Adam Gaffen Interviews...DL Mullan! on The Cassidy Chronicles

The last interview with Undawnted's creative spark, DL Mullan, was such a success that we decided to an encore!

Adam Gaffen of The Cassidy Chronicles spent some time with our artist, novelist, and poet. The published article is: Adam Interviews...DL Mullan!

Ms. Mullan discusses her latest creative writes with Adam. From the scifi, fantasy consciousness novelette, The Reality Hackers to the scifi, paranormal horror story, Mangled, DL Mullan relays to readers how genres can be combined for maximum effectiveness. In addition, she speaks about her foray into competitive short story writing and how these external writing prompts have given rise to stories like The Jonah Collector. 

The takeaway from the interview is how DL Mullan views creative writing, digital art, poetry, and the imagination:

"Writing is the undiscovered country hidden in the recesses of our own minds. Find yours in one of my publications. You will never think of things in the same way again." 

We want to thank Adam Gaffen for the fine interview questions and giving DL Mullan the chance to express her creative consciousness. 

Please head on over and read: Adam Interviews...DL Mullan!

Be sure to Like, Subscribe, and Comment, so Adam knows that you appreciate his time and dedication. 

Thank you so very much, Adam and The Cassidy Chronicles for the interview!

DL Mullan and Team Undawnted

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About Undawnted

Undawnted is the home of novelist, DL Mullan. From her award-winning poetry and scifi fantasy digital artwork to teaching honor's curriculum with her college's coordinator (Professor Emeritus), participating in panel discussions at conventions, or directing her community poetry group, she has the innovative vision, creative passion, and hands-on experience that lends itself to success.

Her first newsletter is A Novelist Idea, with activities and creative projects in her writing/art program, will enhance the quality of your innovative output, so you can become fearless with your imagination.

Become a true Fearless Phile and join DL Mullan on the creative journey that is: Undawnted.

Join our community today!

 

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Thank You: Sonoran Dawn's Celtic Green Book Event

Undawnted had a wonderful time this morning at the Celtic Green Book Event for April 2, 2022.

We will see you all at the next one set for July 2022.

 

 

 Have a great and wonderful day!

 

 

Event Booked: Undawnted is Signed Up for Sonoran Dawn Studio's Autumn Wonders Book Event

Want to meet the person behind the story? 

Here's your chance to meet and greet with the novelist, and other writers/authors. 

December 4th, 2021 at 6pm, Arizona Time, DL Mullan will be available as a participant in Sonoran Dawn Studios' Autumn Wonders Book Event. 

Be sure to friend Sonoran Dawn for updates and to host your own time slot: https://www.facebook.com/sonoran.dawn.7

During this event, Ms. Mullan will introduce you to her creativity, personality, and writing. 

So join her and other creative minds for this afternoon and evening presentation. 

We hope to see you there! 

Have a great and wonderful day. 

Let the 31 Days of Halloween Commence!

Time to dust off the coffins and get out the skeletons.

That's right! It's All Hallow's Eve again. This year Undawnted is going to get into the festivities. 

31 days... oh, so many activities to partake in. The Hero's Journey continues...

Did we say: partake? Pass the cupcake! 

Let's Trick or Treat together... see you tomorrow! 

Have a great and scary day. 

The Hero's Journey: The Threshold to Adventure

It's summer time. 

The Threshold to Adventure is right before you. What will you choose? A vacation to a destination you have never been before? To serve your country? Take a position at another company? Or, to begin college for the first time?

Humanity is on a constant quest in the hero's journey of our lives. Each step is as personal and unique as the last. Since the individual is the ultimate minority, we face our challenges in this life as a species as interlocking singular modules connecting into the next one and future generations. 

So what is your Call to Adventure? What Threshold to do you stand before? 

It's summer... take that first step.

 

 

Never Take the Advice of a Person with an American Flag as Their Profile Pic

That response was literally written under a reply I gave in a writer's group.  

A writer wanted to change all her characters from one racial profile to a diverse group of characters. That sentiment is all well and good, but what do you know about other ethnicities? 

