An Essay on Writing - Part 1/2 (To plan a story)

How far should one go to create a backstory for a novel?  There are so many examples of how far some people have gone and its so hard to choose the distance one should take.

In my fantasy novel, I am currently writing, I knew I had to create a new world.  I then narrowed down that the action will take place only on a specific continent, so I mapped that out and just kind of glanced over some interesting places the characters were going to visit.  Then I had to try to figure out what kind of fantasy it was, did it have dragons, did it have griffins, or was it just like earth, with no real fantastical creatures?

(poem) - A Dream of Love (forgive me for the mushiness)

I once dreamed a dream
Where lovers united
I’m guessing it’s a common dream
Everyone wants love ignited

Yet this one was different
In a very odd way
They lived and loved forever
Day after day

There was no arguments
There was no pain
They went to sleep in each others arms
And awoke the same, again and again

Love,
By its nature
Is full of arguments
Because two people will bicker

But this dream continued
On through the night
And never did there arise
Any form of plight

A utopia of love
Between two people
Could there ever be
A more important temple?

It seems I have found
This odd ball thing
When my wife looks at me
My soul doth sing

She is my one and only
My home is in her arms
There is nothing at all
That sets off any alarms

Don’t let your dreams die
Any form of horrible death
Because you never know who might stop by
And give them life’s breath.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

What Controls the You?

There have been many philosophical debates over the millennia, most of them are valid arguments, and need to be looked into to understand the human condition.  “I think therefore I am,” the human soul, what could be a better debate?

What about the one about why humans act the way they do?  All my life I’ve watched human beings defy common morality, sacrifice themselves for the greater good, or humiliate themselves for money.  The problem is, trying to understand the large decisions, is far too complicated, so I wanted to get down to the basics.

I believe there are three major aspects to how we exist.  We interact with this world through our Body, which has a central processing unit called the Mind, both of which somehow have tethered a Soul to this mortal coil.  My question is, “Which one of these, controls You?”

What To Blog About

Dan has wanted me to blog for some time but just what would I blog about? He told me I should blog about vampires. There is so much I could blog about vampires but since I write about them all the time I thought I would write about something else. But just what would I write about?

I thought about this for days, finally I thought about writing about cooking. Yes I know there are many blogs out there about cooking but you see, I love the movie Julie & Julia , but I don’t cook much. Dan does most of the cooking, I’m amazed at what he can do with spices, and how he cooks with wine. I do help him make dinner and lunch but I have really no cooking skills.

I started looking on Pinterest and cookbooks online for recipes that my family would like. Dan is a VERY picky eater (no veggies, he hates the taste of meat, he calls himself a ‘spicetarian’ but I have no clue what to call a diet like that) and a teenager that can eat me out of house and home. Dan swears she’s about to hit a growth spurt with the amount she’s currently consuming.

(poem - Deeya) I Have Loved

(( In celebration of the 3rd part of Ballad of the Emerald Bard - Old Debts coming out tomorrow, I would like to share this older poem.  I've often mentioned that Deeya was a character and I wrote poems for her to be songs.  This is one such poem, and is kind of relevant to the story, Old Debts.  Here I also include an actual performance with the emotes, so you can get an idea of what it was like to see Deeya perform live. Please enjoy, and if you want to see the story jump straight to the Ballad of the Emerald Bard Page with a Table of Contents to the whole story so far!)) ))

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