Beyond The Page

The Trial was meant to eliminate champions, not replace them.In the aftermath of a public execution, Seventeen begins to see the pattern hiding behind the spectacle. As alliances quietly form without her, old loyalties crumble, and every conversation becomes another move in a game no one fully understands.The champions believe they are fighting for a throne. The patrons believe they are buying influence. The Crown insists the Trial is proceeding as it always has.Seventeen no longer believes any of them.As she follows the trail left behind by the fallen, long-buried memories of her own past begin to surface, forcing her to confront the true reason she entered the Trial under another woman's name. The answers she has been searching for may lie far beyond the arena, but the cost of finding them is becoming clearer with every body that falls.Some games are played to find a winner.This one may have been designed to ensure there is never one.

In this episode of Beyond The Page, I take a step back from storytelling and talk about something every writer runs into sooner or later; the gap between gaining visibility and actually getting better.The truth is, you can post consistently, gain traction, and still feel stuck. And it's not because you lack talent, but cos you're missing feedback that actually helps you grow.This episode also introduces something new my partner and I have been working on; Storyloom, a space designed to bring writing, feedback, and discovery into one continuous loop.If you’re a writer trying to improve, or a reader who enjoys being part of the creative process, this conversation is for you.✨ Join the Storyloom beta: https://storyloom.ca

The arena does not groom. It only replaces.When a champion is publicly executed for “subverting the sanctity of the Trial,” the court calls it procedure, but Seventeen calls it proof.The replacement arrives before the body finishes collapsing into the sand.This is no longer a competition of merit, but a curated spectacle, and someone other than the Crown is rearranging the board faster than the throne admits.

We live in a world obsessed with data, productivity, and optimization, and yet, we still tell stories. In this solo episode of Beyond The Page, Lora Tia explores why storytelling isn't just entertainment, but a core human survival tool. From childhood imagination to branding, leadership, work culture, and personal identity, narrative shapes how we understand the world and our place in it. If you've ever wondered why stories linger, why representation matters, or why certain narratives feel hollow while others feel like home, this episode is for you.

Welcome back to Beyond The Page! In this cheeky solo banter episode, Lora Tia reflects on the tropes she once turned her nose up at, only to end up writing them. From Enemies to Lovers and The Chosen One, to the ever-popular Captive Hearts, Lora goes deep into the tropes she tried to avoid and the stories that convinced her otherwise. She talks about what makes a trope work, why clichés aren't always the enemy, and how Table Eleven became a genre-bending surprise that helped her fall in love with romance-forward storytelling. If you've ever sworn you'd never write that trope… only to catch yourself doing it with flair, this episode's for you. New episodes air biweekly. Subscribe, share, and let us know which trope you've secretly come around to.