When starting this month, I asked some friends and family for topics, and Mike Baltar suggested this one. Thanks, Mike!

The trope of “The Chosen One” is usually one found in Fantasy, though there are a couple of notable instances in SciFi. Dune and Star Wars both have their chosen ones, for example. “The Chosen One” centers around a prophecy, decree of the gods, or a specific set of created circumstances that singles out a specific individual as the only possible savior.

“The Chosen One” has its problems. Let’s talk about them.

Fate or Free Will?

As soon as the writer decides to use a Chosen One type of narrative, they need to make some decisions how to deal with fate and free will as part of how the world functions. If our protagonist is The Chosen One and their future is fated, do they actually have agency? Where does their free will come into play? If the story respects the choices the protagonist makes, and their choices lead to being the savior everyone hoped, did the prophecy really matter and were they really The Chosen One? Could someone else have made the same choices in their place?

I’m going to point out an example where Fate came into play in a Chosen One narrative, but I don’t want it to ruin your experience of the movie. It’s a plot point that came up in The Matrix. If you’re worried I might ruin The Matrix, skip the next paragraph.

Cypher blasts Tank and Dozer, gets on a call with Trinity, and starts killing the crew one by one. He gets to Neo, our Chosen One, and says, “If this really is The One, it’ll take a miracle to keep me from pulling his plug.” Or words to that effect. At that moment, a critically injured Tank comes out of nowhere, shoots and kills Cypher, delivering the miracle Cypher just taunted. Note that this prophecy is one cooked up by programs within The Matrix, and describes Neo as an anomaly that can disregard the rules of The Matrix. But the miracle happens in the real world. How does that work? Luck? Does God listen to the programs?

When you see things like that in a story, it scratches at the walls of the narrative and can be really unsatisfying. It wasn’t a choice or an action on the part of any of the protagonists that resolved that situation. They got lucky that the antagonist failed to do what they thought they did, and they got lucky that someone recovered just in time to save the hero. Fate narratives often wind up looking like luck, which can be unsatisfying.

Who Can Be a Chosen One?

The Chosen One is almost always a young, straight, white man. Neo, Anakin, Rand al’Thor, Harry Potter, King Arthur… the list of young, straight, white, male saviors is pretty long. Occasionally we get a young woman, like Aloy in the game Horizon Forbidden West. Aloy and King Arthur both fall under nepotism, which might change them from being true Chosen Ones. I don’t know. I do know that the list of young, straight, white, male Chosen Ones is really long, and I think we can do better.

If you’re thinking about writing a Chosen One narrative, consider making your Chosen One a middle-aged black lesbian that’s fresh out of fucks to give. Make her interesting. Remember that characters are more than a collection of intersectionalities.

To be fair to The Matrix and The Wachowskis, Neo was almost played by Will Smith. That would have made for a very different movie. I’m not sure it would have been as successful since Keanu Reeves brought so much to the role.

The Trouble with Prophesies

Beyond the Fate or Free Will consideration, prophesies setup a promise with the reader/viewer. The more of the prophesy you expose, or the more specific the prophesy, the bigger the promise.

Once you have a Chosen One narrative going, you as the writer are locked in to a specific kind of story. How are you going to subvert the prophesy so as to keep the story fresh and unpredictable? At the same time, how are you going to fulfill the prophesy in such a way that it is surprising yet inevitable?

When it’s pulled off well, it’s very satisfying for all involved. When it’s not done all that well, it becomes inconsequential baggage holding the story back. For example, I don’t think the “He will bring balance to The Force” actually did much for Star Wars. I honestly think it would have been a better story without it.

Concluding Thoughts

Chosen One/Prophesy stories really demand a writer that is willing to do a lot of planning. This means outlining. Pantsers can give it a try, but I think they’re going to wind up rewriting large chunks of the story in order to make the prophecy portion satisfying.

What are some really good Chosen One narratives that I’m leaving out? What are some problems with Chosen One stories that I’m forgetting? Let me know!

Today I’m going to talk about The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. I read it just before we went to the Writing Excuses Retreat/cruise, and it is amazing.

The Tainted Cup is the first book in the Ana and Din series, and it won the Hugo, The World Fantasy, and a bunch of other awards. I’m not alone in loving it, and while I haven’t read the next two books in the series yet, I’m told they are equally amazing, if not better. I have them ready to read once I’ve finished Contact by M. D. Neu.

