I'll fix it in revision.

19/04/2025

How an X-box Game Made Me a Writer.

I started writing around 2012.

I assume most people who start writing do it because they wanted to. Most probably come from industries where writing skills are important, like journalism, marketing and public relations.

But me? I started writing because I am a giant nerd who got upset over an RPG.



My husband introduced me to an X-box game. I was not interested at all, but I saw him play and realised… it was a fantastic story. I watched him play ’til the end, then started the game myself.It was a role-playing game called Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic. I found out I could play as a woman and customise my appearance, and I was hooked.

Even better, the game allowed you to steer your character into a romance, or not. My female lead had her budding romance with her soldier and I thought it was more romantic than Romeo and Juliet.

A sequel came out a few years later and this time, I played first and my husband had to watch.

The second game started with a gut punch. My original character was gone, without her soldier. I spent the rest of the game hoping the story would come around and reunite them. But there was literally nothing. She was missing, presumed dead. Her soldier was waiting for her.

There was another game after that but… let’s just say, they never found each other. I was gutted.

I got mad enough that I picked up my laptop and I started writing my own ending. This was too sad. I had to make it better. So I wrote my alternate ending and felt better for it, and eventually accepted that my favorite fictional couple never got to be together.

My laptop, and the story saved on it, was stolen in 2014. That loss hurt me more than I expected. I didn’t write again for a while.

But in 2016, I picked it back up. What started as fanfiction turned into something more. And once I started again, I couldn’t stop. By the time I stopped, it was well over 900 pages and barely resembled the game that started it. It became a story about messy, human relationships. Star Wars just provided a backdrop.

I didn’t plan to become a writer. I just wanted to fix one sad story. Turns out, that was enough.