Dreams in books

Last week I talked a bit about dreams because well, they're something everyone experiences. Dreams are also something that play a lot of part in novels. Why?

Dreams are an insight into a character's mind, but just like anything, there's a line. It doesn't matter how great the dream is written, there's a time and place for them. They need to move the plot or else they are just there to drag the story down. But, when used effectively, the reader gets to know the character on a whole new level.

When it comes to Paranormal, often times, the dream becomes part of the plot. Psychic characters may be able to slip into the dreams of others or even control that of the sleeper. They may be prophetic dreams or something else entirely. This can be because dreams (along with meditation and various shaman practices) enhance and relax the conscious, directing brain activity from the left hemisphere to stimulate the limbic system to be more active than the cortex, allowing for a breeding ground of psychic abilities. A few of these abilities could be, for instance, clairvoyance (i.e. a psychic chasing down a serial killer), precognition (i.e. Harry Potter dreaming of Voldemort) or even out-of-body experiences (i.e. where the dreamer may not know it, but they are in an altered state of mind and wandering outside in the real world unknown to anyone else).

There are a lot of things that writers can do. So many possibilities. Can you thin of more instances where dreams are used in plots? What are your favourites?

There are a lot of options.

Pushing the envelope on satisfying endings-- Lovely Bones *Spoilers for those who haven't watched*

I don't always need a happily ever after.

I DO prefer them, but I don't NEED them. However, I do need a satisfying ending. It doesn't matter whether it is in a book or movie (disclaimer: the book might have been better, more satisfying, but this is from the movie's point of view), when the story is something so emotional as having to do with finding a murder suspect, I WANT/NEED justice to be fully served.

This comes after having watched Lovely Bones yesterday. For a movie that is driven by a desperate father (played by Mark Walhberg) trying to figure out his daughter's murder, I needed more. More than the bad guy being killed by karma. I wanted that final confrontation. There was none. The emotion role of the parents seemed to drift off the map the moment they're reunited.

Yes, it did show the cops showing up at baddie's house, but he was already gone. He was already dumping the body. And that's another point I didn't like. I wanted the body to be found. For the family to finally be at peace. Yes, they know she's dead and there's nothing that can be done about that, but there's more to it... I wanted closure. Instead the dead heroine got the one thing she always wanted -- a kiss from her crush-- while her body was disposed of.

There was a play up of one girl, a young teen who sees ghosts. She makes friends with the crush. I wanted there to be more with her. She was brought in, made out to be someone important and in the end, all she was there for was to help the young girl kiss the boy she wanted. Talk about introducing a character who isn't needed. Extra padding. That random tangent threw me. I wanted her (because she SAW the baddie pushing the safe where the body was) to run out and stop him. I wanted her to do SOMETHING for that body to be found.

But no.

And in the end, I was left feeling cheated and sickened. The concept was there for it to be a good heart wrenching, emotional story. I WANTED it to be. But the plot holes ate up the story faster than the hole ate up the safe.