A short dream workshop
By Sophie Masson | July 20, 2011 |
From time immemorial, human beings have dreamed–every night we go into what one of my sons’ friends once referred to as ‘those brilliant eight hours of free entertainment.’ And from time immemorial, writers have used images or scenes from dreams, or entire dreams, to enrich and expand their creative work in waking life. I’m certainly no exception. My night-imagination has always enriched my day-imagination. Several of my short stories have started directly as dreams, for example, ‘Restless’, a chilling ghost story I wrote recently for a forthcoming YA Penguin anthology, ‘Thirteen Ghosts’, began as a really creepy and unforgettable nightmare. Another disturbing story, ‘The Spanish Wife’, a vampire story set in the 1930’s, which was published in a magazine, started as a dream in which someone said, very clearly, ‘No-one took any notice of him till he brought home a Spanish wife,’ and that turned into the very first sentence of the short story. Images and scenes from dreams have also gone into my novels, and in one case, a very vivid and intriguing dream inspired an entire six-book children’s fantasy series of mine, the Thomas Trew series. It’s not always fantasy or supernatural stories that have sprung out of dream-compost for me, though; everything from family stories to thrillers to historical novels has benefited from it.
Over the years, I’ve learned quite a few techniques on how to best use vivid, scary, tantalising or intriguing dream sequences in my writing, and how to investigate them for best effects. Here’s a short workshop based on some of the techniques I’ve developed over the years:
*Think of a dream you’ve had. Any dream. It doesn’t have to be anything exciting or unusual. Go back over the dream-scenes, as if you were a police witness being asked to remember an event. Who was in it? What did they look like? What were they wearing? Were they people you knew or strangers? Were there any animals in it? What sort? What was the setting like? Indoors, outdoors? What could you see? Smell? Touch? Hear? Taste even? What were you in it—a participant, a helpless observer, a godlike figure?
*If you did something supernatural, like flying, what did it feel like, physically? (I’ve often had flying dreams and in them I feel a strong pull in the chest, arms stretching. Once I even woke up with what felt like an actual slight ache in the arm muscles—very spooky indeed!)
*Were there any machines in your dream? If so, what sort?
*Did anyone speak, and if so what did they say? Many dreams in my experience are like silent movies, with thought-subtitles and maybe some music, but a few have dialogue, even if it’s often minimalistic and quite enigmatic.
* Knowledge: Do you know why you were in that particular place, at that time? If you had some supernatural ability, did you know why? If there are interesting objects or gadgets in the setting of your dream, do you know what they can do, and why, and who made or used them? Backstory is very often missing in dreams, but is very important in a story, even if you only spend a few lines on it.
*Now, once you’ve written down as many descriptive details as you can about what was there in thedream, think about what wasn’t there, and write that down. While you were dreaming, did you know for instance why you or other people were doing things(even if it was a kind of weird dream-logic?) Did you understand the sequence of events? Was there a sense the dream was moving towards some conclusion, or just randomly jumping about? Motive, continuity and plot—all very important in actual stories—are often missing from dreams.
*Think of your own self in the dream, however you appeared in it: did you recognise yourself? Did you feel it was fully you or something that was only partly you, or a stranger? Did characters behave randomly? Character development is usually absent in dreams too though it very much needs to be present in a story.
*What about the setting? Were there things missing: for instance, if you were in a house, were there doors? Windows? Furniture? If you were outside, was anything odd: for instance trees growing upside down, or a wall of water appearing out of nowhere?
*Now put those two things together—the things that were there, the ones that weren’t—and you have the beginnings of a real story framework, where the wild imagination of the night and the more disciplined one of the day cross-fertilise and turn into something amazing and wonderful.
Born in Indonesia of French parents, and brought up in France and Australia, Sophie Masson is the award-winning author of over 70 books for children, young adults and adults. Her latest books include Sydney under Attack (children’s historical novel, Scholastic Australia, 2022) A Hundred Words for Butterfly (adult novella, ES-Press, 2022) and Cock-a-doodle-doo (children’s picture book, (illustrated by Kathy Creamer, little Pink Dog Books, 2022). In 2019, Sophie received an AM (Member, General Division) award in the Order of Australia honours list.
I don’t write many short stories, but I wrote what I think is my best one upon waking up from a dream. I know this sounds corny, but it really felt like a gift, like something I didn’t have to think up but was entirely mine.
Dreams are such a valuable resource for writing! I usually get the germ of ideas from them, but it never occurred to me to mine them for sensory detail (usually because they normally make little logical sense and I’m trying to piece together the “why” of it.) These are great exercises.
Well, unfortunately, I NEVER dream. Ever.
Or I should say that if I do, I never remember them.
There is no entertainment going on in my head for those eight hours… just nothingness.
But, if it ever should happen, it will be epic and I’ll surely have to write a piece about it.
The Girl Without Dreams… hmmm :)
These are great exercises, Sophie, particularly about noting what is absent. I’ve done most of the others intuitively.
Also, you dream in subtitles??? I’ve never had that happen nor heard of it. Neat.
I’m not much of a short story writer, but the few I’ve written have been directly from dreams. I also feel like it’s a gift. I often have detailed, rich, layered dreams. My daughters do, too. Sometimes the first thing we talk about at breakfast is our dreams. Great exercises, here. Thanks for sharing.
I find myself thankful that I sleep mentally undisturbed. Besides, I don’t write Romance, and churning out story after story about Gloria from Modern Family (Sophia Vergara) wearing 5 1/2 inch heels in my bed and refusing to wear underwear would get old after a bit.
your “subtitles” thing made me remember how often in dreams I try to read something…it’s important in a book or on a piece of paper. I read it and it makes no sense, and when i look back it’s not there anymore…different words are written there instead, or I can’t make out the words.
I’ve never had a flying dream, but I’ve had swimming underwater for long periods of time without breathing dreams (very fun because inevitably it’s through a house or a city but underwater) or falling dreams (no fun at all).
It seems like the common theme in my dreams is that I’ve screwed something up…I’m in a play but forgot to memorize any of my lines and the curtain is going up…I’m enrolled in a class but forgot to show up for any of the classes and now there’s a final…I’m running late for something important but I can’t seem to leave the house. Gee..I wonder what those mean…hahaha!!!
I never write down my dreams upon awakening, but you’ve inspired me to start. So when you see some short story about someone who forgot to ever go to class…you’ll know who wrote it. haha!!
I have very strange dreams, but I rarely remember them. I think they usually show up when I least expect it and I have to be ready with pen and paper as soon as I wake up. Sometime’s I’ll tell myself that I’m going to use whatever dream I have that night in some kind of story or poem. Most of the time I wake up “dream-less,” but other times I’ll have a very interesting story on my hands :)
Really interesting exercises, Sophie. I’m a big dreamer, and one of my favorite things is when the muses unroll what I call a “movie dream.” Nothing to do with me or my settings or anything else, just a story about some characters doing something.
Great ideas on using dreams to improve our writing! I get many of my novel premises from dreams. Nice to see I’m not the only one who uses the subconscious for inspiration!
Good suggestions I’ve seen are to
keep a dream diary which trains you to remember your dreams,
check out dream images with either a book of dream symbols or an archetype dictionary,
and ask yourself what happens next after a powerful dream scene.
I’ve talked to lots of people about dreams, and writers seem to be the only ones who tend to dream as someone else. I almost never dream about people and things in my boring life, myself.
Thanks so much, Sophie!
This is one to file for future reference. Dreams can provide so much for writers!
[…] writing ideas come from—and it’s not a little old lady from Schenectady. Author Sophie Masson uses her dreams to enrich her work, and shows us how to do it, […]