When I named this newsletter, I did not consider that I was *really* backing myself into a scheduling corner with the whole “weekly” thing. Now it’s been…a minute. Consider it my crime against the sacred timeline.
Part of the reason you haven’t heard from me has to do with some career news.
After seven awesome years of freelancing, yesterday I started a full-time job as Associate Creative Director of Copywriting at Nomadic Learning.
Nomadic has been a client for a while––the team is fantastic and I’m really excited to dive in to full-time work there, building out their brand voice and content strategy.
However, this will mean I have less time for my own side projects. So this Storytelling Weekly newsletter will now happen on an…even more not-weekly basis.
But time is a lot weirder and more complicated than we thought, as the Loki series taught us. So maybe that’s okay.
Speaking of Loki. There are a lot of reasons I loved this show, from the acting, to the production, to the director, to Loki being the first openly queer MCU protagonist and the bi representation we needed. (More on why bi representation in particular is important here.)
Critical reception of the show skewed positive, but was a mixed bag overall. One complaint from many critics was the pacing. And yes, the series does feel slow when compared to a Marvel movie. But so does any story that doesn’t have about 5,000 things happening in each scene, and doesn’t *always* have conflict that manifests physically.
There are other kinds of tension besides a physical confrontation, though. And the Loki series understands that. Tom Hiddleston is an incredible actor, and in the films, the character he plays is mostly reduced to quips, punch lines, and taking a beating in skirmishes. Here, Hiddleston has space to lean into Loki’s complexities as his character spends rather long scenes delving into determinism vs. free will, exploring his relationship with his mother and how it’s affected his magic, and musing on what makes a Loki a Loki.
This protagonist also gets to make his first friend. And, maybe, fall in love. (Although that part’s complicated––email me if you have thoughts on the weirdness of the romance in this show.)
A big part of telling a great story is understanding your form and capitalizing on that form’s strengths. When compared to a 90-minute action-adventure film, a TV show has more room to sprawl, to go on just a bit too long, and to explore its characters outside the scope of battles and plotting for battles.
It’s a little like a novel versus a short story. In a novel, periods of rest and calm and comic relief are part of the ebb and flow that makes the narrative effective. You breathe while the character catches their breath; you process the action alongside them as they take a moment in that little space after a scene to feel, reflect, and make the decision that will drive the action in the next one.
As much as I love the intensity of the Marvel movies, I also really liked the opportunity to explore Loki’s character away from the movies’ relentless pacing.
I, for one, hope season two is just as “slow.”
More career notes
I’ve talked to most of my lovely clients individually already, but for everyone else, just a note that I will be taking on the occasional freelance project, but will mostly be focusing on my full-time role at Nomadic and my own creative work.
I’ll continue to do storytelling workshops and story + strategy sessions as availability allows. I’ll also be scaling back translating, editing, and beta reading.
But just reach out, and I’ll let you know if I have time to take something on.
I’m really excited for this next step, and to continue to spend my professional life thinking about stories, how we tell them, and the power they have to move people.
Thanks to all who have trusted me to do this work with them. Happy storytelling and please stay in touch! <3
– Erin