TTRPGs, following your passion, and knowing when to move on to the next project with Scott Taylor
by David Beaumier
Whenever a new HamLit issue is up, I always ask friend and colleague Scott Taylor if he’s already submitted or if he won’t have time this go around. I believe that, since we started sharing an office together at Chanticleer, he’s submitted every time. It’s a game of mine to read the stories and then guess which ones might be him. He has a very good poker face, and I’m almost never right.
Below is an interview I conducted with Scott over email.
David Beaumier (DB): To get started, how did you originally hear about HamLit?
Scott Taylor (ST): I heard about it through you, as we work together. I’d been writing short stories for a few years and had started querying them out to different journals, so I was excited to hear about a local publication.
DB: I was excited to share it with you, and even more delighted by the quality of your writing. At this point you’ve been published in five issues of HamLit. Both of the After Dark special issues, Life Expectancy, Flood Memory, and Hearth Songs. Thinking back, do you have a favorite theme?
ST: While I’m always happy to rep the full-tilt genre writing of the After Dark special issues, I would have to go with Flood Memory as my favorite theme. The concept of an irrepressible force of nature really stirred up my imagination. I went back and forth about the specifics of the Flood Memory story I wanted to tell, but I had the core of it pretty early on.
It was fascinating to read the other stories for that issue; the Flood Memory theme seemed to dredge up a lot of contrasting emotion between them.
DB: Flood Memory is also one of my favorite themes. For the HamLit themes, have you started writing toward a theme that just ended up not connecting/coming together?
ST: Yes, a few times actually—as my “WIP short stories” folder can attest.
For both Hearth Songs and the second After Dark issue, I ended up jumping ship from my original stories halfway through. I know that’s not very trust-the-process of me, but I couldn’t hold onto the spark of excitement with them, and that absolutely would have shone through in the writing. Part of the issue, I think, was that I had approached them with too prescriptive a lens; I limited their subject matter in the interest of being ‘literary’ and ‘coherent’, and lost what had compelled me about their concepts in the first place.
For Hearth Songs, I realized that the only way I could write honestly about a sense of home was to embrace a more fantastic, almost dream-logic style. For After Dark, I asked myself why I wasn’t just taking this opportunity to write some unabashed sci-fi horror, and then I wrote that instead.
Switching stories was definitely the right choice at a personal creative level, and considering the new ones were both accepted, it looks like it was the right choice for the audience too.
DB: Passion for the subject is a must-have. That 100% makes sense to me. Of the work that you’ve submitted, do you have a favorite?
ST: Now that is a hard one. I have a special fondness for my first ever published story, “The Stoneshaper”, but my actual favorite is “Real Live Dinosaur”, from Flood Memory. It’s probably not a coincidence that it lines up with my favorite theme.
It’s funny, “Real Live Dinosaur” ended up giving me a lot of trouble in the latter parts of drafting. I kept struggling to make the thematic ends meet in a satisfying way, until I just decided to let the ends not all tie up neatly. The story’s stronger for it; that freedom let the characters breathe, rather than having to adhere to a clear central point. Plus, accepting some imperfection feels pretty in line with the overall theme of Flood Memory, doesn’t it?
DB: Absolutely. And “The Stoneshaper” was such a treat to receive from you. I’m honored that we had the chance to publish it.
Thinking about the many authors featured, have any other published stories stuck out to you in a particular way?
ST: Ellie Pierson’s “The Force of the Flood” most keenly. It’s harrowing, and I adore the imagery of great industrial walls, a relentless sea, and dead men left to rot between concrete walls. What I talked about earlier—the different authors’ sentiments around Flood Memory—this story is such a stark example: better the mortal depths of the ocean than the living deprivation it takes to contain them.
From Hearth Songs, George Osol’s “HOMECOMING” struck a familiar emotional cord of estrangement. The protagonist’s struggles are deeply mundane, dealing in transit from the airport and finding the right apartment, but in that mundanity Osol communicates so well the yearning for a home that you only knew when you were a different person.
DB: Those are great responses. I think “The Force of the Flood” might have been on my short list for stories that you might have submitted, so that’s cool that it was one of your favorites.
Stepping back a little, has publication with HamLit helped your own writing endeavors?
ST: Yes. Writing is such a long and uncertain art, it’s heartening to get to share these short pieces with folks in my community. It’s also given me more motivation to keep writing short stories in general, which is such a great way to improve your craft.
On the practical side, I’ve gotten some more interest on my editor/author website thanks to the page of links to my own published work.
DB: I’m glad to hear it’s driving some business your way! What’s next on the horizon for you—upcoming projects, publications, writing pushes like NYC Midnight, etc.?
ST: I’ve got a few novel drafts I’m working through, but my current main project is a little different. I’ve been designing and drafting a tabletop RPG system based on the Forged in the Dark SRD, and am currently running my second playtest campaign with it. I’m hoping to have it ready for an open playtest beta soon, once I refine all of the changes I’m making now.
I’m also in the early stages of recording a narrative anthology podcast pilot, though I want to have a few more stories drafted up before I give that more of my focus.
DB: I love getting updates on your TTRGP! And that narrative anthology podcast is new to me. I’ll be excited to hear more about it.
For writers seeking first time publication, what advice would you share?
ST: Experiment with your writing. Try different forms, different genres, different styles. If you find an author whose voice speaks to you, try writing something similar. Most of all, don’t dismiss an idea for being too silly or self-indulgent.
Not only does experimentation improve your writing ability, but it opens you up to broader publishing opportunities; you’ll have work you can submit to a variety of journals/agents/publishing houses, and will develop the confidence to actually pursue them.
DB: Scott, it’s been a pleasure going through this with you. Any final thoughts?
ST: Keep a writing notebook on your person! Jot down your ideas, things that inspire you, little moments in daily life that catch your curiosity. Feel no obligation to use any of it, but go looking back through when you’re feeling creatively adrift.
Scott Taylor is a short story and novel writer most interested in speculative and surreal fiction. He works as a fiction editor and lives in Bellingham, Washington with his family and a decisive black cat. With a fascination in the hidden wonders and terrors of the world, he explores multiple media of art, from prose to playwriting to music, finding that each medium feeds into the others.
Scott’s short stories have been featured in five HamLit issues: “Sepulchure” in Special Issue ’25 After Dark, “Real Live Dinosaur” in Monsoon Season: Flood Memory, “It Came from the Ocean, and It Was” in Special Issue ’24: After Dark, “Laws of Attraction” in Autumnal Equinox: Hearth Songs, and “The Stoneshaper” in Summer Solstice: Life Expectancy.
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