Reader: Dream Sequences anyone?

As a reviewer I understand them. I know why a writer uses them.

As an editor I know how to fit them in and why the writer wants them. I can work with them.

As a reader, well, I really don’t like them.

I can count on one hand the number of times they worked or made sense – and that’s if I can remember them at all. Unless there’s something I need to know and the dream is the only way – Nightmare on Elm – then they make sense. But to tell me about the dream and how it terrifies the MC – show me the reaction. Let me feel the MC. Now that will give me more. Build the tension for me.

If you’re giving information – say the clue or puzzle is solved and this explains how/why. Why not tell me this via the character…directly.

I don’t want a tossed in sequence just because the author wants it. I want the story and if needed, the clues in the real world to solve without going inside the character’s head.

This is different than a character who hears voices. Or an alien story. Or telepathy.

Dreams are not memories even if memories can come in dreams. So don’t confuse that issue.

Maybe the best way to handle this is for the writer to ask themselves how they like dream sequences. Answering bluntly and not wishfully.