Comments on: Dreams and Fiction http://pugetsoundblogs.com/wordspider/2012/07/10/dreams-and-fiction/ A blog about reading and writing Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:01:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Alison Jean Ash http://pugetsoundblogs.com/wordspider/2012/07/10/dreams-and-fiction/#comment-189 Alison Jean Ash Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:59:39 +0000 http://pugetsoundblogs.com/wordspider/?p=202#comment-189 I wrote one story that was based on a character and incidents from a long and remarkably clear dream. But as I worked on the story, I saw the need for new material–minor characters and incidents to flesh out the story. And while the protagonist (very much NOT me) remained the same in essence, I had to go deeper into her motivations as well as her actions to make the story work. That was fine. I felt that I had been given a vision that was the heart of a story and it was up to me to build a body around that heart.

]]> By: Becky http://pugetsoundblogs.com/wordspider/2012/07/10/dreams-and-fiction/#comment-188 Becky Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:25:57 +0000 http://pugetsoundblogs.com/wordspider/?p=202#comment-188 I’m glad some real attention has been paid to this question. I love writing stories that have been inspired by dreams. I often find that if I try to include the dream scene in the story it inspired, I get negative feedback from at least half the writers in my writing workshop. For me, it’s one case where I have to “kill my baby,” – by that, I mean cut the dream scene out. After I take out the dream, I ask myself what’s missing from the story now that the dream is gone, and I find another way to include it. Sometimes I feel it actually makes my story stronger. Also, when I present the revision in workshop, the half that originally took issue with my dream is much happier.

On the other hand, if your character is the dreaming type, it would make sense to include the dream (possibly after a little tweaking).

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