Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

Fyrecon Workshop: Write Pulp Fiction for Fun and Profit

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 5, 2017

David J. West and I are at it again–sharing how to write modern pulp-style stories! The workshop is part of Fyrecon, and is for beginning and intermediate writers. We’ll cover: What was pulp fiction? What is modern “pulp-style” fiction? Why write it? How do you write it? (We’ll spend most of our time on this […]


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StoryHack Meets Funding Goal, and Cirsova #7 Open for Submissions

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 1, 2017

Great stuff for modern pulp writers and pulp readers… First of all, StoryHack has met its funding goal for issue #1. The story doesn’t end there, but if nothing else… it means the magazine is happening. At least one more issue. 😀  There are five days left to sign up as an early backer / preorder […]


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RPG Design: Being the Bad Guy

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 25, 2017

When Tyranny was announced, I wasn’t interested. I’m still not. As much as I want to play all the games, my cup is definitely overflowing right now, and the concept didn’t thrill me. Actually, it left me cold. It seems I wasn’t the only one. Rock Paper Shotgun: The Fall of Tyranny This is me: […]


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My Fyrecon Schedule

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 23, 2017

I’m gonna be at Fyrecon in a couple of weeks, ya’ll! Click here for Fyrecon registration, if you are interested in attending. As far as my presentation schedule is concerned, I’ll be a panelist / instructor at the following sessions: The Future of Steampunk and Cyberpunk – 2:30 PM Friday, June 9th – Bldg D2, […]


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StoryHack and DragonComet…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 9, 2017

As I announced several days ago, I have a story published in a brand-new magazine that emphasizes PULP STORIES!  “Storyhack Action & Adventure” is launching, and it’s pretty awesome. My story is called “Dead Last.” It’s an urban fantasy of secret societies and magic-wielding agents. And guns. And a necromancer. And it’s out NOW! Issue #0 is […]


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A Bundle of Books on Writing

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 26, 2017

Storybundle.com has a bunch o’ books about the craft and profession of writing. The only ones I’m familiar with are Dean Wesley Smith’s book and his video lecture series on the Lester Dent Master Plot Formula. I paid full price for the latter (about $50, IIRC), and thought it was very worth the money. So […]


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Use the Pulp, Luke!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 7, 2017

During the early-to-mid 20th century, successful pulp writers made their careers understanding how to write a good story that would sell. While a lot of things have changed today, many of the most successful modern writers apply very similar techniques. In some ways, the modern digital / indie world has it better than the pulp writers ever […]


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League of Utah Writers – Spring Conference – and a Pulp Fiction Class

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 29, 2017

I’ll be teaching a class with David West a week from Saturday (April 8th) at the League of Utah Writers Spring Conference. We’re currently scheduled for the first hour. The spring conference is a short one–not quite a full day–but it’s also inexpensive and a great chance to network and learn from local writers. The […]


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Pulps: Just a Training Ground for Authors?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 2, 2017

When I first started browsing the science fiction section in bookstores as a kid, they weren’t all that huge. Fantasy and science fiction were mixed together. This was smack-dab in the era of the original Star Wars trilogy… probably around the time The Empire Strikes Back came out. The school bookshelves were far more limited. […]


Filed Under: Books, Short Fiction, Writing - Comments: 17 Comments to Read



Life, the Universe, and Everything 2017 Report

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 21, 2017

One of these days, I’m going to take some vacation time where I actually, you know, REST and vacation. Instead, I spent 12+ hours per day at a conference. Still, it was totally worth it! The Life, the Universe, and Everything Symposium was a lot of fun this year, and I learned a lot. I […]


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NaNo Writing Tools Book Bundle Deal Ending

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 15, 2016

NaNoWriMo 2016 is over. I didn’t “win” but it was a pretty good kick in the pants for me. I’m still pushing onwards. The 2016 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools book bundle at StoryBundle.com is also coming to a close in about a week. To be perfectly honest, I’m not as keen on this year’s bundle than the […]


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Jay Goes Cyberpunk

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 12, 2016

Last spring, I decided to write a cyberpunk story. I was actually experimenting with a few things all at once… a particular story structure, an old-school plot/idea generator from the early 1900s, and my love of cyberpunk. I wrote the story fully realizing that cyberpunk wasn’t “the thing” anymore (but maybe with the release of […]


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A Few Thoughts on Scrivener

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 11, 2016

As I mentioned before, I’m (kinda) participating in NaNoWriMo. I expected to throttle back a bit from the psycho pace of things at the day job at the end of the month, when the crazy effort we’re putting into a trade show demo will finally be at an end. I just found out that I […]


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NaNoWriMo – A Kick in the Shorts in the Right Direction?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 28, 2016

I started hearing about NaNoWriMo about ten years ago, and I thought it was a weird and kinda dumb idea. But I knew little about it and very little about professional writing, and I was more focused on game development. Now that I’m dividing my attention like I am (partly to preserve my sanity), and that […]


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A Treasure Trove of Writing Resources, Cheap

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 27, 2016

Here’s one for the writers: For the last couple of years, Storybundle.com has done a writing book bundle to correspond with the (horribly timed) National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This year’s bundle is curated by Kevin J. Anderson. I’ve only read one of the books in this bundle – Killing the Top 10 Sacred Cows of […]


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Mapping my Own Creative Process – How I (Don’t) Work

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 17, 2016

I think I’ve discovered something about how my brain works. I don’t know if it’s cool or stupid, or just plain weird. All three, probably. Except cool. Maybe it’s cool that I’m finally figuring it out, and now I just need to know how to adapt to it. I’ve been Game Mastering RPGs for local […]


Filed Under: Design, Dice & Paper, Game Development, Writing - Comments: 5 Comments to Read



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