David Gaider is best known for his work on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age: Origins—two of Bioware’s finest games. As a lead writer of the Dragon Age franchise, David has been involved with everything from Baldur’s Gate II to Dragon Age II.
The writer was recently tasked with judging fanfiction for a writing contest held by Bioware. Titled “Asunder”—in celebration of Gaider’s new Dragon Age novel, the contest received over 400 entries from the more writerly fans of the series.
David, along with his team of writers claim to have read every submission to narrow the list down to the top 5, all of whom received a signed copy of Asunder. The final winner received a suite of Dragon Age II-related products and a conversation with Gaider himself.
David Gaider published a companion piece to the announcement, perhaps in hopes of providing transparency over the judging process. He clarified his thoughts and explained the methods with which he, and the rest of the Bioware writing team, judged the entries which fans submitted.
Additionally, the veteran writer provided a list of rules for writing, and for writing well. The tips are applicable not only to fanfiction writers, but to writers in general.
