INTERVIEW EXCLUSIVE!

 INTERVIEW EXCLUSIVE WITH DANIEL!

Daniel Dresden  is a versatile and brilliant writer and Poet with a unique ability to tell compelling stories and weave exceptional imagery that has a positive, long lasting impact on his large audience.

He has a huge Worldwide fan base of several thousands of people, and he is famous for his thought-provoking poetry, filled with masterful imagery in his writing. He is an esteemed member of the Collab Tour, The Best Writers Platform in the world.

Today, Daniel grants us an Exclusive Insight into aspects of his life and what makes him as a person stand out. 

Enjoy the Full Interview below;

1.  Tell us about your Background

I’m from the United States and grew up in Pennsylvania. I have spent the last decade plus living between Maryland, DC, and Virginia for school and my career. I’ve always been a writer for as long as I can remember, even being a little kid writing really bad stories because I barely knew any words. But writing has always just felt like a calling to me. I love to tell stories whatever that story may be, and I cultivated my writing skills in order to tell those stories the best way I possibly could.

2.  How did poetry all begin for you

As I said, I always wrote, but I took a poetry literature class and found I enjoyed reading it. I had always been a rap fan and I likened a lot of poetry to many of my favorite rappers. So it just felt like two sides of the same coin. A few years down the road, I started my Instagram to publish excerpts from my writings but they didn’t work too well, so I started writing specifically for IG. That really led to me studying how to write poetry and then creating my own style from various influences.

3. What is your writing process like

It’s chaotic, spontaneous, and yet heavily regimented. I write whenever I can. I jot down notes in my phone and journals, pull out my laptop if I feel I need to and just put my thoughts down. Editing is a bigger part of my process because I have so much writing in terms of volume that it needs to be distilled. I find things I wrote 10 years ago that I never did anything with and rework it until it’s something I want to share. It’s a lot of writing, rewriting and picking the best parts. But I designate set times to write and edit because without some kind of regimen, it would be too inconsistent.

4. Do you usually have personal connections with your poems

All of them, even what I deem to be fiction. It all comes from a place of personal experience and whether it’s fiction, an amalgamation of real events sewn together to be one, or actual truth, it all has to come from some personal feeling or thought I picked up along the way.

5. Tell us about your favorite poets and what you like about their writing style

There are so many but I think I need to single out Rumi, Poe, and Mary Oliver. Rumi due to the supernatural elements that he weaves into commentary about life and love. The presence of Sufism in his work really resonates with me. Poe because he’s creepy, dark, and stormy, and I love that (also, fellow Baltimore inhabitant so that’s just a funny coincidence), and then Mary Oliver because her writing is so heartfelt and beautiful. It just rings true with a vividness that I find comforting. I read Mary Oliver and feel like I’m sipping tea, wrapped in a blanket as it rains outside.

6. You have quite the International fanbase online, especially Instagram... How does it feel to know that people all over the world read and resonate with your writing

It was pretty crazy to have people who live on the other side of the world consistently engaging with me. Also even crazier to think the weight of my words reached them even when they were not native English speakers. It makes me happy to know that, and I guess it speaks to the idea that an honest depiction of the human experience transcends proximity, cultural boundaries, and physical borders.

7. What would fans be most surprised to learn about you

That I’m not a brooding, sulky artist or some whimsical spaced out writer. I’m actually a pretty friendly and goofy person. Most of the time, I’m funny and eccentric. I grew up playing sports in America so for that reason I’ve got a streak of “bro” in me that sometimes is surprising to people (for better or worse), and I’m a lawyer in my career so I can get very serious and logical as well but I don’t take myself seriously at all. I’m just out here trying to be happy at all times.

8. Other hobbies you love outside writing and poetry

I like to watch baseball, soccer, and football. I play video games with my friends. I lift weights and do yoga, and care about my personal fitness a lot. My cats are the most important things in my life so I spend a lot of time taking care of them and making sure I’m giving them the best life. I’m also very social, so on any given weekend, I will be outside adventuring with my friends in whatever way I see fit.

9. Are any of your poems based on real life experiences or do you just tap into your imagination

It’s both and a combo of both. I write fiction primarily but sometimes that fiction is a distortion of my reality or an amalgamation of many different moments written as one. It’s rare I write about one event or one person. But it does happen. People talk about having a muse or multiple muses, but I think everyone and everything in your life can be one singular muse if you can see the individual experiences as one. It’s like “here are all the trees, now let’s write about them like a patch in a forest.”

