Thread: Introduction 2.0

i think it's a great start. The opening is has got a solid feel to it so far. my concern is that the parts about dream recall and techniques come to early and should not be part of the intro.i feel that overviewing the lucid dream process should come in it's own chapter, perhaps after the intro and a few more introductory topics, before each part of the process is discussed in greater detail. to be sure, it's important to have that overview before the reader delves in to the in-depth material (so they know how the different topics fit into the process as a whole), but it doesn't fit in the intro because the mode of these paragraphs is different. You start out in an eye-opening mode, like your trying to get the reader to get STOKED, and excited and make them open their minds to the great possibilities of dreaming, but then in the following paragraphs (beginning with "first things first: dream recall") the reader is thrown into a manual or how-to mode too soon. the intro should be elaborated and not deviated from the original feel.

edit: also, along the lines of elaborating on the discussion of the intro. we should brainstorm and come up with more ideas or things to say in the intro that tie into the feel established by the first paragraph. once we have alot of ideas, enough to fill a chapter. we should make a sub-outline (that being, an outline for this chapter or section only) or organize them into a cohesive narrative.

*gasps for air* that was a mouthful

Well then, anyone's got good ideas on how to get the reader STOKED, because I don't think it's a good idea to fill the introduction up with stories about how great everything is. As Shift already has said, it shouldn't be like EWOLD, which has this layer of self-growth clichés and stuff all over it.

well i think it would be safe to move from elaborating on the dream inspiration opening to a secondary part describing what lucid dreams are or how they are able to make the first part possible,

Does that mean that we should explain a little more about the nature of dreams? Give more examples on how dreams feel? More lucid examples?

Just some ideas.

Spoiler for Introduction, Version #3.1:

Imagine.

You're reading this book. You look around, and everything feels so perfect and real. "Of course this is reality", you tell yourself, but for some reason that doesn't convince you. After thinking for a while, you come up with a way to test reality - to do something which wouldn't work if you were in waking reality. You take the magic wand out of your pocket (was it there in first place?), and say: "Abracadabra". Suddenly, all objects around you start levitating. By this time, you can barely believe it: you are in your dream, inside your own head. The thing is, somehow everything looks so real, you could have sworn it was reality. Still in awe, you think about the limitless possibilities the situation offers: you can fly above the clouds, swim beneath the waves, cross walls, and explore the hyper-realistic simulation game your very own mind created.
After a while, you wake up from that dream, in shock, knowing this was no regular dream. You were right - that is far from being just another dream. You were in control, you were conscious of the whole experience: you were having a lucid dream.

The word 'dream' is often used as a term to describe something one would like to do, but cannot achieve; a fantasy. The word 'dream' has another meaning, too. Your personal world, almost identical to its real counterpart, is something that you experience every night, over and over again. By becoming aware of these dreams, you can make those fantasies come true, just by realizing that you are dreaming. This is called lucid dreaming: being aware of dreaming while you're dreaming. By the time you've read this book, you should know ways to become lucid and techniques to carry out what you want to do. Best thing is, you can learn and train to have these dreams frequently!
Now you may think: I don't have dreams, so how would I get lucid in them? The answer is simple: you do have dreams, you just don't remember them. Without dreams you would've become crazy by now. The fact that people dream every night over and over again, is, just like lucid dreaming, proven by science. The first to give this proof and study lucid dreams with scientific rigour was Stephen LaBerge, PhD, but more on that later.

The funny thing about dreams is, that, even though it's all made up by our own minds, that most of us are always very certain about being in waking reality while we're at it. This is what blocks us from having lucid dreams, and many techniques are based off this principle. Learning to have regular lucid dreams takes time, but most people are able to reach exciting results pretty quickly. However, there are some people that practice for months before their first lucid dream. The keyword here is patience. If you are motivated and you practice diligently, lucid dreaming will be a skill that can change your life, can give you artistic and scientific insights and can help you understand your purpose in life.

First things first: dream recall.
Dream recall is absolutely vital to your lucid dreaming abilities. Not only is it required to carry out most of the techniques outlined in this book, but it's also required to remember a great lucid dream you just might've had. Furthermore, if you don't think you dream, go and do this for a few days. You will quickly notice that, in fact, you do dream. Dream recall is a skill that can be trained easily and quickly and it is one that yields visible results. The general consensus is that you should keep a Dream Journal, in which you record your dreams and note any strange things that might have occured in them, so-called dreamsigns. By these dreamsigns you can recognise that you are dreaming, thus becoming lucid, but more on that later.
It is advised that you develop some recall before you start trying techniques, so you can familiarisze yourself a bit better with your nightlife. You can journal online, download a program, use a leather-bonded book filled with blank pages or you could use a standard copy book, whatever you prefer. You could even use a simple voice-recorder to journal your dreams.

