Every Creator Has a Shadow Side

by Wendy Pini

This is very much in the "for what it's worth" category. 

Every creator has a shadow side. I've owned up to mine frequently in my Public Persona because I'm very fond of it. I don't express my darkness through cruelty or the abuse of others, at least not knowingly, because that kind of behavior literally makes me nauseous. But the subversive naughtiness of my work, be it Elfquest or Masque, gives me wicked joy. 

There is nothing wrong with having a dominant Shadow. It's usually tied in with sexual energy which can be channeled into creative power. Edgar Allan Poe was a twisted individual whom I'm sure, had I met him in person, I would not have been comfortable around. His shadow was off the charts. But he was a tortured soul, aware of the depths of his own darkness, which he did his best to purge from his system through his writing. In every report I've ever read about him it doesn't appear he ever physically hurt or abused anyone.

The more sinister, perverse elements there are in an author's work, the more likely it's a healthy release for their own dark impulses. The real horror is when a creator's shadow gets out of control and expresses itself in real-world harm... even self harm (again the Poe analogy). Not only does it destroy the lives of others, in the end it turns on the author and destroys them, too.

From Juniper Nichols:

“People who flock to fantasy conventions and signings make up an “inherently vulnerable community,” one of Gaiman’s former friends, a fantasy writer, tells me. They “wrap themselves around a beloved text so it becomes their self-identity,” she says. They want to share their souls with the creators of these works. “And if you have morality around it, you say ‘no.’”

This is an excerpt from the Vulture article that's been permeating everyone's newsfeed since yesterday. All I'm qualified to say on the subject is that I'm terribly sorry yet another beloved author/creator's highly questionable actions have come to light to hurt and disillusion so many.

The above quote got me thinking sympathetically about his horrified fans -- and then about all fandoms in general. "They wrap themselves around a beloved text so it becomes their self-identity.” Reading this, I know it to be true because in my fannish days I immersed myself in what I loved and found my secret, inmost self there, too. I still know how that feels. Which is why I understand it when fans come up at cons and say, "Elfquest saved my life," or "Elfquest is my whole world." To some it would sound like hyperbole. Me... I get it.