Booklife

Seth Johnson is a writer and game designer who thrives on the interplay (and the anticipation of interplay) between writer and audience.  A real slinger of ink, as the name of his website suggests, Johnson seems to have worked just about every type of writing gig possible – copy writing, copy editing, play-testing, design, you name it.

Johnson has been involved with some of the most recognizable properties in popular culture, such as Marvel comics, DC comics, and World of Warcraft.  He also has written copy for such publishers as Carroll & Graf and Tor/Forge books.

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Matt Forbeck does it all – fiction, non-fiction, games, toys, editing, everything.  (Except poetry, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he did that, too.)  Forbeck’s vitae is so diverse that it’s nearly impossible to categorize what sort of writer he is.  Forbeck’s most recent novels are Ghosts of Ascalon (with Jeff Grubb) and Amortals.  Beyond fiction writing, he is known as the nicest guy in gaming, a consummate professional, and a brilliant editor.
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Games are a great resource for writers.  They encourage creativity, playfulness, collaboration, the navigation of rules, and much more. 

When I saw James Lowder’s two wonderful anthologies, Hobby Games: The 100 Best and Family Games: The 100 Best, I grabbed them as resources for potential use in my writing classes and for my personal development as a writer.  In each anthology, Lowder gathers 100 essays about 100 games written by 100 game writers.  All manner of games are covered.  Each essay sings the praises of a particular game.

As I read the anthologies, I giddily made notes – notes about teaching, notes about writing, notes about games to buy.  And I figured it might be fun to ask the contributors to talk about what gaming has taught them about writing and creativity. 

Throughout October and November, you’ll hear from more than a dozen game designers/writers.

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Jeremy L. C. Jones is a freelance writer, editor, and teacher.  He is the staff Interviewer for Clarkesworld Magazine and a frequent contributor to Kobold Quarterly.  He teaches at Wofford College and Montessori Academy in Spartanburg, SC.  He is also the director of Shared Worlds, a creative writing and world-building camp for teenagers that he and Jeff VanderMeer designed in 2006.

I have two interviews this month in Clarkesworld Magazine.  Mary Robinette Kowal is a puppeteer, voice actor, and fiction writer.  Her long-anticipated novel, Shades of Milk & Honey, came out in August and it blends Regency England with magic.  Jay Lake is the author of more than 240 short stories and seven novels, including the astounding Green. 

Below, Kowal and Lake talk about two topics near and dear to them: short stories and speculative fiction.  When you’re done here you might want to swing by Clarkesworld for more.

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The short story isn’t dead, it’s just _________.

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Jay Lake:  The short story isn’t dead, it’s just dozing quietly in the corner while waiting for the next bus. We will never tire of telling stories, but fashions change. There’s always another bus.

Mary Robinette Kowal:  Badly maligned.  Honestly, the shorter a work of fiction is, the harder it is to write. Long works may take more time but that doesn’t necessarily make them harder.

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What can a writer who doesn’t usually read speculative fiction learn from reading within the genre? What is the value of speculative fiction?  

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Jay Lake: My feeling is that a writer coming from outside can learn certain specific tics of craft from us – precision of language is key in a genre when any metaphor might be literalized, for example. More to the point, they would learn a new perspective. Which is exactly why I read outside genre from time to time. To broaden my own perspective.

Mary Robinette Kowal:  Speculative fiction allows one to turn the world to the side and look at it a different way. Doing so gives us multiple layers with which to consider reality.

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Jeremy L. C. Jones is a freelance writer, editor, and teacher.  He is the Staff Interviewer for Clarkesworld Magazine and a frequent contributor to Kobold Quarterly.  He teaches at Wofford College and Montessori Academy in Spartanburg, SC.  He is also the director of Shared Worlds, a creative writing and world-building camp for teenagers that he and Jeff VanderMeer designed in 2006.

Florida novelist James O. Born has served as both a U. S. Drug Agent and as a State Law Enforcement Officer.  Over the years, Born spent many “dead” hours on surveillance reading books.  Also in his capacity as a law enforcement officer, Born met the iconic crime writer Elmore Leonard for whom he provided technical assistance.  The reading, the work with Leonard, and a growing discomfort with how storytellers misrepresented law enforcement in fiction all gelled with a desire to write. 

After nearly half a dozen crime novels, including Burn Zone and Walking Money, Born has branched out to write science fiction novels under the pen-name James O’Neal.  The O’Neal books include The Human Disguise and The Double Human, both of which are set in a post-apocalyptic, near-future Miami, FL.  (more…)