I found Nolan's Odyssey highly annoying because its dialogue is flat and because it strips back the fantasy elements: Athena becomes a hallucination, Calypso’s enchantment becomes a drug habit, and the Sirens' song is reduced to Odysseus's regrets. Instead of leading us into Elfland, the film builds a highway to Poughkeepsie.

It's hard to make a hare look intimidating, and my first draft of this illustration proved it. Here's what I changed, plus an update on beta readers and my developmental editor.

Two new illustrations for June and the Star are in progress: hounds scaling a cave wall and a swarm of glowing figures. Here's the reference work, the rejected drafts, and the reasoning behind each choice so far.

AI can hand the 'ideas guy' a finished product, but people call the result slop. Here's why I believe the idea isn't the soul of a creative work, the process is.

After 2.5 years, five notebooks, and 59,000 words, I've finished the first draft of June and the Star, and I'm surprisingly sad that the story is over. Here's what watching June find her voice meant to me, what comes next, and how you can help as a beta reader.

I used to trust Canadian institutions to generally tell the truth. That trust was broken through experiences that revealed competing versions of reality—what I witnessed versus what was reported.

After months of building toward a climax I wasn't sure how to write, I discovered the confrontation my character needed wasn't external—it was internal. Here's what I learned about writing climaxes that transform characters.

Why do modern movies prefer to lecture audiences instead of letting stories speak for themselves? Comparing Salem's Lot 1979 vs 2024 reveals what's been lost when writers stop trusting viewers to think.

A professional reader helped me see what I'd been missing: character arcs are really about worldview change. Here's how understanding my protagonist's core belief helped me resolve 30+ plot threads.

Between sympathetic villains and ironic humor, moral clarity is disappearing from children's stories. Here's why sincere heroes and clear villains aren't outdated—they're essential for developing morality and meaning.

I set out to create a marketable book cover for my YA novel. The result? A muddy illustration I wasn't proud of. Here's an honest look at what went wrong and what I learned about perfectionism and creative pressure.

Struggling to find time to write? I kept cutting things out of my life to make space, but it backfired. Here's why adding meaningful activities creates more creative energy than withdrawing does.

A woman eating flowers. A tree that can't hold itself upright. Small details from Dr. Sleep and hiking trails found their way into my novel. Here's why choosing details that resonate with you creates resonance for readers.

Of all the things that frustrate me, bureaucracy tops the list. From government work to my novel's antagonist, I've explored how systems prioritize procedure over people—and why that makes great fiction.

As a horror fan, I'm often asked why I enjoy being scared. The answer matters for children's literature: scary stories serve crucial purposes. Here's why kids need to encounter frightening moments—and what CS Lewis said about brave knights and cruel enemies.

I'm a discovery writer—no outline, just imagination. But with 13 plot threads in the air, how do I land this story? Comparing Neil Gaiman's emergent style vs JK Rowling's planning, here's how to trust the process without losing control.

I dreaded illustrating my novel. My mental images were too detailed, too complex, too perfect. Then a YouTube video about Pinterest changed everything. Here's how I found an art style that actually excites me.

The White Witch, the Other Mother, Professor Umbridge—three female villains who terrified me as a reader. Analyzing what makes them compelling revealed something deeper than just "evil women." Here's how to write female antagonists beyond masculine stereotypes.

I never planned to write a novel. But kids today grow up in an unprecedented information landscape — social media, algorithmic echo chambers, monetized attention. Here's why I believe fiction can teach media literacy better than lectures ever could.