How Not To Write

Mass Phenomenon Memes in the City No, Mackay doesn’t use the term meme, but the concept of contagious ideas that self-propagate through a population was as real in the past as it is today. We like to think that our current systems of communication are beyond compare, but the old grapevine of the past was [...]

Fear of the Unknown Witch Mania Fear of the unknown is another powerful element in fiction. Those who use fear to achieve their ends make great villains. Those who oppose fear, who try and bring forth the light of knowledge make great heroes (or martyrs). The chapter on Witch Mania concerns the global hunt for [...]

The Magnetisers Oh, the great healing power of magnets! Whether it’s true or not, the idea of magnetism as a healing factor is an age-old belief. It comes round again and again through history and as such someone is always making a fortune. In the writing game, the miracle cure for what ails you, your [...]

Fortune-Telling I was thinking of a good way to introduce this section of the book, but Mackay does a great job of it himself in the second paragraph: An undue opinion of our own importance in the scale of creation is at the bottom of all our unwarrantable notions. How flattering the pride of man [...]

Modern Prophecies An epidemic terror of the end of the world has several times spread over nations. This section of the book deals with the idea that the world is about to end. It is a perfect dovetail to the modern thriller genre. All of the mechanics of this genre are represented in the great [...]