Mental morphology molded by metaphysics, myth, & mysticism.

I was raised Mormon –– an interesting form of modern American Christianity –– the quirks of which have provided plenty of criticism, social commentary, and a hit broadway musical. And that’s just from Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Though I no longer believe in the tenets of the Latter Day Saints, I appreciate many of the values it instilled in me, including kindness, perseverance, and an interest in ancient cultures and languages––the latter coming more from a historical fascination of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith's alleged translation than the spiritual lessons given within the pages.

Though it was difficult to overcome the indoctrination from such a young age, as I grew older and more educated, I realized the factual inaccuracies of the Mormon faith, and the larger theistic basis in Biblical literalism. I now believe more strongly in the scientific method than I did in any deity, though due to the magical worldview instilled in me during my childhood, I still carry the yearning for a mystical or supernatural significance for the cosmological unknowns and universal mysteries.

Having gone through phases of pretentiousness and condescending atheism as a young adult, I've now progressed to the point of openness to a more optimistic view of the cosmos, even if merely to satisfy the part of my humble human psychology that craves myth and metaphor to make sense of the unmeasurable and ineffable. It is these distinctly human cognitive drives to explain the world around us, after all, that gave our species our longest-running tradition: storytelling.

Though my keen interest in mythology (modern and ancient alike), as it relates to storytelling isn't particularly unique, it's instrumental to understanding the fundamentals of the most familiar and successful story structures used throughout history and in film and television. Myth and metaphor, both fervently spiritual and secularly hypothetical, have been embodied in every cultural inheritance found around the world. From narrative structure to character archetypes, modern storytelling would not exist as it does without being built upon the bedrock of mythic mindset of ancient cultures. 

When not taken literally, the Book of Mormon is a magnificent literary example, written with a clear understanding of the biblical prose and semitic discourse required for an attempted sequel to the ancient religious scriptures. Viewed as a piece of fiction written in early nineteenth-century America by a young Joseph Smith, it's an incredible work, reflecting a truly ingenious author with a strong grasp of world-building and mystic inclinations. 

This interest in ancient and mystic worldviews is an attribute I share with Smith and other historical experts. Whether an inherent aspect of my personality, or something implanted in my mind from my Mormon upbringing, the passion for metaphor, magic, metaphysics, and mysticism is ingrained in my understanding of writing and telling compelling stories.

I graduated from MSU with two degrees in psychology and linguistics, and a specialization in cognitive science. I still find these fields fascinating, but I couldn't see a career for myself on this academic path.  So almost immediately, I said, "fuck it" and went into television production instead and eventually focused on post production and digital media distribution.  I'm a storyteller and a story-sharer, so I enjoy working in an industry where I can use my skills to help other creators have voices heard and find an eager audience. In the meantime, as I share others' stories, I also write in  my  free  time  with the end-goal of becoming a professional writer, to share my own stories as well. 

Though I don't use my degrees in an obvious and direct way,  my background in psychology and linguistics is highly influential to my  writing.  They're particularly applicable to screenwriting as it's a format that relies heavily on realistic dialogue . My senior thesis was an Analysis of Interruptions and Overlaps Across Conversation Topics. I collected data observing real conversations and studied speech patterns, which allowed me to develop an ear for unique speech  patterns  and  dialogic  styles.    

Stories for television and film form around understanding the psychology of characters as they interact with others, explore their worlds, and progress over time.  My experience with personality assessments and cognitive psychology experiments  have been  invaluable to my understanding of character development. 

Even the screenplay itself, as a written format, must have an appealing visual aesthetic. The reading experience must convey the feeling of the eventual audiovisual product while adhering to strict formatting rules. Studying language cognition has provided great insight into how the morphology,  syntax,  pacing ,  and  spacing  of the text itself can affect the reader's perception of the story.

All this to say that my writing is deeply informed by my psycholinguistics background. Masterfully composing language to achieve the desired impression in the mind of a reader takes a truly cunning linguist, indeed.