William McIntyre Best Defence Book 1 — I'm a sucker for a good legal thriller. When John Grisham puts out his annual contribution, I’m hitting the download button the instant it’s on sale and you might as well not ring me or text me or come knocking on my door until I’ve turned the last page. Well…

An incredibly rare coincidence uncovered by chance — A few days ago I was browsing through Medium, being a good reader and following whatever the algorithm throws at me. Whenever I click on a story from the “teaser” because I’m attracted by the title or the thumbnail image, the all-seeing Medium eye notices and serves me up more…

Master this story structure and you cannot fail — Menu This is a gold star plot Why this works But don’t take my word for it Examples How to make Man in a Hole work for you You’re in a hole right now? Remember James Bond about to get his vitals eaten by atomic lasers? This is why the card…

In the Lives of Puppets by T J Klune — Robots are the new Covid We had the pandemic. Nobody saw that coming and our lives were thrown into turmoil — or termination — for three years. Now we have AI, spreading like a new virus through the human world. “There’s no threat,” we are told. “Look, the people in the robot pictures have three…

Why can’t men handle a strong woman? — Menu Men hate women The billion-dollar author A successful woman Speaking of hatred… Let’s read that again What made the difference? Let me stress this The one thing I look for in a work of fiction You can do it Thank you for reading this far There is a moment in…

There's a unique feeling of writerly kinship that comes from sharing stories on Medium. As writers, we all understand the highs and lows of the creative process, the moments of inspiration that strike out of nowhere and the periods of frustration that can feel interminable. Here we have a fellowship to share our struggles and our joys, who know exactly what it's like to pour our sorry hearts into a piece of writing and send it out into the world. There's a sense of camaraderie and mutual support and we feel that kinship of creative minds.

How to use storyteller tactics to make people listen — Do you ever wish that people would listen carefully when you have something important to say? You talk about some matter of fairness or urgency, some clever idea, a plan to make life better, a solution to a problem, a blessing, a request, a declaration of love. Things that come…

Pip Decks helps explain the Abstractions card — Menu The Pip Decks Club Playing the Abstractions card The most powerful card in the deck The Pip Decks Club No, I don’t mean the Pip Club newsletter — excellent though it is — I’m talking about the Pip Decks Slack channel for customers. Buy one of the products and you get an invite to…

On the Pip Decks Ranch: Black Sheep or Dark Horse? — Once consumed, side effects may include: feeling like you can accomplish anything, subdued Imposter Syndrome, and relief that there other people who share your desire to make things better. — Pip Decks Table of Contents What made me notice Laws of UX? What’s in the box? How do the cards work? The psychological…