The Telling Theme of Life

It seems that no matter how much I attempt to set The Demon's Game aside temporarily, I always end up coming back to it. True, now I'm working on another story that is equally important, but TDG remains constantly in my thoughts. I think part of the reason for that it the potential depth of its characters. While my last draft didn't tap into its full potential as I wanted it to, I now know where I went wrong (mostly) so it shouldn't be too difficult to make this rewriting go where the other write didn't bother. I'm a lot braver now than then. It's time to take TDG where none of my stories have gone before! ...Yeah.

Every story I've pursued writing (and eventually dropped) had a specific theme, a moral point I wanted to discuss with the readers. The Demon's Game was always different. While Star Lord spoke of prejudice and its vices, and Jiyu: Freedom Fighters touched on freedom, The Demon's Game spoke about life; its up and downs, its highs and lows. No specific moral issue was addressed, and without that theme I could take it anywhere. In learning this, I tore down my other stories to their basic plots, and I'm slowly building them again with the simple telling theme of life. This way the reader can come away from it, having gotten whatever it was they wanted to take with them, not just a vague idea of what I had in mind to say. If I want to deliver a message to the world through my writing, the best way of doing so is by allowing the characters to deal with life and make their own discovery, coming to their own conclusions. I can only tell of their adventure, not spew ethics.

Story telling is not an essay on one subject. It's the exploration of life and everything in it.

Such Is Life

Work, eat, sleep. And the occasional chance to write. It's almost depressing to think all the hours I put into a pointless job only gives me barely enough money to live on, while the thrilling moments of writing give me little compensation by the world's standards. Still, writing is my life and its rewards are great. I just wish I had more time for those moments.

Of Fantasy

The reason that there are so many fantasies based on archetypal themes is very simple. We love the traditional themes of dragons, knights-in-shining-armor, faeries, elves, magic, prophecy. We all crave that same fairytale, happily-ever-after story. So we write it. Every fantasy novelist wants to attempt the over-done traditional story. And why not?

In seeking a book we seek something we will enjoy. But we also seek originality; there is no such thing as originality, however. What we fail to realize is that there is no story which can be made completely separate and individual from the rest, because we all live in this life and we're all living the same story (birth, life, death). So all a writer can do is seek out the most important elements of traditional fantasy and BRING THEM TO LIFE. Originality isn't the basics of the plot or structure. It's the voice that tells the old anew.

After Such Silence

I've had a blog account since '05, but I always tend to neglect things after the newness has worn away. Still, somethings I end up returning to. Like this. So, here I am, back at the blog. Perhaps it's because I love the word 'blog' so much. (I just enjoy saying it.) Who knows?

I am a writer. I hope to soon claim the title 'novelist' but sometimes life tends to have different plans than I (and it's more often that way than not). Still, I continually strive for that achievement, and life's knocks won't get me down for long. Eventually one of my works is bound to be published, one way or another. In the meantime, I learn. Isn't that how life should be anyway?

Perhaps the reason I like blogs (aside from the name) is that I am speaking with myself. Sort of. Considering that I'm actually typing this, and saying nothing aloud. Anyway, this typing gives me time to meditate and set my thoughts in stone (figuratively speaking, of course.)