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Thank you for visiting the Nicholas C. Rossis author blog! Before becoming an author, I had no idea just how much work book marketing entails: it’s never been easier to publish your work, but it’s never been harder to get people to read it. So, my blog is mostly aimed at helping authors with their book marketing efforts and at sharing every trick of the trade I pick along the way.
You may also be interested in my web design services aimed at authors. I also post writing tips and free stories. For some fun reading, visit the Fun Historical Facts and the Entertainment sections. If you like what you see here, check out my books on Amazon. And if you leave a comment or contact me, I’ll keep you up-to-date with my news and send you exclusive short stories as a ‘thank-you’. Oh, and please feel free to reblog and share. I’ll be grateful to you if you do! For an easy way to do so, or for those who have trouble viewing this blog, I have set up a mirror blog on nicholasrossis.wordpress.com.
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NASA Crashes Spacecraft into Asteroid
And of course, today's big news is that NASA has successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid. It will be a few days before we know if that means that the Agency has passed the first-ever planetary defense test, but navigation was the hardest part of the test...
Top 5 Fiction Books Dedicated to Cars
Car owners are well aware of the fact that a car is more than just a means of transport: it can have its own character, story, and destiny. This is why so many writers took inspiration from the image of the automobile and embodied it in their works. How about cars...
The Master List of Fictional Characters
I recently shared some common (and less common) types of short stories. Like you, I was surprised there were so many. How about a list of characters regularly found in fiction? Surely the list would be relatively short, right? Well... no. Ken Miyamoto shared no less...
Three Crucial Design Elements of a Killer Fantasy Book Cover
I must have gone through a dozen iterations of my Pearseus covers through the years, which is hardly surprising: we fantasy fans expect familiar book cover design elements when searching out our next read. We're a picky, dedicated, and loyal lot, so I didn't want to...
10 Types of Short Stories to Enhance Your Writing Prowess
As you may know, short stories are how I started writing and I still love them dearly. The short story, however, is not a single literary format but multiple ones grouped under a single banner. This gives short story writers a multitude of structures to use to tell...
Tips for Effective Research On Your Novel
I haven't written in a while, mostly due to the surprisingly (for August) high demands of my copywriting job. I'm now back with some thoughts on research. Whether for copywriting or novel writing, research is a big part of our work. And while writers today have more...
Three Years of Her Life by Christine Robinson
Christine Robinson is a long-time friend of this blog (and my work). Her historical fiction book, Three Years of Her Life, has now been released on Amazon. Three Years of Her Life is her debut historical fiction book, inspired by Grandfather Gustav F. Heim's last...
New Book: Writing and Publishing a Book Series
Rayne Hall is the successful author of dozens of books in her celebrated Writer's Craft series. A few months ago, we wrote together a book chock-full of copywriting tips called Copywriting: Get Paid to Write Promotional Texts. Rayne and I have now finished a new book,...
Convert Text from Image
AI software like LaMDA is pretty impressive but we've been using AI for years without even realizing it. One perfect example of this is OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tools that let us digitize printed documents. While there's something to be said about the...
LaMDA: A Sentient AI?
In case you missed the news, a Google engineer called Blake Lemoine believes that LaMDA, the company's AI, has already achieved sentience. Lemoine has since been fired from Google for going public with his belief, thus violating the company's confidentiality policy....
History of the Ferrari Brand
This blog usually deals with Medieval or ancient history, but I'm also interested in more recent history. While researching an article, I recently came across some facts about Ferrari, the legendary sports car brand created by Enzo Ferrari. I hope you'll enjoy them!...
Helen after Troy
Bradford McCormick, a reader of this blog, mentioned Helen of Troy in a comment and got me thinking. What did happen to that crazy lass after Troy fell? Well, turns out the answer, as told by Steve Theodore on Quora, is both complicated and fascinating. A Happy Ending...
Ancient Surgery
Plenty of ancient resources mention medical procedures such as surgery. The early Chinese surgeon Hua Tuo (c. 140-208) is credited with being the first recorded person to use cannabis as an anesthetic. He reduced the plant to powder and mixed it with wine for...
Polishing vs. Painting vs. Seasoning Your Armor
One thing I inherited from my late father is a small house in Evia, an island off of Athens. When I first visited the place, it had been closed for a couple of years, with no one visiting. What struck me was how rusted everything was, including even nickel faucets and...
