[Note: this title is very temporary. Any suggestions for a better one would be greatly appreciated] Prologue “This just in—officials at the British Museum have reported that the Kohinoor Diamond has been stolen. The Jewel, on loan from the Tower of London, was discovered to be missing this morning when curatorial director Dr.—THUD.“ The newscast…

I’ve spent enough time reading literary equivalents of mediocre sitcoms: sure they’re fine, maybe even a little entertaining—but at the end of the day, they’re completely forgettable. But every once in awhile, there comes a book that’s so wholly wonderful that it makes you think: why can’t all books be like this? They’re page-turning, thought-provoking,…

I. THe reckoning It was a rainy day in the West End. Much like the rainy day before that. And the one before that. Tomorrow promised to be a similarly rainy day. Even when you managed to get out of the rain and dry off, you could still smell it. There would always be a…

It all ends here. denouement (noun) de·​noue·​ment | dā-ˈnü-ˌmä The final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a literary work The outcome of a complex sequence of events Merriam Webster Prologue | Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV EPILOGUE One month later, Delhi’s National History Museum received a parcel wrapped in brown paper, tied…

Prologue | Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III CHAPTER IV Laila sat in the her office, surrounded by dress form mannequins, a sewing machine, and colourful bolts of fabric. Her heist plans were hidden between sketchbooks. The specs for the Minerva 2400 were pulled up on her laptop. She wasn’t paying attention to any of it. Instead,…

My main struggle with this chapter was keeping the momentum going. Lots of stories by great authors get slow in the middle. I know it takes a lot of work injecting suspense and drama. In my next story, I’ll take more time to hone these skills, learning how to best do that while keeping a…

I came up with the idea of the short story an embarrassingly long time ago. Is it just coincidence that as I’m beginning to share it with the world that the Kohinoor is now a part of current events? Maybe if Rishi Sunak was as agro in Parliament about repatriation as he was about other…

This post is a continuation of the short story I teased in my last post. In writing—and rewriting and rewriting—I noticed that every once in awhile, you need to step back and see how the small details fit in with the big picture. It’s like this with the work I do in research and some…

The first month of 2023 gone, just like that! If you haven’t been keeping up with your New Year’s Resolutions (or if you haven’t made any attempts at self-improvement at all), consider February a do-over. Instead of New Year’s resolutions, see if you can stick to a habit for just a month. Now that everyone’s…

I’m a terrible storyteller at parties. They often go like this: “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence, and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way. Like an improv conversation. An improversation.” Michael Scott, The Office (Season 5, Episode 11: “The Duel”) I often include either too much…