News Archive
All blog and news posts about my work and website can be found below. It’s also possible to view just the blog!
Interview on Out Of This World
8-11-2023 12:10
Last Sunday a long interview with me (in Dutch) appeared on Out Of This World, an online magazine about fantasy and science fiction. I talk about my writing projects, the Dutch fantasy and SF genre, what I learned from LARP, and much more. It was a lot of fun to do and I am grateful for the opportunity to talk so extensively about the things I love!
‘Werelden ontwaken’ released
25-11-2022 10:42
Cake time: Werelden ontwaken released this week! We sold more than 100 books in the presale, a fantastic score. A large part of those orders has been delivered and we’re already getting the first enthusiastic reader reactions.
Pre-order ‘Werelden ontwaken’
9-11-2022 16:32
It’s time! On 22-11-22 my (Dutch) novella Winterwaker will be published as part of the story collection Werelden ontwaken (‘Worlds awaken’).
Wow.
[NL] Herald teaser trailer
8-11-2022 17:03
It’s been quiet around Herald for a long time, but that is about to change! Earlier this year, I checked all the dialogue for the final chapters (“books”) of the game and, just like I did for the first half, gave the ship’s crew something to do and say...
News about Mennistriam
13-8-2022 17:08
It’s been a long time since I’ve properly updated this website, and of course a lot has happened in the meantime—not least the start of Fictera. I’ve updated the page about me with a new photo and revised text to reflect who I am and what I do at this moment. I suppose it won’t be the last time!
Start of Fictera: coaching writers
28-10-2021 12:30
The time has come! Under the banner of Fictera Schrijfcoaching I will coach writers to make their manuscript or short(er) stories the best they can be. You can read all about it (in Dutch) on www.fictera.nl.
[NL] Outlinen is ook ontdekken
9-2-2021 10:12
Het lijkt de grootste tegenstelling in de schrijfwereld: de ‘plotters’ tegenover de ‘pantsers’, de ‘architects’ tegenover de ‘gardeners’, de ‘outliners’ tegenover de ‘discovery writers’. De ene groep bedenkt eerst precies hoe...
[NL] De basis van karakterontwikkeling
4-1-2021 18:07
Als ik terugkijk naar waar ik begon als schrijver, valt het op dat mijn oudere verhalen puur plot-gedreven zijn, met relatief vervangbare personages zonder diepgang. Ik heb heel wat schrijfkilometers gemaakt voordat ik besefte dat ik innerlijk conflict en karakterontwikkeling eigenlijk veel spannender vind dan een verhaal dat puur leunt op een onverwachte wending.
Blog and RSS feed
16-12-2020 22:00
I greatly enjoy thinking about the craft of writing fiction. In recent years I’ve been doing this more and more, as I dove into story structure, character arcs and outlining methods. Writing down some of those ideas, for example in a blog, seemed a logical step. Still, it took me a long tim...
[NL] Zoveel schrijvers, zoveel schrijfadviezen
17-11-2020 19:19
Een paar jaar geleden hoorde ik overal het advies om vooral dóór te schrijven, in één keer naar het eind van je verhaal, en dan pas achterom kijken en zien wat er anders moet. Ik heb het geprobeerd, maandenlang: alsmaar dóór, en wanneer ik erachter kw...
Invisible update
6-11-2020 17:59
This news post might not seem so different from all the others, but it’s the first page that I’ve been able to add entirely from within the website itself. A small milestone in making my website more user-friendly—the user in question being me!
Herald coming to consoles
1-6-2020 20:29
Work on Herald is continuing steadily. While there is no news on a release date yet, Wispfire announced recently that the whole game—Book I & II that were published in 2017 plus the second half of the story, Book III & IV— will be released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One! Of course the second half will also be available on PC like the first.
Mennistriam on Facebook
28-4-2020 21:54
When something has been living in your head for too long, it needs to get out. At least, that is how it felt for the various stories I’m working on in the setting Mennistriam, and I guess it shouldn’t be surprising: the idea for Thaoryn ...
Homepage update
21-7-2019 15:48
An unusual layout means paying extra attention to whether visitors can find their way around the site. Two recent additions should make it easier to navigate the front page: dates and categories.
The idea behind my website is and will always be to have a place to put all the beautiful...
Stories from Mennistriam
3-6-2019 19:24
A new link has appeared on the front page: Stories from Mennistriam. Ever since I first put this website online, that spot had been occupied by Thaoryn, but because that story hasn’t been my first writing priority for the past year, it...
Editing course completed!