Have you researched, interviewed, and experienced that culture?

Since you haven't taken the time to find out that my profile picture is from my genealogical blog: Our Rugged Individualism, where I have denoted family members who have been in the service of the United States in one capacity or another, I seriously doubt you would take the time to do so with someone else.  

For the sake of history, I have an ancestor who came over on the Anne in 1623. Over 397 years has my family been in North America. I have listed him and others in my 1776 Patriot Project after I discovered direct relations to the American Revolutionary War.

But I guess doing genealogical work makes me ineligible to speak about any topic under the sun, not to mention having my family members born under the red, white, and blue since the inception and dedication of our nation. 

That must be enough evidence of my supposed guilt (of what?) to convict me of utter mental incapacity. 

If you feel that people who are patriotic in any way to the United States of America are absurd, then why are you living in the United States of America? 

Asking for a friend. 

To me if you do not like your country and fellow citizens of that country, the question would be: why are you here? and  moreover: why haven't you left? 

There are many nations on this Earth that hate their citizens so much that they put them to work in the fields (Venezuela), kill them for their skin color (South Africa), and place them in death camps for their religious beliefs (China). 

Why not join one of those fun places? Since you are so enthused that you have picked up where Hitler left off... The United States helped defeat the Nazi regime. People forget. 

So if you make fun of people who are Americans, disabled, female, and from survivors of the Bolshevik Revolution (wow! triple minority status), doesn't that make you the bad guy? The intolerant? The bigot? 

Writers cannot have those immature hangups. Writers have to be authentic persons independent of the mindless fads and fixtures that derail our culture from the endless track of possibilities. 

If you do not know a race or its culture, then why are you writing about them? Writers write from what they know. Those are the rules. So if you don't know, you go out and gain experience. In writing, knowledge matters. 

Today's writers ignore simple guidelines. That separates the good, seasoned writers from the unprofessional, immature writers who give other writers a bad name in independent publishing. 

And, the attitude of discrimination means you don't have the aptitude or temperament to be a writer. You're too caught up in what's in to realize that it is already out. 

Real writers and published authors cannot afford to be ignorant, biased totalitarians. That type of behavior is counter to the creative mind. Yet social justice has produced a whole generation of writers who are so intolerant of others in the name of tolerance (ironic) that someone with knowledge and experience is treated as a leper. 

Is that my finger?

Anyway, I wish people would understand how foolish they look when they pull this crap on experienced professionals. Ignorance is a choice. I choose to counter cultural ineptitude by calling it out. 

Get out of your safe space and learn about other people. 

Have a great and wonderful day.

The Price of Your Inclusivity May Be Your Creativity

In a mad dash to be as woke as possible, the film industry is changing its rules for inclusion into the awards season by destroying the creative process. 

Did you check off all the boxes? Did you include everyone except the people you do not agree with? About time Hollywood ditches 82.5% of America and concentrates only on the most important 4.5% LGBTQ and the 13% African American population. That is, if you are into the statistical make up of the United States.

When organizations design hurdles to control the narrative, then what is the point in participating? It looks like micromanaging at best and social engineering at worst. 

People become engaged in authentic stories that have the look and feel of real people. That movie could be science fiction or Shakespearean, but when artificial external influences change the feel of the characters, that is when the public checks out. Woke doctrine has destroyed American cultural institutions like education, sports, and entertainment. There is a reason why woke makes corporations go broke.

Maybe that is the joke? 

The vast majority of Americans are not buying into the woke revolution. So the joke is lost on them, completely. Yet, sports teams and the film industry keep pushing the envelope on a product a large swath of people have no interest in consuming. 

Are wealthy entertainers just tone deaf?

According to Deadline Hollywood, “…the Kansas City Chiefs pummeled the Houston Texans 34-20, and the ratings were down — a lot. In early numbers, the primetime NBC game scored a 5.2 among adults 18-49 and 16.4 million viewers between 8-11 p.m. ET.