I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do this one justice. I’m not going to include any spoilers. I’m mostly going to gush about the writing, and try to convince you to go buy it and read it, if you haven’t already. If you have read it, post some comments about how much you love it, too, so we can squeal with delight together.

[Editing note: I’m used to referring to authors by their last name as shorthand in a lot of these reviews, and for some reason, I naturally defaulted to “Jackson Bennett.” This might be correct, as his Instagram handle is “R.JacksonBennett”, but just “Bennett” might be more appropriate. I don’t know. If I ever meet him, I’ll clear that up and maybe come back and edit this further.]

I absolutely love how much Jackson Bennett trusts his readers. The world he’s woven is rich with really intriguing details, but he doesn’t stop to spoon feed it. It’s delivered effortlessly, gracefully, and exactly when the reader needs the information. A less skilled writer might try to cram a bunch of stuff in and leave the reader confused, or drowning. That’s not what happens with this story.

Jackson Bennett also stays true to the voice of both the story and the point-of-view character, Din. Din is dry, not-quite humorless, and duty bound and a little bit neurotic, in part because of his modifications and unique limitations. The voice of the story is a more subtle thing, semi-hidden behind Din’s narrative. I would describe the voice of the story as precise, timely, and not afraid to allow humor to take the stage.

If you know me, you know I’m a sucker for any stories like Sherlock Holmes. I accidentally wrote one of my own in Spin City. The Sherlock qualities of The Tainted Cup are not lost on me, and play a part in why I hold this book in such high regard.

Din is to Watson as Ana is to Sherlock Holmes, which is intentional but not overdone. Both Sherlock and Ana have an anti-social quality to their perceptions and genius, but the characters are not interchangeable or identical. Ana’s irreverence plays out differently, and her humor is sharper. She’s playful in a way I have not seen Sherlock portrayed.

The craftsmanship of the writing is great, and does not distract from the plot and the characters, which are fantastic. Is it a mystery that “plays fair?” I’m not so sure about that. But it is a ton of fun seeing smart characters solve puzzles and mysteries. At no point did I see any of the characters having to be dumb in order for the plot to happen.

Writers can learn a lot from how Jackson Bennett presented this unique world. He did what I strive to do with my own fiction. I’m looking forward to reading more of Jackson Bennett’s stories.

Today was another day spent in the dealer’s room. Melissa and I helped pack things up, retrieved our stuff, and drove home without a problem.

I have a number of thoughts for summarizing the weekend, my experience of it, some stresses, and some joys. I’m not sure how to organize them, so I’ll just list them in bullet format.

• I heard good things about the programming, but I did not attend. I used to go to panels with great interest and take notes like I was studying for a test. After a while, I found myself writing the same things down over and over, often from the same people, and my enthusiasm towards attending panels diminished. There are a few from time to time that draw me in, and I’m not saying I don’t have anything left to learn. I have just found that after attending panels long enough, they’ve lost their appeal. Lots of them are worldbuilding in disguise, anyway, which is worthy of its own entire post.
• Attending panels is not the same as being on a panel. I quite enjoy that, and I even like moderating. It’s a shame I wasn’t invited to be on a panel at World Fantasy, but it’s not that big a deal. I don’t take it personally. I don’t think I knew I was coming to the convention until late, which might have had something to do with it. Or, it could be that I’m still an unknown, which is also fair.
• I go to conventions like this to work. It’s easier. If I’m not on panels, then I prefer to be at the table.
• I stayed at the table most of the time, only intentionally taking a break once on Saturday because my feet hurt and I needed to do a mental reset.
• While working at the table, I pretend to be an extrovert. Melissa told me in the car tonight that I do a very good job of pretending, and that makes me happy.
• When people come to the table, I usually start with asking what they like to read. One of my main goals is to quickly find out what their tastes are, so I can line them up with a book on the table that will make them happy. But it’s also a great conversation starter, and it’s the conversations I enjoy. Depending on how they answer, I sometimes talk to people about books and never try to direct them towards anything on the table.
• I managed to sell some books from the table this weekend that we’ve all found difficult to sell.
• I don’t think I talked anyone into buying a book they will dislike.
• Honesty is still the best policy, even when it comes to selling. Perhaps especially when it comes to selling, because most of us can smell bullshit from a mile away.
• The best table conversations for me at the table aren’t necessarily the ones where I find the right book for the customer. The best conversations are the ones where I find a writer that needs a little encouragement, and I’m there at the right time to provide it. Those are the moments that make it all worth it.
• When it comes to selling books from the table, I don’t usually start with my own. Obviously, if they say something like, “I like The Dresden Files” or “I really like urban fantasy,” I’ll go to mine first, but that’s a natural progression. I’m focused on what they say they like, so when if they say something like, “I’m looking for a cosmic horror story for my trans daughter,” I’m going to immediately try and put The Insane God by Jay Hartlove in their hands.
• Sometimes, the best thing to say is nothing. This doesn’t just apply to selling at the table.