9-4-2019 16:20
Graduated! Last weekend I went to the last meeting of the editing course I followed at the Schrijversacademie (Writers’ Academy). I started the basic course there about two years ago and moved on to the editing specialization ...
Read Thaoryn in English
17-12-2018 13:37
… that is, the first two pages. I’ve meant to translate the excerpt for English-speaking visitors for a while, and I finally got around to doing it.
[NL] Weet wat je schrijft
23-10-2018 18:33
Ik ben een langzame schrijver, dat weet ik al jaren. Ik heb me er wel aan geërgerd, want er zitten zoveel verhalen in mijn hoofd die ik graag wil delen. Een tijdlang heb ik geprobeerd sneller te schrijven, een eerste versie ‘uit te kotsen’ zonder achterom te kijken, zoals me van ...
Update about Herald
4-10-2018 18:00
It’s been quiet around Herald for a long time now. Wispfire recently explained the situation in a long update on Steam. In short: there is sadly not enough money to finish Herald at the moment, but they are doing everything they can to make it possible in the future. Click the link above to read the long version, including a sneak peek into Book III!
Old times: Het Leesbeest
1-3-2018 14:45
A couple of months ago I learned the hard way that there is such a thing as trying to do too many fun things at once. The result was a winter spent recovering from a hefty burnout. I’m glad to say though that by now I’m able to work a few hours a day again, most of which I’m spending on Thaoryn. Stay tuned for more on that!
New text ‘about me’
29-9-2017 11:28
The text on the page ‘about me’ was two years old already, and I thought it was about time for a new one. The old text presented me as an all-round creative person with a focus on telling stories, while I feel more like a writer (and editor) that also happens to have various other skills. So the content stayed mostly the same, I just presented it a bit differently.
A small update
19-6-2017 17:15
Lately I’ve been thinking about the way my website is set up: the separate islands with clearly defined projects that, if they aren’t mine, I have at least made a significant creative contribution to. So far, it has worked nicely as a showcase of my work, but I do sometimes run into i...
Bug adventures and more
10-5-2017 13:16
Recently I’ve been so busy with all kinds of new projects that I haven’t had the chance to write about them on my website. I won’t be able to catch up in only one news post, so for now I want to focus on one of them.
Thaoryn page revised
29-3-2017 21:15
When you work on one story for a long time, it will inevitably change. In the case of Thaoryn, over the years I’ve gotten a much better idea of the characters, the world, and above all what the story is actually about. The old description on my website didn’t...
Herald now available!
8-3-2017 13:55
Even better: Book I & II of Herald: An Interactive Period Drama have been available for a tenner for two weeks already on Steam, ...
Herald sets sail Feb 16!
1-2-2017 12:48
Edit: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the launch has been moved to February 22.
Hooray, we’ve got a date! On February 16, Herald: Book I & II will be released for PC; versions for Mac and Linux will follow later. To celebrate the news, Wispfire published a video in which three of the voice actors talk about the game and there characters:
Herald: final stretch
15-1-2017 11:41
A long time ago, last September to be exact, I posted the news item about the new trailer for Herald. Not much has happened on my website since then. So it’s time for a small update, because I certainly have enough to share!
New Herald trailer
23-9-2016 12:47
The Wispfire team has made a new trailer for Herald! It can also be found on my page about Herald. The new trailer gives a taste of some of the characters and locations in the game, and moreover: a couple of our fantastic voice actors!
Thaoryn: writing update
4-8-2016 15:12
Thaoryn is a fixed presence on the front page of my website. Projects come and go, but she stubbornly holds on to her place. There are no spectacular milestones to report for the time being, but I still thought it was time for a small update: how exactly is my book coming along?
Herald gets voice acting
28-5-2016 18:23
The picture says it all, really. The characters of Herald will get voices! This was always meant to happen, but it has long been uncertain if we’d find the money. If not, the game would be released without voices, and they’d be added later. Thanks to the R...
Xenophobia has finished
3-5-2016 22:07
Almost a month ago already, on April 8-10, the last episode of the LARP Xenophobia took place. For the fourth and last time, players imagined themselves in a post-apocalyptic world, some 160 years after the failure of an all-encompassing social network. They made disc...
‘In Memory’ special edition
27-3-2016 17:17
On March 12, 2015, Sir Terry Pratchett died. But, as he wrote himself in one of his books, one is not dead while their name is still spoken. And considering the impressive collection of books he left behind, I expect that he will stay alive in that way for a long time.
