Turn the page and discover the next collection of celebrated authors as our Writers Symposium series continues…
In this post, we introduce a fourth group of brilliant storytellers who will be heading to the Gen Con 2026 Writers Symposium this summer. Settle in and learn more about the creative minds behind some of our community’s most beloved stories.
Cameron Roberson/Rob Cameron
What inspired you to become a writer, and how did you find your unique voice as an author?
I’ve always loved stories and art, but the writing took a while. It was something that came easily to me in school, but I never thought about it as a serious career path. That all changed when a really insightful person named Alex noticed that I’d written about 200 pages of notes and dialogue for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign (complete with a soundtrack and trailers) that I homebrewed.
She inspired me to take writing seriously and even introduced me to KGB Bar Fantastic Fiction, the mecca of speculative fiction writers in New York. That led to the New York Review of Science Fiction Readings. After I learned about the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers, it was all uphill from there.
If you could have dinner with any character from your books, who would it be and what would you talk about?
Herman-Rah the cross-dimensional, inter-temporal djeli and spirit of poetry from my novel Burn It All Down. Where Herman goes, the party must follow.
What’s the most unusual or unexpected place you’ve found inspiration for a story, and how did it shape your writing?
New York City subways. Every day, real people remind me how paradoxically similar yet idiosyncratic humans are. You think you’ve seen it all? Showtime, everybody! (If you’re from NYC, you’ll get that one.)
If you could switch genres for a day, which genre would you choose to write in, and what kind of story would you create?
I write just about everything, but I would like to seriously tackle curriculum writing. I’ve been a teacher for over twenty years, and I would love to build content from the ground up before I have to teach it, rather than on the fly when I notice something is missing. It would make everybody’s job easier.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers looking to get published in today’s evolving literary landscape?
Become part of the community. There are so many fantastic writers out there who are amazing people. They don’t bite, and they remember what it was like to be on the outside looking in.
To learn more about Cameron, visit his Linktree here.
Jim C. Hines
What inspired you to become a writer, and how did you find your unique voice as an author?
A big chunk of the blame falls on my friend Tim, who started writing SF/F stories way at the end of the 20th century. I read some of them, thought they were fun, and decided to try writing a few of my own. I mean, how hard could it be?
By the time I discovered the answer to that question, it was too late. I was hooked.
As for finding my voice, that took time. In the beginning, I focused on writing “good” stories. I tried to write the kind of stuff I thought real authors were supposed to write. I didn’t have the best of luck with those stories, and eventually I got fed up and just wrote some things for fun, with no real goal beyond entertaining myself. Those were the stories that really felt like me. Coincidentally, those stories were also the ones that helped me break into authorship.
If you could have dinner with any character from your books, who would it be and what would you talk about?
Such a dangerous question. Most of my characters would be very angry at me for what I put them through. But if I could be guaranteed a temporary truce, maybe Isaac from the Libriomancer books. We could geek out about science fiction and fantasy together. As a second choice, Xao from Kitemaster. I love Xao’s hope, love, and energy. Dinner would quickly turn into a food fight, but it would be fun.
What’s the most unusual or unexpected place you’ve found inspiration for a story, and how did it shape your writing?
Years ago, I saw an online reference to a cookbook called Cooking with Christ. Only I missed the word “with.” This turned into a weird little short story called “Nothing but Meat,” about using cells from the Shroud of Turin to clone and eat what may or may not have been Christ’s actual flesh…
Thinking back, “weird” is probably an understatement.
If you could switch genres for a day, which genre would you choose to write in, and what kind of story would you create?
I would love to spend more time writing middle-grade fiction. I’ve done several MG books, and they were so much fun. (More than one person has suggested this is because I have a twelve-year-old sense of humor.)
What advice would you give to aspiring writers looking to get published in today’s evolving literary landscape?
First, write your stories. Don’t be like I was, spending years worrying about what you “should” be writing. Write what speaks to you, whether that’s deep and profound or utterly ridiculous. Write with heart and with honesty.
Once that’s done, learn your options. Find out about big publishers and small presses and indie options and all the rest. Go to events where you can learn from a range of published writers. (Cough…Gen Con…Cough). Try not to get caught up in the religious fervor of finding the One True Path to publishing. Figure out what you want and which path has the best chance to help you achieve that.
You can learn more about Jim C. Hines on his website, as well as Facebook and Bluesky.
Johannah Simon
What inspired you to become a writer, and how did you find your unique voice as an author?
I write because I have something to say. I struggled for years writing fiction. Characters would speak to me, and I’d want to capture their stories, but it was tough for me. Something clicked for me after I turned 50. I realized that it wasn’t a chorus of different characters inside me; I was writing my authentic voice—who I was, who I am, who I aspired to be.
