A.R. STONE - WRITING
This is the work of 30 years. This page provides an index of some of my writings.
ANIMALS AND PLANTS OF EUROPE
Animals
Pine Marten
In the 80's I read a book called, Thinking Animals, by Paul Shepard, where he contended
that the destruction of our environments would undermine our language and thought that
has been based so heavily on nature and natural metaphors. All of my work, fiction and
the tarot cards are heavy with animals symbols familiar to the Druids and Norse. Here is
an encyclopedia of the animals of Europe.
READ MORE:
Birds
Little Owlets in Tree
In the 80's I read a book called, Thinking Animals, by Paul Shepard, where he contended
that the destruction of our environments would undermine our language and thought that
has been based so heavily on nature and natural metaphors. All of my work, fiction and
the tarot cards are heavy with animals symbols familiar to the Druids and Norse. Here is
an encyclopedia of the animals of Europe.
READ MORE:
Trees
Salix alba
This is an encyclopedia of the trees of Northwestern Europe, their meanings and myths.
READ MORE:
PLOT STRUCTURE AND MYTH
Joseph Campbell's Monomyth
This article is a discussion of the current popular plot style: the hero's journey.
I talk about the full cycle of this story and three other myth cycles that have their
place in popular fiction. This article is a must for fiction writers.
READ MORE:
CHARACTER BUILDING AND ARCHETYPES
The Search for the Hero
America's obsession with the hero has become annoying for writers and fans alike. Most of
the problems with this obsession are desire for a wider range of stories or putting too heavy
a stamp on other characters who do not fit the archetype. Many confuse
action stars with heroes and want their trickers to be more "emotionally available."
The hero is a kind of story archetype, a spiritual archetype, and a personality type. Here
is an exploration of the hero and the mis-matches and what they say about sociiety.
READ MORE:
Personality Maps and Character Motivations
Personality maps are useful to the writer who cannot or should not write about their own
personality. My personality is not popular, meaning that most people do not have my sort
of emotional/mental core. Of course I have traits in common with others, but to write a
popular story I cannot say, "how would I feel?" "what would I do?" and have any hope of
reader connection. So, like people who are nerdy, I have had to learn what motivates other
people. What personality maps can do is to broaden your understanding of psychology.
READ MORE:
Visualizing and Short Cuts to Visual Descriptions
I'm an illustrator, so I can work up my own characters and I have had more success in
drawing emotions than in writing about them. Most writers are
not artists and have a terrible time telling illustrators what their characters look like.
For a writer, a character has a feeling, not necessarily a look. However, the best writers
often tell us very clearly how someone looks in unconventional ways. Just as there is
a shorthand in drawing, there are shortcuts to visualize a character that work better than
having them look into a mirror and say "I have short brown hair and brown eyes."
READ MORE:
POETICS
Poetics, Linguistics and the Way Art
Affects the Way we Think
Professor Tolkien
In this article, I talk about Tolkien's poetry and the Anglo-Saxon styles as
examples of one of the ways that our language is shaped by sound.
READ MORE:
Rilke in Translation
The German poet, Rilke
This is a criticism of translators who fail to honor the sound of the original language in
that the sounds are often part of the word images built up carefully by the poet
READ MORE:
THE TAUREAN AGE
Stonehenge
This is a long article about archeostronomy, stellar precession and the possible theories
behind Stonehenge and the earlier monuments being observatories. This article is one of
the oldest of my published works. It is technical, but very readable for the layman.
READ MORE:
ART INSTRUCTION
This page links to ten articles on art instruction. I was classically trained in anatomy,
painting and drawing, and these articles discuss lighting, the basic head, paradigms in
human anatomy, and more.
READ MORE:
THE WESTERN WAY
The ancient polar constellation, Draco
Why are their four houses at Hogwarts? What spiritual path works best for you? Why does
so much of Western mythology end up a mystery? This link goes to eight articles on magic,
spirituality, arecheoastronomy, and information about Ogham, druidism, and the history of
Magick. READ MORE:
There are a huge number of articles on Ancient Europe at the Anieth background site. Here
are links to some of the material therein. You will have to navigate back out of Anieth (by
using your browser buttons or simply the "Stonework" button to the top page to come back here.
TALES OF ANIETH - 1750 BCE
Ancient Astronomy
Ancient Design, Clothing, and Materials
Several articles the findings of ancient design in Europe, making fabrics out of linen,
wool and felt, making shoes, and the kinds of materials used for clothing. Much of
this information is in the Quicken King graphic novels on sidebars.
READ MORE:
Linguistics of Ancient Europe
These pages contain articles on basic linguistics, and the diachronic linguistics of
Europe as well as phonics, and the psychology of the languages of the British Isles.
READ MORE:
Ancient Herbs and Cooking
I have twelve articles up on the Edible Eden site on modern gardening in the West, but
these articles are specific to Western Europe and focus on ancient cooking, foods and
herbology. The Anieth books are filled with information on the plants and animals of
Europe, their meanings and their uses.
