Snail on the Slope is actually my favorite of theirs now, but took reading it a second time after Boris’ afterward to really ‘get’ it.

More than LA for sure. Only way the leaves change color here is if I stop watering.

Opossum in the membrane

(My God, I’m so proud of this joke)

Dunno. I’ve seen The Outsider so I’m not so sure.

Great list. Maybe C.M. Kornbluth too.

To better answer the question tho, your normal outlining and process is probably sufficient. That plus the character breakdown you use in game writing should give you enough to fill a 50k book.

I use scrivener. One big thing I found different in novels vs others is information trickle in prose. Instead of thinking like a screenwriter of what’s on screen and describing, think of your writing as the viewers eye, peering across the frame of a scene, catching glimpses of detail one at a time.

Gardening during days off. It’s nice to have a visual representation of self-care. Because of this Pavlovian conditioning, passing by a random garden-in-need reminds me to take some time off when I can.

Nice! I’ve yet to read this particular Zelazny so I will have to pick it up. I just finished Unicorn Variations and it was a lot of fun.

Love this suggestion. Maybe because I’m a game dev too, but I always thought itch’s gamejam feature would make a fantastic creative writing group/competition setup without much difficulty.