3 min read
Plot intimidates writers for one simple reason: structure feels like control. Some writers over-outline and drain their story of surprise....
3 min read
4 min read
Avery Normal Institute and the Birth of a Black Intellectual Stronghold in Reconstruction Charleston
In 1865, as the Civil War ended and the United States entered Reconstruction, something revolutionary happened in Charleston, South Carolina....
2 min read
In conversations about arts equity, access is often treated as the finish line. Get a child into the program and...
3 min read
Conflict is not noise.Conflict is not chaos.Conflict is not people arguing for the sake of tension. Meaningful conflict is what...
2 min read
Long before Reconstruction reshaped the legal landscape of the United States, Black communities were already building their own intellectual institutions....
3 min read
Most writing books promise inspiration.Robert McKee’s Story promises something harder and far more useful: discipline. First published in 1997, Story...
3 min read
Across the country, unrest is growing as communities respond to violent immigration enforcement actions and the deaths that have followed....
3 min read
Everybody has ideas for characters. Fewer writers create characters strong enough to carry an entire book. Weak characters are not...
4 min read
Writers are tired, but not in the way people assume. It is not just exhaustion from writing itself. It is...
2 min read
Valentine’s Day often gets flattened into clichés. Flowers, dinner reservations, last-minute gift cards. But at its core, the holiday is...