CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

Enrich your fiction with dreams, nightmares, and half-awake visions.

- BY ELIZABETH SIMS

You wake up screaming.

Then you remember.

You wake up all happy.

Then you remember.

Sometimes you try to go back to sleep, hoping to return to the gentle paradise you glimpsed a moment ago. Or you grimly get out of bed and brew coffee, determined not to return to the hellscape you evaded by waking up.

All that and more in the night! Storytellers from forever ago have capitalized on dreams and visions to propel their tales. Why? Because everyone can relate to the mysteries of sleep and altered consciousness. Not only dreams and nightmares, but daydreams as well. How about hallucinations and drug trips? Yep, sure, why not?

Yet many newer writers struggle to use these elements without their material seeming contrived or clichéd.

Common missteps include:

• Data spewing, especially for backstory. You know what I mean. You've got a tranche of information you want the reader to know, but you're unsure how to transmit it. A dream sequence could be an easy out! Trouble is, savvy readers will know you're being slapdash.

• Insufficient/unclear purpose. The need for a transition, for instance, isn’t enough to stop your action and take your character into an altered state. Just wanting to put in a nifty dream sequence you thought of isn’t enough either.

• The dreaded “It was all a dream!” This is a shameful route taken only by the incredibly slothful.

Let’s take a nice, deep look at how we might employ the creatures of the night to level up our plots, inject excitement and wonder, and deepen our characters' insights, motivations, sorrows, and joys. We'll take wisdom from masterful examples, then we'll discuss further techniques and options. As usual, spoilers lie ahead. Watch for symbolism! It’s everywhere.

8 Powerful Approaches to Dream Sequences in Fiction

Hint at plot turns to come (basic foreshadowing).