a visual of what the cinematic story will look like. However, it also needs to give clear context of a scene to the reader especially when writing dream sequences.

Dream sequences have created some of the most memorable scenes in cinema. However, they have also resulted in some of the worst scenes in cinema. Following these tips on how to write a dream sequence in a screenplay will guide you in the right direction of hopefully writing the former.

How to write a montage

Writing a dream sequence in your next project? The montage might just be the ideal format, especially when dreams can jump between time and space so easily. Therefore, let's learn how to write a montage, including some pro-tips on formatting, spacing, and clarity.

Up Next: Writing a montage →

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Kaitlyn Connors
Nov 17, 2022

“And It Was All a Dream!”: Writing Dream Sequences

Dreams are the most organic stories we have. They are the unconscious mind at work, conjuring freely and without intervention. Many a writer has been inspired by their dreams, and there are countless stories that note the parallel between dreaming and storytelling. It makes sense, then, that dreams often play a crucial role in the structure of fiction. So, let’s explore the construction of dream sequences, and consider how dreams can serve your story’s aims.

Dream Logic

It’s funny that there should be logic to writing dreams since they themselves generally lack any logic. This gives a writer a great deal of freedom, but can also present a challenge—how do you write something that makes sense, when there are no rules?

Dreams are unstable, transitory territory, and your writing of them should reflect that. Make them strange, unusual, upsetting, and illogical. Dreams should be decidedly separate from the waking world of your story.

One of the best examples of this that I have seen is in The Sandman comic book series. Dreams in The Sandman are visually distinct from the rest of the story’s text and are unique to each character, like a fingerprint. Moreover, they require a good deal of deciphering. That is, they aren’t as obvious as story events in the waking world might be. Yet they give us a privileged glimpse into characters and present a different perspective on the story’s events.

Now that we’ve got a little understanding of how dream territory looks, let’s examine a few famous examples of dreams in fiction, what storytelling functions they serve, and how you can use these techniques in your own writing.

Solidify Themes and Character

After arriving at Wuthering Heights, Mr. Lockwood has a rather unusual nightmare. In the dream, he is forced to listen to an abysmally boring sermon which he interrupts and condemns the speaker. Immediately, the entire congregation descends upon him while the speaker of the sermon eerily pounds upon the church’s floorboards with his walking stick.

Lockwood wakes abruptly thanks to the sound which he realizes is in the waking world as well. The steady noise echoes against his windowpane. He goes to remove the offending branch, and instead, finds himself gripping a cold, dead hand.

This is one of the most famous moments in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , but Lockwood’s dream is often overlooked in favor of the dramatic specter he encounters. The nightmare, however, plays a crucial role in the creation of suspense and ambiance.

First, the dream continues and amplifies the motif of violence and suppression in Wuthering Heights. S pecifically, it parallels a startling instance a few chapters prior where Lockwood is again descended upon by a group: this time Heathcliff’s pack of vicious dogs. Thus, we have a glimpse into Lockwood’s mind while the atmosphere of fear is brought to the forefront. The nightmare also prepares us for the appearance of the ghost as the world of fantasy and the logic of dreaming blend with the waking world. Psychically, the reader and Lockwood find they are still in a dream, a terrifying place to be in a world of lasting consequences.

Foreshadowing and Dramatic Irony

In Julius Caesar , the eponymous character is warned in several different ways to “beware the Ides of March”. Fatefully, he does not. One of the most memorable instances and the one that comes the closest to persuading him not to attend the Senate is a warning from his wife, Calpurnia, after she prophetically dreams of his murder.

This dream foreshadows Caesar’s untimely demise, but more crucially, it provides dramatic irony. Shakespeare’s audience already knows that Caesar will die. His refusal to heed his wife’s warnings renders his death more emotionally resonant because we know that it could have all too easily been prevented.

Thus, tragedy is created through the heightened state of dreaming, and the world of Julius Caesar becomes more complicated and expansive. And, as in Wuthering Heights, the worlds of dreaming and waking are ambiguously blended.

Reveal Characters’ Pasts

Another story that dwells in the ambiguity between sleeping and waking is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol . Through vivid dreams, Scrooge learns the effects of his actions upon his past, present, and future, and makes the decision to become a better person. One of the cleverest uses of dreaming in this text is the exploration of Scrooge’s past. Rather than simply telling us how Scrooge became the person that he is, Dickens shows us, making the backstory immediate, visceral, and interactive.

Dream logic, however, still applies. The memories that Scrooge visits with the Ghost of Christmas Past are unstable and constantly shifting. They are more complicated than flashbacks and take on the shadowy characteristics of dreams. Thus, this story sets up an interesting internal conflict and dramatizes it in a compelling way through the interactivity of dreams.

“It Was All a Dream!”

The trope of discovering that events thought to have taken place in a story’s reality were actually in the mind of a character is one that’s often scoffed at. But I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with it. Plenty of stories such as Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz have used it to great success. The secret lies in the impact that the dream has.

Not only should the dream conform to dream logic, but it absolutely must have an impact on the story. Otherwise, you’ve just cheated the reader of valuable time. As a general rule of storytelling, everything on the page must matter, and the unreal is no exception.

A story, much like a dream, is a fragile, tenuous thing. It has no inherent value but garners its importance from the weight we instill it with. To quote Shakespeare’s Prospero, “We are such stuff as dreams are made on.”

Author Bio: Kaitlyn Connors is a rising senior at Smith College studying English with an emphasis in creative writing. She is fond of coffee, Shakespeare, light breezes, the sound of crisp page turns, moths, goosebumps, bad drawings of cats, and the general vibe of autumn. She is currently studying abroad at Oxford University. More of her work can be found at www.thesunsetowl.com .

How to Write Dream and Nightmare Sequences Your Readers Will Love

Last Updated: November 20, 2023 Fact Checked

How to Write a Dream Sequence
Purposes of Dreams
Types of Dreams

This article was reviewed by Gerald Posner and by wikiHow staff writer, Dev Murphy, MA . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,532 times.

Dreams can be such an effective and compelling way to move the plot forward in a novel—but it can be tricky figuring out how to write a dream sequence that isn’t hoaky or unbelievable. While you're free to use creative license here, there are a few rules of thumb that could help you get started. Below, we’ve outlined the common traits of effective dream sequences, the purposes and uses of dreams in fiction, and the many different types of dreams your character could have, plus what to consider when formatting your dream scene.

Things You Should Know

Use a dream sequence to push the story forward in some way—for example, by shedding light on a character's fears or desires, or foreshadowing future events.
Employ logic in your dream sequence, but try not to be too logical: dreams tend to be surreal and vivid and often don't make much sense upon waking.
Use symbolism in the dream to express a character's complex abstract thoughts, fears, or desires in concrete and compelling ways.

How to Write a Compelling Dream or Nightmare

Step 1 Make sure your dream has a purpose for the novel.

You may not know from the get-go what your dream sequence contributes. This might be something you figure out as you write (and rewrite and re-rewrite) your story , so don’t feel pressure to know everything before you’ve even begun writing.

For example, while in real life, you might walk to the fridge to get an apple, in a dream, the apple might suddenly appear in your hand, or you might find it in the closet and not think anything of it.

Note that using vivid imagery doesn’t mean over-describing—a few well-selected words can paint a more vivid picture than 100 poorly-chosen ones.

For instance, your character might fear death in their day-to-day life, but in a dream, instead of having them or someone close to them die, you might represent their fear with a giant black cement block looming over them or a shadowy closet or something else totally ominous that helps the reader better understand their anxiety.

Step 5 Consider using narrative distance.

Narrating the book in the character's vernacular and expressing every thought and emotion clearly would be an example of almost no narrative distance.
On the other hand, a narrator who offers almost none of the character's subjective thoughts or feelings, and only describes the character's actions in objective terms, creates significant narrative distance.
While prescriptivists might argue you need to maintain the same amount of narrative distance throughout a story, as long as you have a clear purpose for changing the narrative distance, it can be extremely effective.

Just telling us what happens in the dream might be vaguely interesting (“I floated up to the ceiling and then a sentient cheese puff told me I was going to die”) but unless readers get a sense of how your character feels about what’s happening, they may write off the whole scene as unimportant—or worse, a waste of time.

What are dream sequences in novels for?

For example, in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre , Jane is told that dreaming of a child is a bad omen; the more time she spends in Mr. Rochester’s mysterious house and the closer she comes to a precarious romance with him, the more she herself dreams of children—hinting to the reader (as well as to Jane) that there is trouble ahead. [6] X Research source

Step 3 They showcase a character's fears or desires.

For example, if your character’s marriage is suffering, you might have them dream about their partner having no face or substitute their dream-partner with another person or thing to illustrate that they feel distant from them or as if they don’t know them anymore.

Step 4 They help a character realize something.

Types of Dream Sequences

You might even opt to give your character hypnopompic hallucinations : visual, auditory, or tactile hallucinations experienced as a person is waking up. [7] X Research source
Giving your character sleep paralysis can add an extra layer of horror: sleep paralysis is just a temporary loss of muscle control after falling asleep or waking, but it can be quite alarming for the sleeper and often involves hallucinations or the sensation of being suffocated. [8] X Research source

You could give your character a lucid dream as a way to show what would happen if they had their way in real life: what would they do? How would others react?

You might even have your character connect with someone who has passed on: maybe they receive guidance from their deceased mother, for instance.

How to Format a Dream Sequence

You may also opt to keep the formatting the same throughout, but explicitly indicate that the character is dreaming, as J. K. Rowling does in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets : "He dreamed that he was on show in a zoo, with a card reading UNDERAGE WIZARD attached to his cage." [11] X Research source

Step 2 Keep the formatting the same if you want to leave readers uncertain.