“Now, those numbers for the 8:25-11:30 p.m. ET game will certainly be adjusted upward later, but right now they mark a 16.1% drop over the spectacle of the September 5, 2019 season opener in the advertiser-rich demographic. In an America and a NFL still adjusting to the new normal of live sports in the era of COVID-19, last night’s game also fell 16.1% in total sets of eyeballs from last year’s fast affiliate results.”

then there is: 

The site reported that the “Braves-Phillies earned a 0.8 and 1.20 million on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball (including ESPN2 Statcast coverage) — down 30% in ratings and 33% in viewership from week five of last season (5/5/19: Cardinals-Cubs: 1.1, 1.81M), but up a tick and 2% respectively from last year’s comparable date (9/1/19 Mets-Phillies: 0.7, 1.19M).

“Earlier Sunday,” SMW added, “a Yankees-Mets doubleheader had a 0.25 and 381,000 on TBS and a 0.18 and 303,000 on ESPN2. Cardinals-Reds had 340,000 and Padres-Rockies 231,000 on ESPN Monday.”

When there is no audience to play to, there is no revenue. No one will by dvds, jerseys, or tickets. Slowly but surely these industries will die a horrible death only to be buried as paupers. 

What is the point of this exercise? Humans are attracted to stories they can relate to and feel are organic, authentic products. Like begets like, that is your audience.

All the woke writers are following a fad that will soon fade out. Do you really want to be known for that book you wrote way back when it was cool to be exclusionary person? 

Undawnted follows mythology, literature, and original creativity initiatives. No fluff here. No fads. No woke. Just real characters that look and feel authentic. 

That is how writers should write: from their internal processes. Soon woke culture will bankrupt entertainment because the fashion of exclusion of more than 80% of Americans will soon go out of style. 

You can include anyone you want in your creativity, but once you start down the road of selective editing to satisfy an imaginary checklist: that is when your readership checks out.

The sports ratings in particular support this thesis statement.

Stop the joke now: exclusivity is not that funny.

Fearless Workshop: Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

Ever wonder how to write in a different genre? Here is a lecture on the ins and outs of scifi/fantasy. 

Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

Welcome to my first (very blurry - it should be fixed for the next upload) lecture of my BYU 2020 creative writing class. As you probably surmised from the title of the video, I focus on writing science fiction and fantasy. This class was more of an introduction for the rest of the term but I do discuss a few important things: creating writing habits, a bit about discovery/architect writing, and how writing groups should work.

_____

*Update: all workshops and special engagements have now been concluded, and new projects are now under Undawnted's Substack.

A writer at heart, Undawnted's own creative spark, DL Mullan, began writing short stories and poetry before adolescence. Over the years, Ms. Mullan has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet. This year, DL Mullan has begun sharing her knowledge via A Novelist Idea Newsletter. If you too want to become a Fearless Phile, then subscribe to her newsletter on Substack.

Her innovative style teaches writers how to reach their creative potential, and write more effectively.

Learn. Grow. Master… with Undawnted.

Macbeth: Writing is About Inner Reflection and Exploration

The authentic soul of a writer cannot be defined by psychology or sociology. 

Writers who delve into the mysteries of the ages, read the depths of knowledge, and wallow in the forgotten landscape of ancient words are the writers of conscious. These individuals make up the heart of the writing community. Fads come and go but the true writer remains. 

Often sidelined for not being in the in-crowd, authentic spirits continue in their journey to enlightenment. Restless, these writers write what others scoff at: chivalry, morality, and fortitude. 

What do you write? 

In our quest to understand human nature, do we remember our own? Or, do we succumb to the voices without and ignore the voices within? 

Writing Exercise

How is Macbeth a victim of his own choices? to the external voices? 

How can writers learn from this Shakespearean tale? Are we in danger during these current turmoils to succumb to the hysterical cries of the mob? 

Write an essay using examples on how Macbeth is the symbol for the modern protester. Compare and contrast the idea. 

Is modern culture that different from the stories told hundreds of years ago? Have we changed for the better or the worse? 

For clues, ask Macbeth!

Have a great and wonderful day. 

 

_____

*Update: all workshops and special engagements have now been concluded, and new projects are now under Undawnted's Substack.

