A Story about Inner Gremlins and Three Ego States

A government advert tackling the issues of adult illiteracy was broadcast some time ago. The slogan was to get rid of your gremlins. In it, we see a man going to an adult education course to learn a basic skill. Behind him, we see a wretched creature telling him why he should not go. This sort of negative inner voice may inhabit people who feel shame about heir inability to read or write. But these are not the only negative messages such gremlins may issue to people.

Psychology of Human Relationships in Novels

Games People Play explains that people with negative early experiences may partake in a life game that exhibits a repeating pattern of behavior, the same payoff and a hidden motive. Such games may be fuelled by an inner gremlin from a destructive child or parent ego state. This inner force may spout a mantra or repeating message that may compel the person to do or say certain things.

Negative Force within Villains in Fiction

The hostage in my novel, Jessica spies upon her captors through a small hole she has cut in the bedroom floor. In her increasing cabin-fever, she dubs over what her captors might be thinking as they go about their business. Her monologues sound rather like the aforementioned negative messages from a damaged child or parent ego state. She starts to play games with her captors, ultimately to escape.

The trouble is, as her time held captive increases, she starts to hallucinate. And what she sees within her captors are what their nasty gremlins might look like.

The Inner Forces of Kidnappers

Rather than use the imagery of the government advert, I decided to create my own ‘gremlin’. This force could have been a parrot that sits on the shoulder squawking all day. But I decided the creature wouldn’t be warm-blooded or a mammal; (as warm-blooded creatures have a nurturing nature). Instead I made the creatures cold-blooded, reptilian, as they lack a higher brain. Without a highter brain, there can be no reasoning. This means the message issued is persistent and insistent, a mantra rather like a croak from a toad.

Bad Mantras within People

Jess refers to these creatures as The Toad. Such a label encapsulates all that is cold-blooded and unreasonable. In fact, Jess hallucinates all sorts of bizarre creatures that prate on at their hosts in a mantra fashion. Some do resemble a toad, but others may have spines, or a shell. These 'demons' possesses characteristics that has some correlation with what they are uttering to their companions. Is Jess mad? It would appear so, but there also appears to be a horrible logic with what she imagines.

Thriller about Human Behavior

Clinical Psychology of Ego States

Other negative messages might manifest themselves within a person if a woman thinks she is fat or if a man fears intimacy.

I thought the gremlin effectively portrayed such a negative force. I decided to write about these negative forces in my novel, The Shuttered Room. But firstly, I needed to conduct some research into the nature of these destructive inner voices within people.

Theory on Ego States