Creative Writing - 'Six Different Ways'

A few years ago I became determined to actually follow through with a creative idea and finish a piece of writing I'd started. This came from the realisation that, at the age of 17, I was nearly beyond the point that someone, in the future, could look back at something I'd finished and be impressed that I'd completed it at such a young age. The way I see it, completing something before or around the age of 18 is the only way people really view it as an accomplishment nowadays, seeing as the injection of work has now become so increased and so diluted.

Although admittedly it's little more than a teenage melodrama, I wrote it with layers of Analytical/Jungian Psychology in mind, particularly that of the Shadow, and titled it 'Six Different Ways', after the Cure song of the same name that inspired some of its themes.

"This was a bad idea. I’ve given away everything I ever wanted. I feel lost, now more than ever. I feel shit. I feel rotten, decayed. More than anything; I feel alone.
And the shadow’s asking me: Why are you stopping already? Is that the most damage you can do?"

The subject of the Shadow-self, or the Unconscious, has been explored numerous times in television, film and literature.

The Shadow is the part of the psyche that contains the (usually darker) impulses and instincts that the mind tends to repress. It tends to project itself to the conscious through dreams and interestingly is also where the creative aspect of the mind lies, and is usually personified as a character's apathy or distaste towards the rest of society.

The TV series 'Dexter' (that I discovered after I started writing Six Different Ways), deals with a character tormented by his repressed childhood, and struggles to contain his Shadow-self (referred to as his 'dark passenger'), that presents itself in his dreams and his impulsive instinct to kill.

'American Psycho', both the book written by Bret Easton Ellis (who I keep mentioning here) and the film starring Christian Bale (one of my favourite actors), follow a character entirely apathetic and nihilistic, acting solely under the influence of his Unconscious and fighting to find a balance between it and his 'mask' (/ his "false outward projection").

Another interesting example in popular culture is Batman. Bruce Wayne creates the superficial playboy image as the false outward projection of himself to present to society. He also creates Batman, the 'mask' who represents Wayne's Unconscious, allowing him to act out his repressed instincts that society would generally reject as immoral. The third aspect is Wayne as himself, when he's not pretending, that he keeps concealed from everyone apart from possibly his butler, his sole confidant. The interesting part here is determining which is the 'real' Bruce Wayne.

Suffice to say that I didn't ever finish it, despite reaching 59,000 words and over 10,000 words of other notes/ideas. I'm not sure sticking with an idea just for the sake of rushing was the best idea, but I'm still slightly attached to the piece and keep coming back to edit bits of it, although I'm not proud of the overall thing. One day, maybe this Summer, I will tackle another edit and create a complete draft.