Taking All the Credits: 15 Years of Writing

I’m currently in the process of putting together an author’s CV, something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, and it’s been fun to stroll down memory lane and to see what I’ve written and published over the last fifteen years. I presented a broad overview of my writing credits last year on the blog, but since I have to do it anyway for the CV, I thought I’d break down those credits in more detail so you can see what I’ve been up to in the last decade and a half. Plus, I’ve added a few since then. 😉

Long Form Fiction – 14

• Novels. 7
• Novellas: 2
• Novelettes: 5

All of my long form fiction is media-tie in, that is to say stories you’re contracted to write in someone else’s IP.  In this case, the majority of these novels and such are set in the Iron Kingdoms, the principal setting for Privateer Press. I should also note than one of the novels and one of the novellas was co-written with my then colleague William Shick. This only comprises the works I’ve actually published. I’ve written three more novels, two of which I’m in the process of revising. So, hopefully, that novel total will increase in the near(ish) future.

Short Fiction – 118

• Microfiction: 4
• Flash Fiction: 50
• Short Stories: 50
• Other: 14

The categories above are self-explanatory, except for other. That category comprises two things. One, narrative fiction that isn’t really a complete story. For example, it might be narrative vignette introductions to gaming text or the times where I wrote one section of a longer narrative. The second type of fiction that falls into the other category includes odd ducks like the parody articles I wrote in support of Privateer Press’ alien invasion game LEVEL 7. They’re not really short stories, but they’re not really articles or gaming material either.

I should point out that this is the number of credits, not individual pieces. So reprint credits for the same stories are included in this total. There aren’t a ton of those, though, about half a dozen or so. The other big separation is gaming or media tie-in fiction versus fiction entirely of my own creation. There we have 47 gaming-related pieces (mostly short stories and the works in the other category) and 71 shorts, flashes, and micros all my own.

Tabletop Gaming and Other – 163

• Adventures: 16
• Setting Material: 46
• Rules Material: 96
• Other: 5

The first two-thirds of my writing career was focused on the tabletop gaming industry, and more than half my writing credits are derived from tabletop roleplaying and miniature games. Generally, those credits fall into three broad categories. Adventures, sometimes called modules, are pre-packaged stories, complete with monsters, villains, and other challenges, that a group of RPG players can play through. Setting material is articles and other short pieces that expand the fantasy world where an RPG or miniature game takes place. These read kind of like encyclopedia entries or history articles on, uh, things that don’t exist and never happened. They occasionally blur the line between fiction and nonfiction, but not enough that I’d include them in my fiction credits. Rules material are articles and supplements that focus on the nuts and bolts mechanics of a game: skills, spells, monsters, character classes, and so on. The “other” here is simply my recent Rejectomancy articles over at Dark Matter Magazine. (I wasn’t sure where else to put them.)

Most of this gaming material was written for two systems: Dungeons & Dragons and The Iron Kingdoms. There’s more nuance to those two categories, and those familiar with gaming will quickly see that nuance in my actual credits. For most readers, though, this is all the nuance that’s required, I think. 🙂 I should also note that about a dozen of these credits were co-authored with various folks I worked with over the years (co-authors are listed in the actual credits on my credits page).

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Well, there you have it, 295 writing credits over fifteen years. Interestingly, a large portion of my fiction writing credits, like sixty percent of them (more if you go by actual words written), have come in the last five years or so. Of course, this post does not include any of my non-writing stuff, and I have another hundred-plus editing, developing, and production credits spread out pretty evenly over the years. If you want a more thorough picture of my writing credits and some actual examples, check out the credits page on this blog. Or if you don’t want to wade through sixteen years of credits and just want to see what I’ve been up to lately (and maybe read something), head on over to the publications page.

It’s nice to look back on all this work, and see how I’ve grown as a writer and how my career has switched tracks (a couple times). Of course, I’m now solely focused on fiction (though a particularly juicy gaming commission could possibly lure me back), and I hope to continue to add to my long and short fiction credits over the next fifteen years and beyond. 🙂