quote:[OSC] hates dream sequences because real dreams have no author. In stories they are cheap way to add sub-text.
I agree completely. And yet I still use them, because, darn it, sometimes you need some way to say important sub-text that doesn't fit in the plot.
Is there a better answer? Should dreams in fiction be avoided altogether?
(SIDENOTE: In a WIP of mine, the protagonist has some limited ability to control time... I'm actually considering using dreams as a method of revealing to both him and the reader events from the distant past... Do you think this falls into the same category as "dream sequences?")
posted
I'd need the OSC quote in context. That said, I have only done dream sequences in one work, and then they weren't really dreams, they were visions, for people who consider visions to be very, very important.
Posts: 2830 | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
OSC might have said he didn't like dream sequences...but he also said that there are no rules, and that you are in charge of your own writtings. If you want dream sequences in your writing then go right ahead, but be carefull with them, and remember that you pay a price by using them. You just need to decide if the price is worth it.
Posts: 45 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Also, he was looking over the outline of my novel and mentioned to me that he didn't like dream sequences, but then he said, "But these advance the plot...Don't send it to Ed Baen."
[This message has been edited by Spaceman (edited July 01, 2005).]
posted
I wrote one story where the entire story was a dream sequence written into a Journal... It worked ok for me, although it was a bit of a task to edit.
Posts: 477 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
I have a WIP where the heroine spends a lot of time in dreams. However, it's more of a "dream world" since the story has a lot to do with the "Fair Folk," who were said to live in the land of dreams.
Then again, I'm also a big believer in real dreams being very symbolic-- at times. I have stupid, senseless dreams like anyone else, but I've also had some really inspiring ones that helped me in my life.
The Freudian explanation of dreams is something else entirely different, IMHO...
posted
He may hate dream sequences, but he's used them too in a book where dreams were an important part of the culture. It all depends on the story and what the dream is there for.
Posts: 10 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
OSC breaks all his own rules, all the time. He talks about it in Maps in a Mirror:
"I simply have a perverse streak in me that says that whenever somebody lays down a law, that law is meant to be broken--even when I was the lawgiver."
And in the next paragraph:
"This doesn't mean that I think the law I stated isn't true. In fact, I stand by it as firmly as ever. It's just that, like all laws, this one can be circumvented if you work hard enough."
posted
Yeah, Card uses dream sequences all the time. I think he uses at least one in every novel, not just the ones where the milieu allows prophetic or otherwise "meaningful" dreams.
He's just against using them in an unrealistic manner that doesn't fit into the story. In real life, when a dream is important, you know that while you're awake. Or at least, you remember the dream and think about it.
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