Kameron Hurley
@kameronhurley.com
Amateur gardener. Professional ad copywriter. Award-winning novelist | THESE SAVAGE STARS (January, 2027) | patreon.com/kameronhurley | Newsletter: https://bit.ly/HurleyCut | kameronhurley.com
I was going to say: I hear this same thing a lot from people who give birth, including my mom. That you blank out just how painful and sometimes traumatic the actual process is, which is how you get hookwinked into doing it again π
Sounds like childbirth.
January 15, 2026 at 1:52 AM
I was going to say: I hear this same thing a lot from people who give birth, including my mom. That you blank out just how painful and sometimes traumatic the actual process is, which is how you get hookwinked into doing it again π
Like, Umayma didn't get built at a Panera in an afternoon, ya know?
a man is looking out the window of a car .
ALT: a man is looking out the window of a car .
media.tenor.com
January 15, 2026 at 1:50 AM
Like, Umayma didn't get built at a Panera in an afternoon, ya know?
And it IS magical, watching the world and people start to gel pass after pass. I do wish I was more efficient. But if I want to do my kind of deep worldbuilding, well....
a man in a helmet is standing next to another man in a helmet in a star wars movie .
ALT: a man in a helmet is standing next to another man in a helmet in a star wars movie .
media.tenor.com
January 15, 2026 at 1:48 AM
And it IS magical, watching the world and people start to gel pass after pass. I do wish I was more efficient. But if I want to do my kind of deep worldbuilding, well....
You have to blank out how hard it is every time, because if you remembered, you might not do it π. Instead, the feeling I'm headed toward right now is the one I had at end of 2024 when I finished the draft of THESE SAVAGE STARS. That's the high I'm looking for. It's the only high I get anymore π
January 15, 2026 at 1:44 AM
You have to blank out how hard it is every time, because if you remembered, you might not do it π. Instead, the feeling I'm headed toward right now is the one I had at end of 2024 when I finished the draft of THESE SAVAGE STARS. That's the high I'm looking for. It's the only high I get anymore π
There were parts of that one that fell into my head, sure - most famously the opening line - but I blanked out the many, many years and many, many versions I'd done in the 8 years between starting it and publishing it.
January 15, 2026 at 1:44 AM
There were parts of that one that fell into my head, sure - most famously the opening line - but I blanked out the many, many years and many, many versions I'd done in the 8 years between starting it and publishing it.
I chose to write this book fully on spec, for fun, for just this reason. Reminded myself tonight while going over changes from this morning that this is exactly what the process was like with early chapters of God's War.
January 15, 2026 at 1:44 AM
I chose to write this book fully on spec, for fun, for just this reason. Reminded myself tonight while going over changes from this morning that this is exactly what the process was like with early chapters of God's War.
As much as I appreciate this iterative process where the world I'm building gets clearer as I go over the same scene for the twentieth time, it can feel very ouroboros if I think about it too long. There is this desperate feeling I'm not going fast enough, but like fast enough to WHERE?? π
a white dog is standing on its hind legs on a wooden floor
ALT: a white dog is standing on its hind legs on a wooden floor
media.tenor.com
January 15, 2026 at 1:44 AM
As much as I appreciate this iterative process where the world I'm building gets clearer as I go over the same scene for the twentieth time, it can feel very ouroboros if I think about it too long. There is this desperate feeling I'm not going fast enough, but like fast enough to WHERE?? π
Exactly that. My impression is that's how most of America is surviving rn.
January 15, 2026 at 12:21 AM
Exactly that. My impression is that's how most of America is surviving rn.
I probably would have gender swapped the wife and husband characters. Making a note for a future Hurley murder show π
January 14, 2026 at 11:06 PM
I probably would have gender swapped the wife and husband characters. Making a note for a future Hurley murder show π
Lovely to see Polly Walker again, tho I'm not yet convinced they know precisely what to do with this gift.
January 14, 2026 at 11:05 PM
Lovely to see Polly Walker again, tho I'm not yet convinced they know precisely what to do with this gift.
I found a new murder show!
Bookish on PBS.
Murder! Books!
It's WWII Britain, even!
Bookish on PBS.
Murder! Books!
It's WWII Britain, even!
January 14, 2026 at 10:12 PM
I found a new murder show!
Bookish on PBS.
Murder! Books!
It's WWII Britain, even!
Bookish on PBS.
Murder! Books!
It's WWII Britain, even!
By the end of a day with new routine where I start with reading, then exercising, do my fiction writing, then full day at day job with meetings and strategy work and corp writing and... THEN done, it feels like I've lived three days in one day π
I do sleep well, tho.
I do sleep well, tho.
