Use of dreams to advance narrative

I like dreams in books if they are done well, (not like in the movies where they are almost always done in a cliched way) but there are times when your subconscious needs to get through to you and that can happen, in dreams.

I partly agree with @Tenderiser about the show not tell but you can also do that with dreams, especially if you use them to ask more questions than give answers. You could mix the two, maybe he only remembers part of the dream and then something happens (like a letter arriving or a odd reminder) which brings the rest of the dream to his attention and sends him on his quest.

I've only used dreams once in my writing and it was to convince a character that she was ready to move on after a loss.

 

Well, should work then--sounds well thought out. Plus, what did they know about dreams in those days anyways? . Sounds fun.

 

I've been thinking more about this because in my second book, I didn't want to use a dream to get something through to character, so instead, I used their reflection in a mirror, almost like a taunt. Not a magical or fantasy things, more of a case of seeing your reflection and not liking what you see. Perhaps not quite the same thing as you are trying to get but, it's just a thought.

 

@DueNorth

I was supposed to get 1 week clean off my WF addiction but here's proof that this drug is IRRESISTABLE... (?) -- anyway, cheers to another therapist, I'm doing my MA in clinical psych and on my way. Interesting, the background in psychodynamic stuff. Although it's fallen out of favor somewhat, I've had professors who still use psychodynamic methods here and there but nobody really considers themselves psychodynamic-only anymore. That's the impression I get. In my program we've only touched on dreams as projective ways to see how people draw meaning about things. Also I would imagine that within the scope of cultural competency if you have a client form a more traditional background where mysticism is common you want to take their interpretations of their dreams very seriously as not to fall into the expert trap. That said, the neuroscience stuff about random brain activity during sleep akin to defragmentation settings on a PC computer may be technically accurate. However, for some people it doesn't paint the whole picture (for them subjectively). One friend comes to mind. She was molested as a child so she definitely fits the post traumatic stress bill, but how her dreams are experienced is really interesting. For her entire life as long as she can remember, each night is an exhausting, long-winded set of dream sequences. Elaborate stories, intense emotions. If in her personal life there is a conflict, the person in her life shows up in her dream. In that sense, it doesn't seem that the brain activity is completely random. If they were entirely random this pattern wouldn't arise for her. However, to fit into this theory my hunch would be something like this. During the day she is overwhelmed with emotions which are experienced throughout the nervous system, stored within the body and brain as various chemical information. This information has been processing so frequently and intensely throughout the day that there is more of it than other material. When the brain begins its defragmentation process during REM sleep, it draws from that information because there is more of it to draw from than, say, the smell of coffee, the red light at the traffic stop, the sensation of heat from the sun while she goes for a summer walk. If it were completely random, those kinds of elements would be integrated and remembered just as often as the conflicted relationship material. Does that make sense? It still falls within what the brain scientists say, but throws a tiny wrench into the idea of it being random. And still, the subjective set of meanings the individual ascribes to whatever pattern "exists" or that they project, is extremely important to them. Wow, blocktext.

*back into the shadows*

 

yeah people have been doing what we call therapy forever. buddhists were using mindfulness, ACT, CBT, REBT -- i'm throwing out psychotherapy jargon on purpose. native americans and every other nature surrounded culture used ecotherapy. people have been using art therapy, dance therapy. shamans and priests were therapists. parents are therapists. friends, lovers. the professionalization and INTENSE training required is the big difference. and what we know now is that the majority of the outcome in psychotherapy depends solely on the quality of the relationship between client(s)/therapist. doesn't really matter if you talk about dreams, thought-feeling-behavior patterns, solution focus, the 12 steps or whatever if that relationship isn't there. an intervention that comes before trust is built typically won't change someone. that said, as long as you have a trusting relationship between two people, and if the helper invokes insight in the sufferer, that's therapy. doesn't matter about the historical period. here's me feeding my addiction. back into the shadows for real.

*gets the shakes*

 

Hubardo, I was not meaning to suggest that there is no relevant (or interesting, or even cogent) psychological phenomenon that comes up in dreams, even with the relative randomness of the content--that often is connected to a current or past stressful event. I was making a point about using dreams to advance a story as though there was enough that could be counted on as reliable in a dream to advance a story, either as reliable memory, prediction of future events, or an accurate interpretation of symbolism within the dream to advance a story. Now, as a therapist, if a client came in and was troubled by or excited about a dream and wanted to tell me, would I listen? Sure, and of course I would ask them what sense they made of the dream or what it meant to them. But here we are talking about story-telling, and I am simply weighing in that, in my opinion, using dream content to advance a story plot is not in line with current scientific thinking about how and why we dream and what dreams might mean, if anything. Good luck in your pursuit of a psych degree--I am now on the other side of that life. (DN)