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It’s the OBA Story Team as you’ve never seen them before! Watch our live reactions to the film Daredevil, the theatrical version of which was infamously edited to remove the entire plot line. Join us for a movie night full of quips, deep conversations, critiques, laughs, cringe, and a celebration of exciting storytelling that makes a real impact.

Every story matters and deserves to be told well. Want to work with us to make sure your story packs the punch it is meant to? Check out our services for both beginner and advanced writers here:

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“If you use AI you are not a real writer.”

I heard this phrase today. And not just today, over the last year or so it has grown stronger and louder in the writing community. But today, I want you to sit with this accusation for a moment, because I think we need to reckon with what it means that we are the ones saying it.

I’m going to be honest: when I see this discourse, it disheartens me. We writers—no matter fiction, non-fiction, commentary, or whatever have you—are teachers of empathy. It is our responsibility as scribes to understand the world, to experience different worldviews, and to carry those truths back to the people who never could have found them on their own. And with empathy there must come compassion. A willingness to understand the other side of the aisle.

The above quote flies in the face of all I have ever understood about our place in this world.

I love writers. I love them for the same reason I believe brought most of you here: because I myself am the kind of person who needs stories to survive. I loved the writing community long before there was a Substack, a TikTok, or a Twitter in which we could fling our purist ideals at one another. What drew me to this community was the belief that regardless of the color of your skin, your socioeconomic background, your gender, or your sexual preference, if you had an idea and wanted to tell a story, you would be welcomed.

Notice I didn’t say could tell a story. My choice of word is intentional. Wanted. A burning desire to tell a story. This, and an idea, was the price of admission into the world that I love.

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In the rise of AI, a fear has spread. The curtain has fallen on what we do as writers, and the demystification is unsparing. I too have often overglorified and romanticized the act and the art of being a writer. The divinity of it. The calling of adding to the fabric of civilization.

But I had to realize a hard truth: the great myth of the writer—the hero come to life, the one who slays the blank page and liberates the ideas running wild in their mind–was an overestimation of ourselves. And this mythologizing, I have come to believe, is what blinds us to the reason we all came here in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand people’s concerns. I am not so blind, or so idealistic, or even so nonsensical as to pretend otherwise. So let us examine both sides of the argument.

Participation Trophies

You are passionate about that 475-page tome you have been writing about the eight kingdoms and the fae princess who is destined to be with a mate she can’t stand. Despite all their differences they find true love in the face of class divides, unfair beauty standards, oppressive gender roles, or whatever social injustice you have chosen to combat. You should be passionate. You are a freaking badass! But you don’t just want to write a book and leave it in your Google Drive for all eternity. You want the world to see it. You want a return on your investment which is valid, and honestly smart. You’ve worked hard on this–years, countless hours of planning, writing, editing, marketing this masterpiece.

And then here comes the AI writer. Who has written something nowhere near the quality of your work, in a fraction of the time, with a fraction a the mental anguish and sacrifice. They push ‘publish’ and it’s shotgunned to Amazon and anywhere else books are sold. They are getting reviews. They are even making a buck. They are not passionate about their idea or their story. They don’t care about the craft you spent so many years learning and embracing. They make a mockery of this great profession and reap the rewards in spite of it. All they care about is a dollar.

Being a writer is hard. It takes grit. Showing up to the blinking cursor as often as one possibly can, in spite of pain, depression, joy, hunger, chaos in life. A writer must bleed on the page through it all. It takes many years to even become halfway decent at this craft. So when you manage to write a decent piece of work, when you manage to rip and tear through the hours, days, months, sometimes years of labor to birth your genius, that means something. As it should. That beaming pride you have for the sentences you strung together is everything.

Millions of people claim they will write the great American novel every year. Hundreds of thousands might even manage their first sentence. Tens of thousands manage their first few chapters. But you are one of the few, the proud, who have actually completed something. You have done the hard thing.

And then here comes the AI writer. Who thumbs their nose at craft, at the hours needed to perfect a skill they will never have to develop. They bypass the labor completely. With a few well-worded prompts and a Word document, they can birth what took you years.

Suddenly, anyone can do this thing we do. Which means we, and this feat of ours, is not so special anymore. Because if anyone can call themselves a writer, then are any of us really writers?

Too Much Noise

Marketing a book is hell. Differentiating yourself is a challenge, to say the least. Week after week you put in the work: pushing your comfort zone, handling rejection,, shooting Instagram reels and TikToks, blasting out Substack newsletters, building your email list, jumping on every podcast and blog you can find…just to make sure your story gets read by a handful of people.

The average writer barely sells more than 250 books over a book’s lifetime. The average income for a self-published author from book sales alone is under a thousand dollars. Despite all your hard work, all your effort, all your mastery of craft, you will likely not even break even on the investment you made bringing this thing into the world. Competition is brutal. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of authors putting books out every year, all around the world. These statistics apply no matter how good your book is, how many followers you have, how many emails you collected.

And now we have the AI writers, pumping work after work into the world, muddying the waters and making it harder than it already was to stand out. And the quality of what they put out is nothing compared to writers like you. So not only must you compete with the real writers of the world, now you have to compete with a flood of prompt-generated noise that distracts your readers, lightens your pockets, and ruins the reputation of your profession.

A Different Take

All of those points are reasonable on the surface. Valid fears and valid gripes about our work being devalued as it is encroached upon by lazy, untalented, grifting, fake writers. No passion, no skill, no desire to build either. Only a dollar and the next prompted pile of garbage.

But I want to look a little closer. Because I think we owe it to ourselves, and I mean that seriously, to look at what we are actually doing when we say these things.

Consider—and I ask you to genuinely consider this, not as a concession but as practice of the empathy we claim to have—that if we rise above the cynical view that all AI authors are operating in bad faith, there might be another way of looking at this.

There are writers out there who use AI for research. To get a clear picture of the world around them when they lack the resources, the time, or the ability to go out and do it themselves. Perhaps they want to understand a community they cannot get close to, or a time they never lived in and cannot find anyone who did. Perhaps the library is not an option for them. Perhaps they don’t even know where to begin, and they use AI to find some direction, to remove the obstacles of time and an overwhelming mental load so they can get to the thing we all came here for: to actually write.

Others use it for feedback. Some don’t have the funds for an editor, and have little access to writing communities that are welcoming, engaging, and genuinely helpful. Or they simply aren’t aware of their options, and this is the most economically feasible thing available to them.

And some people use AI because they have higher barriers to overcome. Maybe they have learning disabilities. Maybe English is not their first language. Maybe they are so busy working to put food on the table that they don’t have time for YouTube or craft books or mentors. But they still have the same thing you and I have: a burning desire to tell a story, and an idea that they genuinely just want to exist. Something they can look down at and say,

“That thing that has been gnawing on the inside of my skull is finally out, and I can see it, touch it, read it.”

The same feeling you and I get when we finish our first draft. (I am not so naive as to have it lost on me that our satisfaction largely comes from having actually written it ourselves. But I also know the satisfaction of seeing your idea exist in the real world, and that is worth acknowledging, too.)

The Special Factor

The constant misconception I hear is that if anyone can do it, it isn’t special anymore. The fear being that if AI writers can craft stories without talent or skill or passion, then what is the point of what we do?

But consider this: we were never special. We are not some great global myth, some anomaly that sets us apart from the rest of humanity. Sure, we are part of a legacy of greats who braved the page and earned immortality. But they weren’t special, either.

Writing is a skill. It can be built. And quite frankly, anyone can do it. The fact that we do does not make us the chosen ones, it makes us people with something to say. (And I would argue that these days, that may not be worth as much as we think, because everyone and their mother has an opinion that they demand everyone hear.)

