Bloody Angus - can I let him get away with...

[AnyaKimlin]

Thinking he's dreaming for a couple of chapters? He basically has a dream, isn't entirely sure he's a awake and goes back to sleep on a boat after a bizarre dreamlike event after which he's found on a beach and has days of hallucination? Wakes up in a very unreal situation and has a few days of being quite dazed.

Kind of the reverse of waking up and it was all a dream - he finds his dream was all real?

I know I can get away with anything but the whole dream thing tends to be frowned upon.

 

[TitaniumTi]

I'm not sure.

However, I'm part-way through Lois McMaster Bujold's Cryoburn, which starts with the protagonist having a prolonged hallucination, and trying to distinguish reality from hallucination.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I'm not sure.

However, I'm part-way through Lois McMaster Bujold's Cryoburn, which starts with the protagonist having a prolonged hallucination, and trying to distinguish reality from hallucination.

Does it work? I know it's an airy fairy question I'm asking. This is about five chapters in and will run for about three chapters. Basically he doesn't want to believe the magic is real and the only other explanation he has is he isn't awake.

 

[Juliana]

I don't think it's necessarily dreams that are frowned upon; starting with a dream might be a little cliche, but this is several chapters in and a mix of dream and hallucination, if I understand correctly?

3 chapters seems a lot, but no reason why it can't work.

 

[tinkerdan]

I think it would be fine; especially because it's not at the beginning.

Of course this is from the person whose second novel starts with a dream; but after I finished all the rest of the novel, the dream made sense so I changed the beginning to a dream.

It also worked well since I'd already used the waking up cliche as the beginning of book one.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to work novel three in with A dark and stormy night at the beginning.

Oh, wait::

All was not as it seemed when the freighter Dark and Stormy Night came out of jump. It seemed so safe and quiet.

 

[J Riff]

The Dharkan Storminight drooped out of hypersleep...

 

[TitaniumTi]

Does it work?

Yes. It probably helps that this is part way through a series with an eccentric protagonist, to whom unusual things often happen.

Also, Bujold sketches her scenes deftly... But so do you.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Does it work? I know it's an airy fairy question I'm asking. This is about five chapters in and will run for about three chapters. Basically he doesn't want to believe the magic is real and the only other explanation he has is he isn't awake.

Yes, but she links his hallucination with reality by using other povs and we know Miles and are prepared to play along. I think you could get away with it - I also think there might be more effective ways of doing what you want and it might be worth playing with other techniques - a drug trip might be fun, for instance, or a bad reaction to illness, and add more conflict - first.

 

[MemoryTale]

I saw something similar used in a book, I think it was called Spellsinger, where the MC spends a fair amount of the plot thinking he was in a weed induced hallucination. It did work there, although it has to be said a lot of it read like the author had been smoking something that wasn't 100% tobacco.

So yes, I've seen it work, but I don't mind the "It was all a dream... OR WAS IT?" thing as long as it's done well. I think it's a taste-based issue.

 

[Dan Jones]

I don't think it's that unusual to insert dream/hallucinatory sequences into the narrative. As well as the other examples cited, NK Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy uses apparently ambiguous dream sequences which the protagonist can't make sense of, and don't become clear until later in the narrative.

Have to echo MemroyTale's thoughts about being wary of "...and it was all a dream" style resolutions. But somehow I think Angus's tale is slightly more sophisticated than that

Only way to really see is to write it up and see if it works.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Yes, but she links his hallucination with reality by using other povs and we know Miles and are prepared to play along. I think you could get away with it - I also think there might be more effective ways of doing what you want and it might be worth playing with other techniques - a drug trip might be fun, for instance, or a bad reaction to illness, and add more conflict - first.

I think I've made it obvious it isn't a dream and it's Angus being a mare. He's had needles stuck in him, loves the food, hurt himself badly (he's been shot twice and broken his leg) etc He's just refusing to believe it's possible to walk on thin air and that magic exists.