mark leidner
@markleidner.bsky.social
writer of books, sometimes movies http://linktr.ee/markleidner
https://markleidner.substack.com/p/50-questions-to-ask-about-your-story
https://markleidner.substack.com/p/50-questions-to-ask-about-your-story
my agent loves the opening of my post-apocalyptic "potpunk" western, featuring a 3-page description of rugged, sweat-stained cowboys chewing marijuana like tobacco in a dusty saloon, but she remains unconvinced by the main plot, about a marijuana famine where nobody can get high
November 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM
my agent loves the opening of my post-apocalyptic "potpunk" western, featuring a 3-page description of rugged, sweat-stained cowboys chewing marijuana like tobacco in a dusty saloon, but she remains unconvinced by the main plot, about a marijuana famine where nobody can get high
they should sell capri suns in 20 oz. containers. these little foil pouch thingies don’t have enough in them
November 4, 2025 at 4:25 AM
they should sell capri suns in 20 oz. containers. these little foil pouch thingies don’t have enough in them
simply directing beautiful films in order to curry favor with my cinephile dictator
October 27, 2025 at 6:04 PM
simply directing beautiful films in order to curry favor with my cinephile dictator
Benvolio just keeps striving to preserve peace in Verona while also never backing down when prompted to defend Montague honor. Exemplary NPC behavior.
October 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Benvolio just keeps striving to preserve peace in Verona while also never backing down when prompted to defend Montague honor. Exemplary NPC behavior.
Reposted by mark leidner
i think they should make the giant halloween yard skeletons taller. i don't think they're tall enough yet. they should make them taller & taller & taller, until they reach the moon & i can climb up on one & get the hell off this accurséd place
October 16, 2025 at 12:42 AM
i think they should make the giant halloween yard skeletons taller. i don't think they're tall enough yet. they should make them taller & taller & taller, until they reach the moon & i can climb up on one & get the hell off this accurséd place
about to hurl a stone discus at an invisible “wall” that only I believe is there. shattering reality itself. and proving a realer reality lies beyond this shell of one that we merely need to throw a discus through to see *hurls discus* *it sails through the sky unimpeded*
October 15, 2025 at 9:01 PM
about to hurl a stone discus at an invisible “wall” that only I believe is there. shattering reality itself. and proving a realer reality lies beyond this shell of one that we merely need to throw a discus through to see *hurls discus* *it sails through the sky unimpeded*
Yorgos Lanthimos, hit me up. I met a guy on the bus last night with a great idea for a movie. I got his number and am texting him now to see if he remembers telling me about it. We both think you'd be perfect for the material.
October 15, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Yorgos Lanthimos, hit me up. I met a guy on the bus last night with a great idea for a movie. I got his number and am texting him now to see if he remembers telling me about it. We both think you'd be perfect for the material.
Reposted by mark leidner
Noir novels are usually the best genre fiction to read because the payoff of the story isn’t about who did it as much as it is about the tight construction of story which often rewards attention to detail and is thrilling because you can see the fates of the characters before they do.
What's your totally ordinary opinion about books that you nonetheless find compelled to share when asked on a social media site such as this one for your most extreme/unhinged/hottest takes?
I'll go first: manga is popular among young people because manga often features young people.
I'll go first: manga is popular among young people because manga often features young people.
October 15, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Noir novels are usually the best genre fiction to read because the payoff of the story isn’t about who did it as much as it is about the tight construction of story which often rewards attention to detail and is thrilling because you can see the fates of the characters before they do.
Reposted by mark leidner
Ladies and gentlemen, after the bride and groom have their first dance to "Streets of Philadelphia", we will have a daddy-daughter dance with the bride and her father to "Streets of Philadelphia". Afterward, please join us on the dance floor for four hours of "Streets of Philadelphia".
October 10, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Ladies and gentlemen, after the bride and groom have their first dance to "Streets of Philadelphia", we will have a daddy-daughter dance with the bride and her father to "Streets of Philadelphia". Afterward, please join us on the dance floor for four hours of "Streets of Philadelphia".
Arriving at the poetry reading wearing chain mail made of interlocked mini pretzels, a helmet hollowed out of olive ciabatta, and wielding a rosemary and sea salt encrusted baguette like a legendary sword. Telling the people in attendance to address me as “Sir Bread” or they will be dispatched.
October 11, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Arriving at the poetry reading wearing chain mail made of interlocked mini pretzels, a helmet hollowed out of olive ciabatta, and wielding a rosemary and sea salt encrusted baguette like a legendary sword. Telling the people in attendance to address me as “Sir Bread” or they will be dispatched.
Reposted by mark leidner
cry havoc and let slip the frogs of war
October 11, 2025 at 12:32 AM
cry havoc and let slip the frogs of war
simply mining less coal to curry favor with my coal-hating wife
October 11, 2025 at 3:21 AM
simply mining less coal to curry favor with my coal-hating wife
Reposted by mark leidner
🙃
instantly 100x your short story writing prowess by asking yourself these 50 questions every time you write a short story joylandpublishing.com/fiction/50-q...
