Every story has a plot. A detective solves a murder. A spaceship crew saves a colony. A retired man plants tomatoes. But the stories readers remember long after the last page are rarely about those events alone. Beneath the plot lies a deeper story—the emotional truth, the question being explored, the reason the story resonates. As an editor, one of the most important questions I can ask is: What is this story really about?
Dark fantasy might be having a moment, but it’s not one I’m celebrating. I don’t write sweetness and light — but I do believe in redemption, earned endings, and characters who grow. Here’s why stories full of “losers losing” just don’t do it for me.
The four hobbits from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films are reuniting at Fan Expo Edmonton—and I may get the chance to interview one of them. Who would you choose to talk to: Frodo, Sam, Merry, or Pippin? Here’s who I’d pick (and why).
