writing inspiration – Stories Rule Press

Why Build a Fortress Like This?

8 June 2026 / Fantasy, Historical, Tracy Cooper-Posey

Most people look at a photograph like this and think, How pretty. I look at it and think, Why? Fort Bourtange is a stunning star-shaped fortress in the Netherlands, but what fascinates me isn’t its appearance. It’s the sheer amount of labour, planning and expense that went into building it in the late sixteenth century. What sort of world made such a massive defensive project seem necessary? And what would it have been like to actually live inside its walls? One aerial photograph opens the door to questions about history, war, economics, daily life—and why setting matters so much to fiction writers.

Why Every Sci-Fi Fan Should Try Photographing the Night Sky with Their Phone

5 June 2026 / Cameron Cooper

Modern smartphones have become surprisingly capable astronomy cameras, making it easier than ever to capture stars, planets, and even the Milky Way. But the real appeal isn’t the technology—it’s the experience of looking up at the night sky and connecting with the vast universe beyond our everyday concerns. For science fiction readers, photographing the cosmos can be a powerful reminder of why we look to the stars in the first place.

The City With No Spare Inch

25 May 2026 / Tracy Cooper-Posey

An entire capital city packed onto a single tiny island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, with barely an inch to spare. Looking at aerial photos of Malé, the capital of the Maldives, it’s impossible not to wonder about the fragility of cities, civilization, and the strange places human beings insist upon calling home.

When “Agentic” Suddenly Became a Thing

8 May 2026 / Cameron Cooper, Science Fiction

Why has “agentic AI” suddenly become the term everyone’s using? What looks like an overnight trend is really the visible edge of a rapid shift—from passive tools to systems that can act, decide, and iterate. For science fiction readers, it’s a familiar moment: the future we’ve long imagined beginning to take shape, with all the promise—and unease—that implies.

Why Shrinking Hit Me Right in the Feels

5 May 2026 / Mark Posey

Mark didn’t expect Shrinking to hit quite so hard—but somewhere between the laughs and the quiet gut-punch moments, it did. A show about grief, friendship, and trying to do better while carrying everything life hands you, it’s exactly the kind of story that lingers—and the kind he’d love to write someday.

Twenty Raised Beds and the Quiet Joy of Starting Something

21 April 2026 / Espionage, Mark Posey, Thrillers

This weekend, Mark is trading the keyboard for lumber, screws, and soil as he builds twenty raised beds in the backyard. There’s a quiet satisfaction in work you can see at the end of the day—and a surprising connection between gardening and writing. Both are acts of optimism: you do the work now, trust the process, and hope something good will grow.

The Magic Cookie Method of Writing Motivation

11 April 2026 / Tracy Cooper-Posey

When writing starts to drag, the problem often isn’t laziness or lack of discipline — it’s that you’ve lost sight of what you’re writing toward. In this post, I explore the “magic cookie” method: finding the one scene, moment, or beat in your story that excites you enough to pull you through the difficult middle. Because sometimes the best cure for procrastination is knowing there’s something wonderful waiting a few chapters ahead.