An example of a novel in which the reader is by design uncertain which scenes are really happening and which are merely dreams, fables, or the character’s imagination is Kate Bernheimer’s The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold . [13] X Research source

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Dream Sequences: How to Craft Them While Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Dream sequences: avoiding the lazy screenwriter’s crutch, apply consistency and logic to the chaos, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, three ways dreams can compel your character, 1. the realization dream, 2. the inner conflict dream, 3. the premonition dream, black panther, spot the difference.

It was all a dream! First the audience gasps. Then they sigh and roll their eyes. Through overuse and poor execution, dream sequences have unfortunately become a lazy screenwriting tool that often offers little to the overall story.

How many times does an audience have to witness a character die a horrific death only for them to spring upright in bed? It can seem a cheap tactic, one that attempts to heighten the stakes for the audience whilst simultaneously creating no lasting consequences. Quite simply, it is a fake-out.

In addition, screenwriters have begun to lean on the dream sequence as an easy way to communicate exposition . This is because they are trying to follow the age-old rule of screenwriting , ‘ show don’t tell ‘. However, rather than trying to find ways to visually communicate a character’s backstory or motivations within the story, they slap it in a dream sequence and hope for the best.

By doing so, they are missing out on what makes dream sequences so powerful. What is more common to the human experience than our nightly hallucinations? Dreams are a uniquely human concept. You can use them to delineate a character’s complex nature in a subconscious rendering of their innermost thoughts, feelings and fears.

If you use dream sequences to convey themes, influence your character arcs or even make them part of the story structure itself, then there is a place for them in your screenplay. Don’t use them as a crutch, or a way to solve a plot hole. Just use them as a visually interesting way to tell your story that may, in turn, help your screenplay stand out.

Treading the Line Between Surreal and Reality in Dream Sequences

Dreams have often provided writers with fascinating material from which to work their magic. After all, everybody dreams. Therefore, you would think dreams would be an easy thing to write about.

You think that because anything can happen in a dream then surely anything can happen in your dream sequence. You begin to create wild landscapes of immense possibilities, where anything goes. Alas, all you have succeeded in doing is pulling your audience right out of the story.

Unfortunately, dreams’ colourful and chaotic natures, the very thing that makes them so vibrant and interesting, is also what makes them difficult to realistically create. Poorly written dream sequences generally fall into one of two mistakes…

The sequences throw all logic and reality to the wind in favour of bombarding the audience with surreal imagery and madhouse chaos.
This is effective if all you are trying to do is treat the audience to a moment of visual spectacle.
However, it also succeeds in highlighting the artificiality of the dream by stretching the audience’s suspension of disbelief too far.
It may be a fun way to demonstrate how imaginative you are but it doesn’t do much to serve the story or your characters.
The sequence behaves too much like reality.
The scene is therefore much better able to service the characters and plot because as far as the audience is concerned nothing has changed.
However, in doing so you lose the fantastical elements that make the dream sequence so special in the first place.
The sequence might as well not be a dream at all. As far as the execution is concerned, it may as well just be a flashback.

So before you sit down to write your dream sequence, you must devise a balance between writing a surreal scene and one that simply appears like everyday life. Too much chaos and the audience will fail to see the point your sequence is trying to make. Too much realism and the sequence stops becoming a dream at all.

Films such as Inception and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind expertly achieve this middle ground to create powerful dream sequences.

The former employs dreams as a form of espionage to infiltrate someone’s mind. The latter creates dreams as part of a memory-erasing programme.
Both premises of the dream sequences sound pretty outlandish. But they manage to tip the scale in an even direction by applying their own rules. During the set up of both films, the audience learns the clear guidelines of how the dreams work.
In Inception , we know all the dreams have an architect that designs the dreams, which the dreamer then fills with their subconscious.
In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , we know that each dream represents a memory that will appear in reverse order and start to fade as it begins to erase. Whilst these are arguably memories rather than dreams, the way they manifest cinematically is as dreams, particularly as Joel lies asleep as his memories are accessed.

These films don’t strain the audience’s suspension of disbelief by breaking the reality of the world. They follow the rules they established themselves in the opening act. By doing so, they make true chaos believable.

In other words, they create realistic dreams where audiences can enjoy surreal moments without losing track of the story’s reality.

Dream Sequences That Create Subjectivity

Inception #3 Movie CLIP - Shared Dreaming (2010) HD

After finding the delicate balance that must exist within your dream sequence, you then need to determine what function this storytelling device will play in your screenplay. The first and most notable example of the use of dream sequences in screenwriting is to create moments of subjectivity for your audience.

Subjectivity is creating the experience of thinking or feeling like one of your characters. It is a mental representation of an event rather than a physical one.

Filmmakers bring the audience into their characters’ minds through clever camera tricks, editing, lighting or sound. Screenwriters do the same thing in different ways. They find means to translate complex human emotions through a character’s interactions, conflicts and transformations.

What the dream sequence provides then is an opportunity for writers to delve into the emotions deep within a character. They can weave together memories or longings so that the audience can experience a character’s subconscious thoughts and feelings.

These could be things the characters themselves didn’t know, things they are too afraid to admit to others or things they bury deep within their mind. Whatever the case, the key to writing a powerful dream sequence is that they become a visual way to communicate your character’s mental state. By doing so, you provide a less objective look at that character and go deeper, beyond their senses and into their mind.

Keeping with our two previous examples, you will see how the filmmakers of Inception and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind utilized their dream sequences to make the audience experience their protagonist ’s deepest emotions.

During one of the many dream sequences in Inception , the audience sees that the central character, Cob, is using the dream-sharing device to visit past memories. These include his dead wife, Mal, whose suicide Cob feels personally responsible for. The filmmakers use this particular scene to demonstrate Cob’s inner guilt, which drives him throughout the story.

Each memory represents the floor on an elevator, each containing moments that Cob regrets. All he has succeeded in doing is building a prison of memories where his wife is alive and he goes to torture himself every time he dreams.

The audience takes a tour of Cob’s guilt throughout the sequence. It ends in the basement, where he hides the night of Mal’s death and where the iron bars of the elevator holds her projection inside. The audience witnesses how deep the character has tried to bury these feelings and how much he is ashamed by them.

In the final dream sequence of the film, Joel is reliving the last (but also the first) memory of him and his ex-girlfriend in an empty house by the sea. Soon, the memory starts to erase and the house begins to crumble around them. The incoming waves wash away the remains of the house and the last remaining moments of his time with the women he once loved.

This sequence captures perfectly the fear and regret of a character who has chosen to fundamentally alter the man he is. Like the inevitability of the rising tide, there is nothing Joel can do to save the memories that once caused him so much pain but also gave him happiness.

Ironically, this sequence occurs just as the character has begun to gain a more accurate perception of what went wrong in his relationship. The audience gets to experience his subtle dread as he leaves behind these final moments alone in the dark, wishing he could have done differently.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (8/11) Movie CLIP - Meet Me in Montauk (2004) HD

Allow the Dream to Influence Your Characters and Their Arcs

One of the main arguments against many dream sequences is that they have no lasting impact on the characters or the overall story. You can attribute this to the previously mentioned fake-outs of characters dying in a dream and then suddenly waking up.

Take the dream sequence from Aliens as an example.

Ripley lies in a hospital bed. Suddenly, she feels a horrendous pain in her chest.
She rips backs her robe and sees an alien trying to push its way out, only for her to wake up in a sweaty mess.

Was it a cheap scare? Is it a screenwriting con? Not necessarily.

Ripley faces nightmares throughout the film as a direct result of the horrors she faced the first time the alien attacked. This is a specific character attribute that influences her character arc from beginning to end. She is haunted by what she experienced and attempts to warn the people she is with about the dangers they are facing.

We constantly see Ripley struggle with nightmares throughout the story. That initial dream sequence gives us a peek into her mind and those nightmares. Therefore, it resonates with us every time she awakens from her sleep, holding her chest.

That is how you create a powerful dream sequence. Not by duping the audience into believing that your character is about to meet their end but by allowing the dreams to influence your character’s actions and story arc far beyond the sequence itself.

ALIENS Movie Clip - Nightmare (1986) Sci-Fi Horror Movie HD

As mentioned, dream sequences need to be more than a page or two of surreal imagery. Dream sequences are scenes and they still need to act like them, helping develop your plot or characters in some way.

So before you start writing your dream sequence, you need to know what you intend to accomplish with the dream and what function it plays for your plot and characters.

In a ‘realization dream’, something must “click” for your character in the dream. This could be something they have been struggling to figure out throughout your story.
Perhaps your character’s latent desires, masked by strict conscience in the waking world, are thrown into sharp relief in a vivid dream sequence.
This particular type features in American Beauty , where the lead character Lester starts having erotic dreams about a young woman covered in rose petals. The scenes accentuate Lester’s attraction and obsession with his daughter’s friend.
It’s a truly vivid attraction and obsession, one that gives the audience context to what is going on in his mind every time his daughter’s friend appears in his life.