A writer at heart, Undawnted's own creative spark, DL Mullan, began writing short stories and poetry before adolescence. Over the years, Ms. Mullan has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet. This year, DL Mullan has begun sharing her knowledge via A Novelist Idea Newsletter. If you too want to become a Fearless Phile, then subscribe to her newsletter on Substack.

Her innovative style teaches writers how to reach their creative potential, and write more effectively.

Learn. Grow. Master… with Undawnted. 

Spring Dreams has Sprung for 2020

New and exciting publications, workshops, and more are on the way this spring.

Chapbooks like: Galactic Ride and Eclipse: Cloaked in Totality will see their debuts.  

Special Engagements like the Myths and Legends Series I, Robin Hood: the Man, the Legend, and the Archetype is an example of the social implications of myth. 

As well as, Onomatopoetry workshop: Spring Dreams Cinquain Workshop, learn this American art form.

Remember to enjoy my fiction and poetry selections all year long. 

Get your allergy medication ready... Spring has sprung into action.

Have a great and wonderful day.

Winter Frost Writer's Workshop is Now Complete

Circles We Find Ourselves In, Babylon 5 Fanfic, and Literary Device Writing Exercise is available for workshopping via our Seasonal Reads Program's Special Engagement's section*.

Winter Frost Writer's Workshop*

In a group or as an individual, writers can dive in, learn about a literary device, and write their own version using Session 1 and Session 2's Readings for Writers, Question and Answer, Workshop Assignments, and written application of the learned outcome. 

Please let me know through my social media pages how you liked the Winter Frost Writer's Workshop so I can continue to bring you more writing growth opportunities.

Have a great and wonderful day

_____

*Update: all workshops and special engagements have now been concluded, and new projects are now under Undawnted's Substack.

A writer at heart, Undawnted's own creative spark, DL Mullan, began writing short stories and poetry before adolescence. Over the years, Ms. Mullan has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet. This year, DL Mullan has begun sharing her knowledge via A Novelist Idea Newsletter. If you too want to become a Fearless Phile, then subscribe to her newsletter on Substack.

Her innovative style teaches writers how to reach their creative potential, and write more effectively.

Learn. Grow. Master… with Undawnted.

Are Any of My Readers Under Quarantine?

I know that the Wuhan Coronavirus has shut down areas of the world. 

So some people may only have online websites for entertainment and human contact. If would like me to entertain you with daily postings, you can let me know via my Facebook page, by Liking or commenting on this article's post... or just have all your online friends jack up my stats and I will get the message.

My hard drive died and I lost three nearly complete novels. I am going to start from the beginning and write them all over again. I cannot guarantee senility as I rewrite scenes, but you can at least follow my writings like a weird soap opera. 

If you are game, then so am I. 

I am disabled by illness so self quarantine is a daily occurrence for me and has been since 2007. Good thing, I am an introvert who loves cats, or this situation could have gone wrong years ago. Even with brain inflammation, I am still sane.

Crazy to boot, but sane nonetheless. 

Who's up for a good story? 300 to 2000 words a day? I may even ask for audience participation... you never know.

Let me know. I'll keep you entertained so you don't have to worry so much. Believe me, I understand. 

 

_____

*Update: all workshops and special engagements have now been concluded, and new projects are now under Undawnted's Substack.

A writer at heart, Undawnted's own creative spark, DL Mullan, began writing short stories and poetry before adolescence. Over the years, Ms. Mullan has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet. This year, DL Mullan has begun sharing her knowledge via A Novelist Idea Newsletter. If you too want to become a Fearless Phile, then subscribe to her newsletter on Substack.

Her innovative style teaches writers how to reach their creative potential, and write more effectively.

Learn. Grow. Master… with Undawnted. 

Ogham, Ancient Celtic Language, and Roben Hode

Ah, research. 

Writing is about reading, investigation, and fact finding expeditions. The internet has given writers a one stop shop to look up history, science, and even science fiction. When writing a historical character, a write needs as much in depth knowledge of that era as possible. 

