Shantell Powell on Nostr: I include dreams in a lot of my stories. Some of those stories have gone on to win ...

I include dreams in a lot of my stories. Some of those stories have gone on to win awards. And yet every now and then, an editor will tell me something along the lines of "add a dream and lose a reader."

Where does this literary proscriptivism come from? Some of my favourite stories have dream sequences.

I suspect it's some colonial bullshit, because dreams have power in a lot of cultures.

I don't plan on avoiding dreams in my writing. My dreams have always been important to me, and I remember dreams I had all the way back from when I was a small child. I was a lucid dreamer for years and used to study for my exams in my sleep. I found it very helpful. I wish I could still direct my dreams even halfway as well now.

So what are your thoughts on dreams in literature? Yay or nay? And why?

Edit: the labeling of dreams as meaningless does have colonial roots. Check out this paper on colonialism and Inuit dream sharing. http://inuitoralityconference.com/art/Bordin.pdf
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