Stuff like “While the redheaded killer was busy killing Alice in the library, Bob was asleep. In his dream, Bob spoke backwards Portuguese to a squirrel who was riding a unicycle on the moon. Then suddenly he was in a forest and saw a red-furred monster killing Alice.” There’s no squirrel on the moon in Bob’s waking life, that’s just his subconscious being weird, but the forest and monster are meaningful.
Or “Bob was asleep. His subconscious took bits and pieces from his memories and wove together a zany mental movie for him to dream. Then a wizard/alien/psychic intervened in the dream, made it less zany, made Bob aware he was dreaming.”
by Pony13