In the case of Hode, Roben is a modern version of the mythical persona. So the legend is more of a set of guidelines than rules. However, supporting characters like Marian can have ties to the past as much or more than a modern retelling's protagonist. Marian in the first novel states she has family ties to the old Celtic ways of magick as a priestess. These characters usually have tattoos or brands, one of which Roben notices on Marian. 

So what does a writer do for the second novel? Well she researches the Ogham. Ogham is a series of lines that equate to the phonetic alphabet. We write in English which is denoted in Latin characters to convey our message. Lines like Runes and the Ogham did the same thing when reading and writing was less necessary or available to the public. 

But I like taking the concept to the next level. I not only translated my character's information to Ogham, I looked up the Ancient Celtic word for the item I wanted translated.

So in modern vernacular, Blood is fuil in Gaelic. Fuil is this set of marks in the Ogham: 

Will this be of use in the next novel, I hope so. Research takes hours and sometimes days/weeks to complete on something as simple as an ancient word and its non-Latin transliteration. 

Luckily research into the past can be done online instead of in a room full of musty, dusty tomes. 

 What research have you conducted to create depth in your character's backstory or plot point?

Sources: 

Ogham translator

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Against the Grain, I'm a Wrtier, the Universe Says So

Writing is a great creative outlet. So is doing my own book cover designs. I get the whole ambience and a sense of accomplishment. 

With everything going on and technology failures taking most of my creative originals into the creepy deep, I thought it was time just to do something else. I should have known I was not going to get off that easy. 

So I do this angel card reading with an intuitive. I patronize as many locals as I can and give props to people who help me. I am on Facebook Live with Bob the Psychic one morning and he gives me the news I dread to hear... Robert Jerome does these freebies on Tuesdays when he has a chance and I put in my name on the list to see if the universe has a message for me or not.

After I had already put my feet up and started binge watching shows because I retired myself from creative writing and design, I get this reading that I have gotten off my path about the time I gave it all up. Really? Now you tell me? I have been wondering for quite awhile what I should be doing with myself. 

I know I have many stories to tell and characters keep me company on days I am unable to expend energy to get out of bed, but now my little endeavor has been noticed by the omnipotent universe. 

Pop quiz, hot shot... you thought that writing would build a community you could enjoy but found out many writers are in political and social cliques while others just don't care and the rest like yourself dangle in the wind wondering where this camaraderie could be... what do you do? What... do you do?

Some of us thought that we should give the writing community a good try and if that try went nowhere then this meant that that avenue was not our path. WRONG.

The universe has decided as for now Undawnted is my place of creative writing residence. 

Against the grain, I am going to stick to it. I still have stories to write. The universe seems to be amused with that. 

It seems to be the only one.

Have a great and wonderful day! 

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Confessions in the Cold: A Writer's Thoughts for the Culmination of Another Year Past

It is December 31, 2018. 

I never in my wildest imagination believed I would still be alive. There are so many challenges to my disabling illness that one misstep and I would suffer a gruesome fate. This year I have escaped it.

My art and writing get me through some terrible times. I have been betrayed at every level one can ever feel, but a handful of people have shown me the rewards of friendship. 2018 has been the year of tremendous losses and inches of gains. The kitties help me with some of the emotional rough spots. That is why the postings have been so sporadic. 

If I don't know where my next meal is coming from, then I am unable to do much creative work. I will put together some digital art in order to keep the worry and hunger pains at bay. Yet, here I sit without a working washer and dryer as well as the heater went out at 29 degrees this morning. 

You think you have problems? 

That is why I do the support, donate campaigns. I have shirts, mugs, journals, books, chapbooks, but it seems that creativity is not enough to cover even one bill in a year. With the lowest internet service I can get without sacrificing my needs, I am out over $1000 per annum. That does not count my three domain names and GoDaddy overcharging me. 

So I sit here in the dark. All night actually. It's me and the laptop. The kitties come when they get a chill, warm up, and then go play bug hunters! That is a job the cats can keep. I don't want it! I can only afford to turn lights on when I am up and around. Well, when I can. When the joints get cold, there is no walking around. That is with the heating pad. 

