I am a huge Nerd.  The biggest one I know.  Not a superfan of any one thing in particular, but the kind of nerd that embraces most of the geek in the world.  And in a way I think this kind of leads back to what makes me able to write about a lot of things.  But I will say that if I had to call out one thing I liked the most it would be a tie between Firefly and Star Trek, nothing against Star Wars, I enjoy that as well (until Last Jedi anyway).

When the new Star Trek came out, or more like before it, I sat down and watched EVERYTHING before it as a refresher.  Including the Animated series…..  And the 10 Prime line movies.  Of course I can’t say the new show has been all that, but then again most of the other series took a season or two to find their footing, well those that lasted more than that.

For a perspective that is The original, Animated, Next Generation, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise.  I think DS9 is the best, story wise, Enterprise is underrated and Voyager could have not been made, but still.

I am a political junkie, a bibliophile, I used to own a game store, also designed board games for a while.  I also love to learn.  I am kind of looking into getting a sixth degree, cause why not….. I have time and like I said I like to learn.

There are the smattering of other things as well.  I do the D&D thing, run it every week.  My board game collection might be considered hoarding, and I used to LARP (shhh on that one).  Then there are the card games…..  My true weakness.  I currently am about 20 cards short from having all the cards in Hearthstone (on online CCG) and play a real one called Force of Will.  Yes I did Magic the Gathering for about 15 years, even made it to Worlds once.  But in my opinion the game has aged poorly and changes have been made to make it not as fun.

So I play my new one.  In fact I am heading out today for a three day event.  I am about 13 cards shy from having everything.  That’s 29 set and a few years… I have no life.  I managed a Nationals top 16 once and a few state titles.  What has all of this got to do with writing?  A lot actually.  The interactions and all of the subtleties when playing a complex game are similar to writing.

One has to know enough about the situation and have the ability to be fluid to maximize their plays.  At the same time being constrained by additional limitations.  In the case of a card game, the cards in your hand, in writing it would be the options that fit within the story as you move forward.  It might sound weird, but if you are writing a crime story you can’t have a dragon fly down and assist.  There are certain limitations you place on yourself when you write.

There might be some crazy tales out there that incorporate different aspects in themselves, but they are either set up to do that or are just bad writing.  When playing a game though you learn to be quick and play off of your opponent though.  In writing you kind of do the same, but in that case the opponent is the story and you are against it, trying to make it the best version of itself that you can.

At least with the way I write.  I like to let the story go its own way, and I am just there to help keep it on the path.  Being a nerd in geek and academics as well as having the ability to think in a variety of situations, I think adds to my ability to create narratives that some people might find entertaining.  Though at the end of the day it doesn’t mean they are really that great.  I mean writers are their own harshest critics.