My name is Dakota "Daks" Balmore, and I am in reality three people. As Daks, I am a young adult author. I am also a children's juvenile author, which I write under another pseudonym, and an adult historical and fantasy author under yet a third pseudonym. I have websites for all three. As Daks, my writing can be found on http://www.DakotaBalmore.com.
It's my intention that this blog act as a diary and a record of my creative activity. So, let's get started ...
I started writing eight-and-a-half years ago, so there's a lot missed. Today I updated my Dakota Balmore web site by adding short stories to it, and I did the same for my juvenile site.
Yesterday, I came home from work (I teach at an adult high school), and caught all but the first twenty minutes of Regarding Henry on an HBO channel. I had seen it twice before and really like it. As I watched, I got an idea that the story could take a much different turn if the wife freaked out and abandoned the father and the daughter (who would have to be older than the 12 years of the character in the movie. You see, the premise of the movie involves a wealthy lawyer in a disjointed family situation who goes to the corner store near his New York posh apartment. He walks in on a robbery attempt, is shot in the head, and survives to become retarded. The focus of the movie is on him and how his family comes together. My take would make the daughter the center, the mother abandons, and the daughter is stuck coping with a retarded father. What a great idea!
This morning I started planning and came up with 15-year-old Fatima Geld -- spoiled rich kid. The computer is so heartless in one aspect. It forces you to come up with a title before creating the story idea. I came up with A Father Transformed as a working title. Fifteen minutes later, a much better title hit me: My Father, My Child.
I got an idea to start the first chapter and wrote the first 250 words. I had Fatima in her private school, after just having been asked out by a really cool guy she'd been wanting to attract, challenged by a girl with a slightly deranged mind. Darcie is the kind of girl who believes all boys are her private property.
