Shantal

I love characters. Characters bring me comfort. They make me feel less alone in this world and allow me to express empathy. Many of my favorite characters come from television shows. Television shows are a great place to learn about character. They are longer than movies, meaning that a story unfolds at a slower pace, […]

Today’s Sunday, and while I usually post about movies, tv shows or books on this day, I want to talk about perfectionism, depression and writing as it’s the reason why I haven’t been able to come up with content for my blog this week.  It didn’t occur to me until recently that perfectionism is a

No matter what kind of format you want to write in, whether it’s books or scripts, every writer should spend some time learning story structure. There are many ways to do this, but one particularly helpful way is to study movies. Why movies? Movies are visual and compact: a story unfolds visually from beginning to

Last Updated: January 27, 2025 Resistance is one of the most common barriers to writing. I, myself, have been dealing with periods of writing-resistance for many years now.  It is like an invisible force, keeping us from completing projects if not outright abandoning them. If you’re a writer, I’m sure you’ve dealt with resistance before,

Deciding to be a writer can be a very daunting experience. You are making the choice to pursue your dreams without a guarantee that it will work out or that you’ll have any support. But you have a passion: you love what you do and you want to see your dream come true. Welcome! You’re

When I was a child therapist a few years ago, I had a 10-year-old client who was obsessed with RPGs (role-playing games)—it was the only way I could get him to speak to me about his day. He’d make up his own RPG; all he needed was a board game—any board game—and he was set.