New old stories
2-2-2016 18:54
On the page ‘About me’ you can read that I’ve been writing stories all my life. I have heaps of old stories; some of them I don’t dare open, let alone show to people, but others I’m still proud of. Two of those stories can now be read on this website. If you can read Dutch, that is.
Entire website translated
20-1-2016 11:24
Over the past weeks I gradually translated all old project pages to English. The last translation has been submitted just now, so from now on, my entire website is accessible to non-Dutch visitors! I feel that it’s especially worth the effort for a project like Exodus, since that game itself is in English.
‘In Memory’ in Cambridge
9-12-2015 18:22
It’s already been a week and a half since I flew to England for the official launch of In Memory on November 28. We had arranged a room in the Central Library in Cambridge, where we presented the book to the library’s visitors with nine of the seventeen auth...
Business cards
26-11-2015 20:45
Now that my website is presentable, the time has arrived for matching business cards. And here they are:
I’ve had the idea lying around for quite some time, but the website didn’t feel finished enough yet to refer people to it, and I wasn’t sure...
In Memory released
7-11-2015 17:11
As of last week (October 31), In Memory: A Tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett is available for sale on Amazon! This morning I found a copy in the mail:
Page about me
28-10-2015 12:10
With a little effort, you might be able to learn everything you’d want to know about me by looking at my work, but still this website felt a little incomplete without a page about me. I fixed that. Thanks to Nienke for the photo!
In Memory added
14-10-2015 15:02
I’ve already mentioned it a few times in news posts, but the anthology I contributed to has its own page now! Visit In Memory: A Tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett for a description, table of contents and an excerpt from my story.
Website bilingual
6-10-2015 17:41
Because of my upcoming English publication (for which I will soon make a page), I thought it would be a good idea to make my website available in English as well. The English homepage can be found at http://www.annamattaar.nl/en/. The address of the Dutch homepage doesn’t change. You can also switch between languages at any moment using the link in the top right corner.
Herald pre-orders
21-9-2015 20:58
In case you missed the Kickstarter, Herald is now available for pre-order! You won’t actually be able to play it until the first quarter of 2016, but that moment is getting closer and closer... Meanwhile, the website (www.heraldgame.com) has been renovated with up to date information and screenshots. It’s really worth having a look.
New short story
14-7-2015 21:59
A new (Dutch) short story has been added to the site: Dageraad, which can be translated as ‘Dawn’. I wrote it for a contest with the theme ‘On the way’. Sadly I didn’t win anything, but I’m still happy with how it turned out. It’s short: only 500 words.
Big website update
5-7-2015 22:06
I’ve added a large number of projects to the website. When going to the right on the front page, you’ll now find three LARPs from Stichting Lore-ley: Riven (2010), Failsafe (2011) and BlackHackZ (2013). Go...
Upcoming publication!
13-6-2015 12:30
About a month and a half ago I decided writing a whole book would take quite a lot of time, and I should try to publish something shorter in the meantime. What I didn’t expect was that I would succeed so soon. On October 31, an anthology in memory of Terry Pratchett will be released, all proceeds going to Alzheimer’s Research UK. And one of the stories is mine!
Herald Kickstarted!
28-5-2015 11:43
The Kickstarter for Herald was a success! Click here for the news post on the Kickstarter page. May 25 was the final day, and with a total of €17.617, contributed by 594 backers, nothing stands in our way to turn this into a fantastic game.
Herald Kickstarter and demo (Dutch)
20-4-2015 15:16
De Kickstarter van Herald is begonnen! Klik hier om de game te steunen en alvast te bestellen, eventueel inclusief soundtrack, artbook, of zelfs jouw gezicht ergens in de game. Bovendien is er een demo te downloaden. Ik zou meer kunnen vertellen, maar er is zoveel te zien op de Kickstarter-pagina en Steam Greenlight (stem als je een Steam-account hebt!) dat ik het hier even bij laat.
Two stories added (Dutch)
4-4-2015 15:37
Er zijn zojuist twee eilanden bij gekomen: twee korte verhalen, 'De redding' en 'De zin van wasknijpers', geschreven in respectievelijk 2013 en 2014. Ze zijn te vinden door vanaf het midden van de kaart naar boven te gaan.
Refurbished website (Dutch)
2-4-2015 12:53
Welkom op mijn volledig vernieuwde website! Gisteren heb ik de website gelanceerd, en vandaag de nieuwsfunctie afgemaakt. Op dit moment zijn hier alleen nog mijn huidige projecten te vinden, maar ik ben druk bezig aan de pagina's met ouder werk.