I love plots. There, I've said it—I'm out of the closet.  read more »

Circles, cycles, spirals—these are the patterns of journeys that are measured in growth, not distance. The reason a good story—and especially a movie—has to come full circle, beginning and ending at the same spot, is because it highlights the fact that all journeys are really internal, the important ones anyway.  read more »

There is an ironic, inverse relationship that renders a character more interesting as an individual in direct proportion to his or her decreased focus on self. It can then be argued that the compulsion to join together with another is ultimately an attempt to define oneself as an individual or, in double entendre, writing terms, to build character.  read more »