Fantasy Writer's List of Cool Stuff

Here’s a list of stuff I like. I’ll write about why I like some of this stuff later, but I want you to know some stuff I like because maybe you like some of this stuff too. If so, we should celebrate the stuff.

The stuff, in no order worth noting…

• Reading outside my genre

• My boots

• Movies with triumph at the end

• Movies with cool hinge-moments in the middle

• Writing bad reviews of…

  • Books

  • Beer

  • Quirks in consumerism

• Writing good reviews of…

  • Music, especially if it’s little-known

  • Small businesses

• I like community-building, especially if it’s around creative endeavors

• Architecture

• Feeling overwhelmed by nature

• Complaining vociferously about…

  • Quirks of consumerism!

  • Sports

  • Odd human behaviors

• Learning new knowledge

• Food and cooking

• History

• Watching other people win, but only if they earned it

• The word “shiny”

I’ll go into all of the reasons I like all that later on, but the point here is one of the foundations of my cool factor: shiny syndrome and piracy.

In marketing, “shiny syndrome” is the principle of distraction with shiny objects, like when packaging for oatmeal is covered in bright colors and exciting promises.

Piracy is my own bag, because I operate under a principle that no other principle is too shallow to be coopted. If my intentions are pure and punk as eff, then even the most glittery and least valuable marketing technique can be a weapon for the glory of my own personal cool factor.

I have a long and storied history with the word “shiny.” When a guru of mine told me that “shiny syndrome” is a term in marketing, we decided I may as well steal it.

Piracy. Useful when it’s useful.

More’s coming.

I’m Oliver, and I write books. I'm a fantasy writer and a metalhead. I’m querying my novel to agents. My full manuscript is in the hands of one of them now.