It’s already late on Sunday night, and I’m not looking forward to what this work week will be like. I wish I had more time to recover, but that’s just how these things go.

The next convention is Loscon, taking place Thanksgiving weekend. We’ll have a table, and I suspect I’ll be on some panels. Bryanna will be going with us, which I think is awesome.

I don’t want to bore you with too much repetition of yesterday and the day before. Today looked very much like yesterday, but with less controversial conversations. I think we had less customers at the table altogether, though I did manage to sell out of a couple of titles. That was nice.

My feet have been hurting quite a bit, mostly from standing so much. I sat when I could, but when someone comes near the table, I stand up and talk. I try not to be obnoxious about it, but my con is mostly meeting people at the table, and when it’s appropriate, sell them one or more books that match their tastes. Today, several of the conversations never reached any of the books on the table. I think people still had a good time.

Most events like this, I organize a big dinner and take a bunch of people out. Old friends, new friends… the idea is that we go out, have good food, great company, and I cover the bill so everyone at the table has a moment where they didn’t have to worry about it and could just relax and enjoy. It is me cosplaying as a successful author, and it’s usually a lot of fun.

This weekend, I didn’t have the wherewithal to organize something like that. Fortunately, Rebecca Inch-Partridge put something together, and a group of 11 of us walked a couple blocks away and had Chinese food, Rebecca’s treat. It was really nice. I think we all had a good time, and it was nice being one of the ones treated.

When we got back, the art reception was under way, and we were able to get some coffee and sweets. One of my friends asked if I was going to head to a panel at 9PM centered around what we should do about AI. I gave her my opinion on the topic and said I might instead go up to the room and work on my blog post for the day. She suggested I talk about the subject, and so I will!

In my opinion, panels with titles like “What we should do about AI” are mostly going to be bullshit that tiptoes around the correct answer, which is: don’t use it. Don’t tolerate using it. We were all writing and living and thriving before the tech bros started shoving that shit in our face. It doesn’t have to be a “genie out of the bottle” situation. We can just not use it, and shun those that do.

I didn’t give my friend’s name, because this is the same friend earlier that ran across a stack of flyers that were advertising or recommending generative AI for creating audiobooks. She saw that, and her instinct was to take the entire stack, so no one else would have to see that bullshit. I laughed when she told me about it, and I think it’s kind of awesome that was her first instinct.

Tomorrow is the last day, and I’m scheduled to talk about the convention in general tomorrow evening when we get home. I’ll say now that I’m looking forward to the end. This hasn’t been a bad time, but it also hadn’t been a great time.

I’m tired most of the time and my feet hurt. I’m making the best of a situation, taking opportunities to smile when they come up, and taking small breaks when I can’t find reasons to smile. The breaks have been infrequent, but necessary.

Tomorrow will be a strange, expensive day.

Once again, let’s begin at the beginning.

We’re on vacation, as it were, so I didn’t set an alarm. Sleeping in hotels can be hit and miss, so I wasn’t sure how rested we would be. It turns out plenty rested, but we slept in until nearly 9AM. I was interested in hearing the reading at 9AM, which featured Andrea Stewart and William Ledbetter, but we didn’t make it in time.

Breakfast was a breakfast bar we brought from home, and coffee provided by the almost-Starbucks in the hotel dining area. The coffee is only worth mentioning in that it existed.

After that, I spent the entire day at the table. I talked to some interesting people and made a few sales.

I should probably talk about a couple of the encounters, because they were significant to me.

One of them is a writer that I used to consider a friend, that told me in no uncertain terms that we were not friends when my book released at Baycon 2023. I haven’t seen much of them in a while, and we had a pleasant, friendly chat at the table. I don’t think it was awkward for them. It wasn’t really awkward for me, except for the memory replaying in my head from 2023. Eventually they needed to go, and that was fine. It’s a small world, especially the writing world, so it’s important we remain friendly to each other.

