When I was working on a short story a few months ago, I also wrote a backstory. I drew pictures of my characters. I jotted down their motivations. I described where the characters lived. But when J. R. R. Tolkien wrote his books, he did far more. He invented languages. He wrote books about the…
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It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white. Michael Jackson’s hit song rang in my head, slightly annoying, slightly pleasant. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white. I definitely hope so, but racism still oppresses many people today, despite valiant efforts to eliminate it. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white. Why are…
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The house was silent. I was completely alone, nestled on the couch with my book in my hands. In the stillness, the only noise was my deep breathing and the occasional turn of a page. I was fully immersed, my eyes flicking from word to word as fast as lightning. Oh, that beautiful exhilarating silence,…
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One day, while mailing a postcard at a post office, I found a card that said, “Dear Optimists, if you look too much on the bright side, you’ll go blind. The Pessimists.” I think that card is outrageously funny. And yet, in some way, it is true: there must be a balance between optimism and…
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