Author Archives: T.Z. Barry

Why am I a Vegetarian?

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For as long as I can remember— basically since I was physically able to feed myself— I have been a vegetarian. People always used to ask why I refused to eat meat, but I never really had a good answer. It wasn’t for health reasons— I ate horribly. It wasn’t because I was an animal lover— I never had any pets and was afraid of dogs. It wasn’t because I was emulating someone else— no one in my family was vegetarian and neither were any of my friends. Continue reading

The Inception of My Screenwriting: Or the Movie that Made Me Want to Write Movies

Inception

With the recent release of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, I thought I’d look back at the filmmaker’s career— and mine. Ever since The Prestige, a new Nolan film is an event in my life. He is the single-most influential writer/director on my own writing, and the film of his that has had the greatest impact on me is Inception. Continue reading

How I Went from Pizzatarian to Plant-Based and Gluten-Free

pizzatarian

It sounds insane to me when I hear people say they don’t eat vegetables. But I forget that, not too long ago, that was me. I used to be the same way. I ate pizza for at least two of meals everyday for the better part of my life. So how did I get from someone who never ate vegetables to someone to eats nothing but plants? It didn’t happen overnight. It was a slow gradual process with slight changes and additions to my diet over time. Continue reading

How to Learn the Art of Screenwriting for Free

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My first introduction to screenplays was through my college screenwriting class. My professor was helpful in teaching me the basics like three-act structure, and I applied it by writing two short films. A college education is naturally quite expensive, but it wasn’t until a couple of years after college that I really learned how to write feature-length movies. I didn’t pay private script consultants or attend expensive conferences and seminars. I basically taught myself everything there is to know about screenwriting, and I learned it all essentially free of charge. Here’s how I did it: Continue reading

The Worst Night of My Life (So Far)

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The worst night of my life was May 25th, 2012. The days and weeks before, I’d been feeling chest pains and numbness in my left arm and leg, and it only seemed to be getting worse. After Googling the symptoms, I began to fear it was heart-related. The symptoms always seemed to get worse after I ate, so when I felt the pains after lunch that day, I was too afraid to eat dinner. I got home from work and started crying as I told my mother about my condition. I really feared I was going to have a heart attack. And I was only 26 years old. Continue reading

Why I Started This Blog

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1. Because I used to blog.

I began my writing career with a blog (Nova News) about my college basketball team, the Villanova Wildcats. The blog started as a project for a class in college, but I continued it long after the class ended— four years in total. I wrote at least one blog post for every game, which was twice a week for the entire season. Maintaining the blog built my writing habit, and more importantly, it taught me that writing could be fun. Continue reading

Legos Taught Me to Write

Lego movie

I saw The Lego Movie recently, and besides teaching me that “everything is awesome,” it reminded me of my childhood playing with Legos. I was an avid collector and loved building the sets then later playing with them. Unlike the child in the movie, I generally followed the instructions, but just like him, when I played with my Legos, I created elaborate stories with the figures and settings. Continue reading