The description for the other encounter starts off similar to the last: someone I once considered a friend. I think they would like to still be my friend, but there are some irreconcilable differences, specifically of a moral nature. We spoke at the table, and we were friendly enough. It costs nothing to be kind. We caught up on stuff, including talking about podcasts and some of their successes. They bought One for the Road and The Psychic on the Jury, as those were not out the last time we’d talked to each other.

Two encounters that could have been awkward for me, but I treated them both like I would treat anyone else, and I think there was an appreciation for that approach. I’m not saying this as a boast or a brag. I’m saying that the world could use a bit more of that flavor of civility. It cost nothing, and I didn’t have to compromise my beliefs or morality.

Apparently, I didn’t take a break from the table the entire day. I stayed in the moment, tried to be friendly and outgoing, and managed to connect some people with the right book on our table. It wasn’t always one of my books, and that’s just fine.

We had a short break after the dealer’s room closed, so we went to the hotel restaurant again. Neither Melissa nor I were that hungry, so we split a charcuterie board. We also ordered one (1) old fashioned and one (1) strawberry daquiri mocktail. Our price for this evening of light eating: $81.50. Ugh.

After dinner, it was straight over to the large room next to the dealer’s room, where we set up for the mass autograph signing. Mark, Steven, Vanessa, Melissa, and I sat together along the back wall, in case any of us needed to run a sale for one of the others. That wound up not necessary. We had a couple of friends come by and say hi, but no signing.

Another evening and I might have been sad about that, but not tonight. For one thing, I went into the event expecting it to go that way. For another, I had about an hour and a half where I could just sit back and people watch. That can be fun, from time to time.

It’s nearly 11PM now. Melissa and I are in bed, she with her book, me with my laptop so I can finish this post and get it out on time. Something fascinating to me is that we’re 14 floors up, and there are cars going by outside that sound like they’re right outside the window. Stereos blaring, occasional tire squeals… I thought 14 floors up would be far enough that we’d have more quiet.

In a few minutes, I’m sure I’ll pass out, and the outside sounds won’t matter. I hope I rest as well as I seemed to last night.

It’s Thursday evening, only around 9:15PM, and I’m already in bed recovering. Once I’m done with this post, if I still have enough wakefulness, I’ll do some reading, then go to sleep.

This doesn’t sound like a very exciting start to the convention, and if I had more get-up-and-go in me, I’d go find where people are hanging out and try to socialize and connect. But I hit my limit for the day, which I should probably describe from the beginning.

It started with the usual alarm this morning, at 7AM. This is the alarm that gets Melissa and me up to get our work day started, but when you need to drive to Oakland to help with the setup of the table in the dealer’s room, preferably close to 9AM, that 7AM alarm is a little on the late side.

Melissa and I smartly packed everything we needed to pack the night before, but there were a few morning rituals we weren’t able to avoid. We got on the road around 7:30AM. Late, but fine. We topped off the tank in my mustang, acquired coffee and breakfast from Starbucks, and hit the road.

There’s not much to talk about when it comes to the drive. We went through rain, and there were lots of slow spots. Some of it has to do with regular morning commuter traffic. Some of it had to do with California drivers being incapable of driving and merging when there is even a little bit of rain on the ground. There were some stressful parts of the drive when we got into Oakland, but for the most part, it was uneventful, and we got to the table just before 10AM.

We arrived before Steven and Vanessa, but only by a little bit. We brought the books to the table and set it up. It’s crowded, but it’s not as crowded as it has been at some events. Because this is World Fantasy, our selection of books has a bigger focus on Fantasy stories.

The dealer’s room opened, but it didn’t really matter. Registration for the convention was delayed, and people were in line to get their badges rather than exploring the dealer’s room. Melissa and I had time to wander off across the street to get pulled pork lunches that were absolutely delightful.

Back in the dealer’s room, things proceeded. Not a ton of customers. We had a handful of sales. I talked to bunches of people though, and I think most of them enjoyed what I had to say.

I collected a number of shocked looks from people that haven’t known me that long, people that weren’t prepared to see me clean shaven, with short hair.

At one point, I felt a sort of internal pressure, and a feeling of not wanting to be at the convention rolled over me. I let it fill me, held it for a second, and then let it go. Then I went back to talking to the handful of people that came around.

We went to the SFWA gathering after the dealer’s room closed, but there really wasn’t much there for Melissa to eat. We wound up going back downstairs to the hotel restaurant and sat with Richard Crawford and a young woman named Sarah, who was also from Sacramento. We wound up having a really great conversation and decent burgers. Cliff Winnig joined us for a little while, but I’m afraid I didn’t converse with him very well. I was already starting to wear down.

