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Games are primarily about a connection between the player, the game world, and the central mechanic of the game. They’re about creating a space for the player to engage with that mechanic and have the world react in a way that feels interesting and absorbing but also creates a sense of agency. So writing, in games, is about creating mood and establishing a basic sense of intent. The player has some vague notion of what the intent of the so-called author is, but the power of authorship is ultimately for the player to seize for him or herself. This goes for any kind of game. I think good game writing is a process of getting out of the player’s way. You give him or her just enough to work with narratively, but ultimately you let the player tell his or her own story.

Tom Bissell, author of Magic Hours: Essays on Creators and Creation, on the secrets of good video game writing and storytelling.

writing publishing history and literature lit interviews culture and society media and communication

I picture novelists of the future as the literary equivalent of home brewers, coming up with small batches of craft brews geared toward a specific taste. The challenge for a novelist lies in connecting our work with those readers who have an appetite for it. I’m starting to catch on to the importance of building that base through an online presence. It’s an enormous joke on us writers: Collectively, we’re an almost comically introverted bunch; yet in order to find readers, we’re compelled to morph into crack marketers and self-promoters.” (Bettina Lanyi, “the aspiring novelist”)

“When I was looking for an agent, all I really wanted was someone to save me from all the marketing and logistical hassles of producing and selling a book. I just wanted to be the shy writer and let everyone else take care of me. Today, I am actually grateful I didn’t find one.” (Cerece Rennie Murphy, “the self-published author”)

“I never anticipated that, when I became a professional writer, I’d also become a marketing strategist, publicist and entrepreneur. But in order to keep being a professional writer, I need to show my publisher how hard I’m willing to work. And I need to connect with my readers in as many creative, absurd and unexpected ways as possible.” (Jennifer Miller, “the novelist-entrepreneur”)

Over at The Washington Post, various members of the book publishing ecosystem weigh in on its evolution, with a common thread of the tension between writers’ inherent introversion and the extroversion a social media presence demands.

Complement with Susan Cain on the power of introverts and authors on the future of books.

George Saunders writing thought and opinion history and literature lit interviews

For me the trick has been to structure my life so that most of my time is spent in the writing room. Most of a person’s understanding of truth is happening there. This success—it’s just like you are walking down the street and at some points you smell a great meal cooking and sometimes you’ll smell a dumpster. But you took that path and you accept the smells that are coming at you and enjoy them. Or not. But you didn’t necessarily cause them.

George Saunders on writing, adding to our ongoing archive of notable wisdom on the written word.

thought and opinion writing Neil Gaiman advice history and literature lit

You want to be a writer? Keep writing.
Neil Gaiman on his old cat and writing. Pair with his 8 rules of writing and his timeless advice on living the creative life, then break out the tissues and wash down with Hemingway Shoots His Cat.
Cats, in fact, have a long history as literary muses.

You want to be a writer? Keep writing.

Neil Gaiman on his old cat and writing. Pair with his 8 rules of writing and his timeless advice on living the creative life, then break out the tissues and wash down with Hemingway Shoots His Cat.

Cats, in fact, have a long history as literary muses.

thought and opinion history and literature lit writing Matt Haig

The joy of writing never changes, however many books you have published. It is not always a joy. It is only a joy for a fraction of the time, but it is worth it, just for that fraction. And much of that joy comes from being that misfit kid grown up, leading readers and yourself to the wildest parts of your imagination.

Matt Haig echoes David Foster Wallace and adds to our ongoing archive of wisdom on writing.

writing thought and opinion history and literature lit Oscar Wilde advice culture and society letters

The best work in literature is always done by those who do not depend on it for their daily bread and the highest form of literature, Poetry, brings no wealth to the singer.

Make some sacrifice for your art and you will be repaid but ask of art to sacrifice herself for you and a bitter disappointment may come to you.

In a newly discovered letter, Oscar Wilde offers an aspiring writer the secret of literary success, joining our ongoing archive of advice on writing.

Wilde’s words, embedded in which is a poignant addition to history’s finest definitions of art, are reminiscent of Alan Watts’s admonition that money shouldn’t be the object of life, which George Saunders recently echoed.

history and literature lit writing Chinua Achebe advice

[Writers] ask me, ‘Is it good to shoot my manuscript to other people to get their advice?’ My answer is, ‘No!’ You are in it for the duration – don’t expect any kind of lowering of the terms of imprisonment that you’re going to have. You are your own editor, and so it’s yours.

Beloved Nigerian author Chinua Achebe talks to Studio 360’s Kurt Andersen. Achebe, celebrated for having put African literature on the world map with his groundbreaking 1958 novel Things Fall Apart, passed away this week at the age of 82.

thought and opinion writing history and literature lit George Saunders quote culture and society interviews media and communication

I don’t think you could ever make a good story by thinking if it would sell. But there is some kind of intersection between trying to write as sincerely and truthfully and well as you can and then some idea that a good-hearted reader would connect.

Over at The Morning News, George Saunders reminds us that money shouldn’t be the object, echoing David Foster Wallace, Bob Dylan, and John Maynard Keynes.