Frequently Asked Questions

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

From the beginning! It’s amazing when I think about it now. I knew from 2nd or 3rd grade that I wanted to tell stories for a living, even if I didn’t know how to make it happen or what it meant. XD All I knew was that I loved reading! Back then, my school had something called SSR, which stood for Sustained Silent Reading. It was a time in class set aside only for reading. Obviously, it was my favorite part of the day! Later, when our teacher added a special time for writing, I was hooked. I’d spend hours digging through our classroom bookshelves for the books with the most interesting covers or titles, and by trying a lot of different books I learned what I liked and didn’t like. It was the same with writing. The more I tried different things, the more I learned about what was fun and what I was good at.

*Not everybody knows what they want to be when they’re growing up, and that’s okay. Each person is different, and there are challenges in both knowing exactly what you love at an early age and discovering it later in love as you grow. You be you, that’s what’s most important.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing since I was very young, elementary school age. That doesn’t mean I liked writing anything and everything, or that I was very good at it. To this day, I still struggle to write nonfiction and essays. All I knew was that I liked to create characters, build worlds, and explore the nooks and crannies of my imagination. When I was young and the idea of writing a whole book scared me, I’d try copying the style of my favorite authors, or I’d write fan fiction about characters that inspired me. The more I practiced the easier it was to tackle challenging ideas or projects. And writing doesn’t always mean books! I’ve written movie scripts, board games, video games, museum displays, websites, and many other kinds of stories. (Sometime we call them “narratives.”) I see each story as another opportunity to try something new and learn.

What does it mean that you write for video games?

Writing books and writing games can be very different, though they have a lot of of similarities. When an authors writes a book, they have a specific story they want to tell, and readers can sit back and be swept away. When a game designer develops a game, they give players the tools needed to experience their own stories and become part of something bigger. They are interactive. Players make choices about what to do and how events unfold. Even games with set stories and characters give every unique player some amount of control. As a kid who wanted to be closer to the stories I read in books, games gave me the power to get inside those worlds and be part of them. Think of book authors as satellite GPS, telling you each exact stop on your destination; and game writers are more like tour guides, suggesting the best path but giving you the opportunity to explore.

Have you always liked games?

Oh, yes! :D I always wanted to play games, even if  didn’t understand them. I think it had to do with all the little bits and pieces, called “components,” that come with games, or the exciting illustrations on the board. Most games put the players into the middle of a story--even Monopoly! When I was young, I didn’t always have a friend available with whom to play a game, so I played against myself. When it comes to video games, I grew up playing games in arcades (yes, I am that old, lol), but my family also owned early game systems, like a personal computer and an Atari 2600 console. From the first time I played Star Raiders, Zork, or The Bard’s Tale, I knew I was a gamer. ;)

What advice do you have for young writers?

Write! Read! Think! Don’t limit yourself or ever say “I’m not good at” something until you try. You don’t know everything about yourself yet, and people learn new things and improve their skills throughout their whole lives; that’s one of the coolest things about growing up! Remember. You can only learn a skill by exposing yourself to it as much and often as possible, that means writing your ideas down, and reading anything you can get your hands on. Experiment. Practice. And don’t expect success every time. Sometimes our biggest failures are what lead us to our greatest successes.