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Fiction
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Essays
Finding Your Creative Signature
Why it's not really possible
Feb 28
•
Tom Beck
10
2
Is There Objectively Good Writing?
On finding the beauty in what's already there
Jan 29
•
Tom Beck
7
1
3
Touching Snow
There is nothing more clarifying—and more terrifying—than a health scare.
Dec 21, 2025
•
Tom Beck
8
2
1
Fiction in the Age of the Phone
Why no one reads fiction on their phone and what fiction writers can do about it
Dec 4, 2025
•
Tom Beck
11
3
3
Melville and His MFA by Sea
On the stepping stones to greatness (and why they look like failure)
Nov 22, 2025
•
Tom Beck
6
1
3
Why You Should Not Set Goals
Instead of focusing on objectives, search for what's interesting
Nov 13, 2025
•
Tom Beck
17
5
The Daemon in the Machine
On writing platforms, genius, egregores, and AI
Nov 6, 2025
•
Tom Beck
15
2
5
Enter the Dollhouse—The Stories of Thomas Ligotti
Puppets and manikins; the horror of unliving objects; the infinite, inhuman cosmos; artificial intelligence; the uncanny valley; Ligotti, Lovecraft, and…
May 22, 2024
•
Tom Beck
2
1
Against the Creator Economy
A Manifesto for Failure
Mar 9, 2024
•
Tom Beck
4
2
1
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