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Creating and Connecting Actions to a Setting

3/26/2015

Dr. Karen Petit has often had dreams about Rhode Island's Mount Hope Bridge. In one of these dreams, she was standing on top of a broken piece of concrete as it fell down into the water. In a different dream, she had to swim for several hours before finally arriving safely on a beach.

In Banking on Dreams, the Mount Hope Bridge appears more than once as a dream setting. In chapter three, the protagonist had an interesting lucid dream about this bridge. Page 48 of Banking on Dreams illustrates the protagonist as she begins to interact with her setting and tries to control a part of this dream:

                Lisa knew that she was having a lucid dream, and she had been able to exert
          a little bit of control in her last dream. Maybe during this dream, she could control the bridge.
                Lisa took a step; the bridge began to make noises. A huge crack formed in front of her.
          As she watched, the crack became wider and wider. She could now see the blue of the water
          through the broken part of the bridge. A sailboat was moving in the water, but the boat’s
          motions were faster than those of the earlier sailboats. . . . (Petit 48)

Work Cited
Petit, Karen. Banking on Dreams. Mustang, Oklahoma: Tate Publishing and Enterprises, LLC, 2012. Print.

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Visualizing a Setting for a Novel

3/25/2015

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What a person is thinking about while awake can affect what the person dreams about that night. For example, while writing Mayflower Dreams, Dr. Petit did a lot of research about the Pilgrims. This research helped her to create historically accurate content for her novel, as well as to have several helpful dreams. One night, after doing a lot of research that included looking at online images of historic paintings, Petit then went to sleep. She dreamed about living in the seventeenth century, walking on cobblestone streets, and going inside of multiple stone buildings. Exploring this setting in her dream world helped her to envision the appropriate setting for some parts of her historical novel. The following excerpt from page 77 of Mayflower Dreams shows Rose (the protagonist of this novel) in the middle of her dream story about the Pilgrims:

                       Rose followed Mary into a stone building. The windows were all open, and
            there were no screens. A large number of flies and mosquitos were present. Some
           were flying around, and some were interested in the food sitting on the wooden table.
     There was meat that looked like chicken or turkey. Wooden bowls in the middle of the
           table contained pieces of flattened bread, a salad, and a cheesecake. The table was
          set with cloth napkins, spoons, and knives; there were no forks.
             The floor under the table had a beautiful handmade rug with flowers, leaves,
           and other designs. In the middle of the rug’s designs appeared some words from
           the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11 GNV). (Petit 77)

Work Cited
Petit, Karen. Mayflower Dreams. Mustang, Oklahoma: Tate Publishing and Enterprises, LLC, 2014. Print.

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Creating a Labyrinth of Dream and Reality Components

3/20/2015

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The setting for “A Garage Sale” chapter in Banking on Dreams was taken directly from one of Karen Petit’s dreams. Her own gardening tools, including the clippers in the picture on the right, were in her dream. The garage was a giant, beautiful garage with several cars and over ten tables in it.
In Banking on Dreams, the garage sale happened during the day time while Lisa, the protagonist, was awake. During the next chapter of this novel, during the night, Lisa had a dream about an auction. This dream of hers incorporated some of the content from her real visit to the garage sale into the events of the chapter titled “An Auction.” The labyrinth of hedges that is referenced in the garage and the auction chapters of this novel also appeared in one of Petit’s dreams, but the labyrinth was in a different dream from her garage-sale dream.

The following excerpt is from page 169 in a daytime reality chapter of Banking on Dreams (“A Garage Sale”):
   Lisa didn’t really find anything that she wanted, so she went back to join her father,
                 who was holding onto a pair of hedge clippers.
           Lisa asked her father, “Are you buying those?”
             He responded by raising the clippers up high enough so that Lisa could see them. “Look
                         at these blades. I know I won’t need them in November, but in the spring they’ll come in handy.”
               Her father’s neighbor commented, “Yeah, the branches on your hedges, Nelson, turn around
                 on themselves. They’re like plant labyrinths.”
            Lisa’s father smiled, raised the clippers, and said, “You’re right, Bob. They’re like labyrinths,
                     but these clippers will trim them nicely.”
                Bob asked Lisa’s father, “Are you going to the auction tomorrow night?”
                “What auction is this?” Lisa asked. (Petit 169)

When Lisa falls asleep that night, the labyrinth of hedges also appears in one of her dreams. This dream is depicted in the next chapter of Banking on Dreams: “An Auction.” In addition to an auction, this chapter has a scene that takes place in a labyrinth of hedges. Here is a short section from this scene:
   “Where do you think you’re going?” the suspect asked.
       Mike glared and then responded, “Out of this labyrinth.”
       The suspect took a step toward Mike before saying, “There’s no way out.”
       “How do you know that?” Mike asked.
     “I’ve been trying to escape for ages. The hedges just keep on growing.” (Petit 186)

Work Cited
Petit, Karen. Banking on Dreams. Mustang, Oklahoma: Tate Publishing and Enterprises, LLC, 2012. Print.

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Creativity with Dreams

3/13/2015

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The content in Dr. Karen Petit's novels has been created from her own reality, dreams, and research. Banking on Dreams illustrates a variety of lucid dreaming techniques and shows how dreams and reality are connected to each other. Mayflower Dreams connects a protagonist's dream story about the Pilgrims to her modern reality. Both novels have interesting themes, plots, characters, settings, symbols, and psychological elements.

Whenever Petit has an interesting dream, whether it's a regular dream or a lucid dream, she immediately writes it down. This dream-writing process helps her to remember more of a dream's segments. Even if this author doesn't use the dream in her current novel, she may use it in a future one. Writing down examples of dreams also allows this author to see how the dream elements work together. She can then better create realistic dreams within her novels, as well as connections between a protagonist's reality and dreams.

One of Petit's most wonderful dreams has not yet been placed into one of her novels, but she is planning on using it in the future. This dream happened when Petit fell asleep while thinking about her workplace. She was walking to work as an adjunct faculty member at a community college. She paused to say "Hi" to several of her students. It was a beautiful Spring day. As this faculty member and her students began to talk about writing, flowers suddenly began to grow from some seeds within her briefcase. Because of the communication and learning happening while the flowers were growing, the growth of the flowers showed the symbolic beauty of the educational process.

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Creating and Connecting Actions to a Setting

Visualizing a Setting for a Novel

Creating a Labyrinth of Dream and Reality Components

Creativity with Dreams

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