Carl Jung Series

Ever since I began studying stories, I've been fascinated by the human proclivity to embed stories in cultures and extract deep meaning from them.

I remember way back in 2015 when Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out. I was going through a rough time and I'll never forget how that story made me feel both safe and excited at the same time.

I ended up seeing it several (ahem, six) more times in the cinema, and each time was just as good as the last. That was probably the first time I really thought about why I responded in such a strong way to some stories.

It may be that I actually find the psychology behind stories more interesting than the writing craft! Carl Jung and later Joseph Campbell certainly saw the psychological underpinnings of myths and stories.

In this series of writings I'll be exploring Carl Jung's theories, as well as those of his students and descendants, to try and grasp how depth psychology and psychoanalysis can help explain our love of stories.

The most powerful lesson any writer can learn is not some narrow aspect of the writing craft, but the deeply embedded parts of our nature that resonate so powerfully with stories.

Part 1, Introduction: Jungian Psychology for Storytellers

Learn about Carl Jung's core theories and the reasons why those theories are profoundly useful for storytellers.

Part 2 is coming soon... subscribe here to be the first to receive the next part of my Carl Jung Series!