This sequence shows a character struggling with an impossible choice.
Using a dream sequence to colourfully illustrate internal turmoil can give a face to a character’s hidden agony and struggle.
An American Werewolf in London utilizes this type of dream sequence to great effect. Newly bitten werewolf David Kessler hasn’t quite figured out what has happened to him yet. But his dreams help to show the audience the internal battle in his mind.
When mutant Nazis invade his peaceful home and start to murder his family, it is a sign to the character that dangerous forces have gained control of his mind. Turning into a werewolf is bound to wreak havoc on one’s subconscious and his dreams tell him that he no longer has any control over his life.
During this sequence, you give your character a possible glimpse of the future events.
You should use this dream type sparingly and with caution. If your characters can accurately predict the future with consistency, it can drain the tension right out of your story.
This dream sequence works best if your character has prior knowledge of future events that might influence their character.
In Terminator 2: Judgement day , Sarah Conor has a nightmare about the upcoming judgement day she was warned about, where America is destroyed by nuclear explosions. The horror of this vision alters her character further and prompts her to take action to stop it from coming true.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers

As a general rule of thumb for writing a dream sequence, ask yourself exactly why you’re including it. If you can’t come up with an answer other than, “because it will look awesome,” then the sequence probably isn’t going to serve your plot or your characters and therefore isn’t necessary to your story.

Make the Dream Ask a Question

Just coming up with a foreboding or interesting dream is not enough to keep an audience engaged as you essentially take a break from your story. Therefore, another key to writing powerful dream sequences is that you must frame them as dramatically as possible. This means that the dream sequence should aim to either ask or answer a dramatic question.

The dramatic question has to do with the central conflict involving your protagonist . The most interesting question in all of fiction is why. Why is this dream happening? Why does this dream matter? If you make your dream sequence ask a dramatic question of your protagonist , you’ll almost certainly hook an audience into the rest of your story by making them want the answer.

Dream sequences are a great place to ask these difficult questions of your protagonist.
This is because you have the rare opportunity to physically enter your character’s psyche.
You can introduce opposing elements that could represent their inner conflict.
Or you could turn the dream into a visual manifestation of the lessons your protagonist needs to learn.

Whatever approach you choose, your story should introduce thematic or character-driven elements that relate to the dramatic question. Then the dream sequence must accentuate these themes and character moments, or vice versa. The sequence should always either be booked-ended by a question being raised or a question being answered and then later applied to your story’s events.

This way, the dream sequence becomes a unique way of introducing the elements of your screenplay. Looking at the example of Black Panther , you will see how its dream sequences aim to answer the dramatic question of the story and how this affects the protagonist during the remainder of the film.

Throughout Black Panther , the protagonist T’Challa faces two separate dream sequences where he enters an ancestral plane to speak with his father’s spirit. The sequences occur towards the beginning and end of the film. Both aim to ask T’Challa the same dramatic question: What kind of king do I want to be?

As the story begins, T’Challa believes Wakanda should hide away from the world.
The audience sees in the first dream sequence that T’Challa wants to be a good king like his father and he thinks the best way to do that is to uphold tradition.
That is the first answer to the dramatic question.

However, through the course of the film, the other characters, mainly the antagonist Erik Killmonger, challenge T’Challa’s beliefs. Erik is a walking reminder of his father’s failings. He’s an example of the people who have needlessly suffered because of Wakanda’s isolationism. He’s living proof that hiding from the world will not keep them safe. Therefore, it is clear that T’Challa’s answer to the dramatic question is wrong.

It is only by T’Challa confronting all of this that his beliefs start to change.

When the second dream sequence arrives and the same question is put forward, the protagonist has a different answer.
He declares that he and his father let the fear of Wakanda’s technology stop them from doing what was right and that they were wrong to turn their backs on the rest of the world.

After learning from the antagonist and facing his inner conflict within his dreams, T’Challa finally decides what kind of king he will be.

Dream Sequences as Part of the Story Structure

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (3/11) Movie CLIP - It's All Falling Apart (2004) HD

Dream sequences work best when you weave them into the structure of the story. One of the major reasons dream sequences often fail is that they don’t move the immediate plot forward. They simply feel like an annoying add on that the writer has chosen because they have run out of ideas.

However, when dream sequences are married to the structure you use to tell your story, they are no longer a tool; they are a part of the structure as a whole. If you bury the concept of dreams so far into the foundations of your story that they become a part of the fundamental premise, then no one can argue against their inclusion.

In addition, cementing dream sequences into the structure of your screenplay provides you with a fresh and interesting outlook into a particular genre or type of story that no one has ever seen before. This can turn a predictable and overused format into an entirely new concept. Just take the three basic premises from these films as an example and remove any mention of dreams.

Inception – A group of thieves try to destroy a rich man’s company.
A Nightmare on Elm Street – A terrifying ghoul with knives for finger kills a bunch of teenagers.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – A man tries to forget his ex-girlfriend by removing everything that reminds him of her.

Inception sounds like a run of the mill heist film, A Nightmare on Elm Street sounds like just another slasher film and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind sounds like your everyday romantic drama. However, take the same premises and add the thing that makes them such original films in the first place and you get a completely different story.

Inception – A group of thieves enter a man’s dreams to try to plant an idea that will destroy his company.
A Nightmare on Elm Street – A terrifying ghoul with knives for fingers kills a bunch of teenagers within their dreams.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – A man tries to forget his ex-girlfriend by removing her from his memories, accessed via his dreams.

As you can see, when the dream sequences become part of the structure and therefore your story’s premise what you’re doing is employing a different way of telling a cinematic story.

Just like any other technique in screenwriting , dream sequences can be used as a powerful and unique way to tell your story. They give you the rare opportunity to enter your character’s mind and consequently allow your audience to experience what that character is thinking and feeling.

How you choose to visually render the subconscious is up to you, just be sure to not go completely overboard with the surreal imagery or miss the mark completely and create a dream entirely like reality. Make sure you give your dream sequence a function to your overall plot and characters. The consequences of the sequence should be felt way after the character’s eyes have opened, be it in a change to your character’s arc, an influence on your character’s actions or a differing outlook on the dramatic question of your story.

The best dream sequences aren’t used as a crutch. They’re not used to solve a plot hole or as bad visual exposition . Instead, they’re used as an innovative way to tell your story. The best dream sequences act as a fundamental part of the story and its premise.

What did you think of this article? Share It , Like It , give it a rating, and let us know your thoughts in the comments box further down…
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This article was written by Stephen Harper and edited by IS Staff.

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2 thoughts on “Dream Sequences: How to Craft Them While Avoiding Common Pitfalls”

AWESOME!!!! Informative. I thought I could just “plop” a dream piece into my story – NOT. THANK YOU for the enlightenment. Kellie

Thanks Kellie!

Dream Sequences In Writing: Uncover Inner Worlds

In the realm of storytelling, a dream sequence is our secret weapon for delving into a character’s subconscious.

It’s a narrative technique that reveals desires, fears, and internal conflicts without the constraints of reality.

We’ve all experienced the surreal nature of dreams, and in writing, dream sequences harness that same ethereal quality to enhance the story.

They’re not just flights of fancy but a powerful tool that, when used effectively, can transform the narrative landscape.

What Is A Dream Sequence In Writing

Dream sequences are a distinct narrative tool used by writers to jump into a character’s psyche.

They function as a window into their fears, desires, and innermost thoughts.

Through dream sequences, storytellers can bend the rules of their narrative worlds, allowing for surreal and symbolic scenarios that provide deeper understanding of a character.

In movies like Inception , dream sequences demonstrate complex emotional and psychological landscapes.

The layering of dreams within dreams adds a multifaceted dimension to the storytelling.

This technique is not confined to the realm of film alone – novels like Alice in Wonderland use dreams to escape the bounds of reality, engaging readers in a fantastical journey that reflects the protagonist’s growth and self-discovery.

Utilizing dream sequences requires a balance – they must be coherent enough to follow but bizarre enough to differentiate from reality.

Bring metaphors and symbols to life,
Reveal hidden feelings and internal turmoil,
Bypass logical story progression for emotional resonance.

These elements converge to craft scenes that, while disconnected from the actual events, resonate with thematic significance and character development.

Enhanced by the limitless potential of visual storytelling, filmmakers weave dream sequences into their narratives to evoke a response that pure dialogue or action might not achieve.

The Purpose Of Dream Sequences

Dream sequences serve a multifaceted role in storytelling.

They are crucial for character development and plot enhancement.

In cinematic narratives, directors employ dream sequences for various important reasons:

To reveal the subconscious fears and desires of characters,
To foreshadow future events in the narrative,
To symbolize abstract concepts and emotional states,
To break away from the linear progression of the plot for creative storytelling.

Dreams allow viewers to step into the minds of characters.

Here, the inaccessible thoughts and emotions surface, painting a vivid picture of the character’s inner world.

Films like Inception showcase the boundless nature of dreams, weaving them into the fabric of the storyline to shape character arcs and plot twists.

Dreams can also act as a vessel for symbolism and metaphor .

They present abstract ideas in tangible forms, enabling viewers to engage with the characters on a deeper level.

The cult classic Mulholland Drive uses surreal dreamscapes to blur the lines between dreams and reality, challenging audiences to decipher the true narrative.

Narrative creativity thrives within the realm of dreams.

Filmmakers push the boundaries, creating sequences that might otherwise be out of place in the grounded realm of the film’s reality.

A dreamscape can transport characters – and viewers – to any time, place, or dimension, defying the constraints of conventional storytelling.

By employing dream sequences, filmmakers can subtly guide the audience’s interpretations.

Dreams act as a mirror, reflecting the emotional state or transformation of the character throughout the film.

Our understanding of the characters becomes enriched as we’re offered a glimpse into their deepest layers of consciousness.

Harnessing the power of surrealism, films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind use dreams to navigate through complex human emotions and memories.

These sequences jump into the intricacies of relationships and personal identity, permitting storytelling that resonates on a more profound level.

