Playing with words: why novelists are becoming video game writers – and vice-versa

While the novel remains a high-status cultural form, video game writing is still seen as a throwaway art – despite some of the biggest names in fiction being involvedI’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. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2025-04-30 08:00:17 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Playing with words: why novelists are becoming video game writers – and vice-versa"


Who Wrote the Advertising Slogan ‘Go to Work on an Egg’?

In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle ponders the links between famous writers and advertising slogans Fay Weldon, author of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983), is one of several famous novelists who started out in the field of advertising. In this connection... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2021-07-23 14:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ruth Ozeki | 'As an artist I have relationships with fictional voices all the time'

"The notion of 'a book' is just a convenient fiction which we books go along with because it serves the needs of the bean counters in publishing, not to mention the ego of the writers. But the reality is far more complex.” So explains “the Book”, one of the narrators of Ruth Ozeki’s fourth novel... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-09 19:27:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Fifty Years Later, a New Novel Emerges

The winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature, Soyinka is coming out with his first novel in almost 50 years, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth. The post Fifty Years Later, a New Novel Emerges appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-06-24 09:59:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this


For Literary Novelists the Past Is Pressing

Historical fiction was once considered a fusty backwater. Now the genre is having a renaissance, attracting first-rank novelists and racking up major prizes. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-06-13 09:00:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: Spellbinding novelist Rivka Galchen's new book is a hysterical witch hunt

'Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch,' historical fiction about Kepler's mother, is Galchen's first novel since 2008's 'Atmospheric Disturbances.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-06-03 14:00:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Deborah Harkness’s Witches, from Page to Screen, by Camille Thompson

Book Reviews Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer in the TV adaptation of A Discovery of Witches (2018) / IMDB Deborah Harkness’s All Souls trilogy has taken a new life through the Sundance dramatic series, A Discovery of Witches. The novels... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-05-27 13:42:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Romance novels to read this summer

Romance novelists make their picks for the season, and they run the gamut from sexy to sweet to a little bit murderous. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-27 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


How women conquered the world of fiction

From Sally Rooney to Raven Leilani, female novelists have captured the literary zeitgeist, with more buzz, prizes and bestsellers than men. But is this cultural shift something to celebrate or rectify?In March, Vintage, one of the UK’s largest literary fiction divisions, announced the five debut... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-05-16 06:00:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: Two iconic novelists, Adichie and Lahiri, step off their pedestals

Two big novelists take sharp turns in new books: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie mourns in "Notes on Grief"; Jhumpa Lahiri writes a novel, "Whereabouts," in Italian. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-30 14:00:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: Rachel Cusk trades in a blank-slate narrator for a tall drink of vinegar

"Second Place," Rachel Cusk's first novel after the radical, brilliant "Outline" trilogy, follows a forceful woman who's had enough of difficult men. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-28 14:00:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Cover reveal: Wole Soyinka’s Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the US cover for Wole Soyinka’s new novel, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, which will be published on September 28 by Pantheon Books. This will be Soyinka’s first novel to be published in 48 years, and also the first since he won the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-04-23 13:30:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this


New York Times's Book Review Podcast Celebrates 15 Years

‘The Book Review’ podcast began as a brief show with a rebellious touch. It became a forum for some of the biggest names in literature. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-04-15 13:38:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Christian Publishers Tap into Grittier Side of Fiction

Novelists no longer shy away from tough issues readers are facing such as mental illness, racial inequity, sexual harassment and abuse, trafficking, and domestic violence. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne – the ‘modern Jane Austen’?

This excellent cradle-to-grave biography of a much loved novelist who goes in and out of fashion captures her alarming habits and tormented love affairsIn 1971 the author Barbara Pym was at her day job at the International African Institute when she noticed “Mr C” laboriously attacking his... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-04-08 06:30:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


James McBride has won the inaugural Gotham Book Prize for literature that celebrates NYC.

Last year, when New York City was the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in America, Bradley Tusk and Howard Wolfson decided to create a new annual award, the Gotham Book Prize, as part of an effort to “honor New York City and support the novelists who best captured the spirit of our city,” as... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-04-06 13:00:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: March 24, 2021

“By relearning his grandmother’s old style of storytelling, Márquez began telling a story unlike any before.” Angus Fletcher on what Gabriel García Márquez understood about rediscovery. | Lit Hub Criticism Are climate change novels a form of activism? Seven novelists weigh in, including Pitchaya... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-24 09:30:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this


How Contemporary Novelists Are Confronting Climate Collapse in Fiction

This year marks the sixth anniversary of the 2015 Paris Agreement, an international accord that marks the first time nearly every nation on Earth promised to tackle the climate crisis. The goals set by that agreement, however, have not been met. As the climate crisis worsens, more novelists than... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-24 08:53:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Joy Williams’ first novel in 20 years is coming this fall.

While we don’t know what the state of the our pandemic society will be come September, we can at least be sure that we’ll all be getting a little Joy Williams, as a treat. Specifically, a new novel—her fifth, and her first since 2000’s The Quick and the Dead, which was a runner-up for the […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-03 21:01:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


In Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘Klara and the Sun,’ a robot tries to make sense of humanity

Ishiguro’s first novel since winning the Nobel Prize in 2017 is a delicate, haunting story, steeped in sorrow and hope. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-02 16:46:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Kazuo Ishiguro on the Joys of Repetition

At the Guardian, Kazuo Ishiguro discusses his newest book, Klara and the Sun, and how this latest offering echoes themes and ideas he has often explored in his previous work. “Literary novelists are slightly defensive about being repetitive,” Ishiguro says. “I think it is perfectly justified:... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-02-26 21:30:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this