My son Marty has a good friend Thomas who now only lives three doors down from us in our new place. They’re both in third grade and Cub Scouts together, and Thomas often comes over to play games after school. Thomas calls today and says that he’s just found out that his cousin–actually his cousin’s husband–is a friend of mine, …
Erick Wujick Is Dying
Erick Wujick is dying of cancer and apparently doesn’t have many days before him. In the tabletop games industry, we know him best as the creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness RPG and Amber Diceless Roleplaying. He’s spent the last few years in the computer gaming industry, currently with Totally Games. No matter where he’s been, …
Storytellers Again
My latest post on the Storytellers Unplugged site is up and awaiting your kind attention. This month I talk about negotiations, both with myself and my publishers. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to comment either here or there.
Writing Late
I was up until 4:30 AM working on the final bits for The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Superheroes and Villains, Illustrated (which I’m working on with Yair Herrera for IDW and Alpha). I ran the spellchecker, sent off the files, and collapsed into bed for a couple hours before I had to get up to get the kids ready for …
Comic-Book Writing
I’ve written a number of comics over the years, and it always stuns me what a different discipline it is from any other kind of writing. In a film, play, novel, game, or whatever, you have a bit of wiggle room as to the time you can take up or the number of pages. Comics, though, have a far more …
Storytellers Unplugged
My latest essay is up at Storytellers Unplugged. Stop by and read all about “The Working Writer’s Dilemma.”
Writers’ Strike
Given what I do for a living, it’s probably no surprise that I fully support the writers’ strike the WGA called for last week. John Rogers gives a good round-up of the reasons behind it, linking to other excellent analysis, and Christian Johnson provides quality commentary over at Cinerati. Be sure to check out UnitedHollywood.com if you’re interested in a …
Six Six Six Unplugged
Many of the talented folks over at Storytellers Unplugged are posting bits of fiction in lieu of essays this month. For my time-crunched self, I went with a trifecta of six-word shorts (one of which I posted here last year). Enjoy!
Are Historicals the New Science Fiction?
I try to follow literary trends as best I can, and it seems like we have a wealth of historical novels these days–far beyond the Michener-like epics–and a dearth of science-fiction. It’s almost as if the two genres have flipped around, that historicals have supplanted the purpose of science-fiction. In many ways, we live in the science-fiction world our parent …
ARGs Against Cancer
Via my pal James Wallis comes a note from Adrian Hon (James’s partner at the wailing-new Six to Start) about a project dedicated to concocting a brand-new Alternate Reality Game designed to raise money for cancer research. You can find out all the details at LetsChangeTheGame.org. In short, they’re asking for 500-word game concepts. They’ll pick the best and give …