Tag: gestalt

Interpreting dreams

Do you analyze your dreams?


I analyze my dreams to see what my mind is working on while I’m asleep. I don’t adhere to Freudian dream analysis (everything relates to sex — I’m kidding, but barely) because it doesn’t speak to me. I tend to use Gestalt dream analysis, as it relates to storytelling and yields a satisfying result.

Like so many things regarding dreams, we don’t know if Gestalt dream analysis “works”. But it has given me insight into the meaning of my dreams. 

How to do Gestalt dream analysis: First, you have to remember your dreams. Chances are, like most dreamers, you forget your dreams when you wake up. The good news is that the ones you remember are the most vivid. One source I’ve consulted says that you’re more likely to remember your dreams if you wake up with an alarm clock a few minutes before your natural wakeup time. (This works for me because my demon kitten bites my toes to wake me up.) You should also have a notepad and paper next to the bed to write it down. 


Once you’ve recorded or remembered that dream (and here is the fun part), tell the story of the dream from the viewpoint of every significant person and thing featured in the dream. It’s great to write this down, for reasons I’ll explain later. 


Last night I had a dream where I almost fed the cats a slice of Boston brown bread, which is a whole-grain and molasses quick bread with raisins. (The important part of this is that the raisins are toxic to cats.) I almost feed the cats the quick bread, but I remember that raisins are toxic to cats. A bit later, my husband comes in and tells me the cats are dying. I run in and the cats (which are now kittens) are dead and nothing we can do will revive them. 
I went to some gathering which looked like a bunch of women painting backdrops and posters for a charity event and I tried to talk to one of them about my cats dying, but nobody was willing to talk.I can’t remember which cat is still alive so I call my husband and ask.  I tried to find a place to sit down and nobody would let me sit. I went home and tried to accuse my husband of feeding the cats raisins.

So, Gestalt:
  • I am the quick bread. I am sweet but deadly to cats.
  • We are the cats. We are dying. There is nothing you can do about it.
  • I am your husband. I feel helpless about the cats dying. I don’t know what to do. I swear I didn’t feed them the raisins.
  • We are your peers. We can’t be bothered hearing about your cats.
  • We are the posters for your charity event. We’re the important thing, not your cats.
  • The one remaining cat: I don’t know who I am.
From this, I compare the dream to my life to find interpretation.
  • The cats represent life and all the things I can’t control
  •  I tend to blame my husband for things that go wrong, even though he can’t control the outside either. 
  • I have had a history of my peers not caring when I’m going through something bad — No, really, I haven’t. It’s only happened once in my adult life. This might represent a fear I have.
  • The posters are representative of the fact that I think my issues aren’t important.
  • That last cat? That’s me again — I don’t always know who I am.
A lot to unpack, but it’s unpacked. One of the reasons I write these down is that occasionally, a dream is so outstanding that I use it for a book. I want to know the symbolism as well as the visuals and the plot. I have two novels based on dreams, and I’d like to write more. 

So I highly suggest you interpret your dreams and see where they take you. 

Something I learned at Archon — how to write a query letter

I learned many useful and encouraging things at Archon, including the fact that many published writer I saw on panels had upward of 100 and even 200 rejections before getting an agent or getting published. (Whew! I have so many more to look for!)

The most helpful thing I learned, however, was how to write a query letter. I’ll write my first-draft letter to illustrate the process. What I learned, above all, was that a query letter writes like a business letter. This will be a query letter to an agent — most people start with getting an agent, because most publishers won’t look at a manuscript unless an agent hands it to them.

The first paragraph is a brief introduction and where you found out the agent was available:

My name is Lauren Leach-Steffens, and I am interested in finding an agent. I saw that you were accepting new clients on your website, http://www.xxxxxx.xxx.

The middle paragraph — here is twist #1 on the business letter — is devoted to a synopsis of the book you are emailing a sample of. This synopsis should be the sort of thing you’d put on the back cover. It should give an idea of the main characters and plot, without giving up the ending. In other words, the sort of thing I put on the back of my business cards:

       Josh Young, an aspiring writer, envisions a mystical garden, which becomes real in                              horticulturalist Jeanne Beaumont’s hands, and they become targeted by a shadowy cabal that                puts their visions and their lives in danger.

I think it could be a little, but not much, longer, so let’s try this:


       In the current day, Josh Young, an aspiring writer, sees a mystical garden in his visions. Permaculturist Jeanne Beaumont finds herself threatened by forces inside and outside academia for reasons she can’t decipher. Joining hearts and forces, they create a gestalt to turn one of Jeanne’s permaculture guilds into the Garden of Josh’s visions, and they become targeted by a shadowy cabal that puts their visions and their lives in danger.

The third paragraph is where I introduce myself:

Lauren Leach-Steffens, the author, has published several academic articles in the field of family economics, and has recently decided to write contemporary fantasy novels. Her work reflects themes of identity, pacifism in wartime, sacrifice, and ordinary heroes. 



If you think this needs something, please suggest! Richard thinks the word “gestalt” is pretentious; I think it’s entirely accurate given the circumstances.