Short Time Sales
Many of you write romance that includes scenes that range from explicit to implicit. For you, I have this little nugget I came across the other day on Quora, which you may particularly enjoy if your romance takes place in the 19th century. During the 19th century,...
Why Picture Books Are So Important For Children
I have been quietly working on a pet project, a picture book for toddlers, in collaboration with the very talented Thanasis Psarros. Here is a sneak preview: My experience with the wee one has shown me just how essential picture books are for young readers. They are...
WoW and Cross-Faction Gameplay
If you're anything like me, you may have started your fascination with fantasy thanks to games. World of Warcraft (WoW) is probably the best-known one, letting you play online with your friends, form factions, and fight both other players and non-player characters...
Neither Lazy, Nor Sick
Having gone from posting once every other day to twice a month, you may be excused for wondering if I'm turning increasingly lazy or if something worse has happened. Thankfully, all is well but I do confess to being somewhat exhausted. Between writing and editing some...
Flawed Heroes – What’s Their Appeal?
This is a guest post by Rayne Hall. You may know Rayne from her successful Writer's Craft series. And you may remember how we wrote together Copywriting: Get Paid to Write Promotional Texts. Rayne is also the author of Storm Dancer, one of the finest fantasy books...
Should You Publish Your Book as a Paperback, Audiobook, or Both?
This is a guest post by Junaid Ali, a full-time blogger at The Character Counter. He has successfully grown organic revenue by 74% in 5 months through better analysis of the website and SEO Activities. To grow your website, you can contact him at...
The World’s First Tik Tok War
War has once again broken out. And Mike Elgan has an excellent report on what makes this one so different from all previous ones. As he points out, when the US invaded Iraq twenty years ago with the intention of removing Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and installing a...
Looking in the Mirror
I came across a great thread on Facebook the other day and it got me thinking. A (male) writer was asking the following question: I have a female character looking at herself in the mirror. First naked then in a white nightdress which shows her figure. She is a very...
Beware Misguided Writing Advice
Author Anne R. Allen published yesterday a great post titled, 10 Dangerous Critiques: Beware Misguided Writing Advice. In it, she explains how trying to please everybody who beta-reads or critiques your WIP can turn a novel into a kind of jackalope of unrelated parts....
Interview with Tylluan Penry
Remember my interview with Pamela Turner, one of the authors of Among the Headstones, an anthology of Gothic horror stories? Today, I'm interviewing Tylluan Penry, another one of the anthology's authors. Interview with Tylluan Penry Hi Tylluan, it’s great to have you...
Talking Without Words
No, I'm not talking about non-verbal communication, i.e. shrugs, facial expressions, etc. I'm talking about emojis and, specifically, a new form of communication: “fake typing.” As Mike Elgan explains in his newsletter (which I highly recommend to anyone interested in...
Are Animals Multilingual?
I am multilingual and consider myself a native Greek and English speaker. People like Ziad Fazah, born in Liberia, famously speak a total of 59 world languages. Can other creatures share that ability, though? Specifically, can dogs understand more than one language?...
Interview with Pamela Turner
You may remember Rayne Hall from our recent collaboration: we wrote together a book on Copy Writing. Now, Rayne has edited an anthology of graveyard tales called, appropriately enough, Among The Headstones: Creepy Tales from the Graveyard. For today's post, I...
Happy 2022 with Good News
2021 is almost over but 2020 casts a long shadow: So, you are excused if you feel that 2021 was a bit of a bummer with nothing much to show for it. Thankfully, The Happy Broadcast and Modern Met have got you covered. Illustrator Mauro Gatti is happy to balance things...
Police Sketches of Literary Characters
I came across an unusual post on My Modern Met the other day. It featured the work of artist and filmmaker Brian Joseph Davis, specifically his ongoing project The Composites. The project produces police sketches based on what the book descriptions suggest and is a...
The 1914 Christmas Truce
Such was the carnage of The Great War that it was thought it would put an end to war for good. The war affected the lives of millions of men, including Tolkien and Milne. It gave birth to some rather unusual WWI alphabet primers. WWI also triggered medical advances...
A Christmas Feud
Christmas is a time when friends and relatives gather around the table to celebrate love, joy, and all things good. I know that this is the time of the year for inspirational stories, and I promise you'll have one of those for Christmas. Unfortunately, it is also a...
