Posted by admin on March 13, 2011
It is official folks – with the publication of my last sonnet – Facebook, I have officially reached 101 poems published here at Darnuth Keep. (In case you’re wondering you can find all my poems listed in the Poetry Index). I will be the first to admit that I never thought I would have so many or that I would still get such emotion from re-reading them. To the few fans out there I would like to say thanks for all your support and I hope you keep coming back.
Posted by admin on November 27, 2010
So here I am trying to get traffic to a blog that is basically a collection of fantasy stories and poems, only to realize two years into the venture that I am not getting anywhere. The bottom line is that fantasy story blogs are a cluttered niche on the internet and because of the very nature of writing stories you are much more likely to get traffic by writing articles about writing than you are by writing quality fantasy stories.
I did a search for fantasy story blogs, and guess how many stories I found? Zero! Not one. Why? Because good fantasy stories don’t have the word story or fantasy anywhere in them. On the other hand there are thousands of articles out there about writing (most of which are either redundant or utter crap) which do have the words story, novel and fantasy in them. So, what is a guy supposed to do who is just looking to write good stories?
Mix in some pointless articles about writing fantasy stories to try to up his search rank and hope for the best!
Posted by admin on July 22, 2009
Painting, drawing, sculpting – anything artistic. I wanted to take a moment and send props to anyone out there with an artistic bent. I have a deep respect and admirations for anyone with that kind of talent and dedication. The rewards are often non-existent. The hours often difficult. The life-style demanding and the support often missing.
I just wanted to say thank you for making the world a more comfortable and beautiful place. For making things happier (or sadder). For helping us all feel more and see more and come to understand more about ourselves and the world around us.
If you are an aspiring artist then don’t give up. If you are successful already – then keep up the good work.
Posted by admin on July 15, 2009
I write a couple of blogs in addition to this one. This blog is my favorite as I include the information that is most important to me and I get to share my most creative stuff. Sometimes, however, it can be pretty tough to find inspiration to keep putting out any kind of post let alone publish anything of quality 3 times each week.
The great thing about this, however, is that I have learned to find inspiration from just about everything around me. I wrote a poem about chewing gum because I asked my 4 year old daughter what I should write about. She has an obsession about gum and made her suggestion.
I can’t say that every poem I write is a masterpiece. There are those that I love more than others. There are stories that I enjoy more than others, and I don’t always have time to work on the latest chapter of my novel, but I have learned to take nearly any topic or thought and turn it into a poem or a string of sentences that I am willing to share with the public.
Inspiration can be found in any tangible object, or in a strand of conversation. A song on the radio. A news broadcast. The people in our lives – especially friends and family. All of these make good topics for poetry and stories. The trick is looking closely enough at the world to care enough about it to write.
Posted by admin on May 6, 2009
Mechanics help you out
when you’re stuck and can’t move the
tool you have. You just start where
you are and go ’till you can’t and
when you are done you usually
have something other people can relate
to a little and we call it
poetry.
But if you can’t do mechanical things
then open yor heart and
Spread out your wings
To the thoughts of the sky blue above
The rhythm of water in strands
Far awy, of people falling in love
And we will also call it
Poetry.
Posted by admin on April 24, 2009
Writing a poem everyday is a challenge that has been extended to me more than once, and which I have managed to fail at more than once. Usually it ends up more as a poem three times a week. Many of the poems that I have posted (and continue to post) here on this site are the results of my attempts at writing a poem a day.
Writing a poem everyday won’t necessarily produce the best poetry. It won’t necessarily generate volumes of memorable or fabulous poetry that moves humanity to new heights of inspiration and genius. Writing a poem a day, however, will make you a better poet and a better writer.
Like practicing anything else, writing as often as you can will help you to produce better content. Trying different forms, different words, or different concepts are all good ways to expand your talents and your mind. Even though many of the poems I have written aren’t that amazing, each of them has taught me at least one less that I won’t forget.
I challenge anyone who has any interest in writing to write every day.
