Blog posts

Creative Breakthroughs Rarely Arrive in Straight Lines

I recently read and reviewed “The Process: Six Mechanics of Achievement: Inner Work for Outer Results”, and one of the things I most appreciated about it was the author’s deep understanding of what achievement really requires. This is not a shallow book about productivity, hustle, or forcing oneself into constant output. It is a thoughtful, well-researched exploration of motivation, discipline, internal locus of control, execution, and responsibility. It looks closely at the inner mechanics behind Read more

By opaltree, ago

Before the Scene Becomes Words: Using Images to Write Atmosphere

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the moment before a scene becomes language. You know the moment, right? When it only exists first as atmosphere, colour, texture, light, or place. This short essay explores how visual inspiration can help fiction writers find the emotional weather of a scene before the words arrive. Sometimes, a writer knows the feeling of a scene long before they know exactly what happens in it. There may be no dialogue Read more

By opaltree, ago

How to Turn Your Expertise into a Nonfiction Book with Shape, Purpose, and Flow

Many people begin a nonfiction book by trying to create a table of contents. They open a blank document, list everything they know, divide it into possible chapters, and hope a book will emerge from the accumulation of their expertise. But a strong nonfiction book does not begin with a list. It begins with a spine. The spine is the central line of meaning that holds the whole book together. It tells the reader why the Read more

By opaltree, ago

A Month of Descent, Memory and Return

It is said that all art is a self-portrait, an expression that resonates strongly as I reflect on the month of June 2026. Across the last four weeks, I have released four articles, each offering reflections on one of the short stories in my ‘Visions to Words’ collection. I began the month talking about The Watchers: A Story of First Contact with an increasing suspicion that stories of alien invasion endure because they dramatise a Read more

By opaltree, ago

Reimagining Persephone, Hades, and the Myth of Abduction

Some myths are so old, they are retold, translated, illustrated, taught, borrowed, softened, sharpened, and moralised until the original story begins to feel like a natural law. Persephone was abducted. Demeter grieved. Hades took. Zeus compromised. The seasons were born. It is one of the oldest and most enduring patterns in Western mythology: a young goddess disappears into darkness, a mother’s grief starves the earth, and the world is only restored when a woman is Read more

By opaltree, ago

Before the Lie Became History: The Untold Story of Medusa

Some stories arrive in our lives already decided. They come to us with their heroes polished, their monsters named, and their moral lessons neatly arranged. We were told to believe that Perseus was brave, his sword was righteous, Medusa was monstrous, and her severed head was proof of his victory. I suspect the story was different. I mean, who gets to decide what a monster is? What happens when the person called ‘dangerous’ is only Read more

By opaltree, ago

Memory as a River: How Identity Survives Transformation

Last week, I wrote about The Watchers, a story of alien invasion through alteration of a civilization’s memory to make its people believe that they, the Watchers, have lived among them all along. It is a concept that provokes questions about the reliability of memory and the possibility that it is not fixed, but fluid. This is the question that carried me from writing The Watchers into writing Riverborn. In Riverborn, memory is internal. It Read more

By opaltree, ago

Speculative, but not entirely alien

During the last four weeks, my Substack posts have been exploring the concept of alien invasion. Not the Hollywood kind, with spaceships descending through clouds, sirens tearing up the peace, governments collapsing into panic, and the entire human population running nowhere at breakneck speed. The invasion story, The Watchers, is quieter than that. At the edge of a still lake, a solitary figure gazes toward a distant city reflected in the water while something patient Read more

By opaltree, ago

They did not rush. They never rush.

Long before this world learned to name itself, before it traced constellations in its sky or carved symbols into stone, we watched from the folds of distance. We felt its pulse through the dark: the thrum of molten rivers beneath its crust, the whisper of its atmosphere stirring above oceans not yet charted, the faint electric hum of life taking root. We did not rush. We never rush. Worlds grow like seeds, and we have Read more

By opaltree, ago

Craft Stories That Resonate With Authenticity

When it comes to creative nonfiction, the magic lies in blending reality with imagination. Creative Nonfiction: How to Blend Reality with Imagination in Your Writing is your go-to guide for turning real-life experiences into narratives that captivate and inspire. This comprehensive book provides everything you need to craft stories that balance authenticity with artistic expression. Why Creative Nonfiction is Transformative At its core, creative nonfiction is about revealing the truth of human experiences in a way that’s Read more

By opaltree, ago