Brylee's Bookstore

This is not just a hyper-motivational post like you'd see on LinkedIn. Being in the creator space has opened me up to a lot of people who are desperate to "make it." Some want to work for a YouTube channel, some want to work at a publishing house, and some want to be an actor with a certain show or company. The reasoning behind a lot of these desires is that they want to be around certain people who are also creative or successful in the way that they want to be.

But companies and networks are created by people who take action. If you want to make improv sketches, don't just apply online for a bunch of casting calls. Start a channel or an in-person show with local people. Send out a message on public forums if you're a filmmaker. There are a hundred people who would write for free, act for free, edit for free, etc., if it meant genuinely creating something with someone.

"Seizure-Like Activity" (Brylee Huber) (March 2026)

Throughout the text, there are numerous references to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. This is not subtle imagery. The scenes of the creature watching and learning from the family in their cottage are commonly left out of adaptations, while it's the most important connecting element to the story.

Both the creature and Victor are facing the consequences of acquiring human knowledge. The creature cannot speak of or understand the concept of being a monster or a human. It is only once it gains the forbidden understanding of being human that it can realize that it is not, and will never be, a human in the common sense. That is a consequence of what he is and what he has learned to become.

It is a direct parallel to Victor creating the creature. Victor pushes discovery until it is something that he regrets, but many audiences blame his hatred of the creature on the wrong thing. Victor is not guilty of only human pride or ego (at least not in the grand scheme of the story). He is guilty of the dilemma that exists in all of human understanding, which makes us monsters with curiosity for not knowing something, and a monster with regret once we have gained the knowledge we seek. There is no winning in the search for knowledge; that is the moral of the story.

BOTH Victor and the creature are guilty of not accepting the consequences that are theirs alone to own. Victor runs from the creature and tries to avoid blame for the creature's existence, while the creature blames his own misery on Victor. If they both accept the burdens of their lives, they could both survive. Instead, they refuse to properly accept those burdens and cause mutual destruction.

The Biblical references are obvious and necessary for the understanding of the story. Victor is a god-like creator who has created an imperfect being, such as God creating humankind. In this story, though, Victor does not accept his creation as flawed, and he runs from the consequences. The creature is humankind after consuming the apple. Yes, Victor created it, but the creature cannot live a fulfilling life by focusing on punishing its creator, just as humans can't live happily by punishing God for creating them.

Frankenstein is thus a showcase of the importance of accepting the consequences of existence, whether they are fair or owed.

A poem I wrote when I was 15 after purchasing a painting by Bruce Holwerda at a Kansas City Art Market. Please go follow his work on Instagram @bruceholwerda

i cried

not for the woman in the mirror

but the girl with the tin attic roof

and quotes upon her walls

who cried as they screamed

when the cheap plaster peeled off

who stuck her fingerprint in ink

and left it in the closet

where one day they'd only find it

upon the rubble of the walls

Brylee Huber

Yes, there's a song sung of freedom

Not on the endless open road

Or in the wings upon the birds

But in the fall between the ledge

and the rocks within the sea

I first heard it when I stood, two toes across the line

Waiting for the wind to blow

Either, either way

I abandon home for brand new cities

And I sail far to foreign lands

My hair fades to strange new colors

Or my dress to old, forgotten threads

But never will I know another freedom

Like that of letting go

Brylee Huber

I recently watched The Talented Mr. Ripley, but I like to consider what I would do differently if I wrote a movie or book, and these are my thoughts (based on the 1999 movie). I felt as though it suffered from giving too much information away. Major spoilers ahead.

My biggest "issue" was that I found the pacing to be a little odd after Dickey is killed. It felt like everything after was anticlimactic, and like we'd already seen Tom at his worst. There wasn't much change in his character (whether good or bad).

My other issue was that we, as an audience, have a very outside perspective. We aren't active participants in the movie, as we know everything that is happening. We are part of all of the manipulation and lies, and there are no moments when we have to figure things out for ourselves.

To "fix" these two issues, I would do something kind of simple. I would keep the plot relatively the same, but instead of showing the boat scene, I would only show glimpses that make it seem like Tom and Dickey had a normal fight. All scenes in Rome are vague or nonexistent, and they're geared in favor of Tom appearing like the good guy.

We, as an audience, haven't seen Dickey since they left for Rome. We are now in the same position as Meredith. We know Dickey is a liar and a cheater, so it isn't out of the question that he would leave after agreeing to marry her. All we know is what Tom says happened, and since Tom is the main character, we trust him. We see scenes where Dickey kicks him out of the Christmas trip, so we'd feel like Tom was the victim of Dickey's absence. When Marge is in the picture, we root for Tom to lie about being Dickey, but now there's an added level of tension of not knowing if Dickey is going to pop up to see that Tom is impersonating him.

Nothing changes at all. Freddie can still be killed, but we would only see the scene of him being "drunk" and being helped into his car, then him being dead. At this point, we may be suspicious, but we still don't know the depth of Tom's insanity. We have as much information as the police. It could very well be Dickey who killed Freddie, and when Dickey's father comes and tells the story of him being violent in university, we're only affirmed in our beliefs of how cruel Dickey was.

I don't usually like to post writing updates for various reasons, but today was a major milestone in many ways. I'm working on the IV and final draft of a horror/fantasy novel, which I publicly call Project Swan. Today I:

Hit 50,000 words

Finished the midpoint/turning point of the book

Wrote the 100th page (single-spaced).

This draft feels like the final draft in a different way than the others before it, so it is bittersweet to feel like I won't hit this milestone with this project ever again.

This year, 2026, I am beginning a journey to fail.

Each month, I will be producing one major project using a skill or hobby that I haven't reached my full potential with. In January, I will be fully producing a song using only minimal equipment and software (aka, free websites and a laptop microphone). I will post updates and final results, no matter how cringey or embarrassing I think they are.

Interruptions of action in dialogue are great when they are punctuated correctly.

To interrupt an unfinished thought, the dashes are inside the quotes:

"You should put—" she shut her mouth quickly.

To separate a sentence in the middle of speaking, the em dashes go around the action, not the dialogue:

"You can put" —she pointed to a board— "dashes in dialogue like this."

The reason you don't use commas is because it indicates that the action is being committed to the words around it, so:

"You can put," she pointed to a board, "dashes in dialogue like this."

This makes it seem like she is using the dialogue to point. It flows the same as a dialogue tag, such as:

"You can put," she pointed out, "dashes in dialogue like this."

I am beginning a challenge I created for myself to read a memoir from every country across the world. I will be trying to read two of these books every month, between fictional books.

Instead of history, I will be attempting to focus on personal stories, relationships, and what growing up really looked and felt like. I will also be orienting towards female writers.

This serves as a starting point as well as a challenge! If you're not from the United States, leave me a comment about your favorite memoir from where you're from. Take on the challenge and let me know which books you'll be picking up.