This story is a part of Hacker Noon's Meet the Writer series of interviews. The series is intended for tech professionals contributing the most insightful Hacker Noon stories to share more about their writing habits, ideas, and professional background (and maybe a hobby or two).
If you too would like to start contributing to Hacker Noon, you can do so here.
So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests.
I’m Craig Williams, and as a Craig Williams, I like to do Craig Williams-related things like firing up the Playstation and playing a game so difficult I develop clinical anger issues followed by clinical depression. (I’m looking at you Fume Knight from Dark Souls 2…and the person reading this telling me that the Fume Knight like one of the easiest bosses and that I’m just a scrub.) But when I’m not gitting gud at Soulbornesque games, I’m attempting to git gud and stand up. If you wander around coastal Alabama and Mississippi long enough, you’re bound to see me trying to make drunk people laugh at my high-brow knock-knock jokes.
Comedy isn’t all I do though; I’m also a professional Software Developer, and that intersection of comedy and tech is kind of what piqued my interest and drew me to Hacker Noon in the first place, so here I am!
A disclaimer: As a console gamer, I am not responsible for my slovenly and unsophisticated manner. We console gamers are simple folk who don’t understand the ways of the superior PC gamer, and for that we’re sorry.
Interesting! What was your latest Hackernoon Top story about?
It was about how to explain blockchain gaming to your grandma. I saw a lot of in-depth explanations of blockchain gaming here and there floating around the internet, so I wanted to put together an article that gives a high-level overview in a way that even an AARP member can understand.
It takes the concept of blockchain gaming and applies it directly to your forehead like Head On. Blockchain technology—directly to the forehead. Play-to-Earn—directly to the forehead. Cryptocurrency—directly to the forehead. Give it a read if you have time to waste at work or if you just want to use it as a point of reference for actually explaining blockchain gaming to your grandma!
And hey, if your grandma isn’t super enthusiastic to learn about blockchain gaming, just know that’s totally normal. Honestly, I’ve never seen a grandmother more excited about blockchain gaming than my grandma, and she’s dead.
Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about?
No, I do a lot of writing for standup, so I’ve run the gamut of topics that I’ve written about. Nobody wants to come to watch somebody tell jokes about the same topic all the time, so I try to keep things fresh. Everything I write does stay within the realm of comedy though. Outside of that though, I don’t have a particular subject matter that I’m usually writing. It could be anything from Paula Dean to deli meat to how to end world hunger with Paula Dean and deli meat.
Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?)
- Make words.
- Delete those words because they suck.
- Write new words that are marginally better.
- Walk away and think of better words.
- Rush back to the computer to use those better words.
- Realize I’ve already forgotten those words.
- Weep quietly.
- Repeat.
Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing?
Trying to capture my voice in my writing. It’s a challenge, but it’s also a big part of the fun of writing for me. At least that way if I write something that sucks, I know that it sucks in a way that is uniquely my own.
Basically, the biggest challenge is making sure my writing doesn’t read like the directions on the back of a Hot Pocket container. The succinct Hot Pocket-style list of steps I wrote in the previous section doesn’t count because I stole that template from a Bagel Bites container.
What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career?
This. Seriously! I love getting work as a comic, but I love writing just as much. I’m really putting everything I have into getting more writing jobs and really growing my portfolio. I don’t want to just make drunk people laugh in bars; I want to make wine-drunk suburban moms laugh in Cheesecake Factories.
I enjoy writing for a tech niche, but I want to dip my toes in everything. What’s that, Hacker Noon reader? You’re reading this and you want to pay me to write your snail’s obituary, but from the perspective of Robert E. Lee? The answer is “yes”.
Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice?
Hot. Garbage. Television. Love Island, 90 Day Fiancé, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’s Incarcerated Cousin’s Sister Wives’ 600 lb. Life; basically any show that has hot dumpster fires of people, I’m all about it.
Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it?
Cooking! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved the kitchen. While all the other kids were watching Pokemon, I was watching Essence of Emeril. I mean, I was watching Pokemon too, but Ash doesn’t know shit about becoming the very best Jambalaya master. That love of cooking has stayed with me, though. My palette and waistline have since expanded.
What can the Hacker Noon community expect to read from you next?
I’ve got a lot of ideas kicking around in my head! Right now there are video games, Simulation Hypothesis, and cryptozoology all bouncing around my frontal cortex. I’ll probably end up baking them all together into one story, creating the literary equivalent of an Arby’s Meat Mountain. It’ll be bad for your brain, there may be no real substance to it, but you’ll have heart palpitations by the time you finish.
Thanks for taking time to join our “Meet the writer” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words?
Smash that motha’ lovin’ “Like” button! Well, there’s not a “Like” button, but seriously, if you like any of my writing, I’m doing it all the time in one form or another. I’ve always got some sort of comedic endeavor in the works, so if you like my stuff or just hate my stuff and want to watch my life fall apart in a downward spiral, then follow my socials and see what I’m up to!