50 Questions to Ask About Your Story
Does my story have a big enough concept? Does my story have interesting characters? Does my story have interesting set pieces? Does my story have an interesting conflict? Does my story have big eno...
joylandpublishing.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM
🙃
Reposted by mark leidner
Waiting for notes from my agent like
October 8, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Waiting for notes from my agent like
Reposted by mark leidner
39. Is the writing part of the self a separate self that can lead the non-writing part of the self into a higher.. more resilient echelon of selfhood?
40. Even if that is possible, is anyone who even asks such questions too neurotic to ever participate in that type of transformation?
🫠
40. Even if that is possible, is anyone who even asks such questions too neurotic to ever participate in that type of transformation?
🫠
instantly 100x your short story writing prowess by asking yourself these 50 questions every time you write a short story joylandpublishing.com/fiction/50-q...
50 Questions to Ask About Your Story
Does my story have a big enough concept? Does my story have interesting characters? Does my story have interesting set pieces? Does my story have an interesting conflict? Does my story have big eno...
joylandpublishing.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:45 PM
39. Is the writing part of the self a separate self that can lead the non-writing part of the self into a higher.. more resilient echelon of selfhood?
40. Even if that is possible, is anyone who even asks such questions too neurotic to ever participate in that type of transformation?
🫠
40. Even if that is possible, is anyone who even asks such questions too neurotic to ever participate in that type of transformation?
🫠
Reposted by mark leidner
Had me in the first half.
"Will publishing this story make anyone other than me feel anything other than my own urge to have written it?"
"Is this ... my clumsy attempt at confronting myself with myself in the vain hope that I will be reborn as a new self?"
Gets better and hurts more as you go.
"Will publishing this story make anyone other than me feel anything other than my own urge to have written it?"
"Is this ... my clumsy attempt at confronting myself with myself in the vain hope that I will be reborn as a new self?"
Gets better and hurts more as you go.
instantly 100x your short story writing prowess by asking yourself these 50 questions every time you write a short story joylandpublishing.com/fiction/50-q...
50 Questions to Ask About Your Story
Does my story have a big enough concept? Does my story have interesting characters? Does my story have interesting set pieces? Does my story have an interesting conflict? Does my story have big eno...
joylandpublishing.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Had me in the first half.
"Will publishing this story make anyone other than me feel anything other than my own urge to have written it?"
"Is this ... my clumsy attempt at confronting myself with myself in the vain hope that I will be reborn as a new self?"
Gets better and hurts more as you go.
"Will publishing this story make anyone other than me feel anything other than my own urge to have written it?"
"Is this ... my clumsy attempt at confronting myself with myself in the vain hope that I will be reborn as a new self?"
Gets better and hurts more as you go.
Reposted by mark leidner
This is really funny in like a hurtful kind of way
instantly 100x your short story writing prowess by asking yourself these 50 questions every time you write a short story joylandpublishing.com/fiction/50-q...
50 Questions to Ask About Your Story
Does my story have a big enough concept? Does my story have interesting characters? Does my story have interesting set pieces? Does my story have an interesting conflict? Does my story have big eno...
joylandpublishing.com
October 7, 2025 at 10:45 PM
This is really funny in like a hurtful kind of way
instantly 100x your short story writing prowess by asking yourself these 50 questions every time you write a short story joylandpublishing.com/fiction/50-q...
50 Questions to Ask About Your Story
Does my story have a big enough concept? Does my story have interesting characters? Does my story have interesting set pieces? Does my story have an interesting conflict? Does my story have big eno...
joylandpublishing.com
October 7, 2025 at 4:20 PM
instantly 100x your short story writing prowess by asking yourself these 50 questions every time you write a short story joylandpublishing.com/fiction/50-q...
I wrote about being very good at something very hard to do, which is also very wrong to do: stealing what people smell like.
open.substack.com/pub/markleid...
open.substack.com/pub/markleid...
Sorry I Keep Stealing Your Smell
On the scent exploitation crisis, and how I’m not helping.
open.substack.com
September 16, 2025 at 1:45 PM
I wrote about being very good at something very hard to do, which is also very wrong to do: stealing what people smell like.
open.substack.com/pub/markleid...
open.substack.com/pub/markleid...
Reposted by mark leidner
Love it when the ragtag group of survivors I’m in reaches a place of apparent safety and we drop our guard, laughing a little too loud, sleeping a little too soundly, as we enjoy the fleeting, simple pleasures of a world now lost.
August 30, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Love it when the ragtag group of survivors I’m in reaches a place of apparent safety and we drop our guard, laughing a little too loud, sleeping a little too soundly, as we enjoy the fleeting, simple pleasures of a world now lost.
bro last night we lived in a beautiful old farmhouse that got featured in a regional magazine
August 23, 2025 at 4:24 PM
bro last night we lived in a beautiful old farmhouse that got featured in a regional magazine
Reposted by mark leidner
Can't early humans and megafauna just get along
August 16, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Can't early humans and megafauna just get along
Boycotting Mario Kart until Nintendo lets us race God against the devil.
August 13, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Boycotting Mario Kart until Nintendo lets us race God against the devil.