The Pareto Principle, Form Follows Function, and Story

There are a thousand things to “remember” when writing story. New writers who make lists of these things soon begin to drown in them. But I’ve come to realize that many of these “rules” don’t matter. They don’t matter because many ignore the function of story. And so you can’t know how and when to apply them,

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Free books and other swag at signing tomorrow!

For all of you in the greater Salt Lake City area, we have three major publishing houses–Tor, Baen, and DAW–donating lots of free goodies for the signings. 40 free hardcovers, ARCs, and other promo stuff. Some of it you can’t get in stores. For example, you can get a free ARCs of Larry Correia’s VENDETTA

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Amano, Jason’s Deli, and The Hunger Games

The first time I tasted real chocolate was when I was a teenager in Switzerland. Up until then, I’d only eaten American Hershey nastiness or the left over chocolates at my grandma’s that she’d poked the bottoms out of and passed over. You know what I’m talking about: those yummy mystery fillings with weird chewy

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Jolie, Salt, & trading suspsense for surprise

Last week I went and saw Salt. Wow. The movie started with a bang and was off to the races with lots of great action. Unlike many action films where the characters perform stunts which are simply too hokey for me to buy into, I found myself believing in all but two of Salt’s. So I was wowed most

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Cinefour theaters & the goodreads.com pricer

I think I could write a horror novel about some dollar movie theaters. The unsuspecting movie goers are lured in. They blindly walk into the theater and take a seat, but, no! When they sit down, they find they’re trapped, their feet glued to the sticky soda floor. The doors close behind them. Outside the

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