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Fantasy Story Beats
The Fantasy genre is about becoming the best version of oneself.
4 days ago9 min read
Horror Story Beats
The Horror genre is about what we are in the face of inevitable death.
Mar 2311 min read
Myth Story Beats
The Myth genre is for stories about gaining immortality through leaving a lasting legacy.
Mar 210 min read
Action Story Beats
The Action genre is for stories about taking action and fighting.
Feb 1710 min read
Gangster Story Beats
The Gangster genre is for stories about the corruption of society and individuals.
Jan 208 min read
Introduction to the Genre Beats Cookbook
John Truby's Anatomy of Genre is, in my view, an indispensable guide to modern storytelling. His approach to story has become a key part of thousands of writers' success, from novelists to screenwriters. I've discussed my thoughts on this book in another blog post. Sufficed to say, it provides three key pieces of insight to me (and soon to you) as a storyteller: "What are the parts that make a story a story?" The Genre Beats Cookbook breaks down every story into recognizabl
Jan 25 min read
#1 Way to Make Scholarship Hunting More Bearable
TLDR; Look for scholarships that make you learn about something you didn't already know about. The best part (other than getting money for college) is when a scholarship makes you research a topic you never explored before. This is not just about funding—it’s also a smart student scholarship guide approach to learning. Earlier this year, I found a scholarship from a company that manages gold assets. To answer their question well, I had to study U.S. economic history and gold
Dec 21, 20252 min read
Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Memorial Scholarship
Civil rights can only be advanced in public spaces; in the dark, they wither and die, and cruelty thrives. This is why racists and other hate groups have historically put so much effort into controlling those public spaces, such as by restricting the rights of blacks and women to vote, busting unions, or using rioters and even armed forces to break up peaceful protests on campuses and at the capital (see the Hardhat Riots of 1970 for the former, or the Haymarket Riots of 1896
Nov 19, 20254 min read
Captrust Scholarship Essay
The following is a scholarship essay I submitted to CapTrust. It's more of a memoir than an academic paper—a good example of a memoir style scholarship essay. Hopefully, it helps students understand how to craft their own essays. It helped me solidify my personal identity, and I wanted to share. I will start with one word: Communicator. I sincerely believe that communication is the antibiotic of human society. You could solve virtually every Shakespeare play's plot by improvi
Nov 17, 20253 min read
What Are The Benefits of Gold In An Investment Portfolio?
The following is a scholarship essay I submitted to American Bullion. Hopefully this is a good example for you, or you find the topic interesting. Either way, I enjoyed writing it more than I expected and wanted to share. In the 1911 edition of Miami Metropolis, Thomas Edison is quoted: “Gold has even now but a few years to live. The day is near when bars of it will be as common and as cheap as bars of iron or blocks of steel.” In 1915, only a few years after Edison’s claim,
Nov 9, 20254 min read
"The Instructions" art by Axetic
Emura is not lost in a shifting, recursive, anomalous mansion. She has instructions. (Art by Axetic. Seriously, this guy is becoming my Kevin McLeod of art.) Every year for Halloween, my family gets together and shares spooky stories. Since I'm an author, I make a whole thing out of it and write a short story. I did my first one last year, and when this year came around, I decided to make a continuation for the same tale. You can read both parts so far here. You can read both
Oct 26, 20251 min read
The Anatomy of Genres Review
I'm writing what is very nearly the finished draft of Bondage of Magics right now, while at the same time reading The Anatomy of Genres book by John Truby. This creative writing book review is for anyone interested in understanding story structure and genre. I highly recommend this book, whether you're a writer or not, and even whether you're a reader or not. It defines every genre by its philosophy, and philosophy is something we all need in such a broken-down, explained fo
Aug 15, 20252 min read
Recently re-read the Watch books by Terry Pratchett
I recently went back and did a Discworld Watch series reread, and it was fascinating to see the stories from a new perspective. I don't know if any of y'all have read Thud! by Terry Pratchett, but it's a masterpiece. Basically, it's about "angry policeman dad vs. the Dwarf KKK". Going through these books again, I noticed so many things I missed the first time, which is one of the reasons I think re‑reading Terry Pratchett books is so rewarding. It's been very interesting to
Jun 7, 20253 min read
Some Advice on Diversity
Some of the best writing advice I ever got, as a straight white man, was from a friend in high school. They said to focus on writing diverse characters and to explore people completely different from me. When making a character, instead of starting with straight white men, I start with gay black women, and my inherent biases shift all the characters in my direction, resulting in a scatter plot of a cast. This approach is one of the most practical ways to learn how to write di
Mar 23, 20251 min read
Morals in Fantasy
One of my favorite aspects of writing fiction, particularly fantasy, has got to be the ability to explore very real questions and problems using absurd scenarios. This is why morals in fantasy feel so powerful. Fantasy is where "good" and "evil" can be full-fledged characters, not just concepts, which helps shape strong fantasy storytelling themes. When I study philosophy, I notice that there's a whole lot of absurd scenarios used to explain difficult concepts, from the troll
Feb 4, 20251 min read
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