That leads us back to where we began. I’m up in the room, wondering how I’m going to possibly write about this convention for several more days. I’m just going to be in the dealer’s room. I’m not on any panels. I don’t feel like I’m going to have enough energy this weekend to really engage the way I should. In some ways, it would have been better to stay home than to come this weekend.

I’m sure I’ll feel differently tomorrow. I’m probably just tired.

As of noon today, Episode 5 is out!

Here is the YouTube link:

If you’d like to subscribe to the podcast, all of the links to do so are now at the top of this page under “The Podcast.” I finally got around to making the doodly-doo.

Here is the basic outline for this episode:

• Defining SciFi
• Is it the same as Fantasy?
• How to Write SciFi
  • Read
  • Research
  • Avoid Info Dump

Here is the previous blog post that this episode is partially based on: https://briancebuhl.com/?p=1241

If you’re one of the 6 to 12 people that enjoy this podcast via YouTube, let me know what you think about the change in presentation. I was able to get the greenscreen to mostly work, and I think the background is less distracting than the blur I was using before.

I only had time to record and edit one episode this last weekend, and this weekend is World Fantasy in Oakland. There is a small possibility that the next episode will be late, but we will see. The intent is to have these go up every 2 weeks, released exactly at noon Pacific time.

I’m still having fun doing these, and I appreciate every one of you for checking them out and leaving comments.

What activities do I enjoy?

• Writing
• Programming
• Gaming

It’s incredible how AI has come for all of these activities to try and destroy them.

I don’t think I need to get into how AI is affecting creative writing or programming tonight. I’ll just focus on gaming, specifically focused on PC and console games.

Home PCs

I really enjoy building my own gaming systems. I’ve enjoyed putting computers together for over 30 years. It’s a fun hobby, even if it can be a little bit expensive.

AI demands data centers, and data centers demand memory and processors. The people making this hardware are unable to keep up with the demands of both gamers and data centers, so there is a shortage and the prices have skyrocketed.

I’ve weathered GPU shortages before. This is different. Now, it’s too impractical to try and put a system together. My plan was to build a new gaming system for my birthday this year, but that day came and went, and the PC parts market has only gotten worse over time.

My gaming system is fine and runs everything I need it to run, for now. Things don’t look great for the economy, though, and I’m not sure when the PC parts market will recover.

Consoles

Home PC parts are too expensive, and so are the parts needed to put together consoles. Apparently, it costs around $700 for the memory alone for a PS6. Prices haven’t been released for either the next XBox or PS6, but their expected to be between $1200 and $1500.

Some people will buy at that price. I think a lot of people won’t be able to afford it, and the gaming industry will be in crisis, the way it went into crisis in the 80s.

The Software

Game developers are going to face a two hit combo. The first being the use of AI. An XBox director stated recently that anyone can use AI to make games, which is misleading as hell. Low quality, low effort slop can be generated with AI. I suspect the reason this director said such a stupid thing is because they want to cut costs by firing people and try to replace them with vibe cuck coders.

Game developers already have to deal with crunch, poor working conditions, and unreasonable business practices. AI will not make their jobs easier, since the error rate goes up. PR successes drop from 95% to 58% when AI is used, and senior developers spend less time engineering and more time fixing mistakes.

AI increases the cost of software development, but too many executives believe the tech bro lies. Development machines are more expensive, the software development cycle is more expensive, so the cost of the games has to go up.

But, since gaming PCs and consoles are more expensive, the gaming market will shrink. Fewer people able to afford the hardware to play the games, and fewer people to afford the games these studios are producing, and the costs continue to go up and up as the economy, again, is looking bleak all around.

Is there any hope?

I really don’t want to sound completely negative. And, maybe there is some hope in the form of indie studios. There are some amazing games produced my smaller teams with lower hardware demands. Indie studios have a good chance of sustaining gaming while the big studios try to figure out how to survive during the next depression (which I think will hit the middle of next year, or whenever the AI bubble finally pops).

Depending on how Trump responds to the midterm election results, we might have other catastrophes holding our attention, but that’s drama for a different post.

