Effective differentiation of dream sequence from "normal text"

Question

There are lots of questions about how to write about dream, how will it be in a book etc.

I have a bit different question. Imagine this situation:

I was walking down the street to the entrance of the ZOO. Hand in hand with my grandma and baloon on a rope in a second hand. Lightly jumping in between single steps because how i was excited. Road was nearer than normal, but I get over this little detail. I will be in a ZOO for the first time.

I blinked once and twice. Weird. No road. No ZOO entrance. No grandma. In a next second I realized, she is long time dead and I must go to work. Those dreams makes me sad. I really wanted to go to ZOO.

The question is, how to differentiate the dream part from the normal text part in sequences like this. Will you go Italic text or you just let it be? Is it necessary to differentiate dreams from normal text?

Thanks for your advice.

Answer 1

Do not differentiate the dream text from the surrounding text.

What you want is that readers follow the experience of the protagonist. The protagonist does not know that he dreams until he wakes up. The reader should not know that the protagonist dreams before he reads that the protagonist awakens, either.

If you want the reader to know that the protagonist is dreaming before he reads of the protagonist waking up, let the narrator tell them:

I dreamed I was walking down the street...

If you feel that it is necessary to point out that the protagonist doesn't know what the reader knows, you can add something like:

I didn't realize I was only dreaming, so was surprised when I suddenly woke up in my bed.

But usually you can expect people to know how dreams work and don't need to explain it to them. If you write for kids though, you might want to explain.

Answer 2

It's quite common to see dreams or memories placed in italics. I personally find this a beneficial technique since it effectively conveys a sense of altered consciousness. However, it depends, as always, on the effect you want to create --whether you want to emphasize or de-emphasize a discontinuity with the waking state.

Some writers also place the dream or memory in the present tense, which is a bit counterintuitive, but also conveys an altered state of consciousness:

I am walking down the street to the entrance of the ZOO. Hand in hand with my grandma and a balloon on a rope in a second hand. Lightly jumping in between single steps because of how excited I am. Road is nearer than normal, but I get over this little detail. I will be in a ZOO for the first time.

I blinked once and twice. Weird. No road. No ZOO entrance. No grandma. In a next second I realized, she is long time dead and I must go to work. Those dreams makes me sad. I really wanted to go to ZOO.