Why do new writers have to open with a dream sequence?

Can anyone name a published novel that opens with a dream sequence?

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Color the Sidewalk for Me.

Wouldn't be at all surprised if something in the gothic area started with a dream, too.

Off the top of my head...no. Although I'm sure there are many.

My own novel has a dream sequence in the first chapter and they are peppered throughout the text, carrying a central theme. I think they can be a very useful device, actually; as with all such devices, they can be abused too.

I don't know any examples of published ones, but you can use my story as a cautionary tale. After I signed with my agent, she suggested some revisions, and I stupidly came up with the idea of starting the book with a dream. She never said anything about it, and the book went out on sub. The editor who eventually bought the book told me she almost quit reading the manuscript because of the opening, but liked the premise and kept going. The dream was one of the first things to be cut in the editing process.

You probably don't like the novels, but Stephenie Meyer's "New Moon" started as a dream sequence.

I think a lot of it is that budding writers are told to start with action of some sort. Dreams are a great place to put non-MC-threatening action.

Echoing Kateness, I think dream sequences are seen as teasers. It's tempting (as a writer) to think the readers will stick with the book if the opening scene grabs them (which is true), even if it has little to do with the rest of the book. I can also see someone making the dream a prefiguring for the entire story, where the book's events follow the dream events in creative ways.

Dream Thief, by Stephen Lawhead. But then, the whole premise of the book, as suggested by the title, is about someone stealing dreams, so in that particular case, it makes sense and is germane to the plot.

In general, I agree with the OP that opening with a dream sequence is usually ineffective. To me, doing so should be reserved for occasions when it is fundamental to the story.

George Mackay Brown, Beside The Ocean of Time.

The dream vision is a poetic device that goes back to the high medieval period. It doesn't surprise me that new writers fall into the cliche trap.

The Horse Whisperer

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment.

My novel is being published and although it doesn't start with a dream, it has one in the second chapter. But it is all about a boy who is stollen from his dream and taken to the nightmare factory so I couldn't have exactly left it out! lol

Our writers' group has a novel where each member takes a turn writing a chapter. S/he can take the story wherever he pleases. One member killed the MC at the end of the fifth chapter (not sure what he was thinking). I took the story next, and made chapter five a dream/nightmare, where the MC woke up screaming after being shot.

That's the only time I used a dream.

They aren't that "new". More like 16 or 17 years old, at least. =P

I think a few of Jayne Ann Krentz's books (perhaps writing as Jayne Castle, because of the paranormal element) started with dreams. But she's written 100+ at this point, I'm fairly sure, so a handful of them starting with dreams isn't really a big endorsement of the technique.

Oh, and doesn't Rebecca start with "I dreamed I was at Waverly again last night" or something like that? Not quite an actual dream sequence, since it's the narrator recounting what had happened earlier, but pretty close to it.

I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few of the urban fantasies and psychic-character-based thrillers released in the last few years started with dreams. Riffing off the tv show Medium (which I don't watch, but the few bits I've seen have involved a beginning with the protagonist dreaming and/or waking up from that dream).

Still doesn't make it a good idea in MOST cases. It might be interesting to study some really good authors' use of the technique and see if there's a pattern to why it works for them (or perhaps why it still doesn't work, not really, and the story only works because the author's OTHER skills compensate for the dream sequence).

I have one in the lit novel I'm writing. It's drug induced.

The first novel I sold (sort of) begins with a dream sequence, though it's short and more of a narration. One of the first things my agent had me do was revise it to remove the dream. Once I did this, she missed the original opening and had me change it back. I haven't gotten my editorial letter yet, but I've been very curious as to whether or not my editor is going to make the same suggestion.

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' second novel, Demon in My View, has a prologue then the MC waking up at the start of chapter 1.

One of my WIPs started with a prologue that was a dream sequence, but then I realized it would add more to the story to move it a couple chapters in.

ETA: Sorry for all the extra posts, I was having Internet issues this morning.

Yttar

"Last night I dreamed I went to Mandalay again." (Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier). Personally I hate the "waking up from a dream" device myself, but it sometimes works...

"Last night I dreamed of Africa..." Karen Blixen, 'Out of Africa'

My first completed novel opened with a dream.
My second with the MC waking up.

Needless to say, the start of both have been changed.

I had one, in a very old WIP that has been trunked and un-trunked numerous times. In its most recent incarnation, the dream sequence has been deleted, and we only see the results of the hero coming out of a drug-induced dream/ hallucination, which I *hope* works in the story.

hester said:

"Last night I dreamed I went to Mandalay again."

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That was Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

DDM was thinking of Manderley.

In fairness, you beat me to the punch. That was the example I was going to use.

But what about Dallas? A whole blimming series was a dream sequence.

I had a dream sequence in the first chaopter of mine, then it got moved to the second. You critted and hated it, but it won't go as it's integral to the plot. My MC has prophetic dreams.

Thankfully, since I think dream sequences are pretty lame, it's the only one in the book. I'm putting it near the front, along with several other small clues, in hopes that readers won't pick them all up and know all the answers to everything when they get there.

I hadn't realized it was a trend.

Flashbacks gross me out. I did one to save my opening and now I am changing it to be linear again. Sighing in relief.

Dance Dance Dance, I believe.

[Edit] Actually, it starts with the MC talking about a recurrent dream, then goes on to describe it. It works well. The dream acts as a motivator for him to go on his journey.

Technically, Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire opens with a dream sequence, though the events actually happen and are viewed by Harry through a dream. I'd say it counts, though.