The Thing About Lies.

Dan has told me over and over that he believes lying is the worst sin committable by humans. He talks about how undermines human society, and will be one of the possible downfalls of the human race. "How can we honestly trust anyone, when so many people lie as outrageously as they do?"

Sure, everyone lies, its an unavoidable aspect of existence, I don’t know how many times I’ve lied in my life, I’m sure its more than I’d care to admit...but there is a line I will not cross when it comes to lies. I will lie to protect friends, protect family, bury secrets that need to be buried; you know, things that you have to protect.

An Essay on Writing - Part 2/2 (Trial, Error, and Accomplishment)

(( Continued from Part 1/2 ))

I know that some planning is key.  Once upon a time, I wrote a short story that people absolutely loved.  So I wrote another, then another.  People loved the story, so I decided to write more of them for people.  Then a friend of mine said, “You realize your main character changed names?”

I remember writing the stories and thinking in the third, “Its time to give this guy a name.”  I thought I had written the first two stories trying to keep everything nameless, but after rereading it, I didn’t.  In fact, other details changed, like eye color....  It was my first time trying to write a series and realizing I need an Outline.  So I went back, reread those stories and took tons of notes along the way.  Then I went back and rewrote the first two stories, and started to conceive and plan the rest of the series.

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?”