The Delve

• H.P. Lovecraft reviews Japanese candy
  I reeled, overcome with ultimate horror of a sort unfelt by man since the pitiless god Pocky dragged his tentacles through the loathsome grime of primordial worlds not our own. Continue reading →
• Ernest Hemingway reviews a candy bar
  From his pocket he took a candy bar covered in a black wrapper. It was black chocolate. He held it and looked at the fire and looked at the moon. The night was big and black and Nick knew that this was the moment to do the terrible thing. Continue reading →
• It’s the 4th of July: What are you eating?
  Talking books, keeping summer boredom at bay, and the world's strangest pizza topping. Continue reading →
• What Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, and a supermodel have in common
  I have no idea why I know that Cherries in the Snow is a particular color of lipstick. Am I aware of it purely due to the insidious power of marketing? Or is there greater cultural significance to this oddly-named makeup? Continue reading →
• The ultimate summer cake recipe
  Called “one of 2018’s biggest and most controversial trends” by The Washington Post, edible glitter was invented for the cake decorating industry to garnish display cakes. By January, the FDA had to issue an advisory warning. Continue reading →
• The darkest secrets of Choose Your Own Adventure books
  “Almost everyone who reads these books goes back to the beginning after reaching an ending, wondering what would have happened differently if they had made other decisions. It’s a very powerful tool for teaching as well as entertaining.” But what were the Choose Your Own Adventure books teaching young readers in the 1980s? Continue reading →

How to Write Like

• How to Write In Medias Res
  Don’t you hate long, boring introductions that drone on and on when all you want to do is find out —   What is in medias res? “In medias res” is Latin for “into the midst of things.” This popular literary technique refers to a way of starting a story, novel, or play without any […]
• How to write like Emily Dickinson
  She wore all white, she hid herself away from the world, and she was an urban legend in her hometown. She also wrote some of the most unusual and enduring poetry of all time — and nobody but Emily Dickinson herself realized it until after her death. Who is Emily Dickinson? Nineteenth-century American lyric poet […]
• How to write like Ernest Hemingway
  This is the big Kahuna. The guy with an app named after him. The generalissimo of sturdy, stark, macho American prose. The one and only author that your dad, your boss, your pothead roommate, your English teacher, and that Guy in Your MFA all agree is a Good Writer™. Can you learn to write like […]