Creating Vivid Imagery

To capture an audience’s imagination, dream sequences must paint a sensory-rich picture.

We ensure that every element – from the unfolding scenery to the smallest sound – is woven together to create an immersive experience.

Sound design, color grading, and visual effects all play crucial roles in amplifying the surreal quality of dreams.

By heightening the senses, we bring the inner world of characters to life.

Bold colors , dramatic shadows, and haunting echoes can transform simple scenes into memorable dreamscapes.

Techniques like slow motion or reverse footage often enhance the dream’s otherworldly feel.

Lighting is a potent tool in our arsenal for crafting dream sequences.

It’s not just about visibility; it manipulates mood and focuses attention.

Strategic lighting choices can suggest the ethereal or the nightmarish depending on the narrative’s needs.

Dreams deal with symbols and metaphors, and we pay attention to symbolic detail.

Objects in dreams aren’t always what they appear.

They might represent:

A character’s hidden desire,
An impending decision,
A past event casting a shadow on the present.

Incorporating symbolism demands a delicate balance – the audience must sense the weight of these symbols without being overwhelmed.

We craft motifs that resonate throughout the film, creating layers of meaning that viewers may unravel over time.

Narrative elements can be subtly distorted in dream sequences to create a sense of uncertainty.

The familiar becomes strange, and the straightforward becomes complex.

We break the mold of reality to showcase a character’s internal conflicts and aspirations without the constraints of the tangible world.

Through carefully choreographed cinematography, we craft dream scenes that feel both otherworldly and intimately connected to the character’s journey.

Every frame is designed to contribute to a larger narrative tapestry, blurring the lines between reality and the subconscious.

Revealing Inner Thoughts And Emotions

Dream sequences in scriptwriting cut through the facade of characters to expose their vulnerabilities.

They allow us to peer into the private chambers of the mind.

In these sequences, characters often confront emotions and desires they can’t in their waking lives.

The audience gains privy to fears and aspirations otherwise left unspoken.

Filmmakers craft scenes that heighten the character’s internal drama.

Sharp visuals and distorted sound design reflect the emotional turbulence within.

Italics serve as visual cues for dreams in literature, guiding readers into the character’s subconscious.

Through this stylistic choice, readers transition smoothly into the character’s deeper consciousness.

Consider Inception , where dreams within dreams reveal the complexities of guilt and loss.

Here, the narrative peels back layer after layer of personal struggle.

Dream sequences afford us a surreal palette to paint our protagonist’s inner conflict.

A stormy sea or a crumbling edifice can symbolize inner chaos vividly.

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , the dreamscape is a battlefield of heartache and memory.

It’s as much a character in the story as the protagonists themselves.

By understanding the dream’s purpose, we align our audience with the protagonist’s journey.

Their revelations become our own as we traverse the dreamscape together.

To maintain clarity and impact in these sequences, we focus on:

Strong visual metaphor s,
Heightened sensory elements.

Dreams are not random; they’re woven intricately into the storyline to propel the narrative.

Meticulous planning ensures every dream sequence feels purposeful and enriching.

The power of dream sequences lies in their dual ability to mystify and clarify.

They add depth to storytelling by providing a glimpse of the truth lying beneath the surface of our characters.

Establishing Symbolism And Foreshadowing

Dream sequences offer a unique storytelling device – they are rife with symbolism and often serve as a prelude to future events in a narrative.

By weaving subtle clues and meaningful symbols into these sequences, filmmakers provide audiences with insight into the plot’s direction without overt exposition.

Characters in dreams might encounter symbols that represent their innermost fears or desires.

For example, a wilting flower might signify lost love, while a looming storm cloud could foreshadow impending danger.

These symbols, when decoded by the viewer, add layers of depth to the narrative arc.

In film, color plays a significant role in establishing mood and foreshadowing.

A drastic shift to a monochromatic palette, for instance, might indicate a character’s descent into despair.

On the other hand, vibrant splashes of color could signal a character’s hope or creativity bursting forth.

Surreal and distorted dreamscapes can also hint at a character’s future challenges or decisions.

The following elements frequently appear to hint at what’s to come:

Mirrored surfaces reflect a character’s dual nature or identity crisis.
Mismatched or illogical sequences suggest internal conflict or confusion.
Encounters with significant characters in dreams often preview important real-life interactions.

Sounds and music incorporated into dream sequences layer additional meaning and can signal future plot twists.

A recurring lullaby might point to a childhood memory that holds the key to a character’s current predicament, while dissonant chords could herald a disruption in the character’s life.

Attention to detail in crafting dreams is critical as they guide the viewer subtly toward understanding the character’s journey.

By tapping into the rich tapestry of symbolism and foreshadowing, we convey complex plot developments and character evolution in a deeply intuitive and visually engaging manner.

Exploring Dream Sequences In Writing: Uncover Inner Worlds – Wrap Up

Dream sequences are a powerful narrative device that we’ve seen can unlock the subconscious, offering us a deeper understanding of characters.

They’re not just a flight of fancy but a strategic storytelling technique that can foreshadow events, reveal hidden emotions, and symbolize greater themes.

By crafting these sequences with careful attention to visual and sensory details, filmmakers and writers create an immersive experience that resonates with audiences.

It’s in these dreamy interludes that we often find the essence of a character’s journey, the heart of their conflicts, and the seeds of their transformation.

As we’ve explored, the artful use of dreams in storytelling is both a mirror to the soul and a window to what lies ahead, making them an indispensable tool in the writer’s arsenal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What purpose do dream sequences serve in storytelling.

Dream sequences allow writers to explore a character’s subconscious, reveal their innermost thoughts, fears, and desires.

They act as a creative tool to foreshadow events, symbolize abstract concepts, and break from linear storytelling.

How Do Dream Sequences Enhance Audience Engagement With Characters?

Dreams invite audiences into the characters’ minds, fostering a deeper connection and understanding of their emotional states and psychological transformations.

What Technical Elements Are Essential In Creating Effective Dream Sequences?

Effective dream sequences often utilize sound design, color grading, visual effects , lighting, and strong symbolism to create vivid and surreal imagery that captivates the audience’s imagination.

Why Is Symbolism Important In Dream Sequences?

Symbolism in dreams represents hidden desires, important decisions, or past events, conveying deeper meanings and offering insights into a character’s internal conflicts and aspirations.

How Can Dream Sequences Reveal A Character’s Internal Drama?

By distorting reality and blurring the subconscious with the conscious, dream sequences visualize internal conflicts and heightened emotional states, helping to dramatize a character’s internal struggles.

Can Dream Sequences Foreshadow Future Events In A Story?

Yes, dream sequences can use elements like color, surreal landscapes, character encounters, and distinctive sounds to drop subtle clues and hints about future developments in the narrative.

What Is The Impact Of Dream Sequences On The Depth Of Storytelling?

Dream sequences can mystify and clarify plot elements, adding layers of complexity by showcasing truths about the characters that may not be evident on the surface.

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The Write Edit

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Writing Dream Sequences

December 13, 2016 By The Write Edit 6 Comments

When you anticipate an upcoming dream scene, how do you feel? Do you look forward to it or skim it and discount its importance? What about when you’re gripped by a confrontation between lovers only to find out it was a dream?

As an editor, when I hit a dream sequence, I carefully note whether it works. Usually it doesn’t. And I feel particularly disappointed and cheated when I’m not told that a dream is coming. I might be reading about the antagonist crashing a wedding ceremony in an effort to kidnap the bride, only to find out he was dreaming this scenario. It’s like that author is saying, “Ha ha, gotcha.”

Dream sequences often interrupt the flow, delay the story, and bore the reader, even if well written, because the reader is aware that this is only in the character’s subconscious. And if for no other reason, agents and editors usually wince at dream sequences, especially when they open the story. They simply delay the action, the hook, and setting.

Writers sometimes use dreams to show off their flowery prose or their creative imagination … and readers see right through this. Writers would be better off writing the best prose they can rather than looking for ways to impress the reader. Before penning a dream sequence, ask yourself: Does this move the story along, and is it the best method for doing so? Is this dream necessary?

Here are a few scenarios where dream sequences could work:

The character is so stubborn, frightened, or immobilized that it is nearly impossible to act (as in Hamlet’s crippling inability to kill Claudius) that only a dream will prompt him to do so.

Dreams work when they are an important part of the story. For example, in A Nightmare on Elm Street , Freddie Krueger haunts his victims in their dreams, so even though we know what’s coming, dream sequences are essential to the plot, and are the only way to even encounter the boogieman. And of course this is a film, not a book, which relies on visuals.

Dreams can work well in non-fiction, especially if the book centers on the study of dreams or the inclusion of dreams. For example, a psychologist might write a book about the Freudian interpretations of dreams.

Dreams can work in fiction for the same reason. For example, Stephen Lawhead’s sci-fi novel “The Dream Thief” contains dream sequences, and they are expected in a story like this. Books that explore drug use, fantasy, or otherworldy landscapes can also appropriately contain dream sequences.

Children’s stories can work beautifully with dream sequences, as long as they are necessary and well-written. “Alice in Wonderland” is a prime example.

If you want your character to have a dream, it works better to simply say, “Mrs. Parsons dreamt of her high school sweetheart, Roland. Guilt stabbed her as she awoke to fresh coffee and blueberry pancakes her husband had made for her.” It’s not necessary to detail the dream; it is enough to know that her subconscious gnawed at her. And in cases like this, it is okay to talk about the fact that a character had a dream. In fact, it can add nuance to a story.

So, sleep on it, and let me know your thoughts …

Linda Rey says

December 14, 2016 at 4:53 pm

Thank goodness my copy editor let me keep mine at the beginning of my story! (Great article, btw.)

