Interview with Jason Dias, author of Life on Mars

Amazon | Goodreads | Twitter | Patreon | Author Website Author Facebook Page | Author Goodreads Page | Author Amazon Page Welcome to fellow author Jason Dias, author of Sanguine Vengeance, The Worst of Us, Endpoint of Sentience, and more. Previous interviews with Richard Bamberg, Rob Chansky, P.R. Adams, and Megan Rutter are also available. 1. Your book starts out with a character, Jaye, who feels she isn’t human because she was,

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Jun 18 2018

I Survived Denver Comic-Con, and All I Got Was This…

I survived Denver Comic-Con, and all I got was a stupid Nakitomi Plaza Parking Permit! Actually, I got a few other things, but none of them cost more than a dollar. Or were eaten before I left for home. Friday: I was on a panel for Indie Book Publishing

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Jun 4 2018

The Tale of a Book that Failed…

…or that at least didn’t succeed as hoped. Once upon a time, I wrote a book for a ghostwriting client. It was one of those dream projects that paid pretty well and that I had a lot of freedom on. The only requirement was that it have some kind of sci-fi element to it. The

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May 28 2018

How to Study Fiction, Part 10: Scenes, Part 1

This is part of a series on how to study fiction, mainly directed at writers who have read all the beginning writing books and are like, “What now?!?” The rest of the series is here. You may also want to check out the series on pacing, here, which I’m eventually going to fold into this series

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May 23 2018

Think Like a Librarian: The Stanley Parable, by Davey Wreden and William Pugh

I’m trying to look at books the way a librarian might, in order to help get me better at thinking from a reader’s point of view. Here are the other posts in the series. … By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, Link The Stanley Parable is a video game, not a book.

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May 21 2018

Reminder re: Failure

I don’t have much time this week to blog (a deadline is a week earlier than I thought it was!!!), but I’ll get back to the study series as soon as I can. … Failure is life’s way of telling you that you need to change. Not necessarily that you need to completely dump

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May 18 2018

How to Study Fiction, Part 9: Reading, Part 3

This is part of a series on how to study fiction, mainly directed at writers who have read all the beginning writing books and are like, “What now?!?” The rest of the series is here. … Techniques to help handle reading issues (post-reading!): You’ve read the book. Now what? I’ll go into more depth about

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May 16 2018

Think Like A Librarian: Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison

I’m trying to look at books the way a librarian might, in order to help get me better at thinking from a reader’s point of view. Here are the other posts in the series. … I’m just going to say it. Sometimes works of pure genius don’t get

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May 14 2018

The Art of Surprise

How do you surprise your readers? I use two methods: Wilhelm’s Law and the Agatha Christie Technique. Wilhelm’s Law: throw away your first three ideas. What this means: Your first idea is generally the most obvious one. It’s been done. Your second idea is generally a response to the first. Because most stories have been

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May 11 2018

How to Study Fiction, Part 8: Reading, Part 2

This is part of a series on how to study fiction, mainly directed at writers who have read all the beginning writing books and are like, “What now?!?” The rest of the series is here. … Techniques to help handle reading issues: First, what to read. You have a number of options. Read deeply, that is,

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