How to document a dream

Some advice from years of keeping notes, offered not as rules but as things that work.

Write soon after waking. The architecture fades first — you will remember that there was a corridor long after you have lost which way it turned. Even three or four lines typed half-asleep beat a polished report written at lunch.

Anchor with the senses. What was the light like — fluorescent, skylight, dusk? What did you hear? Malls in dreams are rarely silent; there is usually music from nowhere, or water, or the specific hush of a large empty space. Smell is rarer and worth recording every time it appears.

Describe the layout before you interpret it. "The escalator went down to a floor that wasn't on the directory" is data. "I think it means I'm anxious about work" might be true, but it belongs at the end of the report, not in place of it.

Note what changed. If you have been to this place before, say what was different this visit. The differences are some of the most interesting material we have.

Then post it in the world section where it belongs, and let the rest of us walk through it with you.