Nicholas C. Rossis

dream-protecting author

How to Write Books Using AI

Sep 6, 2023 | AI writing, Writing

You may recall how I recently discussed the KENP Scam, whereby AI-generated books are flooding Amazon in a blatant attempt to collect KENP royalties. You may have wondered just how easy it is to do so in practice — write a whole book from scratch. Geeky Gadgets and...

The Shape of Stories, according to Kurt Vonnegut

Sep 1, 2023 | Writing

I recently came across this video on Upworthy, where Vonnegut explains the shape of three different types of stories. According to him, any story, from “person gets into trouble” to “boy meets girl” to “Cinderella,” can be summed up on two axes: the Y represents good...

The 1960s: A Golden Age for Science Fiction

Aug 17, 2023 | Writing

I’m more than happy to acknowledge that my work is heavily influenced by the 60’s sci-fi trailblazers. In fact, I only keep a couple of books on my nightstand — and one of them is Philip K. Dick’s Exegesis. So, when I came across a feature on 60s...

Baby Names That Mean Sword

May 4, 2023 | Writing

Does your story ask for some cool baby names that mean sword? Moms who think have got you covered, with a collection of boy names that mean sword, girl names that mean sword, and, for good measure, baby names that mean warrior (I suspect this is the kind of moms who...

The Intriguing Math of Punctuation

Apr 21, 2023 | Writing

When you think of punctuation, do you think of math? You probably should, as scientists from the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN) in Cracow explain in a study reported by Phys.org. The study compared punctuation between seven,...

How to Use Irony in Writing

Mar 30, 2023 | Writing

After my host’s sudden passing back in January, I spent a couple of months moving over 100 clients to our new ISP – without any passwords that would let me do so in a seamless way. What ensued was a Sisyphean task of convincing various ISPs to share with...

The Names of All Manner of Hounds

Jan 9, 2023 | Writing

There are name generators aplenty when it comes to characters. What about their dogs, though? Have you ever been stuck looking for an authentic-sounding name for your medieval or fantasy hero’s four-legged best friend? Thanks to My Modern Met, you now have the...

Where Can I Get an Idea for a Book?

Dec 11, 2022 | Writing

5 sources of inspiration for a writer The 21st century is the age of the web, where people write for their blogs, and social networks. Fortunately, books have not disappeared! You need a flash of inspiration to create something truly worthwhile. Of course, inspiration...

Using a Cloak as a Shield

Oct 30, 2022 | Quora, Writing

What would happen if you tried to use a cloak to block a sword? Eric Lowe (and here) has two illuminating answers to this question – both opening up many possibilities in fiction writing. It’s not a shield Before going into any details, the first thing to...

The Master List of Fictional Characters

Sep 6, 2022 | Writing

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...