LIT112: The Life of a Showgirl with Mara Eller

“Ruin the Friendship” expands on the vulnerability we saw in “Eldest Daughter” and reveals the showgirl at her most human.

In this episode, we unpack the song’s quiet heartbreak and the recurring tension between the “good girl” who plays it safe and the artist who longs to live boldly. We’ll trace how Swift’s lyrics move through time, how regret becomes revelation, and how this moment of tenderness deepens the album’s larger story.

Don’t miss the writing prompts at the end, or go to www.maraeller.com/prompts to get them sent straight to your inbox.

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It's not too late to snag the replay for Write Like Taylor Swift: a 90-minute immersive workshop to help you apply Taylor's most powerful techniques to whatever you already write.

Get all the LIT112 writing prompts in one place: www.maraeller.com/prompts.

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Check out my new podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually listen. 

You can find my personal writing and writing tips on Substack. 

And visit my website to learn more about my editing, book coaching, and upcoming courses.

What is this confessional ballad doing in the middle of an album about the glamour of the showgirl life? 

In this episode, we explore the surprising intimacy and aching vulnerability of “Eldest Daughter.” Our heroine—fresh from the ruthless triumph of “Father Figure”—seems to be asking herself who she’s become and whether she can stay kind, loyal, and true to herself in a world that rewards performance and punishes softness.

We’ll unpack the song’s use of slang, its play with hot and cold, and how it reframes the showgirl’s story at the midpoint of the album. 

Plus, stay tuned for discussion questions and writing prompts to help you reflect on your own creative and emotional life.

For access to a document with all the writing prompts in one place, head to www.maraeller.com/prompts to get them sent straight to your inbox.

_______________________________________

It's not too late to snag the replay for Write Like Taylor Swift: a 90-minute immersive workshop to help you apply Taylor's most powerful techniques to whatever you already write.

Get all the LIT112 writing prompts in one place: www.maraeller.com/prompts.

_______________________________________

Come join the discussion! 

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Check out my new podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually listen. 

You can find my personal writing and writing tips on Substack. 

And visit my website to learn more about my editing, book coaching, and upcoming courses.

In this episode, we dive into “Father Figure” — a song that dramatizes the complex dynamics between a young, vulnerable artist and the powerful adults who offer guidance and protection. We also explore why she credited George Michael and her own battle for creative control. 

As the final track in Act 1 of this unfolding drama, “Father Figure” shows our heroine at a crossroads, faced with a difficult choice between two less-than-ideal options: surrender to the forces that want to keep her small, or claim her power and risk losing her soul?

Listen through to the end for your writing prompts!

_______________________________________

It's not too late to snag the replay for Write Like Taylor Swift: a 90-minute immersive workshop to help you apply Taylor's most powerful techniques to whatever you already write.

Get all the LIT112 writing prompts in one place: www.maraeller.com/prompts.

_______________________________________

Come join the discussion! 

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Threads 

_______________________________________

Check out my new podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually listen. 

You can find my personal writing and writing tips on Substack. 

And visit my website to learn more about my editing, book coaching, and upcoming courses.

On the surface, “Opalite” sparkles — a feel-good, danceable love song about moving on and finding happiness. But when you look closer, both musically and lyrically, the shimmer seems to be only skin deep. The happiness she’s portraying is not entirely real — it’s manufactured, just like opalite itself.

In this episode, we dive into chapter three of the showgirl’s story and uncover a tension between the joyful chorus and the unresolved verses that mirrors the lyrics’ emotional undercurrent. What does it mean when your “sky is Opalite”? This image captures the tension between manufactured happiness and authentic emotion and reveals a sense of resignation lurking behind her casual exuberance. 

Listen in as we unpack another unreliable narrator, the distinction between opal and opalite, and the nuances of this song's most revealing lines.

Plus, writing prompts for memoir and fiction!

_______________________________________

It's not too late to snag the replay for Write Like Taylor Swift: a 90-minute immersive workshop to help you apply Taylor's most powerful techniques to whatever you already write.

Get all the LIT112 writing prompts in one place: www.maraeller.com/prompts.

_______________________________________

Come join the discussion! 

Instagram

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Threads 

_______________________________________

Check out my new podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually listen. 

You can find my personal writing and writing tips on Substack. 

And visit my website to learn more about my editing, book coaching, and upcoming courses.

In Track 2, our showgirl finds herself living the life of her dreams yet consumed with aching loneliness and haunting anxiety. 

Will any of this last? Is it possible to find enduring love in this life she’s chosen?

With no one else to ask, she reaches out to the ghost of Elizabeth Taylor: “Do you think it’s forever?”

While the song itself doesn’t provide an answer, Elizabeth’s life makes it pretty clear.

In this episode, we unpack “Elizabeth Taylor” not just as a pop song, but as a haunting conversation between two women—one living, one gone—both trapped in the spotlight. A fellow showgirl who, like her, had everything… except someone she could trust.

Emily Dickenson once wrote, “Fame is a fickle food… men eat of it and die.” Swift’s showgirl is learning this the hard way. Fame might be delicious at first, but it never fills you — and the flavor turns bitter fast. The allure of stardom, like the power of her beauty, is sharp but fleeting. As she sings in “Opalite,” “you’re starving til you’re not.” 

That's the conflict introduced in this second chapter of The Life of a Showgirl saga.

.

.

.

Here’s Emily Dickenson’s poem:

Fame is a fickle food

Upon a shifting plate

Whose table once a

Guest but not

The second time is set

Whose crumbs the crows inspect

And with ironic caw

Flap past it to the

Farmer’s corn

Men eat of it and die

_______________________________________

It's not too late to snag the replay for Write Like Taylor Swift: a 90-minute immersive workshop to help you apply Taylor's most powerful techniques to whatever you already write.

