Why He Stopped Writing by the Rules

About this video

A rapid-fire two-minute interview at Author Nation 2025 with Jeremy Fabiano, a prolific cozy fantasy and LitRPG author published since 2018. Fabiano says he was always creative — making tabletop campaigns and MUD levels — and after a rough patch following divorce, reading Jim Butcher books suggested by a roommate kept him waiting for the next book instead of making bad choices; he credits Butcher with saving his life and wants to pay that back. On craft, he says he learned writing faster by doing than studying: just start writing, don’t care about the rules, refine at the end because you can’t refine a blank page, and don’t overthink the first page, sentence, or word — you don’t have to write in linear form. He wishes he’d known before publishing how much marketing is involved in actually selling a book. His habits are to keep going, not let anyone slow him down, not be afraid to try new things, and not care what other people think; he goes to the gym when motivation drops, relies on Google Docs, and calls spite a hell of a motivator.

Key takeaways

• Worst advice Fabiano got: you have to write everything to market and follow every trope rule — he says you can break about 10% of them and people will be just happy.
• Learn writing by doing: start putting words on paper without caring about rules, refine later — you can’t refine a blank page.
• Authors overthink the first page/sentence/word most; start with whatever idea you have, expand around it, and writing need not be linear.
• He wishes he’d known before publishing how much marketing is involved if you actually want to sell a book.
• Persistence habits: keep going, ignore others’ opinions, try new things, and go to the gym when motivation drops; his one relied-on tool is Google Docs.

Episode details: published January 19, 2026 · 3:10 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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