Harshness aside: you are still a writer. I am still a writer. Regardless of how anyone else values my craft, I am still a writer. Whatever AI writers are pumping out into the world, whatever consequences ripple down from that, it has nothing to do with my ability or yours. Their choices take nothing away from your years of practice. It takes nothing away from your story.

An AI writer’s work has zero impact on the quality of ours. So perhaps instead of closing the gate, instead of replacing the great gatekeepers of the Big Five with ourselves, we might consider focusing on our own work, uplifting our own circles, and leaving others to create however they choose.

Because at the end of the day, you will still be a goddamn writer.

The Zero-Sum Game

You are not wrong about the noise. We are living in the age of the noisy void. The world where everyone is an author, a marketer, an entrepreneur, an artist, someone with an opinion that demands to be voiced. Beyond the writing world, in almost any industry that asks us to stand out, with the rise of social media, it has become a challenge to carve out your own place. Specifically in the writing community, with the rise of AI authorship, we have developed what I would say is an irrational fear that we will be replaced. That there are a limited number of seats and someone is about to take ours.

The truth is that writing is not a zero-sum game. For someone else to succeed does not mean you must fail. My unread TBR list alone proves that people still buy and read multiple books. They still read multiple newsletters and blogs, still see multiple films, admire many new paintings, find new favorite songs. There is no finite amount of art that people will consume.

The natural fear is that readers may grow jaded if all the work around them is AI-generated. I think this is a projection of fear and insecurity, and I think the opposite is actually true. The more AI content that floods the world, the more people will seek out real human stories. This is your opportunity. The scarcity mindset that runs rampant in our community is the real problem, not AI writers. There are enough readers. New ones are born every minute. There is room for all of us.

The Mirror

I understand many of your concerns. Our world is run on fear, and it is truly counter-cultural to choose to make your peace and stop carrying these concerns.

When I was a boy, one of the things that drove me to writing was being an outcast. Being bullied. Being told I did not belong. I suspect many of you know that feeling—not only from being a writer, but from long before. From a parent, other kids, a coworker, a world that looked at you and decided, before you opened your mouth, that you had nothing worth saying. Someone tried to bully you into believing a narrative about yourself that was not true.

What I am watching now is us becoming those bullies. Penalizing people for how they choose to create. Assigning them narratives of our own making. Whether you acknowledge it as such is your prerogative, but shutting people out of this community–the community that saved some of us–is beneath us. It makes a mockery of everything we claim to stand for. Those who can understand that, I would argue, are the real writers.

I ask you to consider nuance. I ask you to consider compassion. I ask you to remember why you became a writer in the first place, and what it said about you that you chose to do it. If you are so offended by how others write, extend a hand. Offer an alternative. Or simply go on about your merry way, and be completely oblivious to what anyone else is doing.

I started One Brilliant Arc because I believe that everyone–everyone–has a story to tell, and I will fight for their right to tell it however they choose. That is my calling as a human, as a thinker, and, most importantly, as a writer. And I am asking you to recognize that it is also yours.

We do not need to tear down others’ legitimacy in order to preserve our own.

💬 What do you think? Comment below:

• What is your biggest concern as a creative with the rise of AI?

• What are your thoughts on the use of AI to create art?

Hey, the OBA Story Team along with Jessica Ann are putting on a✨FREE✨ virtual storytelling workshop on July 18th to help you create more powerful characters! We would love to see you there.

REGISTER HERE

Many writers struggle to let their true voice shine when they’re inundated with conflicting advice from beta readers and editors. In this episode, the OBA story team sits down with Dani Drake, an author and a creative writing college professor, to help her navigate her way through editing her bold, authentic, cozy fantasy manuscript. Sit with us and learn:

• When and how to write with dual-POV (multiple protagonists) while keeping your readers immersed and avoiding head-hopping

• How to gender-bend specific character archetypes to make them feel fresh

• How to write flawed, unlikeable protagonists that your readers will still love

• How to blend cozy fantasy vibes with real-life grit to make the story resonate stronger

• How to make your dialogue sound more natural and realistic

• How to navigate the all-important yet ambiguous problem of pacing at the sentence level and the story structure level

Come explore the creative, fantastical, mysterious town of Peculiar through the eyes of a fierce, flawed pair of sisters taking on supernatural powers, running an antique shop, and trying to find their identities through it all.

Tune in to unlock the secrets of compelling, authentic writing and learn how to bring your unique voice forward with confidence. Your story deserves to be as genuine and powerful as Dani’s, and this episode is your next step toward that goal.

Huge thanks to Dani for sharing her story with us for this episode! You can follow her writing journey on her TikTok page.

OBA’s story team offers real help for real stories in real time, and we can do the same for your story! Want us to be your partners along the storytelling journey? Check out our services for both beginner and advanced writers:

Want to be on our next podcast? Submit your WIP for a FREE story audit with OBA’s team of editors here:

SIGN UP TO BE OUR NEXT GUEST

Hey, we want to invite you to something cool we’re doing on July 18th. The OBA Story Team, along with , are putting on a✨FREE✨ storytelling workshop to help you create more resonant protagonists! We would love to see you there! 🖤

REGISTER HERE

Think about the moment in Breaking Bad when Walter White finally admits,

“I did it for me.”

For five seasons, he fed himself the ultimate “Character Lie”:

I’m doing this for my family.

It was the shield he used to justify every murder, every lie, and every soul-crushing choice. When that lie finally shattered, the story’s climax hit us square in the chest.

But what happens when your protagonist’s journey feels…flat? You’ve got the explosions. You’ve got the snappy dialogue. You’ve got the high stakes. Yet, for some reason, the emotional payoff just isn’t hitting. The story is stuck. No matter how many times you rewrite the climax, it still feels like a hollow shell of what you envisioned.

At One Brilliant Arc, we’ve seen the consequences of a weak character arc thousands of times, whether from clients’ first drafts or pop culture media flops. The problem is not fixed by rearranging your plot. The real problem is a weak Character Lie: the false belief at the absolute center of your protagonist’s soul. If you skip the central Character Lie, you won’t have a solid foundation to build your protagonist’s character arc from. This problem will quietly sabotage your entire narrative structure if you do not fix it.

If your protagonist’s arc feels broken or lackluster, it is likely because they don’t have a strong enough lie they believe. Here is how to troubleshoot your protagonist’s core conflict and stress test if the lie your protagonist believes is strong enough. Fix your story’s character arc structure using the One Brilliant Arc Method!

1. The Lie Is Too Vague

A weak lie is the silent killer of great fiction. If you say your character is just “insecure” or “unhappy,” you haven’t dug deep enough. A true Character Lie is a specific, actionable, and deeply flawed worldview.

2. The Lie Is Not Rooted in a Visceral “Wound”

Why does your protagonist believe this lie? If there’s no backstory wound—a moment of trauma, betrayal, or failure that “proved” the lie to them—then the reader won’t buy it. The lie should feel like a survival strategy they adopted to keep from getting hurt again.

3. The Plot and the Lie are Running on Separate Tracks

This is the most common mistake for structurally stuck writers. If your protagonist’s external goal (winning the war, finding the treasure) doesn’t force them to confront their internal lie, your story’s arc is dead on arrival.

4. The Lie Doesn’t Cause “Bad” Decisions

We love our characters, and especially when we understand their backstories so deeply, we can be afraid to let them be wrong. But if the lie your protagonist has built their worldview around doesn’t lead them to make mistakes, push people away, or blow things up, there’s no tension.