Get all the LIT112 writing prompts in one place: www.maraeller.com/prompts.

_______________________________________

Come join the discussion! 

Instagram

TikTok 

Threads 

_______________________________________

Check out my new podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually listen. 

You can find my personal writing and writing tips on Substack. 

And visit my website to learn more about my editing, book coaching, and upcoming courses.

Beneath the shimmer of “The Fate of Ophelia” music video lies an argument disguised as art—a visual essay on fame, femininity, and façade. 

Through paintings, plays, and showgirls past, Taylor Swift makes it clear the song—and the album as a whole—is about far more than any one person. 

The music video offers a provocative question: Can the showgirl ever stop performing? And, in the performative world we live in, can we?

(Writing prompts will resume with our next deep dive!)

If you want to see images to go with my descriptions, you can watch the full video here (no social media required)!

_______________________________________

It's not too late to snag the replay for Write Like Taylor Swift: a 90-minute immersive workshop to help you apply Taylor's most powerful techniques to whatever you already write.

Get all the LIT112 writing prompts in one place: www.maraeller.com/prompts.

_______________________________________

Come join the discussion! 

Instagram

TikTok 

Threads 

_______________________________________

Check out my new podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually listen. 

You can find my personal writing and writing tips on Substack. 

And visit my website to learn more about my editing, book coaching, and upcoming courses.

In this episode, we dive into “The Fate of Ophelia” — dramatic chapter one of Taylor Swift’s concept album.

At first listen, it might sound like a classic love story — a damsel saved by her hero. But if you read this song as part one of the larger narrative, it’s the inciting incident — the spark that sets off the showgirl’s rise to stardom and the struggles that follow.

Dig a little deeper, and you find Shakespearean irony, unreliable narration, and a chilling meditation on power, self-abandonment, and the price of being “rescued.”

From iambic pentameter and Dorian chords to Hamlet’s original Ophelia, we unpack how Taylor transforms an archetype into a cautionary tale about loyalty, fame, and lost agency.

Plus: a writing prompt at the end to help you reimagine your own modern-day myth.

_______________________________________

It's not too late to snag the replay for Write Like Taylor Swift: a 90-minute immersive workshop to help you apply Taylor's most powerful techniques to whatever you already write.

Get all the LIT112 writing prompts in one place: www.maraeller.com/prompts.

_______________________________________

Come join the discussion! 

Instagram

TikTok 

Threads 

_______________________________________

Check out my new podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually listen. 

You can find my personal writing and writing tips on Substack. 

And visit my website to learn more about my editing, book coaching, and upcoming courses.

Most people assume every lyric in The Life of a Showgirl is Taylor Swift speaking directly, giving her perspective—but what if they're not?

Understanding the secret of the unreliable narrator changes everything about how we read this album—especially the opening track, “The Fate of Ophelia.” Once you recognize when and how the narrator shifts, a whole new layer of meaning comes into focus.

In this episode, we’ll explore what the different between author and narrator + the concept of an unreliable narrator—and why it might just be the key to unlocking the entire album. 

Stick around for a the writing prompts at the end to help you try the technique yourself!

_______________________________________

It's not too late to snag the replay for Write Like Taylor Swift: a 90-minute immersive workshop to help you apply Taylor's most powerful techniques to whatever you already write.

Get all the LIT112 writing prompts in one place: www.maraeller.com/prompts.

_______________________________________

Come join the discussion! 

Instagram

TikTok 

Threads 

_______________________________________

Check out my new podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually listen. 

You can find my personal writing and writing tips on Substack. 

And visit my website to learn more about my editing, book coaching, and upcoming courses.

This isn’t just an album. It’s a novel in songs—what’s known as a concept album, carefully designed to tell cohesive story from the first track to the last. Taylor practically confirmed it herself when she said the order of the songs is crucial.

Maybe you’ve been convinced that the album really isn’t all that great, or maybe you’ve been grooving to the tunes but not quite sure what’s going on with some of the lyrics. Either way, the key to experiencing this album fully is to approach it like you would a novel. 

In this episode, I break down how viewing The Life of a Showgirl as a single cohesive narrative completely changes how we hear it. We’ll talk about how to frame the story and what motifs to look/listen for to make connections between the songs.

_______________________________________

It's not too late to snag the replay for Write Like Taylor Swift: a 90-minute immersive workshop to help you apply Taylor's most powerful techniques to whatever you already write.

Get all the LIT112 writing prompts in one place: www.maraeller.com/prompts.

_______________________________________

Come join the discussion! 

Instagram

TikTok 

Threads 

_______________________________________

Check out my new podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually listen. 

You can find my personal writing and writing tips on Substack. 

And visit my website to learn more about my editing, book coaching, and upcoming courses.

Class is in session! 

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be walking you through a literary analysis of Taylor Swift's most recent album, The Life of a Showgirl, as if it were a novel in my literature class. We’ll unpack literary techniques and analyze each song in light of the album as a whole. 

I recently retired from my day job teaching writing and literature at the high school in college level to focus on my business as an editor and book coach, but I miss the classroom. So I’m super excited to do a little teaching here on a topic that is so much fun. 

Let me know what questions you have about the album or what you most hope I will talk about! 

_______________________________________

It's not too late to snag the replay for Write Like Taylor Swift: a 90-minute immersive workshop to help you apply Taylor's most powerful techniques to whatever you already write.

Get all the LIT112 writing prompts in one place: www.maraeller.com/prompts.

_______________________________________

Come join the discussion! 

Instagram

TikTok 

Threads 

_______________________________________

Check out my new podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually listen. 

You can find my personal writing and writing tips on Substack. 

And visit my website to learn more about my editing, book coaching, and upcoming courses.