~ Linda Rey, author of Dead Again: Dark Dreams

The Write Edit says

December 14, 2016 at 6:05 pm

I am familiar with your book, Linda, and yours is an exception because the story centers around those dreams. And it is a sterling read, by the way!

January 2, 2017 at 3:32 am

What about using dreams as a way to show the character’s inner conflict or ambivalence of which he may not be consciously aware?

January 15, 2017 at 2:21 pm

That’s an interesting idea, and my answer is this: If using a dream is the ideal way to portray this, then do it. But ask yourself if you are using a dream because it’s the easier way to show the character’s inner conflict or ambivalence. If yes, try using your skill as a writer to illustrate it through scene, dialogue, and narration.

provotorov says

April 4, 2018 at 4:23 pm

The gorgeous dream sequence that opens “ 8 ? ” reveals its unreality in gradual drips, through careful editing. The scene from the 1963 Federico Fellini film fuses sound sparingly over a series of shots where the camera moves horizontally. It’s easy to miss the signs that what we’re watching isn’t real, like the way the camera freezes on close-ups of faces. But once the man is flying, the audience is certain they are not watching a scene set in the real world.

April 20, 2018 at 6:06 pm

I think Fellini’s 8½ is an exception, and there are many. It’s also film, not a book, which can get away with dream sequences a lot more easily. Great example. Thanks!

How to Write a Dream in a Book: Tips and Techniques

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Many people have vivid dreams that they wish to capture and remember forever. One way to do this is by writing them down in a book. However, writing a dream in a book can be challenging, as dreams are often fleeting and difficult to put into words. In this article, readers will learn how to write a dream in a book effectively.

To write a dream in a book, one must first remember the details of the dream. This can be achieved by keeping a dream journal and writing down the dream as soon as possible after waking up. Once the details are fresh in the mind, the writer can begin to put them into words .

When writing a dream in a book , it is important to focus on the sensory details of the dream. This includes what the dreamer saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt. By including these details, the dream will come to life on the page and be more vivid for the reader. Additionally, it is important to capture the emotions felt during the dream, as they can add depth and meaning to the story.

The Role of Dreams in Fiction

Dreams can play a significant role in fiction writing , offering a unique perspective on character development, symbolism, and plot advancement. In this section, we’ll explore how dreams can enhance a writer’s ability to create a compelling story.

Enhancing Character Development

Dreams can provide writers with insight into their characters’ subconscious desires, fears, and motivations. By exploring a character’s dreams, a writer can reveal hidden aspects of their personality that may not be apparent through their actions or dialogue. For example, a dream about falling could indicate a character’s fear of failure, while a flying dream could suggest a desire for freedom.

Symbolism and Foreshadowing

Dreams can also be used to foreshadow events and symbolize themes in a story. A recurring dream about drowning, for example, could foreshadow a character’s eventual death by drowning. Similarly, a dream about a snake could symbolize temptation or danger.

Plot Advancement and Dramatic Tension

Dreams can also be used to advance the plot and create tension in a story. A dream sequence can provide the reader with clues about upcoming events or reveal a character’s hidden agenda. Dreams can also create a sense of urgency or danger, as a character may wake up from a nightmare and realize that their fears are becoming a reality.

In conclusion, dreams can serve many purposes in fiction writing, from enhancing character development to advancing the plot. By using dreams effectively, writers can create a more complex and engaging story that resonates with readers.

Crafting a Dream Sequence

Dream sequences can add depth and complexity to a work of fiction, but writing them can be challenging. Crafting a dream sequence requires careful attention to detail, balancing clarity and mystery, and maintaining narrative distance.

Setting the Scene

When writing a dream sequence, it’s important to create a vivid and immersive setting that captures the reader’s imagination. This can be achieved through the use of sensory details, such as describing the sights, sounds, and smells of the dream world. Writers should also consider the emotional tone of the dream and how it relates to the character’s inner world.

Balancing Clarity and Mystery

Dreams are often filled with symbolism and surreal imagery, which can be difficult to convey in writing. It’s important to balance clarity and mystery, giving the reader enough information to understand the dream while leaving room for interpretation. One effective technique is to use metaphor and symbolism to convey meaning, rather than spelling everything out.

Maintaining Narrative Distance

Dream sequences can be powerful tools for exploring a character’s psyche, but it’s important to maintain narrative distance to avoid confusing the reader. Writers should be careful not to blur the line between reality and the dream world, and to make it clear when the character is dreaming. One effective technique is to use a shift in tone or style to signal the transition from reality to the dream world.

In conclusion, crafting a dream sequence requires careful attention to detail, balancing clarity and mystery, and maintaining narrative distance. By following these guidelines, writers can create vivid and immersive dream sequences that add depth and complexity to their work of fiction.

Incorporating Dreams Effectively

Dreams can be a powerful tool in storytelling, providing insight into a character’s thoughts and emotions. However, incorporating dreams into a book can be tricky. Here are some tips for using dreams effectively .

Differentiating Dream and Reality

It is important to make it clear to the reader when a character is dreaming and when they are awake. This can be done through the use of clear transitions, such as a character waking up or falling asleep. It can also be helpful to use different formatting or font styles for dream sequences.

Dreams for Character Insight

Dreams can provide a unique opportunity for readers to gain insight into a character’s inner thoughts and conflicts. For example, a realization dream can help a character come to terms with a difficult decision or situation. An internal conflict dream can highlight a character’s fears or desires.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

While dreams can be a useful tool, they can also be overused or become cliché. It is important to avoid using dreams as a crutch for plot development or character growth. Additionally, be careful not to make dream sequences too long or convoluted, as this can confuse readers.

Overall, when used effectively, dreams can add depth and complexity to a book’s characters and plot. By differentiating between dream and reality, using dreams for character insight, and avoiding common pitfalls, writers can successfully incorporate dreams into their storytelling.

Technical Aspects of Dream Writing

Formatting and Style Choices

When writing dreams in a book, it is important to consider formatting and style choices. One option is to differentiate the dream from the rest of the text by using italics or a different font. This helps to indicate to the reader that they are reading a dream sequence. Additionally, using descriptive language can help to create a vivid and memorable dream experience for the reader.

Another formatting choice to consider is the use of white space. Breaking up the text with line breaks or paragraph breaks can help to create a visual distinction between the dream and the rest of the text. This can also help to create a more immersive reading experience for the audience.

Use of Tenses and Perspectives

The use of tenses and perspectives can greatly impact the effectiveness of a dream sequence in a book. Present tense is often used to create a sense of immediacy and urgency, which can be particularly effective in dream sequences. However, past tense can also be used to create a sense of distance and reflection.

Perspective can also play a role in the effectiveness of a dream sequence. First-person perspective can create a sense of intimacy and personal connection with the dreamer, while third-person perspective can create a sense of detachment and observation.

Ultimately, the choice of tenses and perspectives should be based on the desired effect for the reader and the overall tone of the book. Consistency is also important in maintaining the reader’s immersion in the dream sequence.

Getting Your Dream Scenes Published

Writing a dream sequence can be a challenging task, but getting it published can be even more daunting. With the right approach, however, you can make your dream scenes stand out and get them published. Here are some tips to help you get started.

Working with Agents and Editors

Working with agents and editors is essential to getting your dream scenes published. Agents can help you find the right publisher for your work, while editors can provide valuable feedback and help you refine your writing. When working with agents and editors, it is important to be professional, courteous, and open to feedback.

Before approaching agents or editors, it is important to research them thoroughly. Look for agents and editors who specialize in your genre and who have a track record of success. You can find this information by searching online, attending writing conferences, or joining writing groups.

When submitting your work to agents or editors, make sure to follow their submission guidelines carefully. This includes formatting, length, and any other requirements they may have. Be prepared to wait for a response, as it can take several weeks or even months for agents and editors to review your work.

Understanding the Market

Understanding the market is another important aspect of getting your dream scenes published. You need to know what publishers are looking for and what readers want to read. This requires research and a good understanding of the publishing industry.

Researching the market involves reading books in your genre, attending writing conferences, and following industry blogs and news. This will give you a good sense of what is popular and what publishers are looking for.

It is also important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and changes in the publishing industry. This includes changes in technology, publishing formats, and distribution channels. By staying informed, you can position yourself and your work to take advantage of new opportunities.

In conclusion, getting your dream scenes published requires a combination of skill, research, and perseverance. By working with agents and editors, understanding the market, and staying informed, you can increase your chances of success and get your dream scenes published.

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8 Ways to Write a Dream Sequence

It’s easy to hate dream sequences in a novel.

I mean, how many bad dreams sequences have you read? I’ve read a ton, and that’s why for so long I was resistant to teach other writers how to use dreams, and refused to use them in my fiction.

But after continuing to see dreams in the books of authors I admire , I’ve come around. Yes, dreams do have a place in fiction.

But you have to be very careful about how you use them. Please don’t flub it up.

Before we get to the seven ways to use dreams well, let’s look at the three worst ways to use dreams :

As a Gotcha Moment . This is a dream sequence that usually happens at the beginning of a book. And it’s designed to trick the reader into thinking they are reading an actual event in the world. But it comes off as a cheap trick when you pull back the curtain and say: “fooled you!”
Too On The Nose . Sometimes a dream doesn’t feel dreamlike. It feels more like the author wanted to tell the reader something, and crafted the exact dream that would forward the plot. To avoid a dream being too on the nose, use metaphors. Instead of your character having a fear dream about a rapist, have them dream about a snake in their bed (look at the Dostoevsky example below)
A Sloppy Substitute . Sometimes I read dreams in unpublished fiction and I think: why didn’t the author simply have this actually happen in the book? I mean, if the dream is necessary for the plot, it’s often more dramatic to have it actually happen. If you can make a dream real, please make it real.

