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How to Be a Fiction Writer in the AI Era

September 24, 2025

Virtually all of my fiction writing advice focuses on art: It’s quality writing I care about, not marketing or how to make money with one’s fiction. Nonetheless, my posts still (even if indirectly) also explore marketing repercussions. Today’s topic, revolving around how to be a fiction writer in the AI era, is no exception.

At the same time, however, there is a subtle but important difference.

Whereas in other posts – see, for instance, my post on fantasy fiction – I basically argue that one should write for the art and forget about monetary concerns, when it comes to fiction writing and AI there is a different argument I will be presenting, which boils down to this:

Write well (also) because of marketing considerations.

In other words, in this brave new world where one can “write” a “narrative” (quotation marks necessary) in a matter of an hour or two, publishing an entire series in a single day, it becomes more important than ever to focus on the quality – and above all, the authenticity – of what you write.

writer in ai era. photo of street artist.
Though there is always an “intended audience” element involved in art, true art is not made for anyone but one’s self. The audience is only an accident. This ideological approach is even more important if you’re a fiction writer in the AI era, an era brimming with mediocrity and ignorance.
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Scammers and Spammers: 5 Ridiculous Emails

September 7, 2025

It’s no accident “scammers” and “spammers” are only one letter apart. In most cases, their roles overlap. That is to say, scammers send a massive number of unsolicited email (spam) hoping a few naive people will take the bait.

Obviously, Home for Fiction also receives some such traffic. I’ve several safeguards in place, so I can’t complain, and ever since I moved Home for Fiction to a different server, which I control fully, the situation has improved further, as now I can implement more fine-tuned defenses.

Still, every now and then messages by scammers and spammers get through. And that’s fine, because they’re hilarious! So here are 5 ridiculous such emails I’ve received, for me (and you) to have a laugh with.

Spammers and Scammers. Image of Punning Walrus holding a sign reading: grumpy mode activated
Spammers and Scammers make Mr. Walrus very, very grumpy…
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Goodbye Bluehost, Good Fucking Riddance

August 27, 2025

If you missed the “new beginning” post, I recently decided to shake things up regarding Home for Fiction. By the way, this was a few months after I had already taken control of my own site, reprogramming it from scratch (on top of WordPress, of course) and getting rid of all the useless stuff. And a few days ago, I was finally able to say, Goodbye Bluehost and if I ever see you again it will be a million years too soon.

You see, after programming my own theme and moving the site away from Bluehost’s shared servers to my own virtual private server, where I have full and total control, there was still one thing left: move the homeforfiction.com domain registration away from Bluehost.

The utterly appalling overall experience inspired me to write this post. You can consider it a review coming after I spent almost eight years with that bottomless pit of deception and predatory policies. Considering the fact that Bluehost – and its super-aggressive marketing – is what attracts most newcomers to it, if I manage to contribute to even one person’s informed decision, that’d be a huge win.

goodbye bluehost. image of laughing woman
Actual footage of myself laughing demonically after I cut off the last ties I had with Bluehost.
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