Critters^TM Workshop

Tim Anderson:

[email]

URL to WWW Home page:

SF/F/H preferences:

I tend to like a variety of fantasy and science-fiction, as well as good spec-fic. Not a very big fan of horror. In terms of science fiction I tend to stay away from the "hard" science and more of the "fiction"; stories like Dan Simmons Hyperion Saga or early Piers Anthony (Bio of a Space Tyrant/Battle Circle). In fantasy I'll read all kinds but prefer high-fantasy for pleasure-reading.

Publications, if any:

I had a brief stint doing journalism for www.gamergod.com before they went defunct. Mostly I covered Massively Multiplayer Online games; specifically, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and Everquest2. I also did a few pieces on the history of MUD's as well as a series of pieces delving into modern-day socialization and the impact of the Internet on social development vs. a post-modern view.

Anything else you think would interest other members:

I grew up in the construction industry and as a third generation contractor started and ran my own company in Colorado for the installation of ceramic/natural stone in custom homes. I have been blessed to work on many high-end projects in the Steamboat Springs ski-resort area over the course of 2002 through late 2007, specifically the Porches project and the Marabou project. As of 2008 I am retired from the construction industry and, with my wife, have moved to Sofia, Bulgaria.

Having met her while helping a friend run a series of play-by-post RPG sites, she has continued to support me in my on/off amateur writing career. She flat-out told me when we moved that my job is to stay at home and start writing full time since I finally have the opportunity to do so, thanks to her. So, having not done anything even remotely resembling professional writing in the past few years, I am now re-joining Citters and brushing up on some of my short-story skills while finishing up the outline for my first book.

She helped me put together the world I will be writing the first novel in. We spent the last 3 years working on it, and we are finally coming to the point where I can start outlining from the rough notes and I am sincerely hoping to have the first draft finished by summer of 2008 and start shopping agents by fall of 2008. It will be High Fantasy, and will be several books.

I am 28 years old. I have been playing MMO's since early 1998, starting with EQ1, then EQ2, Vanguard:SOH, and more recently, Worlds of Warcraft. I run a progressive/hardcore guild called Epoch on the Kul Tiras server of WoW. We also ran the guild Haven in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes for 2 years and this guild is a branch of that guild. In EQ2 we ran The Bloodguard Mercenaries and I founded a Roleplayer Union called the Flames of Unity and began writing a series of in-game events for the players of our server, Antonia Bayle. These in-game events were covered by a back-story that was available to the players to read via the forums called The Rod of Power, that I co-wrote with another guildleader. It was at this time I was approached by the staff at gamergod.com to begin doing journalism for them. At the time, they were not paying anything even remotely resembling what I was making in my full-time job, so my stint there lasted only a few months. However, it is my hope that my years spent playing fantasy games with other players, combined with my extensive writing experiences, and the virtual tons of content I've come across in my time will lead me to a semi-successful career as a writer. I'm not out there to make loads of money, just to write good stuff that people appreciate.

I like D&D, MMO's, Xbox 360, movies, and reading/writing.