10. What was growing up like for you and what has the impact of family been like for you and how have they all perceived your talents as a world class poet

Emotions and the creative arts were not a big part of my childhood or family. Even still, my mom is one of the most creative and articulate people I know so I got a lot from her. My dad was very wordly and had a lot of interesting hobbies, so I took a lot of substantive experience from him. Overall, it was a nice upbringing in a place that fostered my imagination. My family doesn’t really get involved with my writing. To them, I’m just Dan, and I get that it might be weird for them to see some of the stuff I write and try to figure out what it’s about or how I’m feeling.

11. Some sources whispered to us that you are currently working on a special project.please go into detail about this

I’m working on two things: (1) a dark fantasy/scifi series. The first book is done and I’m trying to get it to publishers and agents now. (2) a compilation of my poems. This project is much harder than I thought. I want it to be a cohesive collection that weaves a larger narrative. This summer has yielded a lot of poems that all fit together as one big story— a love story maybe— not only about another person but about falling in love with life and yourself, after having a really rough stretch, and learning to love again. Im just really grateful I have a lifestyle that allows me to work on both of these projects and provides me with an abundance of inspiring experiences.

12. What does literary success mean to you

Being able to write full time and live off that. Money has never been my motivator to write, but I am aware that I’d need money from this thing if I ever wanted to make it my whole life.

13. Would you Consider yourself a Person of faith?

In some ways. I was raised Catholic but my family was not overly religious, and I learned about God from reading the Bible and taking religious classes with a critical mind. I find religion fascinating and I’ve read about many different types of religions and have cultivated a diverse group of friends from various faiths whom I talk to about it. I don’t know what’s out there. I try not to worry too much about it. Whatever it is, I’ll find out one day or I’ll fade into the dark and it won’t be my problem. I do try to take the best parts of any religion I read about and apply it to my life. Once again, my focus in life is being happy, doing right by those I care about, and being a humanist because we all share this world together and it can be hard enough without people treating each other poorly.

14. What does Friendship mean to you?

I wouldn’t be who I am without my friends. The people that accept me for who I am without judgment, who support me, and build me up become the world to me, and I’d bend over backwards for them. So I try to be that kind of friend— someone who looks out for my friends, supports them, and helps them be the most fulfilled version of themselves.

15. Do you have any special friendships along the line of your development as a creative that you would love to highlight?

I have many, but I think the one I’d be remiss not to highlight is my friend Melinda. We met on a writing website in the early 2000s. She was such a more talent writer than me and I always looked to her for guidance (even when it didn’t seem that way), and she informed my style a lot. We finally met in real life in 2022 and it was awesome for that friendship to come full circle. I do not become the same writer I am now without that friendship.

16. What is your take on the state of the poetry community and whats your measage to aspiring creatives that look up to you as a source of inspiration

The poetry community is vast and diverse, and even bigger because of the internet. I think it’s hard for writers and poets because sometimes it’s like writing into the void and feeling like no one is there to read or listen. I think it’s just important to remember you’re writing for yourself and your truth, and you will connect with those who you’re meant to connect with if you keep writing. Basically, keep writing!! writing is an amazing hobby because there is no time or age limit.

17. How would you describe your personality

See question 7. But honestly, if you asked 10 different people who I was you’d probably get 10 different answers. Even the people who know all my sides and know me best probably would have a difficult time articulating the scope of personality traits I can embody. That being said, I strive to be genuine, honest, and thoughtful, so even if I’m acting like a wild party animal mad man, I try to still maintain those three core values.

18. Asides your passion for poetry, what else are you equally as passionate about

My fiction. My cats. And the Philadelphia Eagles.

19. Your parting words to your teeming followers and fans worldwide.

The support for my writing means the world to me, and on the hardest days, I find so much motivation to write because of the people who seem interested in what I have to say. I write to clear my thoughts but I also write to connect with people and to entertain them, to know I’m achieving that is fulfilling regardless of where my writing career goes. Thank you so much. I am a better writer because of you all.

Edited by Michael Chandler

(Editor-in-Chief)