This week I put the final touches on my short story, The Oneironin, based on an idea that’s yanked at my imagination for over two years now. I like to pitch it as a sort of love child between Harry Potter and Inception with emphasis on modern psychology.
The story follows Lucas, a young adult who is haunted by the shadows of the past which have invaded his dreams and waking life in the form of hallucinations and sleep paralysis. After hitting a breaking point, he is brought to the Institution, an academy of sorts where residents of all ages learn to battle inner demons by fostering their aptitudes in lucid dreaming. Lucas must embrace the ancient art and face his shadow head on, not only to save himself, but to save the whole of humanity from an external force threatening to severe its ties to the collective unconscious.
Within the tale I deploy an amalgamation of real-world lucid dreaming technique and Jungian psychology, both of which I have researched to great extents. As an active practitioner, my aim is to capture the true wonder of lucid dreaming in a way I haven’t seen done in modern storytelling, and to showcase its potential for confronting shadows, the repressed aspects of our personalities that often lead to anxieties and other mental dilemmas. I have poured more of my soul into this than anything before, and I hope it shines through in the pages.
If you’d like to be a beta reader, send a message and I’ll forward the story. It's roughly 16 pages and looking for whatever feedback you got. Thanks in advance 😊