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Attention PLOT MACHINE readers! Be sure to download the PDF of lists. Click on the book cover and then the "Plot Machine Lists" link.

The Peril Imperative

I’ve been binging on the first season of “Expanse” lately and really enjoying it…and also asking myself why I enjoy it. It’s a good instinct for a… Read more »

Lame Scenes

Here’s one of my top ten frustrations with writing: Breaking a story in a manner that results in no lame scenes. I’m a plotter, not a pantser,… Read more »

Memoirs: A Memoir

I started reading my first memoir recently. I’ve never seen the point in memoirs. They seem to be auto-biographies of people that haven’t done anything significant in… Read more »

The Ratio of Story to Prose

I’ve been struggling through a science-fiction novel that I thought would take me just a month to knock out. Three months on, I’m still hacking my way… Read more »