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J.D. Dresner

Overview

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, J.D. Dresner began drawing early on, creating cartoons on the backs of restaurant napkins and movie scenes in the margins of his school books. His half-human, half-beast creatures often made it into his sketchbooks, and it wasn't long before he started creating backstories for each of them. These stories were the seeds of what would eventually come to be his overarching fantasy world: The Corwyn Chronicles.

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In his teens he began to expand his imaginary universe, creating maps of the land and the stars. Then he'd spend time developing the magic and mechanics systems that Corwyn would eventually adopt. When the family got its first computer, Dresner began to draft his initial story: a fantasy who-dunnit that was a soft blend of Forgotten Realms meets Clue, the board game. He only reached chapter 4 of the manuscript when a file corruption error made the work unreadable. Disheartened, Dresner didn't write again. . .

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Overview

. . .until a series of fortunate events led to his writing rejuvenation. At the same time the following happened:

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  1. His previous landlord asked him to stay at their place free of charge for three months so someone could look after their dog. The catch: for this naturally anxious pet of theirs, he had to remain at home. . . a lot.

  2. A friend of his began a Dungeons & Dragons campaign and had asked Dresner to write up a story for him.

  3. Dresner had just purchased a brand new, state of the art laptop he was eager to try out.

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He hadn't written in a long time, and certainly hadn't played AD&D in many years, but he had the time, he had the means, and he had the opportunity. Originally, the story followed a traditional five-part, hunt for the five elemental artifacts trajectory. Each character, if successful, would obtain powers from each of the elements: air, water, fire, earth, and life. Sadly, when he finished his 60-page campaign, his friend told him they weren't playing the game anymore. So, what was he to do?

 

Keep writing, of course! Dresner's 60-page campaign layout eventually became a 4-book story that went through many revisions. Now it is the backbone for the hundreds of other tales that remain to be discovered in the world of Corwyn.

Bibliography

Bibliography

J.D. Dresner has written two self-published (and on the market) novellas: A Goblin’s Mind, and Sword & Witchhhazel, both available in the Shop page of this site. Along with the four unpublished Talisman Series novels, he has also written a science fiction novella that is currently in the editorial stage of development, a completed full-length jukebox musical focusing on music from The Barenaked Ladies, and several short stories, some of which have been accepted for publication. He is also writing a poetry book with visual elements that highlight his experience as a book layout artist and designer and has begun a new novel that also takes place in the world of Corwyn. When he isn't writing, Dresner provides layout, design, and editorial work for small publishers in both paperback, and eBook formats.

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Credits

Poetry

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Short Stories

  • Dragons v. Subways - published in the short story collection, Versus 2, by the Fantasy Science Fiction Alliance (Forthcoming 2024)

  • The Death Sentence - Forthcoming publication 2024, publisher undisclosed

  • We Can Still Die - published in Crowdsourcing Immortality, by Bloomingtwig.com

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Novels / Novellas

  • A Goblin's Mind - published by The Corwyn Chronicles

  • Sword & Witchhazel - published by The Corwyn Chronicles

  • You Don't Know Jack - published by Gildus Books, a Corwyn Chronicles imprint

Credits
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