Recent content by Darrin Drader

Every time I finish a novel, I usually need at least a month or two off just to find inspiration again. Creativity is a like a roller coaster for me. I'll write non-stop for weeks or months at a time, drop off to nothing, and then start building again. I can usually overcome a bad day of...

Facebook helpfully recommended it. For once, it seemed Facebook had a clue, so I checked it out. I'm glad I did.

I prefer my fantasy somewhat Tolkienesque. I like the world to have elves, dwarves, and magic. I used to think gritty fantasy was the way to go, but after the last tend years or so, I miss the D&D worlds that managed to capture wonder rather than dirt and feces. That said, my fantasy novel...

Star Trek: Prey: Book 1 Hell's Heart Continuing the milestone 50th anniversary celebration of Star Trek—an epic new trilogy that stretches from the events of The Original Series movie The Search for Spock to The Next Generation! When Klingon commander Kruge died in combat against James T. Kirk...

What I learned about cover art: spend time to get a good Photoshop with stock art, spend time on it, and don't hire an artist. For my first book, I spent about $550 on cover art. The art was fine, but even though this book went out via a small publisher, I only ended up about $400 to the...

Back when I was writing for the MMO, I'd average about 3,000 words a day. These days, I have a real job, which doesn't let me spend much time writing, so when I do sit down and write, I usually run about 1,500 words in a sitting. My all time best was about 8,500, and that was on a particularly...

I use the Kindle Fire, the Logitech bluetooth keyboard (Amazon.com: Logitech Bluetooth Multi-Device Keyboard K480 for Computers, Tablets and Smartphones, Black (920-006342): Computers & Accessories), the Microsoft Word app, and Dropbox. I can access the file from anywhere with an internet...

I'm going to preface my comments with the following: I haven't figured it all out either. I can say that the odds are against us. People have a limited amount of time to read books, and most readers don't branch out, preferring instead to stick to writers and series they're familiar with. And...

Hello, I'm Darrin Drader, and I've been a professional writer since 2000. I started by self publishing gaming material compatible with Dungeons and Dragons, moved on to actually write official D&D material, worked as a writer for an MMO, and most recently, in 2012, shifted away from gaming...