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Dream a Little Dream

Dreams have been used in many fantasy stories for a variety of purposes. It's not surprising since dreams can be a fantasy world all their own, even in real life. No matter how realistic the setting of the story, the rules all change when it comes to dreams. Physics need not apply, nor do any other rules of the world, unless you decide they do. Of course, before you run off to the world of dreams, you will have to decide what dreams actually are and how they work in your setting.

The first option is that dreams are just things that happen when people are asleep. They can be exciting, scary, romantic, or whatever else, but they have no impact on the real world. This option is usually used in fantasy stories to have narrative flashbacks without just having characters sit around and talk about events that happened. Instead, one character dreams about the events of the past that he or she experienced, thus giving the reader a reasonable firsthand account of what happened. Of course when you do this, always remember that such information will be colored by the dreamer's perceptions. If the dreaming character believes he or she is to blame for some disaster in the past, his dream will probably reflect that.

Another way to make use of dreams is to make them a means of transmitting information. Wizards in fantasy and psychic masters of science fiction both have used dreams as a means of communicating with people who are otherwise cut off from normal conversation. This can be a particularly interesting option if the dreamer must perform some metaphysical journey to find the person he or she wishes to communicate with.

Dreams can also be pre and retrocognitive. In both fantasy and science fiction, strong dreams often provide hints of things that have happened in the past and may be important not, and also give glimpses into the future and serve as warnings for things to come that should be avoided. In a fantasy world where the gods are forbidden to directly enter the mortal world, dreams might be their only way to contact the heroes of the story to provide some assistance. Of course, if the gods of goodness and light can use dreams as their communications, then gods of evil and darkness should be able to do the same. Nightmares can become very significant in such a world. Science fiction is also rife with ancient alien devices that transmit dream messages, usually very cryptic, but very relevant to the story.

Leaving the real world, dreams can also represent a world of their own. Robert Jordan's Tel'aran'rhiod is a dream world that exists along side our own, but operates by different rules and can only be accessed by dreaming people. Lovecraft's Dreamlands are a world separate from the waking world, but connected by dreams and dreamers. The Dreamlands has it's own ecology and population in addition to dreamers from the waking world. Only certain dreamers are able to access the Dreamlands, not just everyone who sleeps can do so. Clive Barker has introduced Quiddity, the Dream Sea in The Great and Secret Show and returned to it in Everville. This is a place the people visit in certain special dreams, but it also seems to be a reality unto itself.

Since fantasy and dream are often considered synonyms, it is not surprising that dreams can play such a big role in fantasy stories. Dreams can give the author and the reader a break for the normal flow of a story, or can offer a new setting for the adventures of the stories heroes. Dreams can serve a great variety of purposes, so why not give them a try in your stories?