Writing villains is easy. Writing GOOD villains is substantially more difficult. As with any character, they need to have a reason to exist, and often a reason for their evil. They have to have motivations that are grounded in reality, motivations that make sense. Even if that sense is twisted, we still have to be […]
Read MoreMissed my weekly blog post deadline this week; things are going on behind the scenes that I can’t really talk about just now, but the reveals for most of these projects should be happening soon – some even in the next week or so. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, with more in store! […]
Read MoreHorror has been a major component of my writing career. Of the sixteen tabletop role-playing projects I’ve worked on that have been published so far, at least ten are overtly horror-themed. Both of my published short stories are horror or dark fantasy. While I have concerns about being pigeonholed, the horror genre has been good […]
Read MoreAs a freelancer, it’s important to keep hustling. Work rarely comes to you; you have to seek it out, and the first rule of seeking out work is networking. Make contacts: sit and talk with colleagues at conventions. Talk about anything you want, just be sure to be polite, and try not to dominate the […]
Read MoreI’ve been thinking lately about encouragement, and how seldom we as a culture are willing to give encouragement to others. I suspect much of that ties into toxic masculinity: the idea that people without sufficient skills or confidence to succeed deserve to suffer isn’t new, but seems popular these days. I’ve been thinking about this […]
Read MoreBack in December, I was contracted to work on parts of three different books. I had strong reason to believe all three would be available at GenCon, August 17-20 of this year. After turning in most of my initial material in late January/early February, I was confident things were on track. None of those books […]
Read MoreMy colleague Owen KC Stephens has a great blog post that just went up about burnout. Here’s the LINK. In it, he is specifically referencing burnout in the RPG industry, but I think it very easily applies to any job out there. I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot recently, so his post inspired […]
Read MoreWhen you write for a living (or part of a living), it’s difficult not to get discouraged. Take me, for example. I’m regularly disappointed to learn of fantastic anthologies coming out — books I would give me eye teeth to be a part of — but I only hear about them AFTER they’ve selected all […]
Read MoreThis is a question I get asked from time to time: “I’m a writer/artist/editor; how can I break into the gaming industry?” The first piece of advice I give ANYONE looking for work in the gaming industry is this: Don’t quit your day job. With your day job you have (one assumes) guaranteed income as […]
Read MoreGlad to leave January 2017 behind, frankly – it was not my best month ever. It began with the death of my Mother-in-Law on January 9 — between my wife and I, this was our last surviving parent — followed immediately by having to euthanize my 17 year-old cat the very next day. Midwinter Gaming […]
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