Counter Craft

Processing: How Adam Wilson Wrote Fail Sons

The author on novels in fragments, fiction as lucid dreaming, and the millennial midlife crises

Oct 6 • Lincoln Michel

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September 2026

The Roots of the Novel Are Parody, Pastiche, and Play

On reading Don Quixote in 2026

Sep 24 • Lincoln Michel

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Processing: How Nicholas Russell Wrote Observer

The author on desert horror, being unencumbered by genre, and the process of writing and selling a debut novel

Sep 15 • Lincoln Michel

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Sweat the Technique: On Writing Process and Possibilities

A little look at the writing techniques of César Aira, Vladimir Nabokov, Garielle Lutz, Zadie Smith, and others.

Sep 7 • Lincoln Michel

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August 2026

Processing: How Josh Riedel Edited Thirty Cabins

The author and editor on making zines, literary cabins, and planning volume two.

Aug 24 • Lincoln Michel

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Stitching Up the Creature; Or, the Horrors of Revision

Some recent links plus an update on how my horror novel revisions are going

Aug 10 • Lincoln Michel

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July 2026

Processing: How Paul Tremblay Wrote Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep

The author on writing horror and comedy, unusual narrative approaches, and pouring AI anxieties into fiction.

Jul 28 • Lincoln Michel

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Principles of Plotting Part IV: Intersection and Redirection

The fourth entry in a series on figuring out plot and applying it to your fiction

Jul 9 • Lincoln Michel

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Principles of Plotting Part III: Variation

The third entry in a series on figuring out plot and applying it to your fiction

Jul 1 • Lincoln Michel

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June 2026

There Are More than Five POVs

A little craft rant on points of view in fiction.

Jun 22 • Lincoln Michel

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The Ghostwriter in the Machine, LLM Author Psychosis, and Other Saturday Sundries

Some more AI thoughts and other odds and ends

Jun 6 • Lincoln Michel

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May 2026

Processing: How Hannah Lillith Assadi Wrote Paradiso 17

The author on writing through grief, the ghost of setting, and adding a layer of dream to reality

May 26 • Lincoln Michel

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