I've began working on another short story after my last two got published and I wanted to do something different than the others. I want to make this one more cryptic, unsettling and dark but there's this cliche idea that's been wanting to spill into my story. There are movies/books where someone thinks their life is real and certain events that follow are real but in reality they just dreamed the whole thing or envisioned the whole thing somehow. You've heard of that sort of thing, haven't you? In my story, an orphan is looking for her parents after a ghost gives her a diary from her mother at a younger age. She searches for her mother through the "ghetto" and weird things start happening (people vanish, her motel room changes styles, the market man is replaced with a different man, people who she speaks to supposedly never existed etc). Anyway, the idea I keep having is; either she is really a newborn child having a nightmare about her future or she's an addict who overdosed on a mixture of drugs and hillucinated the whole thing. I was listening to these weird songs last week and that's what made me want to do this sort of thing but I've heard of countless movies that stem from that idea. What are your thoughts?
It could work if the revealed ending doesn't leave the reader feeling cheated or 'intentionally' misdirected. Leaving clues within the story/narrative to the 'real' situation could help with this.
I agree but I'm not sure "clues" are enough. I think it has to be pretty damn clear to avoid the cliché. I just read a short story where a couple of junkies hallucinated something, thinking it was real. It didn't feel cliché because it was clear from the beginning: we saw them getting high and then the world change around them. What you want to avoid, unless writing parody, is the "It was all a dream!" surprise ending.
Well, what if it isn't exactly a dream? What if it's the two options above? What I can do to make it clear is a pattern with dialogue such as emphasized phrases. I can also include some subtle references to The Wizard of Oz or have the ghost reappear at certain times throughout the story?
They're both just variations on "It was all a dream!" so as I said - either make it clear what's happening, or don't do it. As I said, I don't think subtle works. And there are plenty of stories with ghosts that aren't dreams, so I don't know what that would achieve. Bear in mind I'm one person giving my opinion... but this is a widely-derided cliché for a reason.
Yes, that is very true. This idea was bugging at me so I just had to ask my fellow writers. There are other ideas I have for this story that aren't cliches so I might write more notes. Thank you for clarifying what I was somewhat aware of. I just needed some thoughts from others on this topic.
Have the person realize they're in a dream/high/hallucinating before they wake up/snap out of it and the story ends. Have their dream characters turn on them-- but surprise, some of them are real and your protagonist is suddenly in actual danger!
Just go for it. My only problem with clichés is when they're clichely told. If you can make it fresh then the twist might be predicted but still fun.
My main concern with the newborn baby story idea is that, how could a baby dream about a hotel room and merchants and strangers if they've never encountered these things? A baby wouldn't even have the concept of these things in their little fresh mind. Also most sleep studies have shown that children below the age of 5 don't dream, it requires a certain level of neurological development to have the imagination for dreaming. Personally, I wouldn't really like to realize the protagonist was hallucinating the entire thing since it's kind of anti-climatic to think that all this weird shit was happening and protag was just lying around somewhere. I think it'd be funner if the protag was really living through the events but had a some sort of neurological illness that makes it harder for her to remember events correctly and perceive what she sees. There are a vast arrays of very real neurological problems that you could have in your brain to cause this. Some of which could be caused by these drug problems. However, it's your writing and your story, go with your gut. I hope my input is helpful but not discouraging, take everything with a grain of salt !! If you think you can pull off this story then do what you think will compliment your writing style. Good luck!
It all really depends on how you write it. I liked the others and many people find that movie to be a giant cliche but they exposed the twist at the end of the story so it was like a mind blown when I was 13.
I'm with @Tenderiser. I think the it-was-all-a-dream scenario is one you probably want to avoid. And if you have other ideas anyway, go with something that is more unique and hasn't been done to death.