Posted by admin on March 18, 2009
What makes a good drama? I can’t say that I’m the world’s leading expert on the subject, but as a guy who has a blog and the will to write, I am going to add my bit.
The real key to a good drama is risk. Risk that feels important to the reader is necessary for a good drama.
Risk is nothing more than a chance for somebody to lose something. Whether the risk is realized or not is less relevant than the risk itself. The character involved doesn’t need to be aware of the risk or be emotionally involved with the risk, though these can be very helpful. The reader, however, must be intimately involved with the risk. The reader must care what happens and must want the lost to not occur.
Not all readers place the same value on a given situation or character so creating a sense of risk that is important enough to reader means finding a situation that appeals to the most readers.
Creating a situation that appeals to readers means understanding the target audience and applying a sense of risk that the audience can relate to. Technology junkies would place more value on a loss of technology, for example, than perhaps a loss of bed sheets.
Posted by admin on March 11, 2009
Cliché as it may be for a fantasy lover, the most inspiring book in my life was The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
I read The Hobbit for the first time when I was five or six, and it was then that I decided to write fantasy stories. I can’t say that I am the greatest author on the planet. In fact, among fantasy authors I rank pretty low. Life has its distractions and it is difficult to dedicate oneself to a lifestyle that doesn’t support a family.
This interest in fantasy, however, has given me a number of skills that I doubt I would have otherwise acquired. It lead me to study the art of writing, which meant that I learned to love to read.
It lead me to a love of role-playing, which lead to a love of computers and technology. This lead to a deeper understanding of mathematics, science, and a general love of learning.
Because I picked up The Hobbit at such a young age and because I couldn’t put it down again, I have very much been inspired to become the person that I am today.
So I ask, what book inspired you?
Posted by admin on December 24, 2008
Making fantasy writing believable is both much more simple and much more complicated than a lot of people estimate. Generally because they think of fantasy as something completely separate from other types of writing.
Yes writing fantasy tends to involve leaps of logic and putting faith in the author, but at its core, that is not what makes a fantasy unbelievable. That suspension of disbelief must happen in any fiction, whether a mystery, a spy thriller, or when writing fantasy.
The key is primarily to write good characters. If the dialoge feels forced or the descriptions are unnatural or stilted, then the logci behind the use of magic in the world will quickly become irrelevant. If the characters act natural and live as organic entities (i.e. stemming naturally from their surroundings, not necessarily made from carbon) within their world then automatically the level of believabilty has increased.
Writing good dialoge will go a long way to make the story believable. Writing fantasy is not much different from writing fiction of any kind. The characters must feel as if they belong. Their actions must correspond to their motives. Their words must correlate to their actions. They must react to and interact with each other in a natural manner. If you accomplish this, then the reasons behind the blood sacrifices required to generate the power necessary to complete the ultimate spell of destruction become less important. The reasons are still imporant, but now the stage is set so that they can become believeable whereas with poor characters the reader will never even reach this point.
Again, if the characters spring naturally from their world, then the reasons behind the sacrifices and thier reactions to them will already be explained. If there are flaws in the logic they will generally be exposed already due to the natural tendancies of the characters. An evil villain predisposed with a hatred for bloodshed would inherently seek an overwhelming, driving motive for a blood sacrifice whereas a bloodthirsty maniac would likely find the power associated with it as an added perk rather than a driving force. In either instance the logic lies more with the characters than the mechanics behind the world.
Posted by admin on December 5, 2008
I just wanted to give a shout out to all the great support that this blog has received sinced inception. All my thanks goes out to the many readers who put up with my writing.
Especially to all those of you who use or have used Zimbio in the past. Enough of you like the blog to toss me a kudo, which is really appreciated. And enough of those kudos means that I made the “hot” page over at Zimbio.
I’m not saying I have the greatest thing here since sliced bread, but I am proud of what I’ve put together and I want to thank everyone for their support.
If you do get a chance to go over to zimbio.com go ahead and do it. This isn’t a referral or affiliate anything. Its just my way of sharing something useful to other bloggers. It isn’t a traffic building miracle, but it is a fun way to find interesting other blogs and to interact with people on the web.
