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I tend to use italics to let people know what's the dream and what's the reality. That (or a different font type) will change the story enough that people realize something is up, even if they're not sure it's a dream. Here's an example of one story I wrote (longish) that uses several dreams in it (the first one is about a quarter of the way in it, and yes, it is a tad confusing as it was a sequel, and also based on someone else's characters).
posted
Wby are you including dreams as part of your narrative? Most people don't remember most of their dreams, and may not remember anything they dreamed within a few minutes of waking up. While dreams probably affect the subconscious (at least as much as it affects them), most characters are only dimly aware of their subconscious anyway.
Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Some people do remember their dreams. And, indeed, some characters' dreams are very important to their story. If we hadn't seen Fitz's dreams in Robin Hobb's Assassin trilogy, a lot of things he did wouldn't have made sense.
I've not written many dreams before, but one of my favourite techniques involves making everything a bit bizarre (how many times have you had a conversation with a ten foot fish in your dreams? Oh, that's just me?), and changing to the present tense (one of the main characteristics of dreaming, after all, is the fact that you can't focus on what's happened or what will happen, just the now).
posted
Just to clear up things, I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with including dreams...as long as the character would remember them and they are important to the story somehow.
If we had a better idea of why you wanted to include the character's dreams, then we would be able to give you relevant advice.
posted
Well, I decided to ask for dreaming as what I am trying to write is like a dream. What happens is a wizards imprisons this person in their own mind -- like a dream -- and I am having difficulty writing it well.
Posts: 697 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I think it's safe to assume he has a valid reason for asking about dreams, don't worry. *smiles*
I would probably denote dreams with some sort of distinctive way this particular style of dream begins with. Maybe a reoccuring feeling of fuzzy whiteness or something, a flash of color, vertigo. Soemthing that happens, then afterwards when the character 'wakes' the reader can mentaly look back and go 'Oh, it was all a dream. That was kinda cool.'
Plus, if you have this style of starting dreams reoccuring, then the reader can immediately catch on to the fact that someone is have another crazy acid trip, I mean dream, and they won't be confused.
Again, I would stress this to be used in moderation, it depends on how present the dreams would be in the story.
posted
In that case, there is no reason to present the narrative in a "dreamlike" manner at all. Certainly the sorts of things that only happen in dreams will happen, and possibly the POV character will suffer a lot of the same kinds of mental/perceptual difficulties, but since she is aware that it is all a dream, you don't need to invoke the reader's conciousness of something of which the main character is not aware.
Since the character is aware that this is a dream, and an unusual dream, just have her be aware from time to time that it is a dream--for instace, if she is in "danger" she could try to decide whether it was real danger or not, then decide "better safe than sorry" and do something to get away. The character will also be aware (usually) of the fantastic and even symbolic aspects of the dream. So there is no need for any special techniques to make the reader aware of the "fantastic" elements of the narrative while hiding them from the POV character.
If you want to emphasize that she is trapped in a dream, go ahead and have her aware of mental/perceptual limitations like not being able to discern distance and suddenly being unable to move and so forth (my favorite is when you're on train tracks and the train is coming but you can't tell how close it is and you can't get to your feet). She can forget that it's a dream from time to time too.
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