I need a miracle. I need a Fairy God Mother/Father. Just send a gazillion dollar check every month. Thank you. 

But, that is not how the world works. When I teach people how the world works in my articles and research on the VDP Gazette, let's just say that I don't have many friends after that. I don't buy into the Social Justice Warrior act, so that pretty much leaves me without confidantes. 

Sorry, I just won't lie to people. 

You will see my stances here too on Undawnted because I believe in justice. Not Just Us. Not Social Justice Warrior. Justice. The justice that takes a wide lense to a situation sees all the nuts and bolts, weighs the facts and figures, and examines the human aspects. You know what we used to call: Truth, Justice, and the American way... Thanks, Superman. 

America has gotten away from Justice. Instead we have people having tantrums over topics, there is no research, no logic. Only name calling and divisiveness if you do not agree with this rose colored glasses world view. 

Half the time I read these explosive posts calling me hater, bigot, and other colorful metaphors, I am hungry in the food sense. I do not need the emotional force feeding of ego based mind control victims. Let me double over in pain in peace already. I am never going to agree with two year olds trapped in an adult body. 

It is never going to happen. 

I am a JFK/Reagan Democrat. In today's post-modern apocalypse, it means that I have been erroneously skewed into the fake news alternative right category of politics. Just put my image on a milk carton already. Missing: Liberal Democrat who believes in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Or is that put me right next to an artist's rendition of the elusive Big Foot? 

I am MIA and mythical all at the same time. 

Well good. I am a student of Joseph Campbell anyway. I might as well live up to his expectations that we are all on our own version of the heroic journey. Where's my light sword again? 

But I feel more like: Hello, my name is Galahad, may I take your order?

So my stories are not about the next societal fad. No SJW tantrums here. Someone wrote of me that I am a disabled woman without any illusions. Yet, I write fiction. I guess I have the best of both worlds...

Now if I could only get my cats to open their own cans of cat food, I would be getting somewhere!

If you would like to see more of my writings in the forms of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, then please write a comment or two on my Facebook or Minds pages, Tweet me, or Gab at me. 

Best of all, purchase something on Lulu or Zazzle regularly. If you can spare it, then a donation to my Paypal (dlmullan AT yahoo DOT com) would go a long way in helping me stay focused with a full belly or paid internet service on a monthly basis. 

People don't believe how difficult it is living on the austerity measure called Disability until you are faced with a lifetime of it.  

In the light of everything that I have been through over the last year, I am still a grateful person. I am grateful for all of my readers. I am grateful I have survived one more year. 

Help me make it through 2019... you won't be disappointed!  

Thank you so very, very much!

Remember, your generosity keeps Undawnted Advertisement Free!

End of the Year Cleanup, Anyone got Spare Change?

New Cover Art 2019

Don't you wish you could have an online blog garage sale?

I am not getting to this. I am not going to do that. I have too much stuff clogging up the system. My virtual closet and under the bed boxes are all filled up. Maybe someone else can use it?

Unfortunately, that is not how it works. So I have been cleaning up my links and reverting to draft areas of my writing path that are on hold until I see if that is where I would like to go in the future.

I want a lean and productive site. What I am working on. What I want to work on.

I feel like a little kid cleaning her room and deciding which toys to keep and what needs go to charity. I am having to make some tough decisions, but good ones to propel me forward. I cannot be bogged down with what could be. I only want what is going to have the most positive and impactful effect. 

My readers and fans have already seen some of the new cover art I have done for 2019. Wait until I get everything said and done. Then I am going have a great New Years... because there will be nothing else to do!

What do you do on your blog or website at the end of the year? 

Have a great and wonderful day!

An Authentic Reality Deserves an Authentic Writer

Are you living an authentic life? The Existential philosophy of the mid-20th Century asked questions like this one. A few thousand years earlier, Diogenes a Greek Cynic philosopher questioned the role of society and the validity of its psychological constructs.

Is your suspended belief interfering with you living the life you have always wanted to live?