I shifted from writing fiction to creative nonfiction (CNF), prose poems, and hybrids. Once I started focusing less on things like plot, my unique and authentic voice poured out of me.
If you could have dinner with any character from your books, who would it be and what would you talk about?
I have a recurring character in some of my short stories. She’s an amalgamation of my late grandmother and older women I’ve met. Bubby is often the voice of reason in the story. I’d love to sit and enjoy some tea and rugelach with her. I’d ask her for advice on relationships, parenting, and finding more joy in my life. I feel like Bubby would have some old-country wisdom for me—the kind of advice that I typically can’t source in my daily life.
What’s the most unusual or unexpected place you’ve found inspiration for a story, and how did it shape your writing?
I commute to work every day on a commuter train. My experience doing this daily grind has been a huge source of inspiration for stories. I have several pieces that use the train as a metaphor for the existential crisis of my life.
If you could switch genres for a day, which genre would you choose to write in, and what kind of story would you create?
I would write thrillers. Hundreds of pages of spycraft, hackers, conspiracies, and double-crossing. I’d keep readers guessing to the very end.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers looking to get published in today’s evolving literary landscape?
First, figure out your definition of success. Writing a NYT bestseller is a great goal, but it doesn’t have to be your goal. Don’t rely on other people to tell you whether or not you’re successful. You own that.
Second, talent is only part of the equation. Many of us have cool story ideas, but not many of us have the discipline and focus to get those stories on paper. Figure out what excites you about writing and hold that tight. Discover what motivates you to write and lean in hard. You can’t publish what you don’t write.
Finally, don’t shy away from calling yourself a writer. You write a blog—you’re a writer. You journal—you’re a writer. You write RPG modules—you’re a writer. You write movie reviews—you’re a writer. You write fiction or nonfiction—you’re a writer. I wrote for years before I had the confidence to call myself a writer. Looking back, I regret discounting my work.
You can learn more about Johannah Simon on her website, X, Bluesky, and Instagram.
Erik Scott de Bie
What inspired you to become a writer, and how did you find your unique voice as an author?
I read voraciously as a child, especially fantasy and science fiction, and when I hit a story beat I didn’t like, I always seemed to ask myself how I would have done it instead. How would I fix the ending to make it perfect? What was missing from this story that would have made it even better?
I funneled that energy into storytelling as my favorite hobby. I started writing long-form, and I became the forever GM for tabletop RPGs with my friends, so I constantly challenged myself to tell better and better stories. I wrote my first novel at age 15 as a respite from honors chem homework.
My voice borrows a great deal from my favorite writers growing up, among them R.A. Salvatore, David Gemmell, and Ed Greenwood, and I have since continued to refine it through more reading and constant practice.
If you could have dinner with any character from your books, who would it be and what would you talk about?
I live in constant fear of being isekai’d into one of my book worlds, meeting one of my characters, and tipping my hand about my identity as the source of all their woes, about which they would be rightfully furious. That said, if I were to have dinner with, say, Ilira “Fox-at-Twilight” Nathalan or Myrin Darkdance (from my Forgotten Realms novels), I could provide them with some key information about their backstories that would probably help them immeasurably in their lives.
What’s the most unusual or unexpected place you’ve found inspiration for a story, and how did it shape your writing?
A tour of a bourbon distillery in Kentucky, perhaps? It gave rise to a whole story concept and setting, which I’ve still got to finish one of these days.
If you could switch genres for a day, which genre would you choose to write in, and what kind of story would you create?
I’d choose to write romance professionally, because 1) I love romance stories, 2) it’d probably pay better for that one day than fantasy does over a whole year.
Seriously! Full respect for romance writers! They’re the unstoppable force of nature that keeps our industry afloat.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers looking to get published in today’s evolving literary landscape?
The advice I always give aspiring writers is to quit–well, try to quit, anyway. Not because I want them to quit, but if they try to quit and fail, that means they have the perseverance, persistence, and obsession with storytelling it takes to make it as a writer. Writing and, by extension, publishing is a heartbreaking, frustrating, thankless professional path that is among the worst ways to make money, have a stable lifestyle, and/or maintain your mental and physical health. But if you’re unable to stop and you just keep pushing, you have what it takes, and I believe in you 100 percent.
Oh, and go to conventions and meet people. Writers, editors, agents, etc. It is always, always, always better to make a personal connection than to do all your communication online. Publishing people are much more likely to remember you and give you a shot if they’ve met you and like you. Also, we’re not that big an industry; a lot of us know each other, and if you’re a jerk, word gets around. Be good to people, and things will go smoother.
Learn more about Erik Scott de Bie on his website, and find him on Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.