Michael Dean — The Architecture of Essays (EP.281)
Michael Dean — architect-turned-writer, O'Shaughnessy Fellow, and creator of Essay Architecture — joins the show to explore the hidden structures beneath nonfiction and why essays, like buildings, can be designed with patterns rather than left to inspiration.
We discuss the origins of Essay Architecture, Michael's 27-pattern framework that maps essays across Idea, Form, and Voice, and how to make craft teachable and AI feedback useful without replacing the writer. Along the way, we dive into architecture school critiques, why publishable doesn't mean perfect, how editing rewires thinking, and…
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