Flying Aircraft Carriers. For Real
As Popular Mechanics reports, the US Department of Defense wants the ability to launch and recover small drones from C-130 Hercules transports. The drones, nicknamed Gremlins after the mythological tricksters of the air, would be equipped with customized payloads and...
Who Will Rid Me of This Troublesome Patriarch?
A couple of centuries before King Henry II uttered the infamous words, "will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" a Byzantine Emperor was facing a similar problem: a Patriarch who was less than enthusiastic about the idea of resigning. Even worse, his heir was no...
How to Recover a Hacked Facebook Account
This seems to happen more often than I'd like: someone lets you know that they received a Facebook message from you, usually asking for money. Only, you never sent one (duh). You were hacked! So what do you do next? An alltop9 post has the steps you should follow if...
An Executioner’s Tale
While browsing Quora, I came across the fascinating tale of a family of executioners in the Late Medieval era. I just know this will inspire your writing, so here it is. Thanks to Jean-Marie Valheur for the great answer. A Reluctant Executioner Imagine you’re a...
5 Fun Ideas to Engage Your Readers
This is a guest post by Dave Chesson, aka Kindlepreneur. Dave is the creator of Publisher Rocket, his #1 Book Marketing Tool. Connect with him on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. 5 Fun Ideas to Engage Your Readers Engaging readers is the key to book success....
The Adverb Strikes Back
We all know how adverbs are supposedly an author's archnemesis. They are to be avoided like, well, passive voice. We're to go through our manuscripts, find each and every one of them, and kill them while crying out, "die, rebel scum!" Hemingway has a lot to do with...
Happy Thanksgiving
Even though Greece doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, I went to an American school so the family and I sort of do — mostly because we love the idea of a day dedicated to gratitude. In that spirit, I am very grateful to all of you for your love and support all these...
I’m on the Voice of Indie Podcast
Something to be thankful for: if you've missed my nuggets of wisdom and anecdotes from Greece and Scotland, don't despair. I was invited over at the Voice of Indie podcast by two very charming gentlemen, Beem Weeks and Stephen Geez, of Fresh Ink Group fame. We...
Ye Olde Spelling
Have you ever wondered about the ubiquitous "ye" in old publications (and certain Bible translations)? Did people actually go around using "ye" instead of "the"? How about quaint shops with signs like "Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe" — or even "Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese"? How...
What Were Stone Age Clothes Made of?
Many fantasy books mention clothes. These are usually made of wool or linen. If there's an "Asian" civilization nearby, perhaps even silk. But what did early civilizations really use for their clothes? I'm not talking about Medieval clothes or even Roman ones. I'm...
Is There Life on Venus?
A hundred years ago, people thought there may be life on Mars. However, it turns out that moons like Europa and Titan are more likely candidates for life. Now, Venus is added to the list of possible life-bearing destinations on our doorstep. As Popular Mechanics...
The Cossack Sorcerers
Almost everyone knows about Japanese Ninjas and Chinese Shaolin monks. How about the secretive and magical Warrior Society of Ukraine, though? I am, of course, talking about the Cossack Sorcerers. Never heard of them? Well, neither had I until I came across a...
The Real Tower of Babel
"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then...
How Tolkien’s War Experience Shaped His Work
In my last post, I described how Winnie the Pooh may be seen as Milne's attempt to describe his PTSD to his son. However, the Battle of the Somme affected more than one famous author. J.R.R. Tolkien was also there, and his experience shaped his work, as another one of...
Was Winnie the Pooh Written to Explain PTSD to a Boy?
In an interesting post by We Are The Mighty, Eric Milzarski theorizes that A. A. Milne, an English author and veteran of both World Wars, wrote Winnie the Pooh to explain the harsh reality of war to his own child when he penned the 1926 children’s classic. As a young...
Happy Halloween
Boo, aka Crazy Boo, aka Sir Snoozealot, hopes you had a fun and spooky Halloween!
Anvil Weddings and Gretna Green
Scotland and England were ruled by a single monarch until James VI of Scotland became James I of England, upon Elizabeth I’s death in 1603. However, it was only when the Act of Union was passed, in 1707, that they were united under a single parliament. One of the...