5. You’re Missing the “Opposing Truth”

Every lie needs its antithesis. The “Truth” is the thematic heart of your story: the realization the character needs to have to become whole. Without a clear Truth, your character is just wandering in the dark without a map and your story is lost without a clear thematic direction.

6. The Transformation is a “Light Switch” Moment

Growth is exhausting. It’s messy. It’s a literal battle for the character’s soul. If your protagonist changes their entire worldview after one conversation, their positive character arc feels unearned, cheap, and shallow.

7. The Climax Resolves the Plot, But Not the Character

If your hero defeats the villain but hasn’t fundamentally changed how they see the world, the ending will feel hollow. The climax should be the moment where the character has to choose between their old lie and the new truth to save the day.

8. Your Protagonist Embodies the “Truth” Too Early

Sometimes we write characters who are too perfect. If your protagonist already understands the theme in Chapter 1, they have nowhere to go. Instead of going on an adventure that illustrates a character arc, they plateau and your plot has no reason to continue on.

9. There’s No “All is Lost” Moment for the Lie

To give up a lie, a character has to be shown that the lie no longer works. Their false worldview has to fail them completely. If the lie is still providing them with some level of comfort or success, they won’t let it go.

10. You Have Too Many Lies

If your protagonist is trying to learn how to be brave, and how to trust, and how to be less selfish, and how to cook a better soufflé, the narrative impact gets diluted.

How to Fix Your Plot: The One Brilliant Arc Method

Heartfelt storytellers know that identifying the Character Lie in your story isn’t just writing advice; it is soul work. Unpacking your character arc like this is the key to moving from endless revision cycles into a story that finally feels complete. At One Brilliant Arc, we also believe that this moment in your story development is exactly what transforms your draft from mere entertainment into a world-changing story.

The One Brilliant Arc Method is our unique framework for narrative diagnosis. Our editors don’t just look at where your commas go. We look at the emotional truth underneath your story’s structure. Whether you’re a novelist stuck in the “mushy middle” or a screenwriter whose protagonist feels like a cardboard cutout, we help you identify that core lie your character believes so you can build a story that hits harder and stays with your audience forever.

Stop spinning your wheels in the fog of writer’s block or narrative resistance. You have a story that the world needs to hear. Especially if you represent a voice that has been historically silenced or overlooked, your perspective is the medicine our world needs. But you can only deliver that healing medicine if your story is structurally sound.

Ready to apply this method to finish your book or screenplay in a way that feels honest and powerful?

Start by registering for the free, one hour workshop on July 18th (or catch the replay)!

The world is waiting for your story. Don’t let a weak Character Lie keep your manuscript hidden in a drawer for another year. Let’s build something brilliant together.

💬 Comment below:

• Does your story’s main character arc center around a lie your protagonist believes?

• What struggles have you run into when trying to develop character arcs?

Leave a comment

Hey, we’re putting on a FREE, virtual, one hour long storytelling workshop on July 18th to help you build stronger character arcs, and we want to invite you! Register today to join us live or catch the replay at: https://onebrilliantarc.com/workshop-july-18

Every story matters and deserves to be told well. Want to work with us to make sure your story packs the punch it is meant to? Check out our services for both beginner and advanced writers here:

BOOK YOUR FREE STORYTELLING CONSULT

💬 Join the conversation—let’s swap ideas and inspire each other!

• What kind of “homesickness” do you relate to from The Odyssey?

• What part of your journey has changed you permanently?

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“I’m Looking for Hope.”

It is the late 1990s. I am a wee little lad. I am watching X-Men: The Animated Series–my introduction to what will become one of my favorite comic books and, well, favorite things ever. The story is about how there are people born with special powers, called mutants. Because of these differences, these mutants become hated and feared by the majority population of powerless, “ordinary” folk. The titular X-Men are a group of mutants who fight to protect mutants and those who hate and fear them for the benefit of all people.

It is the early 2000s. I have a small collection of X-Men comic books I avidly read. My soccer team loses our Saturday game and my Tía takes me and my siblings to see the long-awaited X-Men movie sequel, X2, which becomes one of my favorite theater experiences ever. The film is about the same conflict as the cartoon and the comics, updated for the post 9/11, homophobic, Islamophobic, and anti-immigrant era.

It is 2017. The X-Men film series comes to a sublime end for me with the film Logan, which I see in a packed Saturday house at my local movie theater. By now, as a university student, I have grown up with the X-Men and their world through various cartoons, video games, movies, and comic books. I am a veteran fan. This piece is the darkest X-Men film yet, unflinchingly discussing its topics of prejudice and racism, the authoritarian and banally evil powers that perpetuate these social and lawful norms, and the little people who fight back—who must fight back.

It is now 2026. You know the current state of the world. I decide to finally revisit the X-Men film series, one film a month, after nine years. The experience has been very rewarding, but it becomes even more obvious that this sci-fi epic of a tale is a story made for our time, right now, to the point the parallels become less metaphorical or allegorical and more direct representations of our world.

Except the X-Men films were not made in or for 2026. The films were made in the 2000s and 2010s. The first cartoon show in the 1990s. My father grew up with the comics in the 1970s. They first premiered in 1963, a whopping 63 years ago. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s creation was directly discussing the times when people were being hosed down in the streets by authorities for being different on national television.

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If the point of the X-Men stories is to change readers, audiences, and gamers’ hearts and minds to reject racism, hate, and prejudice and instead embrace empathy, love, and acceptance, then why the bloody hell are they STILL relevant all the time? Are we, like the X-Men, fighting a losing battle? A never-ending war? Will these stories ever become dated?

“Nothing Ends, Adrian. Nothing Ever Ends.”

Sixty-three frigging years is a damn long time to still be talking about these topics with little change. Sure, maybe the brutalities and injustices of the Civil Rights era are not as abundant, but I do not need to tell you that the past decade has felt like the whole world is slipping backwards regarding social justice. Words inconceivable when I was a boy are now happily, carelessly trending on Twitter. The brighter future we dreamed about as youths, what seemed so close to coming true, looks to be slipping from our grasp.

The X-Men should not be relevant, but they continuously are. While that description makes for a great Marvel Comics marketing headline, it depresses me. Their gallantry feels hollow when real people are suffering and dying because of the very forces they oppose. In rewatching these entertaining films, I no longer feel awed by their application to our times, but troubled.

Between the X-Men’s fighting across the arcade machine at my local Shakeys as a boy until reading Gail Simone’s current comic book run of Uncanny X-Men as a 31-year-old, surely the world has finally listened and changed because such art exists; such ideas persist; such people keep fighting.

Why has nothing changed?

I am reminded of a masterful scene from Logan, in which the titular mutant finds an in-world X-Men comic, deliberately over-the-top and loosely based on real events. Logan angrily remarks,

“This is ice cream for bed wetters!”

In other words, these sci-fi stories are not deep, meaningful things but just more crap to add to the noise of our world. Their notions of changing the world for the better are, likewise, crap. Meaningless. Futile.

Sadly, I think the X-Men are forever doomed to be relevant. If the world is not changing, what is the point of these stories—like X-Men, or Andor, or Jane Eyre—that if people just fricking listened to them could make the world a better place?

“I Don’t Think Laura Needs Reminding of Life’s Impermeance.”

While re-watching the X-Men films, I realized that I myself, and fellow fans like me, am the answer.

Yes, prejudice, racism, hatred, and all the things the X-Men are fighting against still exist. They are not going away any time soon. In this sense, the X-Men have failed. Sure, they have changed me and countless others, but what is the point of revisiting them when more and more governments are slipping further and further into fascist ideologies, corporations still exist controlling our lives, and the world’s future looks darker every day?

