Reasons You Must Write in Our "ai" Era

One of my favorite contemporary writers and fellow inveterate story nerd asked me to write a guest post for her stack about reasons you (a human) should absolutely write in our current “ai” dystopian era, so … I did.

Nine Reasons YOU Should Write in the Age of “AI” (Plus One Bonus Reason)

I’m not going to repeat or repost them, since you can go read them on Leslye’s very fine stack. 👆 What’re you waiting for?

Seriously, subscribe to Leslye’s stack and read her books. They’re amazing. My favorite is Daughter of the Merciful Deep. The audio book is grand. 🎧

Paid subscribers get a free cookie invitation to a thirty-minute consultation with me about whatever they like every month. We can talk about whatever you like.

Paid subscribers also get an hour-long unrecorded group deep dive conversation every month via zoom. In August 2026, we’ll be talking about implementing John Truby’s Four Corner Opposition in your novel. In September, we’ll talk about the combustion phase of your scenes and novels and how to escalate them by design. In October, we’ll be singing the backstory blues and how to interview your imaginary friends and enemies.

Here are some recent posts that you may have missed about your writing practice.

You will write like you train.

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Jan 13

When I first decided to “get serious” about writing, I had this completely unrational, irreasonable expectation that I could just sit down, type the words until THE END, and I would have an enduring work of fiction. (No, I won’t tell you how long ago that was. It’s Top Secret®.) One of

Developing Your Skills as a Writer

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May 4

I’ve been thinking about the vast inventory of skills a working writer needs to master, whether you’re traditionally published (or aspire to be), a committed indie, or a hybrid. The industry has shifted to (almost) a hybrid default across the board in the past decade. It’s still possible to be trad or indie exclusively, but even trad authors (especially debuts) are expected to do marketing and have a platform.

The Storyteller's Promise

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Jul 1

I was talking with a client about their book earlier today. No, I won’t tell you who it was. They know who they are. Anyway, they were whining—as one does—about how hard this feels in the moment when you’re iterating on your story, adjusting the world building, feeling the frustration of getting feedback that it’s not there yet… That’s hard. I’m frequently on the other side of that tough input as a writer myself.

The Most Difficult Skill You Must Master

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Feb 16

A couple Fridays ago during our weekly mentor check-in call with the staff at Story Grid, Tim Grahl challenged us all to do something as a group of over twenty people that we typically only do one-on-one with students:

Sometimes, getting started or staying on track with new habits can be hard. If you’d like help with that, call me and let’s chat about how I can help you with the aftermath in your story.

🤑 Teh FTC and other busybodies on the internet want me to warn you that I may earn a commission from affiliate links on this website. This means, if I’m a good boy, some company I link to may give me a penny or two. You have been warned.

Beginning in September 2026, several of my favorite peers and I will begin teaching a six-week scene writing bootcamp that we are affectionately branding as Scene Stormers. We will be discussing the well-known fundamentals of fiction writing that all the cool kids since Aristotle first wrote down that stories need a beginning, a muddle (my term), and an end in The Poetics and we will be giving you human-generated feedback on your scenes.

We (Scene Stormers) are currently assembling our curriculum and we will be publishing it all in advance, because (Spoiler Alert! ⚠️) there are no secrets in storytelling. The primary value that we provide to you (our customers) is the weekly discussions during the six-week bootcamp and the one-on-one human feedback on your writing every week.

📚 For the inaugural workshop, we’re using Hunger Games as our masterwork.

📅 If you’d like to be invited to our inaugural bootcamp in September, sign up now. The inaugural cohort will only accept 20 writers…