A Nafplio Visit
One of the best things about living in Greece is the history. Literally, with every stone you lift, you're bound to find a wee bit of history underneath. This weekend, we went to Nafplio and visited the castle of Palamidi. Nafplio was the second capital of Greece,...
North American Vikings
I was just writing the other day about the 1339 monk who wrote about the discovery of America. Now, analysis of wood from timber-framed buildings in the L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland shows a Norse-built settlement over 1,000 years ago - 471 years before Columbus....
The Delayed Buyer Effect
Mina Baturan recently shared a helpful tip on her Facebook Group, AmWritingFantasy. She calls it The Delayed Buyer Effect and it is the result of what happens when someone sees your ad, wants to read your book, but doesn’t buy or download. Or does download with Kindle...
5 Favorite Children’s Illustrators
You may remember how my Greek edition of Whisker Smile, published by Patakis Publishers, has won the prestigious IBBY award for illustration. Today I have 5 of my favorite children's illustrators, selected from a post by Domestika. Maurice Sendak Where The Wild Things...
Punching an Asteroid
I don't know if you've heard the news yet but NASA is launching an unusual mission: to punch an asteroid in the face. As LiveScience reports, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), is scheduled to launch on Nov. 23. According to NASA, it could help figure out...
The Best Writer’s Note
I came across this on Facebook and just had to share. Yes, it's probably fake. But it's still the best writer's note ever!
Ending Letters
Have you paid any attention to the letters we use to end our words? For example, you won't find any words ending in U, V, I, or J. Why is that? Gareth Adamson has the answer on Quora. And yes, it has to do with history. But also with grammar. Ending with a J ‘J’ is...
Hardcover Books on KDP
A while ago, I was notified by Amazon that hardcover versions are now available for my books - but that this was still in beta and I wasn't supposed to mention anything. Now, hardcovers are officially here and Dave Chesson, aka Kindlepreneur, has published a helpful...
Terra Incognita: the 1339 Discovery of America
As The Economist reports, a paper for the academic journal Terrae Incognitae by Paolo Chiesa, a professor of Medieval Latin Literature at Milan University, reveals that an Italian monk referred to America in a book he wrote as early as the starts of the 14th century....
Do You, Like, Like Like?
I mentioned in my previous post how we had some American friends stay with us over the summer. One of them was a teen girl who, as teens do, used "like" every now and then. A habit I soon found myself repeating. Then I came across an interesting article on The...
A Long Hiatus
I swear, I didn't plan on disappearing for this long. It was only when I saw that my last blog was published two months ago, on August 3rd, that I realized how time had flown by. However, I couldn't not share a little gem I came across today as I was buying food for...
Reigniting Your Passion
I apologize for disappearing lately. It's summer, which means I'm trying to get some rest and enjoy the Greek sun and sea. We also have friends over, which adds to the temptation to drop everything and head to the beach. Plus, of course, I still need to work. And...
Real-Life Aliens
What might life on another planet look like? What the British Antarctic Survey came across earlier this year (2021) may shed some light. As Wired reports, the Society wanted to study the history of the floating shelf. Instead, they came across strange creatures that...
Past Visions of the Future
How did our grandfathers imaging our present? Robert Langkjær-Bain of Fivemedia has an excellent article with some (often hilarious) illustrations answering that very question. Flying Cars With AirCar completing its first flight on June 28th, 2021, maybe we're finally...
Medieval Missile Weapons and Longbows: Myths and Reality
You may have heard stories of how the English won the battle in Agincourt thanks to the English and Welsh archers using the dreaded longbow. The longbow is such a part of English identity that even Shakespeare wrote about it: Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold...
Pixar’s Screenwriting Tips
In my last post, I discussed how to create memorable characters the Pixar way. This one has some more writing tips from No Film School. This one includes several tweets from Director and Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats (@lawnrocket). I hope you find them useful!...
Create Memorable Characters the Pixar Way
No Film School has published some of Pixar's tips for creating memorable characters. From Woody to Nemo, Pixar's characters have a unique way of sticking with you, whether it's due to their hilarious banter or heartbreaking humanity. But what is it that makes them so...
Survey: What Readers Really Want
A few days ago, Written World Media (WWM) published the results of a survey on what readers really want. The company has five reader-facing brands such as Freebooksy, Bargain Booksy, and Red Feather Romance, that allow authors and publishers to reach the right...
