These essays cover a variety of nonfiction topics. Many of them were written as informal blog posts and may not cite sources.
Writing:
Beat Breakdown - a discussion of how story "beats" work using a short fanfic as an example.
Past and Present Tense in Fiction - a combination of two previous essays about the difficulty of present-tense prose and how to become more proficient at it.
Writing Trans Characters in Romance - Prior to writing a novel about a trans character, Sam did a survey of his readership to identify possible issues and tropes to avoid; this is the summary of the survey results. He also did a survey about binding, which may now be out of date but can be found here: Binding Feedback and Resources.
Job Application Cover Letter Template: An example of a cover letter that has landed Sam several job offers over the years.
Pop Culture:
Endgame Review - Sam's review of Marvel's "Endgame" and a prescient discussion of issues stemming from "The Snap".
Marvel Civil War Summer Read-Along - Prior to the release of the film Avengers: Civil War, Sam held a summer "read along" to familiarize people with the comics version. Primarily a syllabus, it does contain an essay analyzing the arc of the comics story. Relatedly, The Civil War Dilemma discusses the fundamental flaw in the idea of Marvel Civil War.
"Routing" The El: Sam's liveblog of the day he spent riding through every single CTA train station in Chicago.
History:
Pandemic, Then and Now: At the start of the COVID pandemic, Sam researched the 1918 Flu Pandemic to see how the COVID pandemic might eventually come to an end. Written in December 2020, last updated May 2024.
A Brief Uncited History of Canning: Well, someone asked.
Miscellaneous:
National Clean Your Home Month: Sam's annual response to National Novel Writing Month; a guidebook for how to spend a month making one's home more comfortable.
Jury Duty, 2023: Sam served on the jury for a civil malpractice case in 2023; after the case was settled he wrote up his feelings about the experience.
The Problem With Superfoods: Why we can't have nice things like almonds dipped in milk chocolate.