Dream Theory - Commentary - Ch. 1-2 (Patreon)

Alrighty, welcome back to another commentary, but a new story!  I can’t believe we’re starting a new story already.  It feels so surreal to me.  Like...it wasn’t long ago that we were reading What Defines Us, right?  That story ended like...a year ago or something.  That seems about right...  (Probably not.)  But time moves fast when you’re typing away the day.

What’s interesting about this new story, Dream Theory, is that I actually just finished it a few weeks ago, so it’s still relatively fresh in my mind.  This is unlike Welcome to Vale High, which I finished multiple (partial) stories before posting.  I would’ve posted that one sooner if WDU hadn’t taken so long.  My fault, I know.  If I didn’t write such long stories, it wouldn’t take so long to post them.  *long-winded writer problems*

But this story.  Let’s talk about this story.

The last time I wrote a story this fast, we got Rush.  Some stories are just much easier than others, for reasons I’ve yet to figure out.  Maybe I just have a better idea of exactly what will happen?  Maybe I’m just more interested in the storyline?  Whatever it is, this story had it, and I’m excited for you to read it!  Dream Theory took over my free time for the better part of about...four months.  

If you’ve been following my daily writing journals (on mikotyzini.com), you probably noticed that I started the idea back in December - just a few days before Christmas, actually.

You can always tell when I start a story because huge chunks of words are being written in single days.  Beginnings of stories are easy to write a lot because you’re just generating ideas and writing down everything you can think of.  Those are the days when I’m basically typing as fast as I can, whenever I can.

So I started Dream Theory on December 22nd, and I finished it on...April 19th.  Ha, look at that, almost exactly four months!

(Notice the tiny amount of daily words, which means I’m editing a story.  The amount of time spent on these few hundred words is equal to the amount of time spent on the few thousand words in December.  Which is...kind of sad to think about, but true.  Also, negative daily words is a very clear sign that editing rather than idea generation was done.)

So Dream Theory took me just under 4 months to write from the first idea to the last day of editing.  Not bad for a 140,000 word story, right?  

Obviously, I’ll be spending more time on it before it’s officially done.  Every week before posting, I’ll proofread each chapter one last time, but that’s like...a few hours a week, tops.  (A few hours times twenty-two chapters means...still about fifty hours of work to do…)

It wasn’t until just now that I realized how incredibly useful those writing journals are.  If I wasn’t keeping track, I’d have no idea how long it took me from start to finish (I would guess long).  It’s pretty cool to see the exact start and end dates!  Also, now I’m thinking that if I didn’t work full-time, maybe I could’ve finished it in like...a month.  Yeesh.

Anyway, like the previous beginnings of stories, this commentary will be shorter because I don’t want to give anything away.  And there’s kind of a lot that could be potentially given away with this one.  I liked the ‘what happened’ aspect of What Defines Us so much, I decided to try my hand at weaving that type of mystery again.  I love unraveling that mystery over time, leaving hints to some parts as well as big reveals for other parts.

I think it’s more rewarding to read that way, right?  Because each chapter you’re searching for more clues and information.  It’s up to me as the writer to make sure you feel rewarded for the time you put in with each chapter, but also leave enough ambiguity that you’re always searching for more.

(This reminds me of giving treats to my dog, Violet.  I’ll stick them into this bouncy ball with just one hole in it, and she keeps bouncing it trying to get the treat out.  If it’s too hard, however, she’ll just bring the ball back to me and use those puppy dog eyes to convince me to help her.  If it’s too easy, the fun’s over in seconds.  It’s all about finding that balance…)

Because I can’t tell you a lot about the details of the story so far, I’ll tell you why this story even exists.  And that’s because...I had a dream.  Not a MLK Jr. type of dream, but regular ‘ol weird sleeping dream.  I can’t remember what it actually was, but when I woke up, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could save that dream and watch it again later?”  

And thus, Dream Theory was born.  The more I thought about the specifics of recording dreams, the more the idea grew.  And when ideas start growing, it’s really hard to get them out of my head without first writing them down.

You’ll see a handful of OCs in this story, which I’ve been doing more of in recent stories as a way to practice creating my own characters.  If I’d like to one day write a book of my own (which I would!), I figure now is as good a time as any to try my hand creating some side characters.  I hope you like them!  Or at least find them convincing in the roles they play.  (I want to tell you so much more but don’t want to give anything away right now.)

