Creative Spotlight: Chuck Wendig

You know Chuck, right? Right? Tell me you know Chuck. If you don't, prepare for your world to be turned topsy-turvy.

Transmedia folks will have heard of Chuck Wendig from his work on projects like Pandemic and Collapsus. He's also kept his blog Terrible Minds up for quite some time; new readers will be shocked and delighted at his uniquely filthy way with a metaphor -- and with the variety of content he puts up, on work, food, becoming a dad, and other miscellanea.

In recent months, Chuck has gone supernova. He's risen to deserved prominence as some sort of wordsmithing machine, acting as the patron saint of the working freelancer, a prophet bridging the gap between the self-published and the traditionally published, and as a devilishly keen signer of contracts and broker of deals.

It all started with his e-published collection of short stories, Irregular Creatures. He's moved on to creating more collections on the writing life: 250 Things You Should Know About Writing and 500 Ways to Be a Better Writer, among others, derived in part from his excellent blog content. It's great stuff, and he's putting out more of it all the time. 

But he's been no idler in the fiction department, either. Most notably, I just got a chance to read his novella Shotgun Gravy. Oh my god, you guys. You have to buy this thing. Buy it now, and then clear your schedule so you can read it all in one go. I beg of you, buy it so he writes more of these things, and does it fast. This is some incredible writing. And to be completely blunt, I am wicked jealous that I have never made a character as compelling as Atlanta Burns, who Chuck spins as a rich combination of vulnerable and utterly badass. So very, very jealous. Buy buy buy, and read, and be amazed.

With that in mind, you're going to want to look at his other long fiction, too: Double Dead is out; Blackbirds will be available in April. It is an excellent time to become a fan of Chuck Wendig. Send him your moneys. You will not regret it.

Update on Saturday, December 3, 2011 at 11:36AM by Andrea Phillips

Readers incoming from SFSignal: You'd do well to take a look at Lucas W. Johnson's interview with Chuck over at Silverstring Media, as well. It's great stuff!