Lincoln Michel

I expect you will see companies do AI interview rounds, and they'll probably interview a whole lot more (since AI is cheap) than they would otherwise with human interviews. Huge waste of people's time.

Someone disagreed with my claim AI will add to pointless busywork work and their counterpoint was in job apps people use AI to write cover letters and companies use AI to read them and "AI can do the first round of interviews."

How is a round of AI interviews not a big waste of applicants' time??

Felt for a while like we're in for a return to multipolar imperialism and revanchism around the world. The thread connecting Russia's invasion, Israel's genocide, Trump with Venezuela/Iran/Cuba/Greenland/etc., Xi, Modi, etc.

Along Came an Influencer: How America’s Bestselling Writer Became MrBeast’s Co-Author After decades atop the thriller game, James Patterson is fending off waning sales by doubling down on collaborations—and dabbling in romantasy too.

In this delightful-to-write profile 1) Patterson critiqued my latest book cover (👎), 2) I found out why he’s co-writing books with Viola Davis and MrBeast, and 3) I tracked down the first book he wrote (but never published), and it’s a genuinely excellent literary story collection. (gift link!)

Along Came an Influencer: How America’s Bestselling Writer Became MrBeast’s Co-Author After decades atop the thriller game, James Patterson is fending off waning sales by doubling down on collaborations—and dabbling in romantasy too.

Broke: The CIA funds Iowa's MFA.
Woke: James Patterson funds Iowa's MFA www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

"Please, Charles Entertainment Cheese is my *father's* name. You can call me Chuck. E."

The View from Inside: On Adding Interiority to Your Fiction Plus, five years of Counter Craft and a subscription incentive

Some readers asked me how to practically add interiority to fiction. So, I wrote a post on it that is probably writing 101 for many but hopefully of interest to others: countercraft.substack.com/p/the-view-f...

Today I Will Look The Burrito Man In The Eye and other stories of manifesting success

Typo in a student email makes this a great first line for a novel: "I am pregnant and die in July."

And of course, Orwell never wrote or said these words, which is absolutely bog standard for a right wing numbskull. Fake quotes for a fake ideology.

Trump Administration Live Updates: President Fires Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

NYT reporting Trump has fired Noem. I would say it couldn't have happened to a worse or more incompetent person, but then there is a lot of competition in that cabinet.

www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...

A strange thing about being an author who straddles SFF and literary fiction is encountering people describe the "other side" with the strangest stereotypes. It's like when you read ancient history and locals have rumors the realm across the sea is populated by people with two heads and eight feet.

Can AI Replace Social Science Researchers? No. No it can't. Come on, now.

Fantastic work from @davekarpf.bsky.social putting some perspective on the notion that AI can do social science research. It can generate passable journal articles, which is not necessarily the same thing. It's a chance to consider what we should be valuing. davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/can-ai-rep...

I guess I'm talking myself into finishing that "what actually is literary fiction?" essay I've had kicking around for a while...

Genres are loose and shifting. Hard to define. But at a minimum a def. should apply to the books celebrated in that field. E.g., if a def. of literary fiction doesn't apply to recent NBA/Pulitzer winners or a SFF def. doesn't apply to recent Hugo/Nebula winners, well, maybe it isn't accurate?

(To be clear those last screen shots are from Palmer's article not Templeton's)

I think the issue with prescriptive definitions of genre instead of descriptive ones based on what is actually read and published in a genre is that it lets you argue anything. Flipside of someone like Atwood saying her works "aren't science fiction" because SF is only "squids fighting in space."

Romance fiction, in contrast with lit fic, does depict characters taking actions to improve their lives, since part of the formula is that the heroine does not only find love, she makes some change in her life that makes her much happier: a new job, new career, moving to Italy, taking up a new hobby and forming friends, finally opening that bakery, etc

This part is even more confusing to me. A character arc centered on the protagonist making a change in their life is fiction 101 in any genre. You are taught this in any MFA class. While it doesn't have to be an improvement to their life and world, it quite often is.

So-called mainstream literary fiction is a genre which many falsely argue is not a genre but “normal” or “non-genre” literature. But lit fic has its tropes, pacing, furniture, and expectations just as much as other genres, it just tricks many into not noticing them, since its formula is less formulaic than the genres defined by extreme formulaicness (romance, mystery), and its furniture is less conspicuous than the genres defined by conspicuous furniture (fantasy, SF, western), but SFF is certainly as variable in formula and romance and mystery are often as realistic in setting as mainstream lit.

This kind of definition just does not seem accurate. Literary fiction came about as a term in the early 80s, and then and now includes e.g. postmodernist and surrealist literature that has pretty visible furniture! Barthelme and Pynchon are not writing in a "normal" (scare quotes or not) way.

If we are descriptively definition literary fiction (by what is published on literary imprints or in literary magazines and what wins literary awards) there are plenty of novels where the characters have as much world-changing agency as an average SFF book. E.g., historical fiction like Wolf Hall.

Unfortunately I Am Wrestling With Genre Again - Reactor Can you ever really draw a line between genres? And does it matter?

Lots to agree with, argue over, and think about here. (Definitely agree the idea "universal" characteristic of literary fiction is a powerless character on an internal journey is... not accurate. And very much agree with disdaining the "us vs. them" sports mentality) reactormag.com/unfortunatel...

thank you!

thanks so much, man!

The View from Inside: On Adding Interiority to Your Fiction Plus, five years of Counter Craft and a subscription incentive

Some readers asked me how to practically add interiority to fiction. So, I wrote a post on it that is probably writing 101 for many but hopefully of interest to others: countercraft.substack.com/p/the-view-f...

hey guys i'm not liking how much Hegseth sounds like the Russkiy Mir propagandists in Russia

online MAGA men are falling for the AI creation "Jessica Foster," who is a combination US Army adviser to Trump and foot fetish model. The character already has nearly a million Instagram followers.

Samuel Delany dedicated his monumental novel The Mad Man to me without ever having met me (and in fact only because of his reaction to a chapbook of mine that I thought had gotten lost in the mail)

* when I found out, I was at work at my desk and I fainted right to the floor

Dropped into Gen Z TikTok and they're bringing 23 skiddo back. They're heebee-geebeemaxxing, spiffy pilled, and mogging on applesauce. Wooden knuckles are out and bees knees are in. You heard it here first, Johnny boy.

Thesis: fact
Antithesis: feeling
Synthesis: fact-based feeling

What font does an anarchist use to graffiti "ACAB"? A sans-sheriff font.

Thank you, I will be here all week.