Okay, so if you think you’re on track to avoid those mistakes, let’s look at good dreaming examples.

Here are seven ways to write a dream in your novel.

1. Dreams Creating Mystery

J.M. Coetzee’s book “Disgrace” is the best known of his books, but this dream is taken from “Waiting for the Barbarians”, which is similar in tone and theme.

Here we have a dream creating a mystery. There is a mysterious figure wearing a hood, and whose face cannot be seen, and finally the face is blank.

So who is this figure? Who is this beggar child figure who he offers a coin? There’s a very good connection to one of the main characters in the novel, but in the realm of the dream, it’s a mystery.

“In the night the dream comes back. I am trudging across the snow of an endless plan towards a group of tiny figures playing around a snowcastle. As I approach the children sidle away or melt into the air. Only one figure remains, a hooded child sitting with its back to me. I circle around the child, who continues to pat snow on the sides of the castle, till I can peer under the hood. The face I see is blank, featureless; it is the face of an embryo or a tiny whale; it is not a face at all but another part of the human body that bulges under the skin; it is white, it is the snow itself. Between numb fingers I hold out a coin.”

Rather than using a dream to solve a problem in your book, it’s an excellent idea to use a dream to create a mystery.

2. Dreams Revealing Desires

There are more dreams in Roberto Bolano’s “2666,” than any other book I’ve ever read. In fact, the number of dreams in this book actually convinced me that perhaps dreams do serve a useful function in fiction (before, I’d read a lot of bad dream sequences and felt prejudiced against them).

Here, the main character has been chasing the elusive literary figure Archimboldi for decades of her life.

And to heighten that desire/passion, Bolano shows her even dreaming about Archimboldi. If you want to show that your character truly wants something, simply have them dream of what they want.

“When she fell asleep at last, with the TV on, she dreamed of Archimboldi. She saw him sitting on a huge volcanic slab, dressed in rags and with an ax in one hand, looking at her sadly.”

In this dream, her desire is coming true: she finally sees this mysterious, elusive figure, and he’s looking at her.

3. Dreams as a Choice

The brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz book cover

The great thing about dreams in fiction is that you can have them be purely in dreamworld , or overlap with the real world.

In Junot Diaz’s “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” we see a character who is beaten so badly that he is on the verge of death. And he has a dream (kind of a hallucination) where he imagines a mongoose has given him a choice: to live or to die.

Oscar remembers having a dream where a mongoose was chatting with him. Except the mongoose was the Mongoose. What will it be, muchacho? it demanded. More or less? And for a moment he almost said less. So tired, and so much pain – Less! Less! Less! – but then in the back of his head he remembered his family. Lola and his mother and Nena Inca. Remembered how he used to be when he was younger and more optimistic. The lunch box next to his bed, the first thing he saw in the morning. Planet of the Apes . More, he croaked.

Even though he’s dreaming, he’s also making a real-world choice to live. So he survives this beating in the cane field and goes on to have one more relationship.

4. Dreams Fueling Relationships

In Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” the protagonist has a dream about talking to a dead person.

This is actually the way the book ends, but it’s excellent psychology. This friend of hers met a tragic end, dying at the end of the book, and so she’s haunted by him.

It’s a way to give their relationship a little bit of closure, letting her talk to him in her dream.

Which reminds me, by the way, of a dream I had a couple of weeks ago. […] I went inside one of these new buildings. It was like a laboratory, maybe, or a museum. My footsteps echoed on the tile floors. There was a cluster of men, all smoking pipes, gathered around an exhibit in a glass case that gleamed in the dim light and lit their faces ghoulishly from below. “I thought I’d find you here,” said a voice at my elbow. It was Henry. His gaze was steady and impassive in the dim light. Above his ear, beneath the wire stem of his spectacles, I could just make out the powder burn and the dark hole in his right temple. I was glad to see him, though not exactly surprised. “You know,” I said to him, “everybody is saying that you’re dead.” He stared down at the machine. The Colosseum… click click click… the Pantheon. “I’m not dead,” he said. “I’m only having a bit of trouble with my passport.”

This one uses dream logic — he says he’s having trouble with his passport and his movements are restricted — a nice metaphor for a waystation after death.

It’s also a nice way to let the book end on their relationship, even though he’s already gone. One strategy would be to have a flashback, but a dream works perfectly well, too.

5. Dreams Stoking Fears

One of the most common dreams is a fear dream. We dream of what we’re frightened by.

And so it makes sense that fiction should include fear dreams as well.

In Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian,” a woman has a fear dream about meat, about being trapped in a closet full of meat.

Dark woods. No people. The sharp-pointed leaves on the trees, my torn feet. This place, almost remembered, but I’m lost now. Frightened. Cold. Across the frozen ravine, a red barn-like building. Straw matting flatting limp across the door. Roll it up and I’m inside, it’s inside. A long bamboo stick strung with great blood-red gashes of meat, blood still dripping down. Try to push past but the meat, there’s no end to the meat, and no exit. Blood in my mouth, blood-soaked clothes sucked onto my skin.

And it is this dream that causes her to become a vegetarian. So you can also use dreams as a catalyst to get your character to change, to make a strong decision. It’s important to have “trigger events” in your book to cause a character to change their course, and a dream can be an excellent trigger event.

6. Dreams as Foreshadowing

In Annie Proulx’s “The Shipping News” the daughter has a dream that the house has fallen into the sea.

And on the very next page, the very next day, the house does fall into the sea (it’s on a cliff overlooking the ocean).

“But Bunny went up the howling chimney, sailed against the wind and across the bay to the rock where the green house strained against the cables. She lay on stone, looked up. A shingle lifted, tore away. A course of bricks flew off the chimney like cards. Each of the taut cables shouted a different bull-roarer note, the mad bass driving into rock, the house beams and timbers vibrating. The walls chattered, shot nails onto the heaving floors. The house strained toward the sea. A crack, a whistle as a cable snapped. Glass burst. The house slewed on grating sills. The cables shrilled. at the freed corner, fell, lifted. Glass broke. A second cable parted. Now the entire back of the house rose as if the building curtsied, then dropped. Cracking beams, scribbles of glass, inside the pots and pans and beds and bureaus skidding over the floors, a drawer of spoons and forks down the tilt, the stairs untwisting.A burst of wind wrenched the house to the east. The last cables snapped, and in a great, looping roll the house toppled.Shrieking. Awake. Scrambling across the floor to get away. The wind outside proving the nightmare. Quoyle lurched through the door, grasped the kicking child. He was frightened for his daughter. Who was mad with fear.Yet in ten minutes she was calm, swallowed a cup of warm milk, listened to Quoyle’s rational explanation of wind noises that caused nightmare, told him she could go back to sleep if Warren the Second slept on the bed. When he asked cautiously what she had dreamed, she couldn’t remember.”

This dream uses dream logic (in the dream she can fly up the chimney and across the bay).

She also can’t even remember what the dream was about — so it’s not foreshadowing for the characters, but for the reader.

7. Guilt Dreams

In “The Master and the Margarita,” the protagonist Nikanor Ivanovich has an extended dream. It’s long — 3400 words, and takes up a whole chapter.

And in it, he’s on trial, being accused of hiding foreign currency (in Russia, back mid-20th century, it was illegal to hold foreign money). He’s essentially projecting his sense of fear and guilt inside this dream.

It starts in a way that seems influenced by the book of Revelation:

“Nikanor Ivanovich then had a dream, which was undoubtedly influenced by his recent experiences. It began with some men carrying golden trumpets leading him, with great solemnity, to a pair of huge painted doors, where his companions blew a fanfare in Nikanor Ivanovich’s honour. Then a bass voice boomed at him from the sky:”

But there’s another level to this dream as well. The whole dream is a critique of the restrictions of Russia at the time. And what’s more, when he stops dreaming and wakes up, then he goes into another dream. A doctor gives him a sedative, and within five sentences he starts dreaming again, about Jesus being crucified:

“They were soon silent again and he began dreaming that the sun had already set over Mount Golgotha and that the hill was ringed by a double cordon…”

So we have two long dreams back to back, making the book feel incredibly surreal.

8. Dreams as Symbols

In Crime and Punishment, we see a dream symbol. Raskolnikov is thinking about killing an old landlady. But does he dream directly about that? No.

Instead, he dreams of a man killing a horse. Just beating a horse to death, mercilessly.

And when he wakes, he automatically knows the dream really isn’t about killing the horse — he knows the horse was a metaphor for the old woman.

Raskolnikov dreamed a terrible dream. He dreamt that he was a child again, back in the little town they used to live in. He was a boy of seven, walking one holiday with his father outside the town. […] The blow was a crushing one; the mare staggered, sank down, and then made another effort to get up, but the crowbar struck another swinging blow on her back, and she fell as if her legs had been cut from under her. ‘Finish her !’ shouted Mikolka, and jumped down, quite beside himself, from the cart. A few of the young men, as drunk and red in the face as he, snatched up whatever came to hand-whips, sticks, the shaft-and ran to the dying mare. Mikolka stationed himself at the side and belaboured her back at random with the crowbar. The wretched animal stretched out her muzzle, drew a deep, labouring breath, and died. […]He woke panting and sweating, his hair damp with perspiration, and sprang up in alarm. ‘Thank God, it was only a dream,’ he said, sitting down under a tree and drawing long breaths. ‘But why did I dream it? Can I be starting some sort of fever? It was such a horrible dream.’ His whole body felt bruised, and his mind dark and confused. He put his elbows on his knees and propped his head in his hands.’God !’ he exclaimed, ‘is it possible, is it possible, that I really shall take an axe and strike her on the head, smash open her skull … that my feet will slip in warm, sticky blood, and that I shall break the lock, and steal, and tremble, and hide, all covered in blood … with the axe … ? God, is it possible?’

