How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

By the title of this post, I don't mean "dreams" in the sense that I dream of being a published author some day (World Domination 2010!), but those dreams that characters (and real people, too) have when they are asleep. You know, real dreams, as opposed to aspirations, hopes, goals, whatnot. Recently, over at Mysterious Matters, Agatho said that dreams in stories often make him cringe. Why? Because, as he puts it: Let's see, your protagonist has just had a narrow escape from the clutches of a serial killer. That night, she dreams that she is being chased through a carnival by a wolf whose face she cannot see. She wakes, terrified, wondering what it all means. It means that your manuscript has just been shit-canned. Heh . The rest of the post about what makes him cringe is pretty good, too, but this part made me giggle. What does it mean? "It means your manuscript has just been shit-canned." I'm going to have to start using that. Seriously, t