Split Personality?

I am taking up the same topic as Paul with regards to having multiple stories being written at the same time. I could almost say that the author has “multiple personality disorder.” Of course I don’t mean this in a derisive or clinical fashion. Multiple stories, multiple characters within each story ….. and invariably, other characters lurking in the background ready to emerge when the author is least expecting it.

In Jungian psychology, one of my analyst friends here in Canada explained that the ego is just one part of the whole of self. Inside each of us is a motley collection of individuals – a fool, a hero, a sage, a lover, a warrior, etc. – a collection of protagonists and antagonists that have their influence behind the scenes, throughout our lives. So, when an author writes, and characters take their place on the story board, the characteristics of these people are born from within the author. Yes, at times it does make the author feel a bit confused about separating the characters in the stories and self-identity – in a good way of course.

In a way, one could look at this from a “dream analysis” perspective. Each person in a dream is the dreamer [that one is hard to accept for most people] and each item in a dream is also about the dreamer. Typically for most people, this is where the unconscious sorts out unheard messages from each of the archetypal characters in the dreams, to allow for the self to better navigate the world and life when awake.

For an author, this all makes sense. Where do all the characters come from in our stories? Our imagination? Well, that is sort of true for that is the usual way to understand those inner voices that come out. Whether or not we want to admit it, we write who we are, our conscious self, our secret selves, and our denied shadows.

As for my multiple stories, I am writing a story about 10th century France, another story from modern day France, a third story set in Austria and Spain, a collection of poetry, and relatively frequent blog posts. There are other writing snippets being collected as I know that there are stories those bits of prose are promising me. Who knows, perhaps one of these will become the seed of my greatest story?