I remember sitting in the theater in 1996 in Alamogordo, NM, and the movie just starting was Broken Arrow, starring John Travolta. It was either the perfect theater to catch that movie, or the worst one, depending on how you look at it. The movie featured the F-117A stealth fighter/bomber. At the time, the only place you were going to find those were the 7th and 8th Fighter Squadrons on Holloman AFB, and almost everyone in that Alamogordo theater worked on Holloman, myself included.

Parts of the movie that were probably supposed to inspire awe or wonder in the audience instead drew laughter.

“Switching to stealth mode,” someone says in the movie, flipping a button. And the theater around me couldn’t stop laughing.

This post is inspired by that memory, because popular media gets a lot of real life professions wrong. If you’re looking to write about one of those professions, you’ll need to make a creative choice: do you try to represent the profession accurately, or do you go with popular media, potentially making your story easier to consume for an ignorant audience?

The Military

Military culture changes over time. It’s possible I wouldn’t recognize what it’s like in the Air Force now. I served from ’93 to ’99, and the culture also changes from place to place. So what do I mean when I say that popular media gets the military wrong? Am I talking out of my ass?

Most of the time, and for the most part, serving in the military looks like working any regular job. It is different, but not the way the media captures it.

My experience of living in the military is that we operate in different modes. It starts with basic training, which is designed to mentally breakdown all the newbies so that they’ll fit in the uniform and be able to function in high stress circumstances and follow instructions. Most of the time in the Air Force, the only time you’re going to hear “Drop and give me 20!” is during basic training.

Popular media tends to represent military life like basic training, the entire time. It doesn’t get into the other modes.

After basic training is tech school. Tech school is still strict, but the focus isn’t about trying to break people down and build them back up. Tech school is where we are taught what we need to know for our career field. If you’re single, you live in the dorms, you have a curfew, and most of your time is planned out for you. But, you have evenings. You can wear regular clothes, leave the base, pursue other hobbies. It’s closer to regular life. I’ve never been in a boarding school, but maybe that’s what tech school is like.

The next mode is your first and consecutive duty stations, and what your life is like is going to depend on where you go and what your job is. Unless you’re specifically in a combat unit, your job is like a regular job. You will work with other people in the same circumstance as you, and you will live, laugh, and love each other for as long as your unit holds. Nothing is permanent. You’re in the military, and everyone you’re serving with knows that things can change without warning, and we all might have to go do some really unpleasant things. Until that happens, we do our jobs and hold each other up. It’s kind of amazing.

The final mode is high alert, maybe combat mode. Even when not war or in conflict, bases and squadrons exercise to prepare for this. When there is combat, and you have to carry a gun and use it, there are people depending on you to do your duty and be the best version of yourself at all times. This is the mode you operate in when you’re deployed someplace hostile. It’s exhausting. People should not be asked to live like this for too long. That duration is going to be different from person to person, but 6 months to a year is probably the most I would recommend.

Popular media depicts military folks constantly talking about patriotism, honor, duty, etc. It’s not completely untrue, but it is wrong. While you’re serving, you are expressing patriotism, honor, and duty through your actions. The rest of your unit is doing the same thing. None of us have to talk about it, so we typically don’t.

Programmers

I’m mostly sticking to professions and circumstances I know, because these are the professions and experiences I’ve lived through. I feel like I can talk about what it’s like to be in the military or be a programmer with some authority, and without having to look anything up.

Popular media depicts programmers as nerds with no social life and techno-super powers, hacking into things and changing the world with computers displaying graphical interfaces. It’s not quite right, so let’s set the record straight.

Not all programmers can hack. Not all programmers are socially maladjusted. Not all of the world bends to the will of a programmer, though some of us like to think that in the right circumstances, we can make a difference.

Let’s look at real-life hacking briefly. Real-life hacking doesn’t start with someone pushing up their glasses and typing furiously into their keyboard while their computer does battle with the firewall, or whatever. Real-life hacking starts with getting personal data, either through social engineering or purchasing/trading for the data from data brokers. Sometimes brute force attacks are possible, but it’s way easier to obtain passwords through other means.

A lot of hackers aren’t using their own code, and some don’t really know how to code at all. They acquire scripts, run the scripts from zombie shells, and capitalize on the results.

Programmers are more like creative problem solvers, and they can look like anyone. Some of us are conventionally attractive and socially engaged. As a programmer, you’re typically working on or supporting a project. You know some number of coding languages. Your greatest asset isn’t your knowledge of programming languages. It’s that you can think like a programmer.

Most programmers spend their time looking at text when they’re working. There are some graphical interfaces involved in some parts of programming. Many programmers are web developers. Many of us have worked in many different parts of the stack.