Bonus Dream Sequences

“a personal matter” by kenzaburo oe:.

Bird was dreaming, groaning in protest against the dawn chill. He is standing on a plateau on the western bank of Lake Chad, east of Nigeria. What can he be waiting for in such a place? Suddenly he is sighted by a giant phacochoere. The vicious beast charges, churning sand. But that’s all right! Bird has come to Africa for adventure, encounters with new tribes and with the perils of death, for a glimpse beyond the horizon of quiescent and chronically frustrated everyday life. But he has no weapon to fight the phacochoere. I’ve arrived in Africa unequipped and with no training, he thinks, and fear prods him. Meanwhile the phacochoere is bearing down. Bird remembers the switchblade he used to sew inside his pants cuff when he was a delinquent in a provincial city. But he threw those pants away a long time ago. Funny he can’t remember the Japanese word for phacochoere. Phacochoere! He hears the group that has abandoned him and fled to a safety zone shouting: Watch out! Run! It’s a Phacochoere! The enraged animal is already at the clump of low brush a few yards away: Bird hasn’t a chance of escaping. Then, to the north, he discovers an area protected by an oblique blue line. It must be steel wire; if he can get behind it he may be safe; the people who left him behind are shouting from there. Bird begins to run. Too late! the phacochoere is almost on him. I’ve come to Africa unequipped and with no training; I cannot escape. Bird despairs, but fear drives him on. Numberless eyes of the safe people behind the oblique blue line watch Bird racing toward them. The phacochoere’s abominable teeth close sharply, firmly, on Bird’s ankle. … The phone was ringing. Bird woke up.

“Ship of Fools” by Katherine Anne Porter

Jenny slept and lived through again in her sleep something she had seen once in broad day, but the end was different as if her memory had patched together two or three unrelated bits and pieces to contrive a meaning for the whole which the separate pieces lacked. During the first month after she began to live with David, she had gone by bus from Mexico City to Taxco, to look at a house there. At noon of the burning bright day they bad slowed down in passing through a small Indian village with the little thick-walled windowless houses sitting along the road, the bare earth swept before each door … As the bus rolled by, Jenny saw a man and a woman, some distance from the group, locked in a death battle. They swayed and staggered together in a strange embrace, as if they supported each other; but in the man’s raised hand was a long knife, and the woman’s breast and stomach were pierced. The blood ran down her body and over her thighs, her skirts were sticking to her legs with her own blood. She was beating him on the head with a jagged stone, and his features were veiled in rivulets of blood. They were silent, and their faces had taken a saintlike patience in suffering, abstract, purified of rage and hatred in their one holy dedicated purpose to kill each other … It was a mere flash of vision, but in Jenny’s memory it lived in an ample eternal day illuminated by a cruel sun, full of the jolly senseless motion of the bus, the deep bright arch of the sky, the flooding violet-blue shadows of the mountains over the valleys; her thirst; and the gentle peeping of newly hatched chickens in a basket on the knees of the Indian boy beside her. She had not known how frightened she was until the scene began repeating itself in her dream, always with some grotesque variation which she could not understand. But this latest time, she had been among the watchers, as if she were at a play, and the two narrow white-clad figures were unreal as small sculptured altar pieces in a country church. Then with horror she saw that their features were changing, had changed entirely — the faces were David’s and her own, and there she was looking up into David’s blood-streaming face, a bloody stone in her hand, and David’s knife was raised against her pierced bleeding breast . . .

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Sweet dreams – how to write dream sequences

Last updated May 22, 2023 | Blog

Along with flashbacks , dream sequences are one of the most controversial writing techniques out there. Done well, they can add an extra layer of depth to your writing and provide amazing insight into your character’s motivations and fears. Done badly, they can make your story feel like Dallas fan fiction.

Here are a few tips and tricks on getting it right and pitfalls to avoid.

Use dreams to explore character motivation

A dream sequence can tell us a lot about a character and their motivations, including desires that the character may not be aware of themselves or that they would never say or think during their waking hours. For example, a prim and proper Victorian lady having raunchy dreams about the rough-handed stable lad.

They can also show your reader hidden depths and nuances. The monstrous Caliban references his dreams in The Tempest , talking of beautiful things:

“…sweet airs that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments… that when I waked I cried to dream again.”

In a couple of lines, Shakespeare changes Caliban from a degenerate beast into a pitiable, tragic character who yearns for beauty.

Dreams can also motivate and inspire action in protagonists (think Agamemnon in the Iliad ) or explain a character’s actions after the case. A harsh father who chastises his son might then dream of his own father’s strict parenting, for example.

Dream symbolism is the definition of the “show, don’t tell” mantra

As Freud would tell you, dreams are chock full of symbolism. Striking a balance between clumsy, overt symbols and being confusingly cryptic is a tricky skill to master but, used properly, symbols can make a dream sequence stand out and get important information over to the reader.

A good rule of thumb is this: don’t try to be too clever. Resist the urge to be too trippy – the symbology of your dream sequence needs to be decipherable. And, like a line in a murder mystery, your readers will assume everything is relevant, no matter how random things may seem on the face of it. Dreams in real life are full of weird stuff that doesn’t make sense, but in a dream sequence you can’t afford to risk confusing your reader with red herrings.

Foreshadowing: tricky to get right, but great when you pull it off

Foreshadowing can be one of the hardest things to do as a writer, but a dream sequence can be the perfect place to showcase this technique. Planting hints about something that may crop up in a future chapter will prepare your reader and make events feel satisfyingly cohesive when they come to be realised later in the story.

However, used too obviously, foreshadowing can feel rather deterministic. We know what will happen because it was in a dream. This foregone conclusion is the exact opposite of the excitement and tension you should be looking to create with your writing, so beware: subtle is best.

Common questions about writing dreams

Should a dream sequence have its own chapter or be contained within a chapter?

There is no hard and fast rule on this one. But, as you generally begin a new chapter when the story requires a shift, dream sequences can work well at the start of the chapter, with the rest of the chapter exploring the consequences of the dream. Alternatively, a dream sequence can be used as a dramatic end to a chapter, tying together and explaining what has happened.

If your dream sequence is going to stand alone in its own chapter or scene, it needs to be important enough to the plot to justify this special treatment. And a word of warning: if you are writing a long dream, keep it coherent enough to maintain a reader’s interest.

How should a dream sequence begin and end?

Think of a dream sequence like a very short story, or even flash fiction. It needs a beginning, a middle and an end. Establish what is going on. This might take two or three sentences at most. The middle bit is self-explanatory – what happens in the dream? Don’t waste any words here – say what you need to say and crack on. Finally, the ending. Here you have quite a lot of freedom. You could end a dream abruptly or on a cliff-hanger (“The wolf’s jaws closed around my neck”), implying a sudden and unpleasant awakening. Or you could have it simply fade out (“Laughing, we danced and danced as the candles flickered across the ballroom”), giving the sensation of a pleasant dream which blends into a restful sleep.

How can you reveal that it’s a dream?

I’m a big believer in not trying to be too clever. In the preceding paragraphs, you could simply have your protagonist go to bed. From there, any reasonable reader will assume that a sudden shift in the location would be a dream. Fantastic elements or things that wouldn’t make sense in real life will also quickly let your reader know that they are reading a dream.

If your protagonist is a lucid dreamer or has repeating dreams, there is no reason why they cannot be aware that they are dreaming during the sequence (“It was always like this. I’d see their faces, covered in blood”).

How should the dream be formatted? Italics? Different tense? Or just the same as ordinary scenes?

Of course, there is no right or wrong way of doing it, but I personally am a big fan of using italics to denote a dream sequence. Look at the above questions. Because they’re formatted differently, straight away you’re able to see a shift in tone from the rest of the text.

Dreams can seem more “real” than reality at times. Consequently, I prefer to write dream sequences in the present tense to give the reader a more immersive experience, as if they are dreaming along with the protagonist. But however you do it, the important thing is that your reader should easily be able to tell that it’s a dream.

Clichés to avoid

Earlier, I mentioned Dallas . Don’t do a Dallas. Here are some hackneyed approaches you would do well to avoid:

“I awoke with a scream” – Most people don’t wake with a scream. If you are going to have someone scream over a dream, then your writing needs to be pretty damn terrifying.

“I awoke covered in a cold sweat” – This phrase is so overused that it no longer packs a punch. It’s the sort of reassuring cliché you might reach for in a first draft, but you can probably do better. Talk about clammy sheets, a horrible taste in the mouth – anything but cold sweat.

“I woke with a start” – It should be obvious how your protagonist wakes up based on how the dream ended. Find a more original way of depicting what comes next.

“And then it turned out it was all a dream” – At best, this will insult your reader’s intelligence; at worst, it’ll read as though you’re trying to compensate for writing yourself into a corner. Don’t do it.

Consider your genre

Finally, it’s worth bearing in mind that certain flavours of book naturally lend themselves to different types of dreams.

If you’re writing a Regency romance about a bunch of buttoned-down aristocrats, then having a passionate dream about Totally-Not-Mr-Darcy can help to explore your character’s passions.

