About

My name is Elise R. Hopkins. I graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a BFA in creative writing, I’ve been published in such journals as THEMA and Glassfire Magazine, and I’ve sampled a decent number of cheeses. Now, I’m taking a break from trying to collect fancy publication credits to write stories about Vincent Coastrunner and Shelby, for better or for worse. I hope you’ll come along with me for the ride!

This is where I should tell you that Crawling the Edge was conceived during an epiphany I had while reading poetry next to my organic garden and drinking herbal tea at dawn. It’s definitely not where I should admit that it was born from a one-shot tabletop adventure that my fiancé came up with when one of our Dungeons and Dragons players had to work on game night. In fact, I’ve read many submissions guidelines for literary journals that specify they are uninterested in write-ups of tabletop adventures. The transition from game to literary work seems to be a big no-no. And when it inevitably happens, one should clearly never admit to it. But, this whole venture is about me breaking the rules, so gather round, friends, and let me tell you of my sins.

I’m not a fan of one-shots, generally. It’s a lot of prep work for one evening of gaming, and I never care about my characters much since they always feel a bit disposable. But, I was making the best of D&D being cancelled, so I decided to try my best to create a character I’d have fun with, and I named him Vincent, and I gave him a cool jacket and a penchant for collecting art he couldn’t afford, and I named his ship Shelby because she kind of looked like a crab in my head (and crabs have shells) and then I decided he played the harmonica when I found a harmonica in the couch cushions, and long story short, I got way more attached to him than one ought to when creating a one-shot character. He had a very notable adventure that night, but in the coming days, I started seeing his life before that, and his life after that, in surprising clarity. I started writing stories, and before I knew it, I’d taken the plunge with a blog and a Patreon and a nagging sense of excitement and panic.

I won’t say much about that first adventure now–I’m sure those events will come up later–and I’m sure I’ve strayed from everyone’s original vision a bit as I’ve fleshed out Vincent’s world and made it my own–but there are touches from that first game throughout this series.

A world and magic system conceived by Shawn Cassinelli…

the original character concept for Aluna (Ali) by Zoe Burks-Cassinelli…

and the original character concept for Dominique by Chris Burks.

I owe my gratitude to all of them for helping create a world that inspired me to write more fiction than I’ve written in years. Thank you, and lets find out where this journey takes us together!