Star Spun Souls

This post is Part 6 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more prophetic poetry in my Portents Directory . In Part 1 of this series , I started on a spiritual path that led me to some deep insights, which I seek to explore throughout my fantasy novels. Inspired by my understanding of self-fulfilling destiny, I created the five prophetic ages of the Known World. I. The Dawn Age began the world, and every person could prophesy at will. Such ready access to the future eroded their need to predict everything in advance. They discovered that life was more enjoyable when it wasn't planned from start to finish. But some sought to gain control of the amassed knowledge of the future, and the Dawn Age ended in war. The prophetic merfolk conclude...

This post is Part 5 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more prophetic poetry in my Portents Directory . In Part 1 of this series , I triggered a shift in my perspective. Now I began mapping my fictional characters and events from a cosmic viewpoint. Each character was on a journey to enlightenment, interacting and engaging in events from their unique perspectives in place and time. Events unfolded on two levels: the manifestations of those in physical form, and unexpected events that seemed to be external. From a cosmic viewpoint, however, these external events were integral to the progression of characters toward their ultimate enlightenment, triggered in their best interests, though the characters themselves couldn't know it at t...

This post is Part 4 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more mystic content in my Magic Directory . In Part 1 of this series , I began questioning my life's purpose. As I mulled through my divergent callings, I struck upon a fascinating idea. Instead of writing a book of truth, I could deliver that truth within my fiction. My knowledge of the ego and the true self already informed how I developed my characters. And I'd noticed the Law of Attraction at work, not just in real life, but also in the most compelling stories of all ages. It seems the human heart is hard-wired to yearn for just desserts - nice people manifest rewards, and mean people manifest trouble. These cosmic principles feel so inherently right to us that we even re...

This post is Part 3 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more tarot-related content in my Tarot Gallery . In Part 1 of this series , I began my spiritual journey by questioning the world around me. After my awakening, I noticed my perspective on other people was shifting too. If I was an infinite depth of clarity and loving existence, then so was every other person on the planet. All the pain and suffering we endure (and cause) as humans is because we've grown out of our inborn sense of self-awareness. On the whole, humanity teaches its children to think certain thoughts and assume certain roles. With enough training, these children release their intuitive ways of being and take on the identities that are expected of them. ...

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory . In Part 1 of this series , I began my spiritual journey by asking the great questions about life. When I started paying attention to my own thoughts, a profound shift began to occur within me. If I was analyzing my own thoughts, then where was I? What was the "I" that was analyzing my thoughts? In spiritual terminology, the awakening is when a person first recognizes that there's a difference between their stream of thoughts and the awareness that perceives those thoughts. If your awareness perceives something, that thing logically can't be your awareness. This core recognition forces the awareness away from identi...

This post is part of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more original art content in my Artwork Gallery . My whole life, I've always had an appreciation for art. I looked to artists with awe and respect, and I had great esteem for the friends I had who could draw or paint or sculpt. I always felt like artists were cooler than me, with their pretty finished pieces that could be absorbed and appreciated with a glance. I was the less-shiny wordsmith in the corner, sculpting poetry and chiseling away at my set of novels, knowing that every one of their pictures was worth a thousand of my words. In those days, at least in my own mind, I was very much not an artist. And yet, I dappled in artistic pursuits. An oil pastel here, a chalk and charcoal there, and once...

This post is part of a series to augment the Tips for Writing Fiction available for free download. This and other writing workshops are gathered in my Workshops Directory for you to explore. This post is also Part 8 of a series about Linnea Tanner. Start with Part 1 here . Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I first connceted with Linnea Tanner in Part 1 of this guest series , and in Part 7 of this guest series , I provide the actual book review! The long-form style analysis below goes into much greater detail, diving into many aspects of storycraft, worldbuilding, and wordsmith techniques. Apollo's Raven by Linnea Tanner is Book One of the Curse of Clansmen and Kings series, a Celtic historical fantasy set during the first century C.E. when Tiberius ruled the ancient Roman Empire. This book was originally published with a different...

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory . In high school, the addled grief of my teenage world finally drove me to seek answers to the great questions about life. Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? Without a family religion to foster answers for me, I started my quest in scientific discovery. Surely mankind with all its technology could unlock the mysteries of the universe. I delved into quantum mechanics, and learned that the core particles of matter are just energy waves that pop in and out of material state. Then I learned that the energy waves were actually clouds of potential energy waves that sometimes collapse into physical form. Then I learned that it's the act of observing t...

