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The Killing Woods

The Killing Woods is a novel about a young girl found strangled in the woods behind the main characters’ house, and the discovery of the underlying story. The writing was informed by the question of how Jung’s theories, especially the notion of “the shadow”, might animate a plot for an audience of young people. My Jungian starting-point was the statement that “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious “. I wanted to bring Jungian ideas to the topic of the effects of violence on families and on young people, and of post-traumatic stress disorder on victims and their families? A related aim was to find a literary form to represent the “ripple effect” of an act of violence on a community; a form conducive to a psychological thriller for teenage readers. Secondary research into the consequences of PTSD was also necessary. Abstract ideas and the accurate representation of medical conditions are usually held back for adult fiction. My aim was to find a form that would enable a young adult readership to explore both.