Last time we talked about grounding yourself as your own person. The example I used was about using hope to build a structure for teaching yourself how to make your own choices (particularly when faced with pressure from others). When people try to subvert your choices for one reason or another—saying that things will be sure […]
Asshole Mitigation Plan, Part 18: Staying Grounded as a Self Read More »
Before we talk about how to help others, let’s talk about anchoring the self, that is, in being your own person. There are lots of ways to do this; what I give here is just one case study: hope. So if assholes are common (and they are)…and the people who consciously or unconsciously are on
Asshole Mitigation Plan, Part 17: Anchoring the Self Outside of Narrative Read More »
Introduction Dear fellow fiction writers: are we supposed to be consciously leveraging theme or not? Or are deeper stories that address what we find meaningful just supposed to magically emerge out of pure subconscious magic? Is there even a learning process for that? How do we develop meaningful stories, if obsessively planning them out kills
Assholes warp reality. People who are afraid of upsetting assholes also warp reality. Assholes, by our definition here, are missing an awareness of anything beyond themselves in the present moment. Anything that threatens an asshole’s sense of who they are or their sense of being in control causes them to split off unacceptable, flawed, or
Asshole Mitigation Plan, Part 16: The Dream, or assholes warp reality Read More »
This post is part of a series on time travel and alternate history fiction — and why we reach for it when the present gets loud. Right now, these books are all available together in the Escape from 2026 Storybundle, through June 25, 2026. What if the thing you needed most wasn’t rescue—but someone who
Leslie Claire Walker’s Time Travel Stories: Time Out of Mind Read More »
This post is part of a series on time travel and alternate history fiction — and why we reach for it when the present gets loud. Right now, these books are all available together in the Escape from 2026 Storybundle, through June 25, 2026. What if you had to leave the present to find a
Kathryn Kaleigh’s Time Travel Romance: Last Stop: Yesterday Read More »
This post is part of a series on time travel and alternate history fiction — and why we reach for it when the present gets loud. Right now, these books are all available together in the Escape from 2026 Storybundle, through June 25, 2026. What if the monsters aren’t the scariest thing on the road?
This post is part of a series on time travel and alternate history fiction — and why we reach for it when the present gets loud. Right now, these books are all available together in the Escape from 2026 Storybundle, through June 25, 2026. What if the real reason to travel through time isn’t the
Douglas Smith’s Time Travel Stories: Into the Time Slip Read More »
This post is part of a series on time travel and alternate history fiction — and why we reach for it when the present gets loud. Right now, these books are all available together in the Escape from 2026 Storybundle, through June 25, 2026. What if the past isn’t as fixed as you think? Colfax
Dean Wesley Smith’s Thunder Mountain Series: Dry Creek Crossing Read More »
What if…what we think of as escapism isn’t limited to entertainment that doesn’t have deep underpinnings? What if…science fiction is particularly suited to asking deep questions that enhance the fun of how escapist the story is? Time travel and alternate history fiction might be the best examples of that. Escapist fiction: fiction which helps the