A pagan setting, such as with the Vikings or ancient Rome, is crying out for omens and portents. Read up on the religions of the settings to make full use of symbolism. It is also worth considering how deeply religious much of the past was. A dream peppered with religious iconography will likely have a much greater impact on a historical protagonist than it would a modern-day dreamer.

Jack Shannon is a regular guest contributor to The History Quill. He is the author of Brigandine – a dark, bloody fantasy where unfortunately for Ulf (and everyone else), magic is returning to the land of Ashenfell. It has quite a few sword fights and a healthy dose of Lovecraft. Why not give him a follow on Twitter? @Jack_Shannon .

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Screen Rant

“what you’re seeing here is a masterpiece”: legendary 1960s dream sequence gets perfect accuracy score.

A dream sequence from a legendary 1960s art film by master Italian director Federico Fellini gets a perfect accuracy score from an expert.

Fellini's film 8 ½ expertly captures the feeling and intensity of nightmares, earning a perfect score from a dream expert.
The dream sequence in 8 ½ creates a sense of claustrophobia, uncertainty, and fear, accurately depicting how nightmares affect us.
Filmmakers like David Lynch and Martin Scorsese have been inspired by Fellini's ability to capture the dream-like quality of cinema.

A dream sequence from a legendary 1960s art film gets a perfect accuracy score from an expert. Famed Italian director Federico Fellini was suffering from a severe case of creative block after a run of acclaimed films, including the classics Nights of Cabiria , La Strada and La Dolce Vita . In a stroke of genius, Fellini decided to make a movie all about the block he was experiencing, and the result was one of his greatest masterpieces, a film that went on to be nominated for five Oscars, winning two.

A phantasmagoric comedy-drama starring Marcello Mastroianni as a fictionalized Fellini, 8 ½ features one of cinema’s most renowned dream sequences, and according to at least one expert, the famous scene deserves all the acclaim it's received over the years. Dream expert and neurosurgeon Rahul Jandial recently broke down Fellini’s sequence, praising the director for accurately depicting how nightmares work, and the feelings they evoke in the dreamer, giving the movie a perfect 10-out-of-10. Check out his remarks below (via Penguin Books UK ):

Immediately they start off with a feeling of claustrophobia. The subtle use of sound and then the passenger in the car in front looks back with a gaze that's hard to discern what the intentions are. ... This is a nightmare. Look at this man's gaze. The fact that it's not clear is something that adds to the fright in nightmares. Sometimes we lose the capacity to read other people's minds. We can feel the intentions are evil, even, but our ability to discern that is lost. That's called theory of mind. That is dampened in nightmares. It's hard to tell what people intend to do to us. Nightmares, when they're described, there are moments when you feel like you're getting away, that maybe the worst is behind you. But the nightmare has not finished with him. ... He falls to his demise and then is woken up and that's the last part of a nightmare, is that it must wake you up . ... Nightmares are defined by the fact they wake you up and singe that experience into your waking memory. On a score of 0 to 10, if 10 is an accurate depiction of dreaming, what you're seeing here is a masterpiece. I give it a 10.

Fellini’s 8 ½ Inspired Lynch And Scorsese

Given the dream-like feel of 8 ½, its no surprise that the film stands as one of David Lynch ’s all-time favorites, as the Blue Velvet director once explained in an interview with Far Out Magazine . Lynch loves the movie “ for the way Federico Fellini manages to accomplish with film what mostly abstract painters do – without ever explaining anything, just by a sort of sheer magic .” Lynch would, of course, create his own inscrutable dream-films, including the acclaimed Eraserhead , Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive , all movies that show a clear Fellini influence.

8 ½ is available to watch on Max.

Killers of the Flower Moon auteur Martin Scorsese is another director who has spoken of his love for Fellini. In a MasterClass discussion, Scorsese talked about 8 ½ and its mysterious dream-world, saying, “ He was able to play with the image in such a plastic way, kept stretching the images and stretching the cutting of the film so that it exists in some subconscious level .” Filmmakers have long been inspired by Fellini and his ability to capture the feel of dreams, and it seems the 8 ½ director indeed had a firm grasp of how the subconscious works, at least according to one expert.

Source: Penguin Books UK

Spatial Variations of the Activity of 137 Cs and the Contents of Heavy Metals and Petroleum Products in the Polluted Soils of the City of Elektrostal

DEGRADATION, REHABILITATION, AND CONSERVATION OF SOILS
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Published: 15 June 2022
Volume 55 , pages 840–848, ( 2022 )

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D. N. Lipatov 1 ,
V. A. Varachenkov 1 ,
D. V. Manakhov 1 ,
M. M. Karpukhin 1 &
S. V. Mamikhin 1

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The levels of specific activity of 137 Cs and the contents of mobile forms (1 M ammonium acetate extraction) of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, Pb) and petroleum products were studied in the upper soil horizon of urban landscapes of the city of Elektrostal under conditions of local radioactive and chemical contamination were studied. In the soils within a short radius (0–100 m) around the heavy engineering plant, the specific activity of 137 Cs and the contents of mobile forms of Pb, Cu, and Zn were increased. The lognormal distribution law of 137 Cs was found in the upper (0–10 cm) soil layer; five years after the radiation accident, the specific activity of 137 Cs varied from 6 to 4238 Bq/kg. The coefficients of variation increased with an increase in the degree of soil contamination in the following sequence: Co < Ni < petroleum products < Cr < 137 Cs < Zn < Pb < Cu ranging from 50 to 435%. Statistically significant direct correlation was found between the specific activity of 137 Cs and the contents of mobile forms of Pb, Cu, and Zn in the upper horizon of urban soils, and this fact indicated the spatial conjugacy of local spots of radioactive and polymetallic contamination in the studied area. It was shown that the specific activity of 137 Cs, as well as the content of heavy metals and petroleum products in the upper layer (0–10 cm) of the soils disturbed in the course of decontamination, earthwork and reclamation is reduced.

Geographical Features of Pollution of the Territory of Yakutia With Cesium-137

P. I. Sobakin, A. P. Chevychelov & Ya. R. Gerasimov

Activity Concentration of Natural Radionuclides and Total Heavy Metals Content in Soils of Urban Agglomeration

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INTRODUCTION

Contaminants migrate and accumulate in urban ecosystems under the impact of both natural and technogenic factors. The processes of technogenic migration of 137 Cs are most pronounced in radioactively contaminated territories. It was found in urboecological studies that the intensity of sedimentation of aerosol particles containing radionuclides and heavy metals is determined by the types of the surfaces of roofs, walls, roads, lawns, and parks and by their position within the urban wind field [ 12 , 26 ]. Traffic in the cities results in significant transport of dust and associated contaminants and radionuclides [ 15 , 24 ]. During decontamination measures in the areas of Chernobyl radioactive trace, not only the decrease in the level of contamination but also the possibility of secondary radioactive contamination because of the transportation of contaminated soil particles by wind or water, or anthropogenic transfer of transferring of ground were observed [ 5 , 6 ]. Rainstorm runoff and hydrological transport of dissolved and colloidal forms of 137 Cs can result in the accumulation of this radionuclide in meso- and microdepressions, where sedimentation takes place [ 10 , 16 ]. Different spatial distribution patterns of 137 Cs in soils of particular urban landscapes were found in the city of Ozersk near the nuclear fuel cycle works [ 17 ]. Natural character of 137 Cs migration in soils of Moscow forest-parks and a decrease in its specific activity in industrial areas have been revealed [ 10 ]. Determination of the mean level and parameters of spatial variations of 137 Cs in soils is one of primary tasks of radioecological monitoring of cities, including both unpolluted (background) and contaminated territories.

Emissions and discharges from numerous sources of contamination can cause the accumulation of a wide range of toxicants in urban soils: heavy metals (HMs), oil products (OPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and other chemical substances. Soil contamination by several groups of toxicants is often observed in urban landscapes [ 20 , 23 ] because of the common contamination source or close pathways of the migration of different contaminants. A comprehensive analysis of contamination of urban soils by radionuclides and heavy metals has been performed in some studies [ 21 , 25 ]. The determination of possible spatial interrelationships between radioactive and chemical contaminations in urban soils is an important problem in urban ecology.

A radiation accident took place in the Elektrostal heavy engineering works (EHEW) in April 2013: a capacious source of 137 Cs entered the smelt furnace, and emission of radioactive aerosols from the aerating duct into the urban environment took place. The activity of molten source was estimated at about 1000–7000 Ci [ 14 ]. The area of contamination in the territory of the plant reached 7500 m 2 . However, radioactive aerosols affected a much larger area around the EHEW, including Krasnaya and Pervomaiskaya streets, and reached Lenin Prospect.

Geochemical evaluation of contamination of the upper soil horizon in the city of Elektrostal was carried out in 1989–1991. This survey indicated the anomalies of concentrations of wolfram, nickel, molybdenum, chromium, and other heavy metals related to accumulation of alloying constituent and impurities of non-ferrous metals in the emissions of steelmaking works [ 19 ].

The aim of our work was to determine the levels of specific activity of 137 Cs, concentrations of mobile forms of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, and Pb) and oil products in the upper soil horizons in different urban landscapes of the city of Elektrostal under the conditions of local radioactive and chemical contamination.

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Lipatov, D.N., Varachenkov, V.A., Manakhov, D.V. et al. Spatial Variations of the Activity of 137 Cs and the Contents of Heavy Metals and Petroleum Products in the Polluted Soils of the City of Elektrostal. Eurasian Soil Sc. 55 , 840–848 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229322060072

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Received : 21 October 2021

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Accepted : 30 December 2021

Published : 15 June 2022

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229322060072

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