via Steam Like many writers out there, I'm also a gamer. And like a lot of folks, I got really into Animal Crossing during the pandemic lockdown. Checking on my island was a daily ritual and became my favorite way to unwind once I'd started at a new job after being laid off following a furlough. That said, I'm not what you'd call a cozy gamer. My idea of cozy gaming is putting on my comfiest pajama pants, making some cocoa, curling up under a throw blanket, and listening to

When a video game challenges you to make choices, there a different approaches you might take. You might go for the pragmatic choice, the one that gives you the greatest advantage going forward or grants the best rewards. You might go based on what you yourself would do in that situation. Or you might go with whatever your character would do. Sometimes, the outcome of that decision leaves you feeling less than proud of yourself. That's what happened with my recent, first-ever

One thing that often amuses me as a writer is seeing how writers are portrayed in fiction. I've encountered quite a few fictional characters who are writers and bookworms that you can just tell were written by writers because of how they gush over every bookish thing and make all the references. Aside from them, writer characters typically fall into two zones—the bestselling author living their best life and the struggling artist who is uninspired and just trying to get by.

If there is one thing I love just about as much as writing, it's video games. I've written quite a few video game-related posts over the years, ranging from craft-specific posts inspired by recent playthroughs to reviewing games' storylines from the stance of a storyteller. Between that and my day job as an escape room game master, it's no surprise that I'm often keeping an eye out for ways to gamify the writing process. As fun as writing already is, it becomes harder when y

via IGN Like many gamers out there, I have a soft spot for The Last of Us . It's a game I've referenced several times here on the blog, even dedicating an entire post to the giraffe scene — and with good reason. Its storytelling is masterful and its characters are so compelling. It's hard not to fall in love with Joel and Ellie and become invested in their surrogate father-daughter relationship as they travel cross-country amid a zombie-ruled wasteland with the fate of the wo

It's no secret that I love choose-your-own-adventure games. Detroit: Become Human is my favorite game second only to my dearly beloved Red Dead Redemption II , with Until Dawn and The Quarry pretty much tied for third place. Not too long ago, I posted about a character from the Danganronpa games that felt underused from a storytelling perspective, and that got me thinking about another character who got the short end of the stick in the writer's room: Christa from Tellta