Sometimes, wandering back into the darkness is the way out of the forest.

Creative consulting is about uncovering the narrative logic that undergirds a project and using that logic to move forward when we get stuck creatively. Sometimes, wandering back into the darkness is the way out of the forest. I work with indie game designers, individual authors, visual artists, and everyday business owners to re-contextualize their “why,” so they can continue to create the work that matters. Whether that means worldbuilding that’s leading you astray, branding that feels inauthentic, or writing that isn’t quite there yet, we identify the story the work is trying to tell and the constraints that are holding you back to reframe the problem so new possibilities can emerge.

This process is conversational and iterative rather than prescriptive. My main tool is empathy, and asking the right questions. Drawing on my professional and academic background in design, traditional publishing, and live storytelling, I employ design thinking exercises to help clients regain their creative momentum.

Solid writing always undergoes an (oftentimes painful) process of revision and reinvention.

Developmental editing is a collaborative process focused on strengthening the foundations of your work before we pay any attention to polish.

In an age of instant gratification and automated cognition, our attention spans have shrunk with our audiences. We don’t have time to roll up our sleeves and dig into the writing, let alone reconsider our priors. But solid writing always undergoes an (oftentimes painful) process of revision and reinvention. Rooted in my academic background in writing and publishing, this work looks at what a piece is trying to do, who it’s for, and whether its form actually supports those intentions. While this practice originates in traditional manuscript editing, my multidisciplinary training in digital art, English literature, contemporary poetry, and professional book and magazine publishing makes it possible for me to apply its techniques to film, game design, visual art, product design, and other creative media.

The developmental editing process begins with empathetic dialogue: I listen, ask uncomfortable questions, and experiment with your ideas before we lay down any redlines.

My role is part facilitator, part designer: I shape a safe, narrative space for you to create in.

Immersion workshops use play, creative facilitation, and game structures to help groups think and work together differently. These sessions can take the form of a guided tabletop roleplaying game for small private groups, a custom-designed narrative exercise in an intimate but open setting, or a structured creative discussion in a corporate context, depending on the needs of the organization. Whether the goal is purely entertainment, team bonding, or working through a conceptual impasse, the workshop is designed around generating immersion and collaboration, rather than presentation.

Each immersion workshop is tailored to its audience and their objectives, using randomized prompts, game mechanics, and design-thinking principles to keep participants engaged and oriented toward a shared outcome. The real magic of immersion comes from randomly juxtaposing unlike ideas that we’re then we’re forced to grapple with. These workshops take advantage of our natural tendency toward story-making: as human beings, we’re pattern-seeking animals, and so we gravitate toward making sense of chaos.

My role is part facilitator, part designer: I shape a safe, narrative space for you to create in, then guide participants through a process that helps them articulate ideas they often feel but can’t put into words.

I design and develop web-based microtools for indie designers and game companies.

Bespoke game utilities are small, purpose-built digital tools that support play without the overhead of implementing a full web platform. I design and develop web-based microtools for indie designers and game companies, either as standalone microsites to enhance offline play, or integrated directly into an existing website to extend its functionality. These can include character builders like DNDBeyond, Lancer’s CompCon, or Mothership’s Companion and illustrated, randomization tools such as Mork Borg’s SCVMBIRTHER or DNGNDEN, that formalize a game’s rules and aesthetic in an interactive format.

This work sits at the intersection of narrative design, game mechanics, and web development. Each tool is developed in close collaboration with you, following digital agency standards, to ensure that its functionality reinforces the aesthetic and play experience of the game itself.