Welcome
This blog documents the creation of June and the Star. Here you'll find posts on:
Writing craft (character arcs, discovery writing, story structure)
Illustration process and style development
Children's literature philosophy (moral clarity, earnest heroes)
Creative life (finding time, overcoming perfectionism)
The Odyssey sucked
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.
My disenchantment with institutions
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.
Don’t tell me what to think
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.
I hate bureaucracy
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.
Feminine evil
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.
Why write a book?
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.