The Ancient History Encyclopedia on Diogenes of Sinope reveals:

According to Diogenes society was an artificial contrivance set up by human beings which did not accord well with truth or virtue and could not in any way make someone a good and decent human being; and so follows the famous story of Diogenes holding the light up to the faces of passers-by in the market place looking for an honest man or a true human being. Everyone, he claimed, was trapped in this make-believe world which they believed was reality and, because of this, people were living in a kind of dream state. He was not the first philosopher to make this claim; Heraclitus, Xenophanes, and, most famously, Socrates all pointed out the need for human beings to wake from their dream state to full awareness of themselves and the world. Plato's famous Allegory of the Cave is devoted to this very theme. Diogenes, however, confronted the citizens of Athens daily with their lifelessness and shallow values, emulating his hero Socrates whom he never met but would have learned of from Antisthenes. Although it seems many people thought he was simply mentally ill, Diogenes would have claimed he was living a completely honest life and others should have the courage to do the same.

As we write, we search for truths in the people around us, the culture we live in, and within our own reality. If Diogenes as was the Existentialists on the road to somewhere, it was not the argument about being housebroken, but a deeper meaning of discerning our own reality as a fiction.

Humans live in a fictional world we have developed for our safety and security. The real world is the shadows we see on the wall in the back of our cave as Socrates described in his Allegory of the Cave. Writers need to separate what is reality and what is the social constructs we have devised for ourselves and our progeny.

Are you an honest person? Do you live honestly? Or, are you wrapped up in the social constructs of censorship, identity politics, and psychological terrorism? 

American society and culture have been created for the benefit of a few. Divide and conquer, problem-reaction-solution create trigger moments of psychological harm and devastation. Without the psychological terror repeated on the news, in entertainment, and parroted in individual lives, these tactics would be ignored. We have a social construct where we have been told to fear reality because the shadows outside the cave are terrorists just waiting to do us harm. 

Identity politics are the divisive analogies being taught to children as well as adults. You are in this box. You are in that box. You cannot identify in opposing boxes. Race, religion, and many others are the artificial construct. When we realize how damaging these politicized boxes of dishonesty have become, isn't it our duty as writers to expose the falsehood? 

Diogenes did take his philosophy too far to the edge, but today's Roman culture and society, our decadence has swung the pendulum of discourse in the opposite direction toward Nero's mayhem. We need a balance. We need to correct the psychological terrorism of identity politics. 

The only course is to eliminate the censorship that surrounds this social construct of public mythology. I recently debated some points from the Entertainment Industry. The online magazine, Variety, has posted some inventive and erroneous negative social constructs that undermine our society. In these rebuttals, I discovered how Penske Media Corporation's Variety will not debate a topic but rather triggers individuals into the Divide and Conquer scheme. I called them on this dishonesty. 

What I discovered while investigating this claim of censorship was that the accusation is not unfounded. I too was censored because my beliefs did not coincide with social dishonesty. After being censored twice in the comments section, I did a screen capture: 

As shown, my first reply was revised mid-sentence. The censor removed my article title and link. The second was calling Variety out on the deceptive practice, which then was removed in its entirety. 

The original post was also censored by the removal of a link. 

I have discovered that the censorship in our news media, entertainment, and online debates stem from the social constructs of identity politics and psychological terrorism in order to cocoon humans, in this case Americans, into Socrates' Cave. A false reality is a dishonest reality. Humans are not meant to live an inauthentic life. 

How do we reconstruct our reality? The course we are on now has damaged people's understanding and perception of what our culture and society does. Not for dishonesty's sake, but our individualistic social constructs have furthered the human species while still allowing for varying viewpoints. 

As a writer, I observe the world around me. I poke the bear. I slide open the envelope to see what awaits us on the other side of this life. Humans cannot go forward by going backward into this tyrannical world view of dystopic socialized conformity centered on the premise: inclusionary Social Darwinism. 

Neither Diogenes nor Socrates would approve of furthering that type of dishonesty. 

So as a writer, who are you going to be? Diogenes looking for an honest man? Socrates searching beyond the Cave for reality? 

Or, are you going to write the socialized identity politics that further divides society into Nero's mayhem?
 