January 14, 2026 at 10:06 PM
By the end of a day with new routine where I start with reading, then exercising, do my fiction writing, then full day at day job with meetings and strategy work and corp writing and... THEN done, it feels like I've lived three days in one day π
I do sleep well, tho.
I do sleep well, tho.
Reposted by Kameron Hurley
Your brain is a hallucination engine. Feed it a steady diet of shit, and it will build you a shit world. So what happens when you change what you feed it? www.kameronhurley.com/were-fucked-...
"Weβre Fucked" Feels Like a Profound Insight. Itβs Actually a Trap. - Kameron Hurley
I recently watched a documentary about that reaffirmed many changes I made last few years to my mental outlook (I read a LOT of brain books the last few years). Brains are hallucination engines. If th...
www.kameronhurley.com
January 14, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Your brain is a hallucination engine. Feed it a steady diet of shit, and it will build you a shit world. So what happens when you change what you feed it? www.kameronhurley.com/were-fucked-...
Your brain is a hallucination engine. Feed it a steady diet of shit, and it will build you a shit world. So what happens when you change what you feed it? www.kameronhurley.com/were-fucked-...
"Weβre Fucked" Feels Like a Profound Insight. Itβs Actually a Trap. - Kameron Hurley
I recently watched a documentary about that reaffirmed many changes I made last few years to my mental outlook (I read a LOT of brain books the last few years). Brains are hallucination engines. If th...
www.kameronhurley.com
January 14, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Your brain is a hallucination engine. Feed it a steady diet of shit, and it will build you a shit world. So what happens when you change what you feed it? www.kameronhurley.com/were-fucked-...
"Weβre fucked" is the laziest narrative of our time. Humans don't live in reality. We live in stories. Choose yours accordingly. www.kameronhurley.com/were-fucked-...
Weβre Fuckedβ Feels Like a Profound Insight. Itβs Actually a Trap. - Kameron Hurley
I recently watched a documentary about that reaffirmed many changes I made last few years to my mental outlook (I read a LOT of brain books the last few years). Brains are hallucination engines. If th...
www.kameronhurley.com
January 14, 2026 at 1:59 PM
"Weβre fucked" is the laziest narrative of our time. Humans don't live in reality. We live in stories. Choose yours accordingly. www.kameronhurley.com/were-fucked-...
Reposted by Kameron Hurley
This is a good thread (and not the kind of thing I'd normally consider)
Watching doc about resilience that reaffirms many changes I made last few years to my mental outlook (I read a LOT of brain books). Brains are hallucination engines. If the story is the world is shit, everything is fucked, brain reframes every interaction this way. It impacts behavior; shuts us down
January 14, 2026 at 11:24 AM
This is a good thread (and not the kind of thing I'd normally consider)
Dying π
Today I get to unveil the UK cover for THE DRAGON HAS SOME COMPLAINTS!
The art is by the legendary Stephen Player, who has done art for Barker and Pratchett. I adore how he shows off the different personalities of Garrodigh's heads!
It comes out in the UK from @arcadiabooks.bsky.social this July!
The art is by the legendary Stephen Player, who has done art for Barker and Pratchett. I adore how he shows off the different personalities of Garrodigh's heads!
It comes out in the UK from @arcadiabooks.bsky.social this July!
January 14, 2026 at 1:40 PM
Dying π
Library book haul.
I love that you can just... Walk into a library and pick up 30 books and just... Walk out.
That's civilization, right there.
I love that you can just... Walk into a library and pick up 30 books and just... Walk out.
That's civilization, right there.
January 13, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Library book haul.
I love that you can just... Walk into a library and pick up 30 books and just... Walk out.
That's civilization, right there.
I love that you can just... Walk into a library and pick up 30 books and just... Walk out.
That's civilization, right there.
It was the one with Jesus. All bases covered
January 13, 2026 at 8:23 PM
It was the one with Jesus. All bases covered
I mean it could also be that
Misread as "found someone in the gutters" at first and was mighty confused.
January 13, 2026 at 5:25 PM
I mean it could also be that
The gutter backup problem ruining this side of the house. We don't have trees taller than this house, which means this clog above the porch is likely a dead animal of some kind π
January 13, 2026 at 4:45 PM
The gutter backup problem ruining this side of the house. We don't have trees taller than this house, which means this clog above the porch is likely a dead animal of some kind π
Found someone to do the gutters on Friday in only three calls.
Basically winning adulting today.
Basically winning adulting today.
January 13, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Found someone to do the gutters on Friday in only three calls.
Basically winning adulting today.
Basically winning adulting today.
Reposted by Kameron Hurley
I think the world is ready for us NOW, Toby π We were just like 10-15 years too early.
January 13, 2026 at 3:16 PM
I think the world is ready for us NOW, Toby π We were just like 10-15 years too early.