READ MORE:
On the background pages in the Anieth site, there are also introductions to cartography,
law, the ancient family system of the Celts, ancient calendars, verbal mathematics,
Ogham and hand signaling and counting, and much more. One of the motivations behind these
graphic novels was to introduce children (and adults!) to all kinds of research about
ancient Europe at the time of Stonehenge. Many of the articles are yet to be finished,
but there are fifty articles here that are not very technical.
Animals
Joseph Campbell's Monomyth
This article is a discussion of the current popular plot style: the hero's journey.
I talk about the full cycle of this story and three other myth cycles that have their
place in popular fiction. This article is a must for fiction writers.
READ MORE:
CHARACTER BUILDING AND ARCHETYPES
The Search for the Hero
America's obsession with the hero has become annoying for writers and fans alike. Most of
the problems with this obsession are desire for a wider range of stories or putting too heavy
a stamp on other characters who do not fit the archetype. Many confuse
action stars with heroes and want their trickers to be more "emotionally available."
The hero is a kind of story archetype, a spiritual archetype, and a personality type. Here
is an exploration of the hero and the mis-matches and what they say about sociiety.
READ MORE:
Personality Maps and Character Motivations
Personality maps are useful to the writer who cannot or should not write about their own
personality. My personality is not popular, meaning that most people do not have my sort
of emotional/mental core. Of course I have traits in common with others, but to write a
popular story I cannot say, "how would I feel?" "what would I do?" and have any hope of
reader connection. So, like people who are nerdy, I have had to learn what motivates other
people. What personality maps can do is to broaden your understanding of psychology.
READ MORE:
Visualizing and Short Cuts to Visual Descriptions
I'm an illustrator, so I can work up my own characters and I have had more success in
drawing emotions than in writing about them. Most writers are
not artists and have a terrible time telling illustrators what their characters look like.
For a writer, a character has a feeling, not necessarily a look. However, the best writers
often tell us very clearly how someone looks in unconventional ways. Just as there is
a shorthand in drawing, there are shortcuts to visualize a character that work better than
having them look into a mirror and say "I have short brown hair and brown eyes."
READ MORE:
POETICS
Poetics, Linguistics and the Way Art
Affects the Way we Think
Professor Tolkien
In this article, I talk about Tolkien's poetry and the Anglo-Saxon styles as
examples of one of the ways that our language is shaped by sound.
READ MORE:
Rilke in Translation
The German poet, Rilke
This is a criticism of translators who fail to honor the sound of the original language in
that the sounds are often part of the word images built up carefully by the poet
READ MORE:
THE TAUREAN AGE
Stonehenge
This is a long article about archeostronomy, stellar precession and the possible theories
behind Stonehenge and the earlier monuments being observatories. This article is one of
the oldest of my published works. It is technical, but very readable for the layman.
READ MORE:
ART INSTRUCTION
This page links to ten articles on art instruction. I was classically trained in anatomy,
painting and drawing, and these articles discuss lighting, the basic head, paradigms in
human anatomy, and more.
READ MORE:
THE WESTERN WAY
The ancient polar constellation, Draco
Why are their four houses at Hogwarts? What spiritual path works best for you? Why does
so much of Western mythology end up a mystery? This link goes to eight articles on magic,
spirituality, arecheoastronomy, and information about Ogham, druidism, and the history of
Magick. READ MORE:
There are a huge number of articles on Ancient Europe at the Anieth background site. Here
are links to some of the material therein. You will have to navigate back out of Anieth (by
using your browser buttons or simply the "Stonework" button to the top page to come back here.
TALES OF ANIETH - 1750 BCE
Ancient Astronomy
Ancient Design, Clothing, and Materials
Several articles the findings of ancient design in Europe, making fabrics out of linen,
wool and felt, making shoes, and the kinds of materials used for clothing. Much of
this information is in the Quicken King graphic novels on sidebars.
READ MORE:
Linguistics of Ancient Europe
These pages contain articles on basic linguistics, and the diachronic linguistics of
Europe as well as phonics, and the psychology of the languages of the British Isles.
READ MORE:
Ancient Herbs and Cooking
I have twelve articles up on the Edible Eden site on modern gardening in the West, but
these articles are specific to Western Europe and focus on ancient cooking, foods and
herbology. The Anieth books are filled with information on the plants and animals of
Europe, their meanings and their uses.
READ MORE:
On the background pages in the Anieth site, there are also introductions to cartography,
law, the ancient family system of the Celts, ancient calendars, verbal mathematics,
Ogham and hand signaling and counting, and much more. One of the motivations behind these
graphic novels was to introduce children (and adults!) to all kinds of research about
ancient Europe at the time of Stonehenge. Many of the articles are yet to be finished,
but there are fifty articles here that are not very technical.
© 2018, A.R. Stone