Game On! A Gamelit Anthology
by Anthea Sharp, Alethea Kontis, Sarra Cannon, Avril Sabine, Alexia Purdy, Marilyn Peake, Stephen Landry, Pauline Creeden, Danielle Annett, and Angel Leya
Eeek! I’m so excited to be a part of this anthology, which features several USA Today and NYT bestselling authors. 😉
My contribution is What’s in a Username? Here’s the description:
When gamer girls Maddy and best friend Amber run into Maddy’s crush while playing the hot new MMORPG, Power, Maddy decides hiding behind her guy Avatar is the perfect way to get close to said crush–without all the stupid awkwardness that usually ties her tongue and unties her shoelaces. But when she suspects her best friend has eyes for the same guy, their gaming suffers… and there’s more at stake in the MMORPG than anyone realizes.
Story Inspiration
I first came up with the idea when I heard about Anthea Sharp talking about putting together a gamelit anthology.
I’ve had this idea for the introduction of magic to the world for quite some time. Originally I wanted to create five short stories, or 5 Degrees of Separation, in which I examine the introduction of magic from five different viewpoints. Needless to say, that story stalled, but I loved the idea and decided it would be fun to put a gamelit edge on the original idea.
I also wanted a romantic edge to the story, and thought it would be fun to throw the main characters crush into game with her, while pretending to be someone else–and using his name as inspiration for her username. Lol. Kind of Cinderella-esque, though not quite on the nose. It’s not exactly Ladybug and Cat Noir (I love how they like each other but they don’t realize who the other is!), but similar. Maybe the next story will be able to take a similar romance trope!
The wheels are always turning, and hopefully I’ll be able to perfect my plotting process so I can write better stories faster. That way I can figure out where this story goes and take you all with me! 😀
More about the Anthology
You can head straight to Amazon
And if you like hearing from the authors, NYT bestselling author Alethea Kontis has an article featured with Clarkesworld, a Hugo award-winning science fiction & fantasy magazine: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/another_word_05_19/ The article is a beautiful exposition on the evolution of her story, True.love.