I don’t know what the life of a vibe coder looks like, and I don’t want to know. I saw someone refer to vibe coders as cuck coders, because they just sit there in the chair and watch. There may be some places where AI can help a programmer, but I’m of the opinion that we’re all better off not using it.

Writers

Popular media depicts writers as being able to wonder off to another country and go on adventures, spending almost no time at all in front of a typewriter or keyboard. Writers in popular media are sometimes famous, always rich, and their lives are generally enviable and easy.

There are a few people to which that description might apply, but the vast majority of writers have day jobs. Even the ones that are sustaining themselves by their writing are rarely rich. The vast majority of writers simply do not make enough off their writing to change their lives at all, and must sustain themselves with alternate incomes. Perhaps having a spouse that’s working a more conventional job.

Popular media almost always talks about writer’s block, but rarely gets it quite right. It’s not like a ball player getting the yips. Often, writer’s block is exhaustion, because again, the day job. Sometimes it is uncertainty, as the writer has reached a point of their story in which they’re not sure what comes next. Sometimes, writer’s block is depression in disguise. We’re all different. Some of us even go so far as to deny that writer’s block is even a thing at all.

Rarely depicted in the movies is the relationship between the writer and their agent. When the writer finishes their manuscript, it is done, and all the process of revising, querying, auctioning, and selling the book is skipped.

If media showed what it’s really like to be a writer, maybe there would be fewer people trying to cuck write with AI. You’re a writer when you write, not when you pull some slop from the plagiarism machine. And that slop you generated isn’t going to win you big bucks in the publishing industry, because it’s low effort, uninteresting, and there isn’t that much money to be had in the first place.

Lawyers

In movies, lawyers are often depicted as crime fighters in suits, going on urban adventures to gather evidence to build up their case.

I’ve never been a lawyer, and I don’t know any lawyers personally, but I think that depiction is probably not accurate.

Where my personal experience intersects with lawyers is the reality of courtrooms. I’ve served on a couple juries, and what I witnessed in real life doesn’t match what is depicted on the screen. That was part of what inspired me to write The Psychic on the Jury.

Conclusion

Defibrillators aren’t used to start hearts. They’re used to restart them. When someone is having a heart attack and the rhythm is erratic or beating too fast, the shock seizes the heart muscles momentarily, and the hope is that it will resume more normally after the reset. If the heart stops, it cannot be started with a defibrillator. Only CPR or medications can treat a flatline.

Now think of how many times you’ve seen defibrillators used incorrectly in movies and TV. It’s staggering.

I’m of the opinion that it’s better to get the details right. The people that know better will be relieved, and the people that don’t know anything will learn something that might help them, should they ever wind up in a situation where they need to interact with the profession or circumstance you took the time to get right.

What professions do you see always depicted wrong in popular media? Let me know!

Tonight, I’m going to talk about what I’ve used for writing. This will be as comprehensive a list as I can come up with, but I’m only covering the tools I’ve used. There are other writing tools other writers have used that I never laid a finger on, and that’s okay. Every writer is different, and every writer has different needs.

Good old pencil and paper

This is how most of us began, sometimes at a very early age. We dig into our school supplies, pull out what we need, and start writing. Sometimes the first bit of writing is for school.

Several times in my life, I returned to pencil and paper, because it uses a different part of the brain than typing, and the slower pace is what I need to get the story out.

These days, I very rarely write by hand. My wrist cramps up too quickly and it burns to handwrite for more than a page or two.

Appleworks on the Apple IIc and Apple IIgs

When I got tired of playing the same games over and over on the Apple, I still had a word processer I could open and play with. And sometimes even when I had a new game, I was still drawn to work on my little stories.

That first Apple IIc was supposed to be for the whole family, and my Mom used it occasionally in the beginning. It quickly became clear that I was the main user. It took up a bunch of room in the kitchen for a while, and then they let me move it to my room, and that was that.

Those old Apple computers had mechanical keyboards, and I loved the clickety-clack as I wrote. I still love the sound. It’s one of the reasons I like making mechanical keyboards.

While I still have those old systems and the software, there is no good or practical reason to use it to write anymore. I believe George R. R. Martin uses a similarly old system disconnected from the Internet to write. I may use two middle initials in my writer handle like he does, but other than that, he and I are not the same.

Wordstar?

