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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
Re-posted on: September 9, 2007
_____________________
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 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
he 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.
_____________________
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).
_____________________
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 Greg Gunther.
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