Blogs

Brandon Sanderson, one of fantasy’s most prolific worldbuilders, articulated something that had been true of great fantasy for decades but rarely stated explicitly: Magic isn’t about being magical. It’s about being a tool for storytelling. And like any tool, magic systems work better when they follow certain principles. Sanderson codified these into what’s now known as Sanderson’s Laws of Magic. They’re not rigid rules but design principles that help you create magic systems that serve your story instead of undermining it. ...

Brain Series Current: Cocktail Party Effect Change Blindness All Posts Earworms You’re in a loud, crowded room. Dozens of conversations happening simultaneously. You’re focused on talking to someone right in front of you, filtering out all the background noise. ...

Brain Series Current: Change Blindness The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon All Posts Cocktail Party Effect Watch a video of people passing basketballs. Count the passes made by the team in white shirts. ...

Most stories treat setting as backdrop-a stage where characters perform. The action happens; the world just… is. But some stories do something different. The setting doesn’t just sit there. It acts. It has personality, desires, resistance. It shapes events as much as any character. This is setting as character, and when done well, it transforms worldbuilding from description into dramatic force. What Does “Setting as Character” Actually Mean? A setting becomes a character when it possesses these qualities: ...

Deeply Personal Current: The Uncanny Valley of Empathy Cooking with an Algorithm All Posts Analysis Paralysis The Uncanny Valley of Empathy: Why AI Therapists Feel ‘Almost’ Human I did something weird last month. ...

Brain Series Current: The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon Pareidolia All Posts Change Blindness You learn about a new word, concept, or product. Then, suddenly, you see it everywhere-in articles, conversations, advertisements. It feels like the universe is sending you a message. ...

In 1917, Russian Formalist critic Viktor Shklovsky introduced a concept that would fundamentally change how we think about art: ostranenie-defamiliarization, or “making strange.” His insight was radical: The purpose of art isn’t to make us comfortable. It’s to make us see again. We spend our lives on autopilot, perceiving the world through habits and categories. We don’t see a chair-we see “chair,” the concept. We don’t experience morning coffee-we execute a routine. ...

Deeply Personal Current: Cooking with an Algorithm Nostalgia on a Plate All Posts The Uncanny Valley of Empathy Cooking with an Algorithm: I Let an AI Plan My Weekly Meal Prep My wife has a habit that’s equal parts adorable and terrifying: she organizes things with military precision. ...

Ernest Hemingway had a simple rule for writing: if you know something well enough, you can omit it, and the reader will feel its presence like the bulk of an iceberg beneath the water. He called it the Iceberg Theory (or the Theory of Omission), and it’s perhaps the most powerful worldbuilding principle ever articulated. Show only the tip-10% of what you know. But you must know the other 90%. ...

Brain Series Current: Pareidolia The McGurk Effect All Posts The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon You see a face in the electrical outlet. Another in the clouds. Your morning toast looks like it’s staring at you. ...