What I can say is that the versions of Ruby and Weiss in this story are probably my favorite of all the iterations I’ve written.  There’s Ruby, the tech superstar who can do just about anything with a computer in this futuristic world.  And there’s Weiss, the high-powered defense attorney with a sharp tongue and even sharper wit.  Obviously, their jobs put them on opposite sides of the law, but they’re together anyway (and adorable).

The Chapter 1 setup makes it seem like Weiss will be their enemy, right?  But Yang actually refers to Weiss when talking to Ruby.  She just doesn’t use Weiss’ name:

“Yeah, guess I should [get going].  I have plans tonight.”

“With you-know-who?” Yang asked, grinning when Ruby nodded.

In future chapters, we’ll learn more about Ruby and Weiss and their relationship.  We’ll learn more about everything, really, but also more about them.  And, not-so-secretly, I’m seriously considering writing the beginning of their relationship as its own story.  But I haven’t started working on it so, realistically, it could be years and years before we ever see that (if at all).  Plus, I haven’t been able to figure out the timeline of connecting their story to this one.  Do I write it to connect with where this story picks up?  Does it end sometime before this story starts?  Or maybe it goes all the way to the end of this story?  (That would probably be too long and redundant.)

But those are problems for the future.  The problems right now involve Yang and Blake and the mysteries surrounding them.  All of the questions you have will be answered over time (hopefully).  If not, you should probably message me to find an answer.

One of my favorite parts about writing this was diving into the idea of controlling dreams, and what that technology or ability would look like - which we see in the beginning of Chapter 2.  It’s basically...anything you can imagine, you can create in the dreamspace you’re in.  Anything.  I thought of it like VR only while asleep instead of while awake, and with a blank canvas you fill with your imagination.

It’s interesting to think of the potential for increasing productivity with a Dreamscape (I know, I know, way to make this boring, Miko).  But think about it!  Instead of going to bed and not being able to do anything but sleep, you could hang out with people in these dream spaces while also resting and recharging.  Like we saw at the beginning of Chapter 2, Yang woke up after spending a dream with Blake and wasn’t dead tired from the night.

The more I think about this, the more I’m realizing the potential.  It would, essentially, increase your free time.  You could work longer while awake - you could work while dreaming!  I wonder if I could write during dreams and still save it somehow...I could probably double my output.  Or I could fight zombies and stuff.  That sounds hella scary, but the skills learned in dreams should transfer over to real life, right?  Because it’s still your subconscious, and you remember the dreams far more clearly than we currently do.

What if you had an experienced dream theorist who could create like...a very realistic bank.  And then you look for a way to rob it...and keep trying until you get it absolutely perfect.  You could practice your robberies in advance, clearly something we all need.

I’m way off track here.  But you like reading my random rambles, right?  That’s probably right.  I’m going to pretend that’s right.

Ok, but in this story, I thought it was interesting to showcase the difference between Yang and Blake’s ability using the Dreamscape.  Obviously, as Blake says, dreaming was her job.  So it would be expected that she’s something of an expert.  And boy is she an expert.

Test time!  Close your eyes - but not yet.  Read the rest of this paragraph first, then close your eyes and try to imagine the room you’re sitting in with as much detail as possible.  The color of the walls, the color of the floor, all of the little knick-knacks you have.  How much can you remember?  Not just remember, but remember with enough detail that you could recreate it.  Now...go!  Try it out.  I’m going to try too.

…

Apparently, I’m not a very observant person.  Even when I look at something then immediately close my eyes, I can’t remember everything.  But now we have a better idea of just how observant and certifiably genius Blake is at her job.  At dreaming.  Not only can she remember the little details, but she can also hold onto them in her mind while adding to the environment.

I’m not entirely sure how that would feel up in my noggin’, but probably overwhelming.  I consider Yang to be more like an ‘average’ dreamer (maybe a little below average - sorry, Yang!).  So her struggles would be similar to what a typical person experiences unless they practice to get better.  I think that’s the best part about something like this - if you practice, you can get better.  You can become more mindful of your environment, more observant, more creative.  And I love anything that gives the opportunity to grow like that (kind of like writing, huh?).

I’m really excited for you to read more so that I can tell you more!  I just realized that it took me four months to write this (but, honestly, it was a hard four months to get this done.  As in, I didn’t do much else), but it will take about 5-6 months to finish posting.  Twenty chapters to go - and so much more to learn!

As always, thank you so much for your endless support!  You’re all so awesome and I love writing these stories and commentaries for you to enjoy.  If you have any questions about the story or anything, don’t hesitate to shoot me a message.

Until next time,

Miko