There’s an issue I haven’t had words for, until now, and it concerns “hopium” – the rational disconnect involved when you’re forced to believe in extraordinary results, despite all evidences to the contrary. The bigger this disconnect, the more brutal maintenance is required to keep up this level of optimism...
Quick Answer The Tomorrow War has massive plot holes — but it’s a masterclass in pacing and high-concept premises that writers can learn from. How to write a satisfying story… movie breakdown Halfway through Netflix’s “The Tomorrow War” with Chris Pratt, I paused to take notes. It’s a great example of...
There are three ways to write a successful memoir: Be Someone Famous. Know Famous People. Write a Good Story. If you’re famous and you have a lot of fans, you can write about what you ate for breakfast and people will still read it. If you’re not famous but have met a lot of famous
A while ago I read Seth Godin’s This is Marketing; in this article I’ll try to parse meaning so you can apply his insights to your own creative projects. (Some of this may be paraphrased as I’m working off quick notes.) Firstly, Seth addresses the doubt and fear most creatives face around marketing their work:
After I finished writing BookCraft, I got a little obsessed with the particularities of writing a satisfying conclusion or resolution. It’s something I started noticing in TV shows and movies, especially: how the hero’s personal quest was deliberately illustrated with a hard comparison, a “before and after” that...
Quick Answer Show don’t tell means using action, dialogue, and sensory detail instead of stating emotions directly — here are three techniques. (Updated May 2026.) What does it mean when you get feedback on your writing or advice to “show don’t tell”? I get this question a lot but didn’t have a clear answer...
I saw this infographic today, about the Six Types of Writers. Great, I thought – I like cute and fun online Facebook tests about writers that momentarily distract me from the challenges of writing. I was asked, “Which one are you,” so I searched. Here’s the problem, these aren’t the six types of writers. These
This is usually where I’d post a roundup of the best (FREE to enter) writing contests. But I’ve decided not to, because even though they’re great for traffic, there are several sites that have already put lists like that together – I’ll link to those at the end of this post. So, why write anything
Real quick: Medium is a side-project by Twitter CEO that’s mostly unmonetized but gets a crazy amount of traffic; making it one of the biggest content sites on the internet. You *can* get paid by views under certain conditions and *some* writers are making real money ($1000~$10,000 a month) but it’s not easy to do
Quick Answer Kindle Vella lets you publish serialized fiction in episodes; readers use tokens to unlock chapters, and you earn royalties per read. (Updated May 2026.) There are some rumblings this week as Kindle announced a new program for authors called Kindle Vella; basically a short, serialized place for content that’s separate from...
There’s a revolution happening in literature: writers are going short. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve already heard of flash fiction, those tiny, compressed stories flourishing in the literary underground. Writers and readers are falling in love with the form and discovering something delightful and poignant in these small spaces...
The literary world has opened its gates to a flood of indie authors, thanks to platforms that allow them to self-publish with ease. While this democratization of publishing is overwhelmingly positive, it also means there’s a deluge of books out there that, perhaps, didn’t go through the rigorous editing process traditional...
