How many 50-something, diehard gamers do you know? Other than my husband, I don’t know anyone else who plays videogames as much as we do. Even my 20-something son and his friends probably play less than we do. Our normal nightly routine is to work all day, then play videogames until bedtime.

I've always wanted to put gamers in the books I write (or find them in the books I read–a rare thing indeed!). Unfortunately, rabid gamers are rarely sensible enough to just play the 20 minutes moms are always touting as all anybody needs in a day. Seriously?! 20 minutes? It took 20 minutes to get the game to load! So, if a gamer is in a book, the “addiction” has to play a part in the plot, lol. In 2014, I wrote a story called Forever and All That Jazz (Book 3: Friendship Heirlooms Series) in which the pastor of a church has been a bachelor most of his adult life, falls in love when he least expects it, and suddenly his gaming is curbed by his wife, who doesn’t think much of videogames in general, especially for a grown man who has a lot more important things to do. Several times, poor Wesley’s gamer time (playing Dragon Age: Inquisition, from a series that’s a favorite of mine) is seriously curtailed and derailed by the woman who now shares his life.

My newest book with a gamer is Once Upon a Cliché, A Peaceful Pilgrim Novel. The heroine Brayla is a video gamer, oblivious to the world outside her favorite games. Her space boyfriends may be Garrus Vakarian, Kaiden Alenko, or Jaal Ama Darav (of my absolute favorite Mass Effect games), but she has no clue what to do with a real man in her life. Her story is an everything-has-to-go-wrong-before-it-can-go-so-right type. Creating Brayla was honestly some of the best fun I’ve had writing a book. I relate to her than I do to more than any of my other characters. If you’re a video-gamer and a reader, check out these stories with characters who share the passion. I hope to write more in the future.

Karen Wiesner