Life is one great story and our lives are the
chapters in its book. We, who roam this earth, are naught but gods, ruling over
the worlds we create through the use of literature and books.
-Keith Hunter
I've always been a person to really take joy in appreciating
life and all of its many joys. I've always loved a good story. Everything in
the world, everything in existence, be it man, plant, animal, bug, planet,
space or even atoms has its own story. Everything has its own tale to tell of
how it came to be and how it ended up where it was currently at. Some stories
were way more important than others. Some stories were more interesting than
others but nonetheless, regardless of what the story was about or included, the
one fact remained true. Everything in existence has its own story.
Realizing this fact was a bit startling for me at first. I
couldn't quite grasp why such a simple fact that is nothing more than common
knowledge, stirred me so deeply and was tugging at my strings of creativity so
heavily. It was a simple fact that even the smallest of children knew and yet I
was deeply inspired by it. The thought of everyone and everything having its
own story to tell caused me question and research things like religion, god, creativity
and the very concept of imagination in itself. If everything and everyone had its
own story to tell, then what was the point of life and death if there was no
one to hear and appreciate these magnificent stories? If everything has its own
story then what was God? According to certain beliefs, "God" is the
entity that supposedly created all life and things in the existence. If that
was true, then is "God" the entity that hears everything's story and
appreciates them? Maybe I was thinking a bit too deeply about this but I wanted
to believe that there was something out there that not only heard the infinite
amount of stories that comes with existence but also appreciated them. After
all, the worst thing you can do to a story is to write it or see it unfold but
never tell it to anyone or anything. Above all else, stories are meant to be
told, appreciated and learned from.
Regardless of my deepening thoughts, I began to question
everything. There was a lot in life that I didn't understand. Everything I
learned from my research led me to appreciate life and all it entailed more. I
was deeply intrigued by the fact that everything has its own story. As the days
went by and my research deepened, I started to see and understand life on a
deeper level; deeper than I've ever did before. My research and constant questioning, taught
me that all life was precious, no matter how big or small. Everything in life
was to be appreciated and each day that we are gifted with was a day that we
should take joy and pride in. After all, how could we not be happy about waking
up to another day? Regardless if anything significant happened or not, it was another
day to add another page to our life story.
This new perspective on life caused inspiration to hit me in
the face with a bag of bricks. My mind just didn't want to stop producing ideas
for stories to tell. But even though I was super inspired to write and draw new
stories along with new pieces of art, I soon discovered that I was about to
face a huge problem. Stories and art are meant to be shared with others. It’s a
waste if you keep these things to yourself. So if that was true, if that is
what I believed, then I had no right
to keep my artwork and stories to myself despite my personal opinion on skill
level. Regardless to what I feared my audience would think about my craft, I
felt that as a writer and an artist, I had a duty to share my work with others.
So it was soon after that realization, that I created
the idea of the Tale Keeper. The lore behind the Tale keeper
is that it’s a fictional force or entity that lived in a mysterious library. It
not only recorded every story in existence, but it also would read over and
appreciate them. Though I created this new character, story and idea, I didn’t
really want to create an actual story for it (even though I could). The Tale
Keeper was more than just another idea to me. I wanted it to mean something
more. Instead of being a story of a force that records, collects and read the
stories of existence and everything in it, I wanted it to actually play its
role. But I didn’t know how. Then after some time passed, that’s when the idea
of a website came to mind. I never did like the idea of having all of my
stories and works scattered all across the internet on various website accounts
that I probably won't remember the password for. I wanted to have a permanent
home for my work and stories. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the way how
technology progressed and how easy it was for me to have free places online to
share my work, my craft in a judgment free online community. Also, now that you
can pretty much access the internet from anywhere, it was easy for anyone to
get access to the websites that would be home to my works. But still, I didn't
like that idea. I wanted more than that. I didn’t want to be just another
artist and writer in a vast online community. I wanted my own. I wanted a permanent
home for my work. A place online where all of my work was in one place and
everyone who wanted to read and enjoy it can do so by simply visiting the home
where it was located.
It was soon after realizing this desire of mine that
everything started to come together. I
had all the pieces; all I needed to do was just to put them all together. I
decided to let the Tale Keeper be the poster child of my work and to let the
official website be the home to my stories. The Tale Keeper website was going
to be a vast library of different stories written by myself and some others if
the opportunity to do so arises in the near future. The main content that would
be featured on the site was going to be comic books, but that was only because
I loved comic books and I felt that they were fun to read, easy to enjoy, and
overall pleasant to look at; more so than a huge wall of text. The site is
fairly new so besides a few stories, it doesn't really have anything else on
it. But that doesn't mean it is going to stay that way. There are a ton of
stories currently being worked on and even more projects currently being put
underway. Some future features of the site are going to be text style story
games, short story comic book video strips, and an original animated series. The
Tale Keeper Website has always been a long time dream of mine and I can’t begin
to tell you how long it took me to get this project to where it is currently at.
Even though the site is in its early stages, I hope that you enjoy the site and
all of the stories that will be featured on it, in whatever form it may take.