“Racism is bad.”

“Hate will never win.”

“Keep fighting the good fight.”

These all feel like hollow words compared to a glance at the news.

Except they are not.

We revisit stories that have taught us so much for many, many reasons, and one is to be reminded of what we already know. Metaphorically speaking, the choir is large and still attends church because they still have much to learn. We are humans, and so we are forgetful.

The X-Men stories, whether Chris Claremont’s legendary comic book run, the movies that grew up with me, or your nearest cosplayer dressing up as any one of the franchise’s awesome characters (Kitty Pryde-for-life!) continue to tell us in the darkest days that love, acceptance, and empathy are the only ways we are going to survive this life—and these qualities will help us live better, richer lives, too. We are reminded that when we are different, we are not alone, and being different does not mean you are worthless; sometimes, being different is just what another needs to keep going in life.

Whenever someone, anyone, tells you a certain group of people need to be abused in any way because they are different, you fight that evil. People—including yourself—are counting on you to keep fighting even when you are exhausted. Hearing news stories like the Mutant Registration Act, the damned Sentinels, or Stryker’s mega-church sermons preaching hatred of mutants because they, children of God, are supposedly unacceptable creatures, we are reminded that what we are witnessing is wrong. Unnatural. Unjust. We must not accept the way the world is and keep working to make it better, regardless of whether or not we are fighting a losing war.

And we find the inspiration, the encouragement, and the hope we need to do just that through stories like the X-Men.

Because I, like you, am a forgetful being, I needed to revisit the X-Men films to be reminded of what the world really is from time to time. To be reminded that we are not powerless but powerful because we love and have hope that keeps us fighting for those who need help.

The X-Men may not have saved the world yet, but they are there to save us, time and time again, so we can save this Earth.

We always need reminding of our better selves. Always.

I close with one of my favorite quotes from my favorite X-Men story, Whedon and Cassady’s Astonishing X-Men. In the scene, Hank McCoy, a.k.a. Beast, is tempted to take a medicine that will remove his mutation, robbing his powers and turning the big, lion man back into a human. He pleads with Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine, that he deserves to be human again because he is, truly, a man. Logan, knowing Hank will ultimately hate himself for giving up being a superhero when there are students who need him, simply says,

“Wrong. You are an X-Man.”

‘Nuff said.

💬 Comment below:

• Did the X-Men films offer encouragement to you over the years, or just entertainment?

• What legacy of goodness do you hope your story leaves in the world?

Healing is never a linear journey, though. In this episode, a story partner from One Brilliant Arc sits down with Larada to help her sensitively edit her autofiction novel about her healing experience. Join us in this heart-filled writing room as we learn how to pick up the pen to take back control in our own lives, how to harness the healing power of storytelling in our own stories, and how to become a better witness for the healing journeys of others.

If your story has been impacted by abuse, this episode is a must-watch. If you want to write a memoir that truly heals hearts, learn how here.

Huge thanks to Larada for sharing her deeply personal, powerful story with us for this episode! You can follow her writing journey on her Substack or at her website.

Larada Horner-Miller

I am a retired middle school teacher who has written six books and three cookbooks.

OBA’s story team offers real help for real stories in real time, and we can do the same for your story! Want us to be your partners along the storytelling journey? Check out our services for both beginner and advanced writers:

Want to be on our next podcast? Submit your WIP for a FREE story audit with OBA’s team of editors here:

SIGN UP TO BE OUR NEXT GUEST

Actually, storytellers who understand the human psychology of relationships can help us heal some of the most broken parts of our world. Join our conversation with Gary to hear about his fascinating life story and many of his written stories, including:

• How he went from a news reporter that covered the Ted Bundy trials and nine space shuttle launches to 40 years of selling real estate, and how those experiences shaped his storytelling inspiration.

• How he taught himself to become a successful indie romance author in a field typically avoided by men.

• Why romance and fiction storytellers are crucial to our culture.

• What readers are really looking for when they open a book.

• How you can help save the world as a storyteller when you don’t have any money or time.

Come chat with us as we explore the stories that actually change us, the stories we need, and the “silly” stories that can heal our divided country!

🌟 Follow along with Gary’s writing journey and catch all of his latest releases at his website: www.garybalanoff.com or follow his Substack to stay up-to-date!

Gary Balanoff

📖✍️ Need help writing or editing your story? The story coaches and editors at One Brilliant Arc are here to help you find your voice and amplify your truth!

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📚 Need guidance to get your story published so your words can find the people who need them? Jessica Ann shares her successful journey publishing her novel, Woven in Time, over on her Substack, and helps you learn what it takes you live your wildest dreams! She is also has only a few author coaching slots open at the moment! 👀

Wildest Dreams

Inspiration, creativity, and the courage to live your wildest dreams — with fantasy author Jessica Ann.✨

By Jessica Ann

The Illusion

When Magazine Dreams first hit the festival circuit, the conversation centered on the physical transformation: the bulk, the veins, the discipline, and the futile struggle of trying to achieve total perfection. People expected a sports drama about ambition and aesthetics. But this movie completely rejects that narrative. It’s not about bodybuilding. It’s about a man trying to outrun his own mind & unresolved childhood traumas.

The gym becomes the stage, not the story.

From the opening scenes, it’s clear that Killian Maddox isn’t chasing a physique. He’s chasing a feeling—A sense of worth; a sense of being seen; a sense of control in a life where everything else feels unstable, lonely, full of anger, or out of reach. The weights become a coping mechanism, a place where he can pretend the world makes sense.

Killian’s life has been a series of closed doors. He has

• no community,

• no emotional support,

• no mental health care,

• no safe place to talk,

• no one who sees him beyond his body.

The gym becomes his only outlet and, unfortunately, his only identity.

But there is a serious danger in that. The film makes one thing painfully clear:

When Muscle Becomes a Mask

The middle of the film is where the genre subversion becomes undeniable. The bodybuilding narrative dissolves, revealing a horror story about isolation, untreated trauma, and the way society teaches men to replace vulnerability with performance theatre.

The movie sets the stage for a descent into madness as Killian faces the consequences of trying to fix severe psychological wounds with physical solutions.

Because the truth is that the gym itself is not therapy. The pump is not healing. Counting calories doesn’t equal a stable mental state. Self-improvement is not only a physical journey, but an inner journey.

When the gym becomes your therapist, your church, your coping mechanism, and your entire personality, you’re not developing the soft skills that lead to true level ups in your life. Instead, you are building a mask.

Men are often taught to lift instead of building meaningful relationships with healthy-minded people. To shut up and push their way through real emotions instead of feeling them, unpacking them, and healing them. To isolate instead of reaching out.

But the body can only carry what the mind refuses to process for so long.

The Body Cannot Save the Mind

The final act strips away the illusion completely. Killian’s body—which is massive, sculpted, disciplined—is powerless against the weight of his internal world. The film makes a devastating point:

• You cannot out‑lift trauma.

• You cannot out‑train loneliness.

• You cannot build enough muscle to replace connection, therapy, or healing.

Killian has to learn that just because you make yourself an Adonis does not automatically entitle you to respect. Just because you have a well-trained physique does not mean that you are stronger or better than the next person. Leaving a legacy behind you that makes your life mean something involves building more than just your body, which will eventually die anyway.

The gym can strengthen you, but it cannot save you from every bit of pain or every obstacle you have in your life.

• Mental health is not optional.

• Community is not optional

• Therapy is not optional.

