Story, Explained
Train Dreams review: a quiet tale of enduring power
Bentley’s adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella lets Joel Edgerton carry a story of grief, solitude and survival told in hushed, resonant rhythms.
How Western storytelling changed with us
How shifting from communal tales to individual heroes reshaped our sense of magic, selfhood and what a story is even for.
9 things Western storytelling never warned you about
Discover how non-Western story traditions – cyclical, communal and porous – can expand your writing beyond the usual linear arc.
Why stories are the glue that holds us together
From fireside myths to modern fiction, stories helped us survive by teaching empathy, choices, consequences and how to live as a group.
The secret life of the footnote
How the humble footnote escaped academia to become fiction’s secret playground – part scholarship, part satire, and part sleight of hand.
The spark is in the space between characters
Great stories live not in the characters themselves, but in the relationships – the charged, shifting dynamics that bind or break them.