This post is Part 4 of a series to augment the Guest Resources available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other guest-inspired content is gathered in my Guest Directory for you to explore. Find more tarot-related content in my Tarot Gallery . In Part 1 of this series , I first connected with historical fantasy author Linnea Tanner. We soon collaborated on this guest post for her Celtic history blog. I originally wrote this piece in July 2015, and it has been reposted here with permission. UPDATE 2022: Since the writing of this post seven years ago, Linnea's site has undergone extensive upgrades and overhauls. My original guest post is no longer available on her site, but is preserved in full below. Or skip straight to Part 5: Starting on our set of maps for Apollo's Raven ! It is a great pleasure to reintroduce ...

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Guest Resources available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other guest-inspired content is gathered in my Guest Directory for you to explore. Find more tarot-related content in my Tarot Gallery . In Part 1 of this series , I collaborated with historical fantasy author Linnea Tanner on this guest post for her Celtic history blog. I originally wrote this piece in April 2015, and it has been reposted here with permission. UPDATE 2022: Since the writing of this post seven years ago, Linnea's site has undergone extensive upgrades and overhauls. My original guest post is no longer available on her site, but is preserved in full below. Or skip straight to Part 3: Writing a second guest post for Linnea! It is with great pleasure that I introduce D.N.Frost, an exciting fantasy author w...

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory . In Part 1 of this series , I described my great experiment, to see if I can create the ultimate story. But my intention is more than to just push myself to do my best. I believe you deserve a crafted caliber of storytelling that has gotten lost amidst the chaos of modern life. A great story captivates readers from the first word to the last. I believe my stories are worth this time and effort, because I think fantasy fans crave a fresh tale, but still want the happy ending. In a great story, every word matters. Whether the story is oral or written down, words allow for great precision but also pose an obstacle to the delivery of t...

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory . I write to move you. I want to write a story that grips you by the heartstrings and drags you breathless through the novel. What do we all want on this earth, really? To live, to feel alive, to experience that soaring of your spirit when triumph takes the day. We all love that visceral feeling when music, art, or film grabs us by the lungs and fills us with sensation. There's a sort of liveliness inside that comes from great stories. Whether you participated in the event yourself, or followed the telling of it, the events and people in those stories can seize you and make your heart sing. It happens with unpleasant emotions too. We feel a...

This post is part of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory . I love the world-building process. I love inventing something complex and rife with human disparity. I believe people deserve a well-crafted story and a well-defined setting for that story to unfold. But I also want to contribute to the entertainment paradigm. I believe the world needs more good stories, and I want my stories to matter. The world I've built allows me great freedom for storytelling. I explore different social structures and cultural models, experimenting with the human condition and examining how any society's practices influence its people. I question normativity, because every culture has its own normal. I experiment with differ...

This post is part of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory . I am profoundly inspired by the great humanity of the world. I love that thrill in your heart when the good guy wins. People differ in how they rise to challenges and integrate past experiences. But though the content of each personality varies widely, there is a similar structure for all personalities . I love exploring this profound diversity that arises out of a remarkable uniformity. I want to kindle that inborn sense of glory within our human condition. To delve through the wonders of our psyche, I push my characters to their very limits, and their stories evoke the triumph of human endeavor. I want to trigger your inner grandness through my charac...

This post is part of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory . Think about great writing for a moment. It's a miracle, really. Emotions and images arise within readers, all from squiggles on the page. There is so much artistry that goes into crafting those high-quality squiggles. Beyond the required wordsmith skills , there is a profound amount of humanity behind any story that comes to life. How else but self-awareness do you paint a character in his struggles, with his pain, striving to overcome and triumph? In order to write such a thing, you must be able to step outside of your own pain and see how it has shaped you. All these characters of mine–they all are some facet of me, and I in turn am al...

This post is part of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore. Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory . We have entered a new age. Our science tells us that ideas have frequencies, and we now know that energy creates the matter of our world. On the contested horizons of leading-edge science, humanity has discovered that everything is connected. Through the mechanisms of energetic resonance, quantum particles leap into existence, and evidence is mounting that our thoughts influence how they manifest in the world. We are called as never before to lead uplifted, compassionate lives, and many of us have come together in the spirit of joyous self-discovery. But through my own journey, I've noticed there's not much fiction out there for people l...

This post is Part 3 of a series to augment the Guest Resources available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other guest-inspired content is gathered in my Guest Directory for you to explore. Find more tarot-related content in my Tarot Gallery . After contributing my first guest post in Part 1 of this series , I was eager to create a second guest post for Linnea Tanner . She writes historical fantasy and explores Celtic mysticism, tradition, and mythology on her blog. I asked her if any other animals had special relevance to her series of novels, and Linnea replied that wolves and horses were two important symbols in her books. As with my first guest post, I flipped through my tarot book for cards with wolves and horses. Check out these Guest Resources for more inspirational content! I found one card, The Shaman, with a wolf on it, and two cards, The Chariot a...