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Trilogies are Essential (and Not Just For Profit)

6/1/2026

by Gianna Vanore

Image via Tobias Rademacher on Unsplash

“Peeta, how come I never know when you’re having a nightmare?” I say.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I cry or thrash around or anything. I just come to, paralyzed with terror,” he says.

“You should wake me,” I say, thinking about how I can interrupt his sleep two or three times on a bad night. About how long it can take to calm me down.

“It’s not necessary. My nightmares are usually about losing you,” he says. “I’m okay once I realize you’re here.”

— Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire

This moment—one adored by millions of readers—in The Hunger Games trilogy is crucial, not only for the plot, but also for us to fall for Katniss and Peeta, to truly want them together. This moment is when we realized the extent of Peeta’s love for Katniss. This moment, a staple of this series, occurs in Catching Fire, the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy.

In Jordan Avery’s Op-Ed, “Trilogies Are Traps: Why Trilogies Are Bad For Storytelling,” she explains how trilogies have taken the literary market by storm, though she doesn’t see this as a good thing. Instead, she argues that the middle book (the “bridge” book, as she coins it) is unnecessary and stretches an otherwise good story too thin. She also claims that authors, instead of staying true to their craft, turn to the profit that comes from writing trilogies, even if it’s at the expense of their story.

Upon reading this, I felt a moral obligation to be the Trilogy Defender, as there are numerous trilogies other than just the mainstream ones that successfully tell their story and require a trilogy to do it well.

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Fragmented Essays, Fragmented Minds: Writing in the Digital Age

5/1/2026

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by Laura Del Viscio

Photo by Ire Photocreative on Unsplash

As someone who writes in fragments, I can assure you that the mind is a funny thing. It jumps from one moment to the next, with little attention to long and winding detail. I got to thinking, I wonder why that is? I ran through my list of hypotheses as to why my mind can only function in small increments. Was it that every time I sat down to write an essay, the memories became too vivid to bear, so my mind fought back and decided enough was enough, on to the next thing ?

That was my first thought. But then something else occurred to me: my mind has been bouncing back and forth from untethered thought to unfinished thought for quite some time now. So I ask myself again, why is this?

I’ll tell you why: short-form media.

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Black Fans Deserve Space Too: The Battle for Inclusion

4/1/2026

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by Janaye Roberts

Photo by Daniel Lombraña González on Unsplash

Fandoms have always been my comfort zone. They are spaces where I could embrace my interests without fear of judgment. When I entered high school and joined the anime club, I thought I had finally found a community where that passion could thrive. It wasn’t just about anime; it was about connecting with people who shared the same enthusiasm.

During my junior year, one of the biggest conversations in the club was about a new animated pilot on YouTube. Everyone was buzzing about it, so naturally, my curiosity kicked in. I went home, watched it, and instantly fell in love. I couldn’t wait to talk about it with my peers, to share my excitement and join the discussion. But when I told them I’d finally watched it, the reaction wasn’t what I expected. Instead of smiles or questions, I was met with confusion and silence, and then a comment that still echoes in my mind to this day:

“Oh. You watched it? But you’re Black."

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Mimetic Armageddon and the Modern Plague of “Bad Readers”

2/1/2026

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by Dimitrius A. DeMarco

Image by Blaz Photo on Unsplash

People who can’t read are ruining the world, and we’re letting them. If I had a dime for every instance of a title, theme, character, or concept getting bastardized by some barely-literate half-wit, I’d be part of the way across the northern sea on a luxury cruise trying to get a good look at aurora borealis. The sad truth of the matter is that we’re in trouble, and it’s permeating into every aspect of our lives: in classrooms, in media, and in government.

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Don’t Take Writing Advice

1/1/2026

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by Adam Buckley

Via Aaron Burden on Unsplash

The irony of this statement is not lost on me. By telling you not to take writing advice, I am, in fact, giving you writing advice—however!—if you follow me where I’m headed, you’ll see where I’m coming from. Age-old axioms like “show, don’t tell,” and “good characters have agency,” have kernels of truth to them; that’s why they’re so often repeated, but what comes after? How do writers really get better? My goal here isn’t to rebuke the institutions of writing criticism or education entirely, more so to make the case against generalized platitudes and advocate for contextual and self-motivated methods of improving one’s work.

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Trilogies are Essential (and Not Just For Profit)

Fragmented Essays, Fragmented Minds: Writing in the Digital Age

Black Fans Deserve Space Too: The Battle for Inclusion

Mimetic Armageddon and the Modern Plague of “Bad Readers”

Don’t Take Writing Advice

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