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Author: Sam Flynn

Wasting oxygen since 1992, Sam thanks the gods he doesn't believe in everyday his parents didn't discard him as an infant. It would have been the sensible thing to do.

The Path to Publication for ‘The Mystery of the Pale King’

Christmas came early this year. After a year in the query trenches, my grimdark cosmic horror fantasy The Mystery of the Pale King has found a home at Timber Ghost Press, to be released fall 2024! Thank you Cody Langille for believing in my story (and the sick description I…

Novels, Comics, and Screenplays, Oh My

2022 may have a few gasps of breath left before the year shuffles loose this mortal coil, but personally I’m already looking ahead to 2023, more for personal reasons than anything. Before I dive in, a shout-out to the awesome Allison K Williams, a multi-hyphenate in the world of writing…

2022: Writing Goals & Embarking on Futurescapes

Ah, 2022 (aka 2020, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone), the year of low expectations. Humility does wonders for enjoyment of the little things, the overlooked details that keep us going, the common treasures often left unexamined and the world over is nothing if not humbled by the seemingly-endless pandemic…

SAM REVISITS: The Matrix Sequels Helped Me Unlock the Secret to Storytelling

Why is choice the single most important part of stories? Because choice reveals character. Static characters make the same choices and react the same way. That’s fine if you’re a procedural network show or sitcom (think Law & Order or Seinfeld, where the maxim of “no hugging, no learning” was…

A Year in the Editing Weeds and Other News

You know, it’s amazing. I can write literally hundreds of thousands of words but the moment I sit down for a blog post, I’m on Twitter, or YouTube, or Netflix, or staring off into space, drooling like some deranged mental patient (apologies to all my mental patient readers, checking in…

That Aged Poorly

What began as a simple Slog update has unsurprisingly morphed into another long-winded reflection. I’m (overly) introspective by nature. I reflect (too) often. Before I can fully move forward (clears throat) in LOST parlance . . . Reason being, I am addressing some writings floating on the Internet where I…

Out of the Frying Pandemic Into the Fire

Well . . . 2020 kinda sucked didn’t it? With that belated understatement out of the way, my last post came way back in October 2020 when I celebrated the completion of the first draft of The Darkest Fate. Since then, I’ve been in the editing weeds, occasionally changing it…

THE DARKEST FATE Is Complete. What’s Next?

Tomorrow, I’ll be 28. The first draft of my novel is complete. Happy birthday, me! . . . So what’s next? I must admit, my current situation feels a bit like Wile E. Coyote running off the cliff; if I look down, I’ll fall. I deliberately left much of my…

The Road Less Traveled to ‘The Darkest Fate’

On the last episode of Sam Writes a Novel, our hero sat atop a pile of words – almost 190,000 – at the halfway mark of 2019. For context, he entered the year with around 120,000 words written, a compilation of outlines, notes, and scattered scenes. The first half of…

Great Fantasy Stories Are Powered by Metaphor

Next time you feel empty or underwhelmed watching fantasy of any genre, ask yourself if the supernatural or technological leaps are analogous to anything a human goes through.