TPV:  There should be a ghostly voice announcing this, perhaps with a ghoulish laugh and some eerie music:  The dark side…

Instead, I’ll just let Alex Lukeman do it.

Tony-Paul has kindly invited me to post a guest blog here, for which I thank him. Since Tony writes about vampires and such, it seemed appropriate to say a bit about writing and the dark side. I don't think it's possible to write well without some understanding of the dark side. The greater the understanding, the better the result. I'm not talking about the various genres that focus on the dark but about the truth of the human condition.

Warning: Opinion Alert

Whether you write about a children's kindergarten party or Dracula, you can't get away from the dark side of human nature.

As a writer you ignore it at your peril. Unless you are taking pen in hand (minor cliché alert) to produce a technical manual or a mathematical equation, you are probably telling a story with the hope someone might like to read it. Stories require tension. Tension comes from the contrast of dark and light.

There is a section in the Bhagavad-Gita, the great Hindu epic of Krishna and Arjuna, where Arjuna begs Krishna (God) to show him his entirety. Up to this point, Krishna hasn't done that. He's been showing the good stuff, the guy with the blue face and the flowers who plays a flute and represents all that is holy and "good" spiritually, instructing Arjuna in the ways of the path to God.

Krishna tells Arjuna he can't handle it. Arjuna, a mighty warrior who fears nothing, continues his plea. Finally Krishna decides his student needs a bit of ego realignment and reveals his totality, for just an instant. Now Arjuna, reduced to terror, understands: God is everything. Good and evil. Dark and light. All of it. And so is Arjuna and all humankind. It is a profound spiritual instruction.

We could discuss this passage for years. My point isn't about spirituality or religion, though that could be relevant. My point is that being human means we contain everything inside us. The conflict between dark and light is the substance of what drives us. It should be the substance of our writing as well, if we want our characters to be more than cardboard puppets in a poorly lit shadow play. I think the ability to reveal the conflict in our work is possibly the greatest challenge we face as writers. 

Think about your own life journey. Tell me, has it been all light? (I believe that qualifies as a rhetorical question). How do you know that? Because the contrast between dark and light has shown you the difference. You know what the light side is because you also know the dark. You have an experience of it.

What is it that captures our attention in a really good story? Aside from a good plot, setting, skills with words, etc., etc., it is the struggle the characters face to overcome their inner demons until there is some kind of final resolution. Resolution does not always mean redemption or triumph, but the great novels lead us into an understanding of the human spirit. Through the writer's eye we are led to an inner epiphany, a realization, a leap into connection with the rest of humanity and our human reality.

Star Wars (the first three movies, not the others) is a fine example of the ridiculous presenting a profound lesson about the sublime. Darth Vader is redeemed through love. It is love that ultimately triumphs over evil. If we did not contain Darth Vader within us, we would never be able to relate to him as a character. It would be like trying to relate to a cactus (no offense intended to the Cactus Lover's Society).

Genuinely frightening writing mirrors back to us our own unconscious and thereby leads us into the dark. A vampire who smiles can be a hell of a lot more scary than one who is clearly the embodiment of evil.

Writing out of the unconscious is a mark of all writers. Incorporating some aspect of the dark side is the mark of all good writers. It can be a disturbing journey to seek out the Demon Lover within. But if you weren't willing to take a few risks you wouldn't be writing in the first place, would you?

TPV:  Pen in hand, tongue in cheek, life by the throat, and shoulder to the wheel…try writing in that position!  But it can—and has—been done.  And when you’re finished, and bloody but unbowed, you just may have a pretty good story on your hands.

Check out Alex’s latest:

http://www.amazon.com/White-Jade-The-PROJECT-ebook/dp/B007FIR01M

The Lance (Book Two) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0087458M6

 

The Seventh Pillar (Book Three)

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007EFBI9G

 

Merci, Alex!

Talk to Me, Mes Amies!

Unfortunately, we’re having server problems, so please, just drop your comment in an email to:   tpvissage@neb.rr.com

and I’ll make sure it gets posted.  Merci!

COMMENTAIRES

Excellent post.  I’m a writer too and tend to stray to the darker side of human nature.  This blog will come in handy in my future ventures in that direction.    Thanks Alex.

 

Linda Nightingale