This week's practice exercise~ "What's in a Dream?

Exercise: What's in a Dream?
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Prepared by: Ruth Douillette
Posted on: September 17, 2006
Re-posted on: September 9, 2007
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Exercise: In 400 words or less write a dream a character might have
after experiencing an emotional or traumatic event during the day.
Events may be disastrous (diagnosis of a fatal disease, a serious car
accident) or pleasant (winning the lottery, getting a new puppy).

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Writers sometimes include dreams to reveal a character's subconscious
thoughts or reveal inner conflicts and fears. Since dreams are
figurative and symbolic representations of unconscious mental activity,
the author must create a dream that can be interpreted by readers.
Writing a dream that sounds authentic can be difficult because of the
surreal nature of dreams. A character suddenly morphs into someone else.
People we haven't thought about for decades suddenly appear. The dream
needs to sound like a dream, yet still be easily interpreted.

Write paragraph or two about the present situation to ground the reader
and provide a reason for the dream. Here is a very simple example to
give you an idea:

"Susan sat at the kitchen table reviewing information from her lawyer.
She wasn't happy with the visitation rights and child support payments.
After all Tom had put her through these past years, she wanted to make
him suffer now as she had.

"She jumped, pulled from her angry reverie when the phone rang. Tom had
been in a serious accident. The hospital told her to come right away. He
was in critical condition.

"That night she dreamt she and Tom were having breakfast in the cafe
where they honeymooned twenty years before. Susan wore her wedding gown,
and Tom his tux. Susan watched Tom sip his tea. With each sip he shrank
smaller until he became a baby. She scooped him into her arms and
crooned, 'Mama loves you.' Buthe fell out of her arms and crawled away.
She sobbed, but made no move to follow."

The dream-like quality is there and a reasonable interpretation can be
made as to Susan's conflicts.
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Exercise: In 400 words or less write a dream a character might have
after experiencing an emotional or traumatic event during the day.
Events may be disastrous (diagnosis of a fatal disease, a serious car
accident) or pleasant (winning the lottery, getting a new puppy).
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When critiquing, discuss what is revealed about the character by the
dream. Does the dream do its job of showing the character's unconscious
feelings, conflicts or desires?

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These exercises were written by IWW members and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its members. You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that you found them at the Internet Writers Workshop (http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/).

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Ruth Douillette, Co-Administrator Practice List
Practice-w-request@lists.psu.edu