Hagia Sophia: Why History Matters
The Hagia Sophia is making the news these days because the Turkish president is changing the status of the great building from a world museum and UNESCO World Heritage site…to a mosque. But what is the Hagia Sophia? It’s perhaps a shame that so few understand the incredible role the Hagia Sophia basilica played in world history.
Want to Improve your Writing? Try Role-Playing
Want to spice up the writing room? As writers, we all do pretty much the same things—we read the Elements of Style, brush up on our hero’s journey, try to write every day, and of course, unlock the mysteries of story structure. But have you ever considered setting aside the Chicago Manual of Style and picking up instead the Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook?
The Shield-Maiden Moment: Dynamism in Heroine-Led Stories: Part 4
Welcome to the fourth installment in a series of articles that looks at the heroine archetype and the recurrent themes found within heroine-centric stories. This article expands on the heroine’s labyrinth for narrative story structure as an alternative to the hero’s journey.
Heroine-Centric Story Structure: Part 3
Welcome to the third installment in a series of articles that explore the heroine archetype as a vital cultural figurehead. This article expands on the heroine’s labyrinth as a heroine-centric alternative to the hero’s journey in both narrative structure and character arc.
The Greatest Heroine of Star Wars: Ahsoka Tano
Ahsoka Tano is one of the greatest Star Wars characters of all time and she’s featured in the most egalitarian Star Wars shows out there, The Clone Wars.
Empress Theodora: Origins of Women’s Rights
There are many currents that flow into our modern understanding of women’s rights. Many cultures have recognized for various levels of egalitarian or matriarchal traditions and we have countless examples of great women in power—from the pharaoh Hatsheput to Queen Victoria to Eleanor Roosevelt. But one woman—Empress Theodora— achieved such a decisive victory for women in her time that her relative obscurity is breathtaking. Her legacy lives on today, though you may not know it.
History’s Greatest Cover-up: The Byzantines
Here’s a fun little test. Name a major mainstream movie, television show, or novel that has the Byzantine Empire as a setting. No, really, name one.
The Rise of Skywalker – Flawed but Sincere
While The Rise of Skywalker has its flaws—and there are many—the movie mostly succeeds in concluding the saga while restoring the Star Wars Universe. The film was likable, funny, light-hearted, dark, emotional, and most importantly of all, it felt like Star Wars.
The Heroine vs the Masked Minotaur
One major distinction between the heroine’s labyrinth and the hero’s journey is the nature of the villain. In the hero’s journey model, the villain tends to be an oppressive being from outside the hero’s native culture, who threatens to oppress or destroy it by force. In the heroine’s labyrinth, the villain is often a member of native culture, half benevolent, half oppressive–a masked minotaur.
The Mandalorian – A First Look
Disney Plus launched today and with it, the new streaming series, The Mandalorian. As a member of Generation X’s Star Wars fan corps, I had to watch. My first impressions are mostly positive and I’m feeling mostly optimistic about future episodes. Like Rogue One and The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian seems to be a real Star Wars effort.