Medieval Name Generators
You may recall my previous posts on naming your characters (Old Anglo-Saxon Character Names, Free Online Character Name Generators, and Naming your Characters the Easy Way). There is now a new character naming tool on Reedsy, the Medieval Name Generator. If you’re...
5 Worldbuilding Mistakes to Avoid in Your Sci-Fi Novel
This is a guest post by Savannah Cordova. Savannah is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects self-publishing authors with the world's best editors, designers, and marketers. She loves science fiction and fantasy. 5 Worldbuilding Mistakes to Avoid in Your...
Visual Marketing & Its Influence On Your Book’s Social Media Marketing Success
Use tools like Canva that provide millions of templates, fonts, colors, themes, and graphics to make your textual content as attractive as the visual content.
Are There Any Celtic Words in English?
Long-time followers of my blog may remember my post on the origins of English. The language tree in that post shows that English is largely derived from Germanic, specifically Anglo-Frisian. So, where are the Celts? Are there no Celtic words in English? As several of...
Space Farts and Crappy Jobs
The wee one's fascination with bodily functions (as witnessed by her poetry) must be rubbing off on me, as I couldn't stop browsing Quora to learn more about toilet habits, old and new. Sher Afgan and Silvia Serra have shared a brief illustrated history of toilets...
How Did They Make Iron in the Iron Age?
The Iron Age (800 BC-100 AD) took its name from, well, iron. This kickstarted a number of technological and social changes, with centuries-old Bronze Age (2200-800 BC) civilizations based on copper and tin falling prey to invincible newcomers who wielded formidable...
History of the Cuirass
Cavalier guards, the charge is short, and therefore so sweet. The trumpet sings, the field is open, and somewhere saber ringing is heard. The sound of strings still echoes but the captain's already on the saddle. Do not promise young maidens eternal love on earth...
The City that Vanished into the Sea
When people speak of climate change, I often think of Dunwich, a town on the Suffolk coast that has almost entirely vanished into the sea. Dunwich is a pleasant city that consists of just about one street and a museum, a shingle beach, and a nearby forest. As George...
Giannoulis Chalepas, Greece’s Mad Sculptor
Late last year, an article of mine was published by John Maberry's Eagle Peak Annual on the life of one of Greece's best-known sculptors, Giannoulis ("Little John") Chalepas. I'm sharing here with John's kind permission. Chalepas translates into "hardship" in Greek...
The Workers Who Tricked the Devil
I came across a delightful story on Atlas Obscura the other day and wanted to share with you. When the Gothic-style St. Mary Church (Marienkirche) was being built in Lübeck in the mid-13th century, local legend has it that none other than Satan himself stopped by the...
Medieval Matresses
First of all, let me apologize for the week-long delay in posting. I had my first vaccine (Astra) and it had quite the kick. Then, Electra had it and she was even worse than me. Between taking care of her and the wee one, I had precious free time in my hands for the...
Top 60+ Most Popular Social Networking Sites
We keep hearing that we must promote our books on social media. Given the billions of people who get online every day, this seems like a great idea. With so many media out there, however, how can you choose which one's right for you? Thankfully, Hostgator Coupon Code...
Understanding Old English
How far back in history could you go until you could no longer understand the English language?Stanislava Suplatovich has the answer in Quora. To answer this question, she uses three examples. Here's the first one: “See ye not yon twa bonny boys, As they play at the...
Sea Shanties of the Ancients
When I was at school, we learned of Ri-Pa-Pe - the rhythmic chant of Athenian oarsmen pulling a trireme's 180 oars. Contrary to what you might think, triremes were manned not by slaves but by some 200 free men from all social strata. Indeed, for a 5th-century BC...
The Mold Cape
I'm fresh back from my Easter break, and have the story of one of the most impressive treasures ever found in Britain to share with you: the Mold Cape. No, it's not moldy (although after so many centuries buried underground, I wouldn't be surprised if it were). This...
Happy Orthodox Easter
It's Orthodox Easter today. Visitors of this blog may recall my older posts on the quaint Greek customs such as shooting rockets at each other. Because what better way to celebrate Jesus' resurrection, right? Not that Medieval killer bunnies are much better, of...
