Why and How of Scriptorium
A place for exploration and discovery. No hand-holding, no IKEA instructions.
The internet is full of people offering you five steps to success.
This is not one of those places.
I don’t think we develop our understanding of storytelling linearly. And I have no interest in the ‘I’m the guru—follow my rules to certain success’ ethos that so often comes with that approach.
Linear processes tend to produce formulaic outcomes. The first step to deeper understanding is doubt, not certainty.
Learning to write is not climbing a ladder. It’s closer to a treasure hunt: the search for pieces of an enormous jigsaw puzzle. Each piece has its own meaning and beauty. Some connect, forming larger patterns, with their own beauty and meaning. Some of those larger patterns connect again, forming something richer still.
Getting better at writing is a process of continual work and continual discovery—of individual pieces of the puzzle, and of the connections between them.
It’s a puzzle none of us will ever complete. Instead, each of us assembles our own unique version: increasingly coherent and meaningful, but inevitably always incomplete. That incompleteness becomes our distinct voice, which evolves as we grow, but remains recognisably us.
So this is not a step-by-step course. It’s a cosmos of ideas designed to be explored, put into practice, and questioned. That distinction shapes how the site works.
Donald Rumsfeld once famously said there are known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. That formulation applies here too. But that Donald was trying to justify bad decisions, so he left out a crucial fourth possibility — mistakes. Things we are sure we know, but turn out to be wrong.
So, add that option to our journey too.
We’ve all told stories, watched stories, felt what works and what doesn’t. We arrive with our own mix of known knowns, known unknowns, unknown unknowns—and a few things we’re wrong about.
The image on the homepage is my metaphor for that journey: exploration and discovery in well-lit darkness, on calm seas, with a following breeze. For the moment, anyway.
The way the site works is shaped by the old screenwriting adage: Don’t explain, reveal. And its unspoken rider: instead, encourage the audience to discover for themselves.
I designed the site for active exploration, not passive consumption.
There are over sixty articles here, and there will soon be more than a hundred. And no matter how many there are, no combination of them is a complete solution to the challenge of writing well.
So, rather than forcing them into a fixed structure that implies completeness and closure, the home page presents an ever-shifting field.
Each time you open it, the stars link to a different random selection of articles.
Many pieces stand alone. All connect to others. Some form a loose series—in those cases, only the first appears.
Hover over a star to see a title. If it interests you, click. Follow the thread. See where it takes you.
If you’re looking for something specific, hover over the moon.
If you want to see what you’ve already opened, hover over the head of the sailor. Where else would you keep a record of what you’ve read?
Most of all, ask yourself:
- Do I agree?
- Is that the way I see it?
- Can I use this?
And if you have an answer, or even another question, join the conversation on Substack. (coming soon)
