The Brain · Emerson Black Writes
Field notes from a writing life
Every newsletter dispatch since January 2023 — craft experiments, deadline failures, drafting diaries and the slow business of finishing books. All of it public, cross-linked, and free to wander.
Press ⌘K (Ctrl + K) to search every note · About Emerson
Start here four good doors in
A nerdy spreadsheet that turns character notes into people who feel real.
Mindset Banish Imposter Syndrome ForeverStop asking for permission to take your seat at the table.
Story How a Ghost Gave Me a Story EpiphanyUnveiling the core of your story — with a little help from a ghost.
Honesty My first draft is so terribleAll that work, and the writing sucks. What to do next.
The archive by year
Book three arrives — and the nerves that come with it.
Craft & covers 2025Notion systems, overplotting disasters, cover redesigns and an app sidequest.
Rewrites 2024Deadlines, screenplays, ghosts, and an unexpectedly lovely typewriter.
Where it began 2023Characters, calendars, covers and imposter syndrome.
Reading trails
Drafting a novel from zero
- Starting a First Draft — the eight stages of drafting, mapped out.
- The Dangers of Overplotting — how to write a truly terrible first draft.
- My first draft is so terrible — what to do when the work doesn't match the vision.
Characters readers fall for
- How To Build a Human — convincing characters, built from a spreadsheet.
- 5 Ways to Sweeten Up Unlikeable Characters — from arsehole to heartthrob.
- Emotional Gutting 101 — the secret sauce that breaks reader hearts.
Keeping going when it gets heavy
- Keep, Keep, Keep Writing — even when you really don't want to.
- How to Successfully Fail at Deadlines — dealing with the shame of missing your own.
- Instinct, Intuition and Integrity — the fastest way forward is to stop rushing.
Covers, publishing & the business
- Your Cover's Job (And How to Nail It) — gut, brain, and wine-fuelled decisions.
- The Seen covers get a facelift — Part 1 — the journey of redesigning a series.
- The Seen covers get a facelift — Part 2 — nailing the genre look on a budget.
The books behind the notes
Four student journalists, one campus paper, and a conspiracy that reaches the top of Silverbridge. The Seen in Silverbridge series is the reason most of these dispatches exist.
New dispatches land whenever there's something worth telling you.