Creating Universal Links with Booklinker
Many of you have asked me how you can create universal links. These are easy-to-remember links like "mybook.to/pearseus" that automatically link people to the appropriate Amazon store depending on their location. The answer is simple: Booklinker. Booklinker lets you...
Hello, Kindle Vella
Have you heard the news? Amazon just announced the Kindle Vella system. This is sort of "Wattpad on Amazon," as a quick recap will show you: You publish your book, one chapter ("episode") at a time. Episodes are between 600-5,000 words long. Readers find your story in...
10 Effective Ways to Avoid Distraction While You Write
As writers, we’ve all struggled with people, thoughts, and objects constantly distracting us while writing. In my case, it's an energetic 5-year-old who loves interrupting me to show me stuff like the dragon egg she painted as soon as I sit down to write. However,...
More Shakespearean Insults
From the story of how Shakespeare died a nobody, then got famous by accident to a Shakespearean insults infographic, the Bard keeps fascinating me. Having died 400 years ago last week, as The Independent reminds us, the great William Shakespeare was quite creative...
Free and Paid Photo Editing Tools
I frequently write about free photo editing tools like Picture Colorizer; a tool that automatically colorizes your old photos. But what happens if you need more than that? Then it may be time to upgrade to a paid photo editing tool. An increasing number of people use...
New Release: Hands
It feels like I've been writing about nothing but my new releases lately, but this isn't one of mine. Well, I helped publish it, but it was written by Ariadne Frey, an incredibly talented 14-year-old girl who wrote one of the most original stories I've read in recent...
New Release: Fear Begets Murder
Remember how I mentioned I'd been ghostwriting a book a while ago? Well, the book has been published and is now available on Amazon. Fear Begets Murder: A Conspiracy Tale was written with my childhood friend, Sam, who had the original idea and steered the writing in...
New Release: Hell’s Mall
My short story "Would you like flies with that?" was published as part of the collection Hell's Mall: Sinister Shops, Cursed Objects, and Maddening Crowds. Hell's Mall is the seventh book of April Grey's Hell's Anthology series. I should point out that despite the...
New Release: Copywriting with Rayne Hall
You may recall my mentioning early this year a new release by Rayne Hall and yours truly titled Copywriting: Get Paid to Write Promotional Texts. This is Rayne's Writer's Craft Book number 34 (!) and, obviously, one of her best 😉 Seriously, though, working with Rayne...
Audio Marketing: From Radio to Clubhouse
With audiobooks gaining in popularity, it makes sense that audio marketing is seeing a surprising resurgence as a means of promoting one's books. This is a general trend, as Transcription Outsourcing reports. In its article, they explain that audio still has the...
How To Store and Display Your Books When You Live in a Small Apartment
Owning various copies of all your favorite books is great, but it's easy for an extensive collection to clutter a small home or apartment. Finding ways to store books in a small apartment is important as it not only keeps your home organized and clutter-free, but also...
10 Proven and Effective Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block
This is a guest post by Jayce, the managing director of Seller Interactive, an Amazon marketing agency that offers Amazon SEO services to brands built on Amazon. With content marketing skills that have taken him to top brands such as GoDaddy and Toyota, he has...
ToolRocket: a Free PDF Converter
I can’t remember how many times I've had to look for an online free converter to turn a PDF file into a word.doc. Or an image file into a PDF file. Or any other combination of converting one type of file to another. The thing is, finding a “free online converter” is...
Can AI Content Generation Replace Human Writing?
Back in 2015, I wrote a hilarious post about artificially created romance novels, whence the gem below. So, how are things 6 years on? Artificial intelligence (AI) has made automation the norm in more fields than ever. In marketing, AI has transformed the way we...
Risk-Taking in the Face of Uncertainty
Many of us write stories with protagonists who start out as timid persons, only to realize their potential by the of the book. When charting the hero's journey, we have to describe how they learn to take risks. Given that there’s nothing more intimidating than taking...
Smart-Home Technology Trends
When I was writing A Heaven for Toasters, my near-future sci-fi romance, I was trying to imagine what life will be like in a hundred years. For my research, I studied current trends in smart homes and was amazed to realize that the future is already here. What smart...
Which Writing Style Should You Choose in 2021?
I recently discussed the Oxford comma and Singular they. Both these are typical examples of style in writing. That is, there is no right or wrong answer concerning their use; it all depends on personal preference. So does the question of the writing style you choose:...