Hello Masters, today I want to share an original, thoughtful way you can improve your blog writing with an interview with Shawn aka Dronstad. I’ve struggled with writing every post. Also, I looked online for guidance, but haven’t found a clear way to help me write better. To make it exciting and fun, I asked a fellow community man whom some of you know and love, who possess vast experience and published many posts and stories. The crucial questions will guide us on a journey to learn how to write a novel, unlock an angle of approach to the subject, give your article purpose and build original detail. Please join me for an interview in Q and A form with Shawn from Dronstadblog. In the end, I will include how you can support or follow him.
Dronstad
Q&A Interview with Shawn Dronstad Blog
What do you want to tell your readers or which central question do you want to answer?
The moral of the story varies from text to text. Mostly I try to show the bad, to highlight the good in the next scene. Sometimes I leave the bad, so people can see how bad things can be.
I do this thing covertly, not presented at first glance. You don’t tell a reader “Murder is bad,” you tell him the story and show him why murder is bad. And why am I telling that?
If you show it in a way a reader can relate to, the reader will revisit his morals, think about it, try to defend the other side even he doesn’t support it and after that, he will make a conclusion that ‘murder’ is atrocious.
I want my reader to think, to participate in the story and possibly find an answer to his problem, grow with his moral standing and eventually become a better person after reading my story. In the end, that is the ultimate purpose of a writer.

What’s the purpose of your article?
Tell a story, say something deep, thoughtful, powerful, encouraging. Make a reader search for the truth in the text, make him chase the fragments and complete the puzzle.
Train someone’s mind, challenge his convictions, insult them on the intellectual level and leave him struggling. When they overcome the problem I gave them, they can feel like a hero who has killed a giant.
What do you want your readers to do at the end of the page?
I think I answered this already. I’ll simplify it. I want my readers to think while I entertain them. It is a fun brain exercise, but with a deeper meaning when sub-conscience kicks in.
Reevaluate your standing point, challenge yourself with a different perspective, develop empathy, evoke sympathy for the enemy, understand the different point of view, grow as a person and become a better man tomorrow.
What unique perspective do you bring?
I try to implement something from my life and the situations I’ve been through or my imagination on how things should have happened. I try to show the unpopular opinion in a relatable way.
My prime goal is firstly to shock my reader by giving him an extraordinary situation and slowly point the way out of that situation, so every story is a journey on itself.

Where are the genuinely original details in your story?
It comes in the form of scenery, world-building, the surroundings and the lore I am building within the story. After that, I introduce a character, a person to the story, a piece of reality, someone who will be a guide for the reader through the story.
Also, the motive to the story is something that is purely fictional, therefore original and new. Every story I make is supposed to rely on a rarely explored topic, taboo topics, exotic suggestion and scary thought of something potentially dangerous like war, terrorism, violence, sex, mental issues, confrontation with the law, government, society, etc.

Which elements of your experience couldn’t be in anyone else’s story?
Hmm, that is hard to describe, because I am not able to say what other people have experienced. Many people went through a situation I haven’t, and there are situations that I went through that many can’t imagine happening to them.
I speak about war, conflict, violence and strange places where you can find humanity. To my analysis, the world is yin and yang (light in the dark, dark in light, good in bad, and bad is good).
I’ve been through 5 wars, civil wars and a tough period of transition from Communism to Socialism, to Democracy and the process of Balkanization (look up the term). I was a child when chaos consumed my country, and I grew up through ruble.
In no way do I claim I am an expert on these topics. However, I think I have a somewhat better understanding of what has happened to this part of the world. I do restrain myself to my personal opinion and point of view, and so I critique the society and politics with my own developed comprehension on these topics.
Now, to all of this, what I can say is that you should try answering these questions yourself and see where do you stand. Define your goals and then make the route you want to take.
Set up the checkpoints, but make them close to where are you now in life so that you can reach them. That way you’ll get moving, slowly in the beginning, but you’ll be a step away from where you were yesterday. And then, all you need to do is to work on your way up in the world. It is that simple.
Thank you for joining the interview with Shawn Dronstad!
Masters, we are at the end of the interview with Shawn Dronstad, but it doesn’t need to end here. You can follow his blog, Twitter and his latest stories on his Patreon. Also, if you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate and ask and we will answer them. If you are interested reading more about Dronstad, please check out Steam Dreams.
3 responses to “Interview with Shawn Dronstad”
Interesting read. Always good to hear someone else’s perspective on storytelling. Any story excerpts online?
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Hi Jim,
How are you?
Great to see you! Thank you for reading and commenting.
From Dronstad? I read a great story “USS Sapphire, approaching Sirius, Space” – He titled it Rain journal entry 11 (https://dronstadblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/06/rain-journal-entry-11/). When I read it, I started getting ideas to draw. In other news, I plan to read your comic; Radiation Burn over my ski trip! 🙂
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Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out. Enjoy your skiing!
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