• True emotional literacy is not optional.

Not if you want to survive your own mind.

Killian’s tragedy is not that he failed to become a magazine cover star. It’s that he was never given the tools to understand himself beyond the mirror.

The film ultimately ends with a haunting discovery:

If you want your own story to not end in a similar tragedy, you need to learn how to excavate your inner self. Take the reins of healing so you can turn your own story from a tragedy into a victory. Only then can you truly overcome the pain of your past and transform it into something constructive. And so,

• Go to the gym, but also go to therapy.

• Build your body, but also build community.

• Train your discipline, but also train your emotional awareness.

• Invest in a legacy that lasts longer than your body.

• Learn how to leverage the language of storytelling so you can leave a truly inspiring story behind as your legacy.

Because strength is not just physical. It’s relational, psychological, and internal.

My official score for Magazine Dreams is 8/10 diamonds with a dragon’s kiss of fire 💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎🐲🔥 and I think it pairs well with movies such as After the Sunset, Bull Durham, Forrest Gump, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Serpico, The Great Gatsby, Get the Gringo, The Assasination of Jesse James, Legally Blonde, The Drama, Friday Night Lights, We are Marshall, or Greater for a movie night.

THE JELLYDRAGON STAR

Welcome to the Jellydragon star, your source for content across the worlds of art, true crime , games , film, writing tips , anime , & combat sports. Each edition brings you the latest and greatest from each realm each week.

By CORPSE FLOWER 🌻 💀 🩸

💬 Comment below:

• What is your relationship to the gym as a creative?

• In what way(s) have you been investing in leaving a legacy that lasts?

Huge thanks to Alex for joining us for this episode! Check out how you can support the work that he is doing with the Filmmaker’s Association of Modesto (F.A.M) here: https://gofund.me/5c05172dc. Follow Alex @titanonset on Instagram to see the films he is currently working on!

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💬 Join the conversation—let’s swap ideas and inspire each other!

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“Life Happens Wherever You Are.”

Whenever I hear the phrase,

“The stars aligned,”

I always think of Disney’s Hercules, and how the villainous Hades needed to have the solar system planets align for his master plan of conquering Olympus to succeed. Of course, we all know how that dastardly scheme turned out.

Recently, with my own Cosmos project underway (shameless self-promotion here), I got to thinking of the dreaded task that inevitably binds any project, big or small. Something Hades’ scheme was dependent upon.

Golly, lining up every tiny and major detail that needs analyzing, breaking down, and executing for any project, but particularly a life’s work like this one, just fricking sucks. The tedious paperwork is always tedious paperwork, but there is an added pressure to get everything just right, timing and all, lest the project flop. In other words, I have become a bit like Hades: waiting for the planets to align to launch my master plan, all while setting in motion several smaller plans to make the big one work in the end. Juggling all the scheduling to perfect the timing, waiting for the stars to align and trying to make the planets do so, or else I get nothing in return for decades of pouring my soul into this work.

But this dread was interrupted by my train of thought arriving at another fantasy: Gregory Maguire’s The Wicked Years books.

“Life Is What Happens When You Are Making Other Plans.”

In Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Maguire structures his book into two strange halves. The first is the origins—early childhood and college youth—of Elphaba Thropp, the future Wicked Witch of the West in the land of Oz. A chart of her journey to becoming the iconic villain and, most important, the explanation of why. In this first part, she joins a rebel group against the tyrannical Wizard of Oz and winds up having a romantic affair with Prince Fiyero; already her plans are going awry. But when the rebel’s plot fails and Fiyero is found by authorities and killed, the book takes a weird turn.

The second half of Maguire’s Wicked concerns Elphaba . . . well, to be honest, kind of getting dragged around by life. She has a little boy to take care of now (whether he be she and Fiyero’s son is a major question) and she performs this task poorly. Yet, she travels to Fiyero’s family castle of Kiamo Ko to also take care of his wife and children as a kind of atonement for her adultery and being the cause of her lover’s death. Other details come into play: Elphaba learns to fly, obsesses over a book of spells called the Grimoire, and other little plot threads converge that lead her to fulfill her ultimate MGM film destiny. 

While enjoyable, when I read and fell for the book in college, I remember thinking about the second half:

“What happened to the point of the book, the Witch fighting the Wizard?”

Conventional storytelling advice dictates that the main character must actively drive the plot in service to one main goal, not be dragged aimlessly by every distracting plot thread to weaken the core story structure.

Maguire’s book denies such satisfaction and becomes more like life: wading through the years, trying to complete one task, getting distracted by another urgent one, and the stars never align.

Yet, as The Wicked Years go on, the truth turns out that while Elphaba may never have gotten her metaphorical planets to line up into one column in the end, she still undeniably left her mark on Oz.

In the second book, Son of a Witch, the coming-of-age tale about Elphaba’s adopted boy, Liir, this meandering through life instead of, ya know, COMMITTING TO A PLOT, is even more extreme. Liir’s initial objective in the book: find his missing sister. For a bit, he slowly tracks her down in the Emerald City . . . until he learns to fly. Oh, my goodness, what a powerful moment! Surely, Liir’s life will change for the better!

Instead, Liir reaches a dead end. He has nowhere to go because, in reality, flying once means very little to his hungry stomach, his parched throat, his penniless pockets, his abject loneliness, and other burdens on his shoulders. So, he joins the army for a while, which turns out very badly for him, before committing to more meandering, almost getting killed, then more meandering, until Maguire finally gives him a more classical purpose to commit to. By this time, though, the book only has about fifty-or-so pages left and the boy has become a man.

Suffice to say, the stars never align in Liir’s story, either.

But, like Elphaba, the path Liir’s life took him on led him to change Oz like a wicked son of a witch, regardless of what any planet had to say.

“Perfection and Power Are Overrated.”

In reality, stories are filled with characters whose stars never align. Their plans go belly up, get sidetracked, or never quite come together. The outcome of the “The Crossroads of Destiny” or “The Day of Black Sun” episodes in Avatar: The Last Airbender. King Arthur’s great hope to turn might for right in T. H. White’s The Once and Future King. The anti-climactic battle of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. The list goes on and on.

These characters who live lives like us have many great purposes, and one of them is to tell us a very important message:

Life is good, life is bad, plans succeed in ways we do not expect them to, schedules shift, delays happen, plans utterly fail, losses pile on, fortune smiles, and a million other variables and outcomes play out in life no matter where the stars are. One should not wait for stars to align to finally get something right, because the Earth is still spinning on its own axis, forcing them to move, no matter how fast or slow, whether or not there is a heading they can understand. 

In these early months of Cosmos’ production, I learned how Elphaba felt in her years at Kiamo Ko, and how Liir did, too, travelling aimlessly through Oz on his own. There is a self-frustration at failing to get things just right, to get all the planets lined up in a row to execute plans perfectly so that we can just get to the next frigging phase of life already. But life does not change its course for any planet. I had been so buried under my self-frustration and anxieties in the scheduling details that I didn’t realize until recently that great progress, however slow, HAS been made on my project. Just as Elphaba grew into the important legend of the Wicked Witch against the tyrants of Oz, just as Liir follows her path to greatness in his own way without things ever going according to their plans.

I did not need my stars to align to get my work accomplished. Nor do you. As Father sings in the closing number of the Stephen Schwartz musical, Children of Eden:

“No doom is written in the stars.”

Likewise, a creative’s life—like everyone else’s—does not operate on the schedule of the stars (or the algorithm), and that is okay. We may feel compelled to write like we’re running out of time, but that does not mean we are failures if we did not succeed yesterday. 

