Now, for the premiere of our show...a display of some of Daryn's best writing, from fantasy to personal essay! Writing so good, it was published! To read a story, click on the provided image, and get taken straight to the magazine issue it's published in!
"My Mom's Fitness Routine" is a creative nonfiction piece I wrote discussing my mom's love for fitness, and how she tried her best to get me to share in that enthusiasm. This was a piece that became very personal to me, as I talk about my mom's cancer diagnosis, and how it made me reevaluate my ire around her passion for involving me in fitness.
"Writing to Speaking: How Reading Work Aloud Can Be Validating" was a personal essay I wrote discussing my experience of reading a piece of fiction I wrote aloud at a writing convention. I break down my usual thought patterns, and how the experience of going out of my comfort zone and expressing myself for others made me better as a creative.
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"The Process of Ensnarement" is a flash fiction piece I presented orally at the Sigma Tau Delta Centennial Convention for a panel about Original Prose concerning Folklore, Realism, and Deception. This story is a first person POV from a siren that routinely comes on land to lure its prey into the ocean and devour them whole. The narration is meant to blur the line between fantastical, and realistic when it comes to the terminology the siren uses to describe its methods of beguiling its prey.
"Bugs Off the Sidewalk"
Fiction, Ouroboros, December 2023
"Bugs off the Sidewalk" is a 1st person speculative fiction piece about a narrator who was born with lizard features. The goal with this piece was to get one to empathize with the narrator, enough to stay with them as the prose and actions of this story get stranger and more gruesome. I also wanted to talk about real topics like abuse and societal prejudice through speculative allegory, as I feel that's how I can best express myself.
Also, TW for gore and gross imagery concerning bugs!
"Can Dreams Return" is a short story about a girl named Amanda who has a distinguished and monstrous creature named Oswald appear to her in a dream and try to convince her not to give up on herself. In this story I wanted to work on combining humor with serious topics like depression and hopelessness. I also wanted to show off my characterization skills with how I portrayed Amanda and Oswald.
"Round Trip" is a 1st person POV short story about a girl coming to do a check-in on her former friend Georgie, who's an obsessive, shut-in writer. This story was meant to be my dip into the genre of magical realism, as the story remains in a grounded setting, centered in the very real narrative of a friendship falling apart--while magic just so happens to be involved for a brief time as well.
"Welcome to Amare" is a flash fiction fantasy piece written in the 2nd person. You are in the POV of a person who's being given a tour of the pristine Kingdom of Amare...but are you there willingly? And what exactly makes this kingdom so beautiful? This was the first piece I ever got published, so it holds a special place in my heart. In it, I wanted to play with perspective, setting, and foreshadowing.
Most Images Made in Canva by Me
"Bugs Off the Sidewalk" image made by @fisheyeyoung