There was a brief time at the end of school where I used the computer lab in order to write essays. I don’t have particularly fond memories of using the word processor in that lab. I think it was called Wordstar, and the little bit of fiction I wrote on it was just for school.

I think that’s the application George Martin still uses, actually, though don’t quote me on it. Also, I’m too busy right now to go look it up, so if you know for sure what it is George uses, let me know.

MS Word, multiple versions

I didn’t have my own PC until after Melissa and I were married. At that point, I switched to writing in Word.

Word is… fine, really. If I needed to, I could draft in Word again, as long as I was sure all the stupid Copilot stuff was disabled. For as long as Word was my primary software for drafting, it was fine. It did get a little bit squirrelly when the word count got high, but it did what it had to do and mostly stayed the hell out of my way.

Early Word did not autosave. Crashes or power losses resulted in lost words, until I got in the habit of frequently saving.

The Repossessed Ghost was initially drafted in Word. I drafted several short stories in Word, too, including Unclaimed Goods.

Dropbox, then OneDrive

What I haven’t talked about yet is the vast number of stories and documents I’ve lost over years. I have most of what I wrote on the Apple, but that’s because I made extra copies of the discs over time. Some of those discs haven’t survived the years. Some of those backups weren’t enough.

Don’t get me started on the paper drafts before that. Before coming to Sacramento after my time in the Air Force, I moved many times and none of those handwritten stories survived.

At a certain point, I realized that online backups were a remarkable way of preserving copies of my stories going forward. First I used Dropbox, pointing it directly at my folder where I saved all my drafts. Eventually, I moved to OneDrive, because changes to both made one more appealing than the other.

I keep offline backups as well, but having automatic backups ship up to the cloud whenever I save and am online is precious.

Scrivener

Here is a link where you can check out Scrivener for yourself.

Scriver is famously dense with features. Overstuffed, even. However, you don’t have to use all of the features, and if there is a feature you’ve been wishing for and haven’t seen somewhere else, you might find it in Scrivener.

Reasons I like Scrivener so much:

• The ability to compile for different formats is incredible, and it means that I can consistently and accurately export my manuscripts into the formats required for different submissions
• Versioning
• Can save other documents, notes, and resources into the project, for easy reference
• The way I use card layout based on the chapters allows me to very quickly and easy put together a synopsis

All of my projects go into Scrivener now, and that’s where I do all my drafting. Most of my revising happens there, too, and I make sure any edits I receive externally go into Scrivener, which I treat as the source of truth for what is actually in my story.

Full disclosure: One of my editing passes is to export into Word format and read it on a tablet with a stylus using Word. That pass, I’m not allowed to make any changes. The only thing I allow myself to do is highlight places that are clunky, or places that I need to look at once I go back to Scrivener.

Google Drive/Google Docs

I do not willingly use Google Drive/Docs as part of my writing process, but that’s the place where all of my critique groups have gone in order to share the work and add personal comments.

When multiple people need to look at and collaborate on the same document, Google Docs is great.

I’m pretty sure Google is feeding all the documents it has access to into the machine to train LLMs, and I do not like that or consent to that. I don’t trust Google anymore.

Also, I’ve witnessed on social media when Google Docs has outages, and the sheer hysteria of writers unable to reach their work is not something I ever want to participate in.

WordPress

I think I have to include the tool I’m currently using in order to write and share this post. As a word processor, it’s fine. Minimal.

I don’t usually write fiction directly into this interface. The Reluctant Apprentice, for example, was drafted in Scrivener and then transferred here when it was time to publish. I had to do a lot of boring, repetitive formatting to get it to look right after I pasted it in.

My posts help my fiction writing indirectly, in that sometimes I write a blog post to warm up for a writing session. There’s value in this tool, and I appreciate it for what it is.

OneNote

Before I start drafting, I do a bunch of brain storming and maybe a little bit of free, indirect speech. That all goes into OneNote. I have notes going back years and years there, some of which gets copied into the Scrivener project when I start it, such as the outline.

While drafting, if I’m feeling stuck, I open OneNote and have a conversation with myself, or my muse, or whoever, trying to unlock the next part. Some of those notes won’t make sense to anyone but me, but I keep them for the memories, and to help me look back over a project’s history.

Concluding thoughts

I’m open to the next big thing, as long as it’s not based on an LLM.

My current process and tools serve me pretty well, though. I know there are some other plotting tools out there people use, some for helping to build an outline or visualize the story. I’m not at a point where I need those, or see how they would help or expand my process.

What cool tools do you use? Let me know.