Do not wait for the stars to align to work on your craft, because life is happening NOW. Do not feel terrible when the stars do not align, because they do not dictate your tale—YOU do.

Life is a much more present and interesting navigator, anyway.

Leave a comment

💬 Join the conversation! Share with us below:

• What creative project have you always dreamed of working on OR are still trying to finish?

• Where have you been most tempted to wait until the stars align in your life to start moving toward your goals

My Voice. Health. Nature. Love.

Nature, life, my take on it. Wellness tips, meditation practices, living a joyful life. Think outside the box.

By Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi

FROM MY KITCHEN TABLE

Sharing the wild truth of parenting. Ready to thrive, not just survive? Join us and let’s rewrite the story, one conversation at a time.

By Gabriela Trofin-Tatár

See more wonderful books from Dancing Elephants Press!

Dancing Elephants Press

Dancing Elephants Press--outstanding stories from the best writers on the web. We're all about positivity and the best of life hacks. Expect to hear from us each week.

By Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi

Explore the art they create and the community events they host on their website: https://gabriellakorosi.org/

Thank you for joining us! Leave your stories and thoughts in the comments below and let’s keep the conversation going.

• How to make nonlinear timelines clear and engaging,

• How to craft vivid descriptions that show rather than tell,

• How to highlight character motivation that drives narration,

• How to avoid info-dumping when you have complex worldbuilding,

• And why emphasizing character perspectives transform dry exposition into something alive and immersive.

Get ready to elevate your storytelling by applying practical, emotionally charged techniques that keep readers hooked from start to finish. Whether you're refining language, structuring nonlinear timelines, or exploring powerful themes, this episode offers invaluable guidance to help you write stories that truly matter.

Huge thanks to Aspen for sharing his story with us for this episode! You can follow his writing journey on his TikTok.

OBA’s story team offers real help for real stories in real time, and we can do the same for your story! Want us to be your partners along the storytelling journey? Check out our services for both beginner and advanced writers:

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started out his storytelling journey young, exercising his creative muscles and imagination with D&D back when you would still be bullied for playing. He created the fantasy world that he still sets his stories in today back when he was 13 years old, and his stories that were developed through D&D followed him through the Navy and back to the midwest. From putting his first self-published novels out of print, to teaching himself how to write better, to hiring his storytelling icon as his editor, to releasing his first trilogy, to now writing his newest stories in real time in front of everyone, MJ breaks down how he had to learn to blaze his own path.

Join our conversation to hear honestly from him about:

• How to find an editor who is right for your story

• How to stay motivated when you feel like you’re behind on your writing journey

• Ideas for keeping yourself accountable and exercising your writing skills

• How to create according to your own creative process and build your own strategy

• How to beat Imposter Syndrome

• How to deal with pressure and fear

• Why the indie author movement offers you the most terrifying freedom

• Why plugging into a community is important as an author and where to find said community

• Pro tips for marketing your books

Come chat with us as we get real about the author journey and share the practical behind-the-scenes tips that no one ever talks about.

Follow along with MJ’s serialized novellas on his Substack as he publishes new chapters weekly and see where the adventure takes his characters! You can also learn about his fantasy world and pick up your own copy of his epic fantasy series “The Scourge of Witch’Bane” on his website.

The Fantasy World of MJ Grothoff

'Weaving Myth into Magic'

📖✍️ Need help writing or editing your story? The story coaches and editors at One Brilliant Arc are here to help you find your voice and amplify your truth!

SEE HOW WE HELP WRITERS

📚 Need guidance to get your story published so your words can find the people who need them? Jessica Ann shares her successful journey publishing her novel, Woven in Time, over on her Substack, and helps you learn what it takes you live your wildest dreams! She is also has only a few author coaching slots open at the moment! 👀

Wildest Dreams

Inspiration, creativity, and the courage to live your wildest dreams — with fantasy author Jessica Ann.✨

By Jessica Ann

The Misdirection

When Christy was first announced, the marketing leaned hard on the familiar beats: a young fighter, a rise from nothing, a shot at greatness. Audiences walked into theaters expecting a sports biopic reminiscent of Rocky that told the tale of underdog triumph.

The film subverts that expectation from the opening scene. Boxing isn’t the story—it’s a distraction.

Christy uses the structure of a sports film to smuggle in a psychological horror story about the consequences of not being in control of your own story—particularly for women, in a world where danger is ambient, constant, and often hiding in plain sight.

The punches in the ring are nothing compared to the blows boxer Christy Martin takes outside of it at the hands of her husband/coach/manager, Jim. She also takes heavy emotional blows from her own mother, depends on the wrong teammates who turn a blind eye to her abuse for decades, and stays trapped in environments where she has no financial power, no community, and no exit.

The film was classified as a box office bomb, but its brilliance lies in how it reframes vulnerability.

See, Christy isn’t endangered because she is weak. She is far from weak. She’s endangered because she is isolated.

And isolation is the perfect breeding ground for the horror that is Domestic Violence and Narcissistic abuse.

Because without witnesses, sometimes you can even begin questioning the validity of your own story.

The real-world statistics are staggering.

• In the U.S., more than 40% of female homicide victims are killed by a current or former partner.

• Nearly three women are murdered every day by intimate partners.

• Femicide is so prevalent here that even in 2002, the U.S. accounted for 70% of all female homicide cases among 25 high‑income countries studied.

The problem, which the film also echoes, is: Leaving is not simple affair.

Survivors of domestic violence often attempt to leave seven times on average before they are able to escape permanently. This is a pattern widely documented by advocacy organizations across the country.

When Dependence Becomes a Prison

The middle of the film is where the genre flip becomes undeniable. The camera lingers not on punches, but on the quiet, creeping dread of a woman whose life is controlled by others. The husband who sexually assaults her, steals money from her, beats her, and later attempts to murder her when she tries to escape. Members of her family who drain her energy, ignore her cries for help, and guilt her into staying in harmful spaces. The industry that saw her as a product, not a person.

This is where the film stops pretending to be a sports story and reveals itself as something closer to a nightmare.

Christy’s danger escalates every time we see the era change (spanning the late 80’s — 2010). One beating turns into several. One cry for help is ignored and nearly every attempt to get help after that is dismissed entirely. She allows toxic teammates to stay in her orbit. She ignores red flags because all other options for a career seem closed. Finally, she hands over her decision‑making power to her husband, Jim, and to her toxic mother who do not have her best interests at heart.

This is where the film’s message becomes unmistakable:

When a woman doesn’t have financial independence, a community that truly supports her, or the self-confidence to bring her life into alignment with the story she wants to live, she doesn’t have safety.

The most chilling scenes in this film aren’t violent, they’re subtle. They’re the moments where Christy realizes she’s surrounded by people who benefit more from her staying dependent, exhausted, and afraid. The ring becomes the only place where she has control, and even that starts slipping toward the later parts of the film.

This actually mirrors the heartbreaking reality of millions of women in the United States, where domestic violence remains widespread and often times lethal. According to the FBI, more than 11,000 domestic violence murder victims were reported over a recent five‑year period, and nearly 75% of those victims were women.

This is the real terror of womanhood that the movie captures so perfectly. The way danger multiplies when you’re caught in someone else’s trap and have surrendered all of your autonomy. The way it is easier to hand over the pen in your own story instead of trusting yourself to write your own path forward.

Reclaiming the Pen in Your Story

The final act of this film isn’t about winning a championship or landing a million-dollar fight. It’s about escaping a home and relationship that was meant to destroy her in every way imaginable.