 -~o0o~---oOo---~o0o~-

Original Content, Articles, and Reviews related to this topic:

• The Entertainment Industry is So Woke that They've Become a Broke Joke
• The Entertainment Industry's Late Night Shows are Ignorant Dribble 

A Brief Discourse in Myths and Legends of Writing and Resources

"All the stories have been told!"

~the oldest known suicide note from a writer

I learned a small stone tablet lamented words similar to the above quote was found by archeologists when I studied literature at the college level. Was the instructor joking? Who knows? But the story still holds water, just read what scholars have discovered about Shakespeare.

According to a New York Times article, Plagiarism Software Unveils a New Source for 11 of Shakespeare’s Plays, Shakespeare used an earlier source study for helping to mold his characters and plays:

The findings were made by Dennis McCarthy and June Schlueter, who describe them in a book to be published next week by the academic press D. S. Brewer and the British Library. The authors are not suggesting that Shakespeare plagiarized but rather that he read and was inspired by a manuscript titled “A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebels,” written in the late 1500s by George North, a minor figure in the court of Queen Elizabeth, who served as an ambassador to Sweden. 

For any new writer, this information may seem like a blessing and a curse. 

Have all the stories already been told? 

What writers can learn from historical data, sources, and books is that story inspiration can manifest from the unlikeliest of places. Research into the past is not for naught and should be encouraged. 

My fiction and poetry writings here on Undawnted are inspired by a combination of Shakespearean dramas and comedies, Joseph Campbell's comparative mythology and the hero's journey, and Jane Austen's tenets of good matchmaking as well as her realism perspective in her social commentary. 

Just like Shakespeare, modern writers can be influenced and inspired by earlier works of fiction and nonfiction alike. A seasoned writer knows how to balance the past with the present to make the most of the future. Writing should entertain and inspire others in turn.

What book or author has inspired you? 

Have a great and wonderful day!

The Descent is Featured in Nocturnal Redemption

I like to mix reality and genres together in my fiction writing, but this time, I made the name of my horror chapbook into a seedy bar, The Descent:

"Ryan exhaled what was and readied herself for what was meant to be. Solitary in the night, she stood outside another seedy establishment but this time the destination was for her personal research. With a deep inhalation of courage, Ryan entered the dive bar.

The Descent was another local hang out for the fringe of society. The customers wore black leather, multicolored hair, large tattoos, and abundant piercings. She often felt underdressed in her jean pants and jacket..."

If you are into the gritter side of poetry, please check out my chapbook, The Descent: a darker breed of poetry.

Nocturnal Redemption: In the Eye of the Beholder is available on Lulu now.

Have a great and wonderful day!

Art Imitates Life... but is it good Storytelling?

When does a writer and storyteller imbue their creations with a social, political, or economic reality? When does the intrusion become a spectacle instead of mood and setting to a story? 

As a writer, I have been struggling with this balance of fantasy and reality in my fiction stories for quite some time. I watched television shows that blur the lines too much and I am unable to be their viewer any longer. 

I want to be entertained not dictated or sermonized or shamed. 

I feel this way about my writing. When a character comes forth, I write that character as I am shown. I don't create circumstances in order to further a social, political, or economic agenda. I have done my research through my editorial days at the Villa de Paz Gazette to understand what is real and not real. I tend to stick to those points more than what I see on other newscasts or sites. 

Hode: The Legend Lives Again is a great example of using facts instead of the constructed false reality that pervades on the television and in movies. 

In the second installment of Hode, the character of Will Scarlet has come to me in two divergent modalities. One way has been that of a straight man. The other way was of a gay man. Which do I choose? 

I am not a Social Justice Warrior, but I am also not going to shy away from the topic either. 

Since there is so much in your face political correctness, I am heedful of using any triggering facts, figures, or events... then Saint in Communion and Saintuary comes along and my character finds herself on an old Louisiana Plantation. It is a long story. I guess you will have to read the three book series when they come out this summer.

So when is using real situations considered storytelling and when is it labeled: social justice? 

Inquiring minds want to know how to mirror reality without falling prey to its shortcomings.

Have a great and wonderful day!