The First Scene (And How It Came Together).

PLUS: Read the scene...and hear me read it.

In late 2025 I was desperate to find a way to begin writing, after months of paralysis.

Finally, I read Will Storr’s The Science of Storytelling and, crucially, Christopher Booker’s The Seven Basic Plots. Both were immensely helpful in helping me develop a theory of composition from which to begin writing.

Shortly thereafter, ideas began to emerge. And then words.

Below is the first complete scene I wrote. I’ve also included an audio version with me reading (as Tom, of course).¹

What was surprising is how quickly the scene materialized, and the sources I was able to pull from.

Starting from the premise of Sowell speaking in the mid-1960s, during the rise of the Civil Rights revolution, I thought of a story from his memoir A Personal Odyssey. Midway through, I had the intuition to weave in another story, from his 1974 work Black Education: Myths and Tragedies.

I’d already bookmarked the latter story, and to my astonishment I found that the phrase “Separate but Equal” appeared there, which made tying the stories together easy.

After months of agony I was just happy for the work to truly begin in earnest.

I’m not sure if I’ll use this scene, but I’m learning that no work is wasted.

Without further ado: