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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: What's in a Dream?
These exercises were
written by IWW members
and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its
members.
You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that
you found
them at the Internet Writers Workshop (http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/).
Prepared by: Ruth Douillette
Posted on: September 17, 2006
Reposted on: September 9, 2007
Reposted on: July 27, 2008
Reposted on: October 23, 2011
Reposted on: August 13, 2017
Reposted on: January 26, 2020
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Exercise: In 400 words or less write a dream a character might have after
experiencing an emotional or traumatic event during the day. Events may be
disastrous (diagnosis of a fatal disease, a serious car accident) or pleasant
(winning the lottery, getting a new puppy).
_____________________
Writers sometimes include dreams to reveal a character's subconscious
thoughts or reveal inner conflicts and fears. Since dreams are figurative
and symbolic representations of unconscious mental activity, the author must
create a dream that can be interpreted by readers. Writing a dream that sounds
authentic can be difficult because of the surreal nature of dreams. A character
suddenly morphs into someone else. People we haven't thought about for decades
suddenly appear. The dream needs to sound like a
dream, yet still be easily
interpreted.
Write a paragraph or two about the present situation to ground
the reader and provide a reason for the dream.
Here is a very simple example to give you an idea:
"Susan sat at the kitchen table reviewing information from her lawyer.
She wasn't happy with the visitation rights and child support payments.
After all, Tom had put her through these past years, she wanted to make
him suffer now as she had.
"She jumped, pulled from her angry reverie when the phone rang. Tom had
been in a serious accident. The hospital told her to come right away. He was
in critical condition.
"That night she dreamt she and Tom were having breakfast in the cafe where they
honeymooned twenty years before. Susan wore her wedding gown, and Tom his tux.
Susan watched Tom sip his tea. With each sip he shrank smaller until he became a
baby. She scooped him into her arms and crooned, 'Mama loves you.' But fell out
of her arms and crawled away. She sobbed, but made no move to follow."
The dream-like quality is there and a reasonable interpretation can be made as to
Susan's conflicts.
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When critiquing, discuss what is revealed about the character by the dream. Does
the dream do its job of showing the character's unconscious feelings, conflicts or
desires?
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.
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