Some novelists are becoming video game writers – and vice-versa

I’ve been working in games for a little more than 15 years, and the main thing I’d say about it at this point is that it’s a pretty annoying job to explain at parties. People often say something like, “Oh, I don’t really play games,” which is surely an odd thing to tell a game designer moments after you’ve been introduced; I don’t really eat croissants, but that’s not the first thing I bring up if I meet a patissier. So one of the joys of publishing my first novel last year was the option to sidestep all of that, and say: “Oh, I’m a writer.” I wrote a novel; I’m working on another one; job done, the conversation can move on. Nobody says, “Oh, I don’t really read books,” even though that’s at least as likely to be true. It’s become clear to me that I’m not alone in switching between the two media. Why is this? Well, for a lot of people, it’s the money. Writing novels is a notoriously difficult way to make a living, and novelists have always wrangled together careers out of whatever’s ... Read full article.