Onto the next step: techniques
Many people have lucid dreams naturally. If you are, however, not one of those lucky persons, there still are many ways to get lucid. You take advantages of techniques developed and tested over the years. So after you've developed some dream recall skills, you choose one of the techniques which are outlined in this book (or somewhere outside this book, but let's consider just the book for now). Each technique has it's pros and cons and you should choose whatever you think is best for you. It is even possible to blend techniques together to create your own personalised way of inducing lucid dreams. Carrying out the technique of your choice, you can start training to have regular lucid dreams. Around this time you can set up things you want to accomplish in your lucid dreams too. A goal can vary from getting a lucid dream frequency of 1 per week, or flying to the moon. You can set up literally anything. Just be sure that you set up both goals on the short term, as well on the long term. Also make sure that they are what you want. Finally, it's recommended that you write these goals in your dream journal, too.
After a while you will have become an experienced lucid dreamer. At that point, it might be a good idea to let go of the techniques and rely on your own skills, instead of putting all your confidence in the techniques. This helps you become more of a natural on lucid dreaming.

Acronyms/Abbreviations
What about DILD, WILD, VILD, DEILD, EWOLD, WBTB and SP? The lucid dream community uses a lot of acronyms/abbreviations, mostly to indicate techniques. For example, DILD stands for Dream Initiated Lucid Dream. The meaning of the acronyms/abbreviations will become clear in the rest of the book, so don't fret if you encounter them, because most of them are explained here. It's not that hard to remember them and once you've learned them, you'll be able to understand virtually any casual (non-scientific) lucid dreaming-related text.


So, now we embark on the wonderful journey of lucid dreams. We hope you'll appreciate the work we've put in this book and that you will be able to enjoy lucid dreams for as long as you like. Now, shall we begin with chapter 1 and start with Dream Recall, shan't we?
© DreamViews Lucid Dreaming Book Project, 2009

You never put a comma before 'and'. The comma is used as a replacement for the word.
This is the latest version, 3.1. My editings were too minor to make it #4.0. Please take this version and edit it.

Actually, that is only half correct. I'm not sure where in the introduction commas and the word 'and' were used incorrectly but if you don't separate the word 'and', in a list, the two objects before and after 'and' count as one object.

Originally Posted by ray

Actually, that is only half correct. I'm not sure where in the introduction commas and the word 'and' were used incorrectly but if you don't separate the word 'and', in a list, the two objects before and after 'and' count as one object.

I have learned that that isn't right. Why would those things count as one object?
What's your native language?

"DILD, WILD, VILD, DEILD, EWOLD, WBTB and SP" is incorrect
DILD, WILD, VILD, DEILD, EWOLD, WBTB, and SP is correct.

this comes from my high school English teacher. as ray said, not putting the comma in between "WBTB" and "and SP" links them together as one object, leaving the sentence unfinished.

Originally Posted by adrift

"DILD, WILD, VILD, DEILD, EWOLD, WBTB and SP" is incorrect
DILD, WILD, VILD, DEILD, EWOLD, WBTB, and SP is correct.

this comes from my high school English teacher. as ray said, not putting the comma in between "WBTB" and "and SP" links them together as one object, leaving the sentence unfinished.

It's not necessarily incorrect. Both are correct, but the second one avoids ambiguity (WBTB and SP being two terms or one term).

At least that is what my post-graduate teacher taught me. You could check a grammar reference if the doubt persists.

Originally Posted by Kromoh

It's not necessarily incorrect. Both are correct, but the second one avoids ambiguity (WBTB and SP being two terms or one term).

At least that is what my post-graduate teacher taught me. You could check a grammar reference if the doubt persists.

We'll just go with ", and" then, although I think it's clear as it is.

Originally Posted by Kromoh

It's not necessarily incorrect. Both are correct, but the second one avoids ambiguity (WBTB and SP being two terms or one term).

At least that is what my post-graduate teacher taught me. You could check a grammar reference if the doubt persists.

Yep, that's right. There appears to be a lot of debate about whether or not to include a comma to separate the last two items in a series. I was taught to omit the comma before the final 'and' unless there is a danger that the last two items in the series will merge and become indistinguishable without the comma.

Since our audience is new, and potentially unaware of the meaning of the acronym, I think the safest option would be to include the comma there.

I think that we should revisit the introduction after the rest of the chapters are finished. The one we have here is nice, but it will probably be revised at the least once the project is near its end.

"Sorry, the page (or document) you were looking for was not found. Please check the address and try again."

Thought I'd let you know.

Yeah :/ Ah well.

Ahh, sorry guys. I left DV and forgot about the introduction being hosted on my Google Docs, so I removed it.
3.1 is still in this thread, though. Perhaps you could use that?