: Effective differentiation of dream sequence from "normal text" 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

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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.

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