Christy’s breakthrough isn’t a knockout punch—it’s a decision. A terrifying and liberating decision to take her life back. To cut off Jim who controlled her finances. To rediscover her sexuality (she is a lesbian, closeted at the pressure of others for the sake of her career). To build a community that supports her instead of drains her. And to finally become the one in the driver’s seat of her own life.

Christy’s victory is not athletic. It’s existential. She survives because she chooses herself.

This film shows us that the path to building a life that aligns with your authenticity is fraught with danger, especially for women. But this danger can be mitigated based on:

• Who you trust

• What treatment you tolerate from those around you

• Who you lean on during tough times or vulnerable moments

• Who you allow into your life

• Whether you can support yourself

• Whether you have people who will show up for you

These factors do not 100% eliminate danger, but they do help unlock the ability to defend against it. The real factor that determines if you can leave a bad situation for greener pastures is:

Do you know how to tell your own story?

What We Don’t Talk About

Christy is marketed as a boxing biopic, but it’s actually a mirror held up to the everyday horror women face when they’re pressured to depend on others to direct their story.

It’s a film about survival disguised as a film about sport.

If you are a woman watching this movie and worried about your own safety, please remember that there are steps forward you can take to reclaim your own story.

• Build your own money

• Build and manage your own career

• Live authentically

• Surround yourself with good people who are genuinely supportive of your growth and success

• Do not pour from an empty cup

• Get your education

• Acquire valuable skills to boost your self-confidence

• Choose your own community

You can build a life where you are the one in control of your own story.

The world we live in is dangerous, but it becomes far more abrasive when you hand the wheel to someone who benefits from keeping you lost, in pain, and stagnant. Because at the end of the day, no one cares about how to write a story that aligns with your best interests more than YOU.

All in all, I rate CHRISTY a 7/10 and it pairs very well with movies such as Where the Crawdads Sing, The Devil All the Time, Earth Mama, The Florida Project, Euphoria S1 & S2, Hick, London Fields, & All the Pretty Horses.

THE JELLYDRAGON STAR

Welcome to the Jellydragon star, your source for content across the worlds of art, true crime , games , film, writing tips , anime , & combat sports. Each edition brings you the latest and greatest from each realm each week.

By CORPSE FLOWER 🌻 💀 🩸

💬 Comment below:

• What were your thoughts about the film Christy?

• Are there any ways you have depended on someone else to direct your story, and how did you pull your life back in alignment with the story you wanted to live?

Looking for a safe community of creative professional friends who will cheer you on and support you to find your voice? Join our Storyteller’s Connection Mastermind on June 6th from 10am-12pm PST for a time of sharing encouragement, insight, and advice from the heart with a community of writers, editors, filmmakers, and publishers!

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Project Trailer

To celebrate this milestone after ELEVEN YEARS of work on this story, we had Charles on to talk about:

• How this story came to be

• The heart and inspiration behind the story

• What the process of creating and writing the characters was like

• And how YOU can exclusively join the pilot episode’s cast and crew!

If you want to watch this story go from script to screen in real time and catch all the behind-the-scenes video diaries, be sure to follow Charles here on Substack and the production team on your favorite social media!

Charles Rodriguez

I've been a video editor and a film critic. I am a reading teacher and an editor/writer for OBA Studios. "I write, I die, I write again!"

YouTube

Instagram

TikTok

Bluesky

🎬 We are exclusively extending the invitation to our Substack friends first: want to be part of the COSMOS cast and crew? Shoot us an email at cosmosteam27@gmail.com!

If you want to learn more about the characters and world of Cosmos, start here:

💫 Cosmos: The Mission and Essence

🌌 Cosmos: The Galaxy

🧍🏽‍♂️Cosmos Characters: Eddie

🙎🏾‍♀️ Cosmos Characters: Rajya

🐱 Cosmos Characters: Zachiel

If you’ve ever found solace in a story during your darkest times, this one’s for you. Join us for a heartfelt conversation about the stories that save us, the art that connects us, and why Cowboy Bebop remains a shining beacon of storytelling excellence. Perfect for anime enthusiasts, story lovers, and anyone who’s ever needed a little hope during life’s dark moments.

Huge thanks to Fred for joining us for this episode! Check out the book series he has published on Amazon, The Eccentric Detective Yamamoto! If you want to keep up with his creative work and anime watching, follow him on his socials!

Every story matters and deserves to be told well. Want to work with us to make sure your story packs the punch it is meant to? Check out our services for both beginner and advanced writers here:

BOOK YOUR FREE STORYTELLING CONSULT

💬 Join the conversation—let’s swap ideas and inspire each other!

• What show met you where you were and saved you?

• What is your relationship with anime? Is there any other kind of media you have loved but never get to talk about?

Leave a comment

“From Hell’s Heart I Stab at Thee.”

I absolutely cannot stand the anime series / franchise, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and to illustrate my utter disdain for this piece, I present an original meme of mine I had to make as a matter of personal coping.

‘Nuff said.

However, throughout the excruciating pain that was my experience going back to finish this unbearable series, I noted that the anime was not without merit. Without inflating the galaxy-sized ego of this unapologetically cynical story trying too hard to be healingly sentimental, I admit the character designs were great. Much of the show’s world was designed distinctly, and there were many stand-out moments of animation goodness: raw and energetic. Without diminishing an ounce of my hatred for this work, I can honestly say that I understand what the show’s creator, Hidekai Anno, was trying to do, and that such an artistic pursuit was not entirely nonsense in concept. Even the failure of execution was not a total disaster. There was even one moment in the original ending, (Lord, I despise this anime), that lingered with me, dare I say, positively.

If for nothing else, there are scenes, images, and sounds of genuine horror that have stayed in my imagination. Like this one, near the end of the show:

Let Me Set the Scene:

One of the most truly, truly unendurable characters I have ever had the misfortune to suffer, the teenage Asuka Soryu, is piloting her giant fighting mech, the EVA Unit 2. Already a bit mentally unstable by this point in the episode, she begins her defense of the city of Tokyo-3 by facing off against the 15th Angel: the latest member of a mysterious species of giant monsters, each having bizarre and unique powers. Asuka aims her colossal rifle at the sky, right into space, searching for the orbiting Angel. Suddenly, her EVA is covered by an unsightly shade of yellow light, straight from her foe, which pierces right into her mech’s cockpit and into her mind. Immediately, the show’s musical score plays George Friedrich Händel’s famous 1741 oratorio chorus, Messiah. (You know the piece, the one that goes, “HAAAA-LLE-LU-JAH!”).

Because this kind of high school-grade pretentiousness is what Neon Genesis Evangelion loves to indulge in. Lord, I despise this anime. Indeed, as the music played, I immediately disliked the obnoxious score selection and still do.

Asuka begins screaming, (which, despite this context, is like saying the birds fly), to high heaven, begging the Angel to get out of her mind, to not look at her, to give her a shred of privacy. Her command team beneath Tokyo-3 is dealing with yet another computer systems crisis by the Angel’s assault. They are panicking, trying to get their programs back online and trying to save Asuka, who is in so much pain from the Angel’s mental attack. She keeps pleading for the Angel to stop, to let her mind be her own. But the thing, with cold indifference, does not stop.

By this point in returning to, restarting, and completing the series, I had long quit on the idea I was going to make peace with this nonsense. Thus, while I was paying attention to the show, I no longer had any heart invested into the tale. So, Asuka’s screaming, the engineering crew’s cries, and the general sense of panic meant little to me. Then, I noticed something strange…and intriguing.

Messiah had not stopped playing during the whole scene.

