Writing Characters who Daydream... 💭

 

drawn by: Nili DooL

When it comes to characters who daydream, your character should have a deep and interesting inner world. Perhaps they could talk about it so vividly that the other characters could think their daydreams are true. They could be writing about it, illustrating it, recreating it through verbal roleplay and anything similar.

Character's inner world and daydreams sometimes aren't explored enough, but sometimes are so vividly described that it feels surreal. This depends on your preferences and the stories you're writing. 

THE ENVIRONMENT 

When a character lives in their own head, it would be natural for their environment to react to it. Someone snapping fingers at them (no matter how rude it seems), waving hands in front of their faces, calling their name, nicknames etc. Anything that would make your character return to reality, disturbed from their daydreams. 

In contrast to this common approach, your character daydreamer could never be disturbed from their inner world, no matter how many people are around them. This could point to how isolated this character is and potentially explain why they drift into daydreaming. Unlike the former example, where the character could go into daydreaming mode due to feeling overwhelmed. 

Daydreaming should be acknowledged by other characters. They could comment on the character being distant, deep in thought, seemingly not present. Your character could hide that part of themselves from others or openly express it to certain individuals.

HOBBIES and HABITS

As mentioned before, a character having more creative hobbies would allow them to express that side of themselves. Such a character could listen to music, pace around, and engage in their hobbies. If they live in a stressful environment, it would make sense for them to get lost in their own head.

When it comes to their habits, they could be staring out in the window, pacing around in the room or simply having them stare into the void. You can show them lying on the bed and thinking while awake. They could be having problems due to their continuous daydreams, such as insomnia, which can impact their overall health.

Be CREATIVIE

This should go without saying, but having a chracter who daydreams gives you a chance to explore their inner thoughts, inner ideas, fears, something they wouldn't tell a soul, but readers now know of it. It can be an insightful glance into someone's mind, so make sure to use it to your advantage. 

Still, it's still better to show, not tell. This can be done by visually describing what the character is thinking, feeling, or desiring, without them saying it out loud. 

Perhaps their whole body jumps and shivers when they think of a spider, so now the reader knows of their phobia. They could stare at one person so intently, with the expression of longing and even imagining that person hugging them, kissing them, whatever it's on their mind. Readers can come to their own conclusion without the character verbally thinking "Ew, I hate spiders," or "I want to bang that person".

Be creative and give yourself a blast while creating such characters.

When it comes to actual dreams, you can check out this article on how to use dreams in your writing. 

by: Nili DooL