We all know the chorus of Händel’s as a gag solely containing a choir proclaiming the first few declarations of “Hallelujah”, but there is, in fact, at least four minutes more of music which I, personally, always found a little too much on the senses. Throughout all the chaos of this scene, that bloody music just keeps going, and going, and going, and going, pounding the audience with those unsettlingly joyous proclamations of Hallelujah. You have to focus on the dialogue to hear what anyone is saying, what is going on, because the damn music just keeps blaring. Suddenly, even I felt uncomfortable and, like Asuka, just wanted the music, and the unrelenting intrusion it represented, to stop.

Then, a thought drifted into my mind. “Man, I have never seen a piece of classical music used in this way, to create such a sense of claustrophobic horror, and be so effective that my skin is crawling a bit. I am gonna have to remember this scene for my own horror ideas; see what I can be inspired to create.”

“Reject Humanity, Return to Monke.”

Now, sincerely, I did NOT just unleash a portion of my scathing judgement on Neon Genesis Evangelion for you to read in order to spread negativity. I wanted to completely establish how much I am against this anime—that I am the very antithesis of a die-hard fan—so that the power of my point could be understood. Because, if I could be inspired creatively by a small scene from a work I am entirely against, just imagine the possibilities for genuine magic this opens up.

We all have stories and works of art we do not like for one reason or another. Pieces that, in our minds, do not live up to their promise; are obnoxious; are just plain bad. Often, we are encouraged to make broad strokes of opinion on the art we dislike. Told that to even give the slightest credit to them is to negate our opinions and, so, our credibility as skillful critics. Fair critiques and appreciation of art are good. But I am writing to remind you that we should look for inspiration everywhere. For you can certainly find fuel for your imagination even in the works that you, at best, do not care for, and at worst, utterly hate.

Just because a work does not succeed for you personally as a whole does not mean that every aspect is a complete and total failure. An unfunny comedy can have a great joke. A dull action movie could have a great setting. A tedious romantic song could have a killer melody or great pair of lyrics. Why do we let ourselves be limited by binary opinions imposed on us when we could instead find deeper, more interesting conversations around media? Because stories are, after all, a powerful force in the world even if they are imperfect. When you finish a story, a song, or step away from a piece of Art you don’t fully appreciate, you don’t have to deny there are elements that you could write home about.

For me personally, I have seen many a new film this year that I did not like. But, since I have been keeping a heart out to find goodness in the art rather than flaws to tear a piece down, I found moments of creativity that I let spark my imagination. The aforementioned second ending of Evangelion, the film dubbed The End of Evangelion, features bonkers and frightening imagery that did nothing for me but proved sometimes you gotta, and indeed can, swing for the fences in weirdness to make a work, at the very least, memorable. Thanks to one of the most uncharming villains I have seen in a good long while, Thunderbolts* proved to be a disappointment, but man, was that climax filled with action-packed executions that lit up my daydreams. Wolf Man (2025) may have utterly failed its promises from the first act, but oh, were those first 20 minutes the perfect Rosetta Stone for a new and brilliant adaptation of this Universal Classic Monster. Perhaps I expected too much from 2008’s lackluster High School Musical 3, (a recounting for another time), but, in trying out this film for the first time, I was reminded, by the shockingly strong performance by Zac Effron as the protagonist Troy Bolton, that the Archie Andrews archetype (of Archie comics) can still really work.

“Trash Taste”

They call tales like these “guilty pleasures”, but that title misses the fact that there is inherent positivity to find in such an art. Practicing looking for the good, original, inspiring takeaways in disliked art can lead to so many new pathways, solutions, and concepts in the imagination. You do not have to accept everything, but if something clicks in your brain, do not deny the wonder, and thus any ideas that come your way just because you and a piece do not see eye to eye. Greatness can even hide in the most mundane, unremarkable, and lousy things. The B-movies, the trashy songs, the fan service manga, and even the adaptations that insult us are capable of good ideas, artistic achievements, and things we can take with us as we continue our creative work.

We cannot learn everything from masterpieces. Sometimes we need to see a work fail in our eyes to most effectively pinpoint what we were looking for. A film or TV show may suck but have a killer costume design. A book may have one powerful line amongst all its ludicrous words. Embracing this kind of “garbage” can help us create our own stories; plus-up our plotlines; invent whole new characters; or find a thematic hook we could not have found alone.

I hate even writing about Evangelion, for many reasons both great and small. Yet watching this despicable anime has not only inspired writing this article to share with you all a helpful discovery, but also has returned ideas for great horror tales back into my imagination when nothing else was quite doing that for me. Ultimately, you do not have to—nor should you—like everything, but do not reject a good idea when you find one, even if it’s in a metaphorical dumpster. Because you never know what treasures you may find hiding in dumpsters.

💬 Comment below:

• What “guilty pleasure” stories light up your imagination despite being “bad”?

• Do you think there are redeeming qualities to be found in every story?

  Leave a comment

In this episode, things get exciting: the story team from One Brilliant Arc is ripping apart our boss and founder, ’s, short story from three years ago: “God’s on Tinder.” Take a look at how to tackle big conversations—like ‘what would it look like if a terminally ill human got to have a conversation with God about some of the biggest life questions?’—in only 12 pages. Get answers from industry experts in the trenches of this craft everyday to the real questions that keep writers awake at 3am, like:

• How do I know I have what it takes to be a writer?

• How do I know if my story is good enough?

• How long do I have to let a story sit before it’s developed well?

• Do I really need an editor or can I self-edit?

• Will I ever get over imposter syndrome and self-doubt?

• What if no one cares about my story?

Pull back the curtain on what it takes to write a short story that grips readers’ attention and changes their thinking while the OBA story team proves to you that editing your story to be the best it can be doesn’t have to be a scary or overwhelming process!

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The Neurospicy Storyteller

A founder’s notebook for filmmakers and storytellers on screenwriting, mental health, and building a media company.

By Jared Moses

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Storytelling is a grand and wonderful calling, as Rachel Schmeltzer from knows, having been writing since she was eight years old. But it takes so much more to write a novel than just “sitting down and writing.” Come join us in this conversation as we debunk some of the most unhelpful pieces of writing advice that are commonly thrown around and explore the real tips that can help you along your own writing journey, such as:

• Why plotting might not the best way to write a novel

• How getting a manuscript written quickly might be ruining your story

• Why not having a book written by the time your midlife crisis hits isn’t failure

• How watching Netflix with snacks instead of writing your book could be the best use of your writing time

• Why you don’t need character bios or chapter summaries to be considered a real writer

• What you can do to make your editor love you

• Why you are a professional writer even if you haven’t published a book yet

• Why not knowing how your story will end can help you write a better ending

Whether you’ve been writing for decades or just a few years, this journey always surprises us with unexpected twists and valleys. Come chat with a community of storytellers who are keeping it real about the true struggles and joys we face as writers that no one ever talks about!

Follow along with Rachel’s journey as she continues balancing everything to write her novel and reach her dream of finally becoming a published author! You can check out some of her other writing on her website, too.

Rachel’s R&R (Rise & Revolt)

Because I’m a middle aged woman finding my voice while rebelling against my own expectations (and society’s too, why not?).

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📚 Need guidance to get your story published so your words can find the people who need them? Jessica Ann shares her successful journey publishing her novel, Woven in Time, over on her Substack, and helps you learn what it takes you live your wildest dreams! She is also has only a few author coaching slots open at the moment! 👀

Wildest Dreams

Inspiration, creativity, and the courage to live your wildest dreams — with fantasy author Jessica Ann.✨

By Jessica Ann