Women in Horror Month: Nessa Cannon on Avoiding Doomerism, Crafting Weird Narratives, and Getting Your Work Out There

Happy Women in Horror Month! All month long, I’ll be sharing interviews with women and gender-queer designers, writers, and creators making cool horror game experiences, with dark themes and interesting concepts. Find more celebrations on Gwendolyn Kiste’s blog.

Nessa Cannon has been writing fiction she was a child and is a published horror author, including the short story, “Roadkill,” published in The Horror Zine in 2024. She has also been working as a game writer, largely as a freelancer. She has worked on over a dozen titles, including Endoparasitic, Borderlands 4, and Date Everything.

How did you first get started writing? And how did you grow into writing professionally?

The first thing I remember writing was a very, very extensive Star Wars fanfiction when I was maybe four or five years old. It filled up an entire spiral notebook and I'm sure was incomprehensible, but at the time it meant everything to me! So it's been pretty much constant since then. I don't remember a time where I wasn't writing something. Professionally, it just kind of happened. Actually, I think my first gig for money was writing Marvel fanfiction commissions when I was fifteen.

What was your pathway into making games? Was this something you always wanted to pursue?

Even though I've always loved video games, I feel like I tripped and fell into game writing. I dropped out of college pretty early and ended up in UCLA's extension program. I always knew that I wanted to write and that I also knew that I didn't want student debt, so it felt like a no-brainer. During that time, I took a class on video game writing taught by Toiya Kristen Finley, which was so great! I really loved exploring branching narrative in Twine, and when I submitted Jagged Bone as my final project, Toiya expressed that she thought I could have a promising game writing career. I wouldn't be here without her encouragement!!

What draws you to writing horror? How does the genre allow you to explore the stories you want to tell?

I think I'm just a little freak, honestly. I have a lot of big feelings. I think horror is the most conducive genre to big feelings (or maybe it just is for me). The stories I want to tell are often deeply connected to my heart and my identity. With horror, there are so many different avenues to express and resolve anxieties or grievances, and writing, for me, is mostly about processing feelings that I find difficult to articulate in other ways. I think horror lends itself well to the difficult and the anxious and the complex. Maybe someday I'll be less anxious and I'll want to write stories without so much tension, but until then, I'll be here!

Much of your career in writing for games has been freelance? How were you able to navigate shifting from studio to studio and project to project?

I like a good challenge, I guess! I think bouncing from project to project is good for my brain. I love meeting new people and figuring out a new project like a little puzzle. It comes easily to me, but I've also never experienced working long term (2+ years) on a project. I think I would struggle with that much more than juggling a few projects at a time. If I had to give advice to folks who are having a hard time project to project, it would be to physically change how you're approaching work. A rearranged desk setup, a new notebook, a new playlist, something to indicate to your brain a sense of novelty!

Some of your first games were short, creepy interactive fiction narratives built in Twine. What is the value of working on small projects for game writers?

I really don't think I'd have the career that I do without my Twine games. I'm sad that I don't make them at the rate I used to, but early in my career, they were the only way I could demonstrate that I had the ability to finish a project, the ability to string sentences together, and the ability to set up satisfying branches in narrative. Having free, publicly accessible creative works for peers and potential clients to view is huge. You could be the best writer in the world, but if no one can read your work, no one's going to know! And beyond the marketability of it all, publishing work and getting feedback on it is unlike anything else. You can't grow or shine if you keep everything to yourself or wait for your work to be perfect.

One of the wonderfully weird indie game projects you worked on was the survival horror game Endoparasitic (released in 2022) and its sequel (2024). How did you end up joining Miziziziz on this project?

Miz reached out to me actually! It was on Twitter (RIP) in 2022 because he liked my Twine game Forest of Candles. He asked if I was free to work, I said hell yeah, and the rest is history. It's a big part of why I try to tell new game writers to have literally any work they're proud of and make it publicly available.

Can you tell us a bit about Endoparasitic and how you collaborated with the team to craft the narrative?

It was really just me and Miziziziz! I think I asked what he had in mind, and he said "the main character's an asshole, by-any-means-necessary scientist. You can do whatever else you want around that." Which is the dream! I pitched three story outlines and we picked Cynte's, which is about how he was studying these body horror parasites in a reckless manner because he believed they would help him ascend to godhood. But they don't, because they like his secretary better, and that pisses him off sooooo much. I'm really fortunate to have worked on a project where I got so much free rein, and even though there's some things I would do differently, I'm really proud of both Endoparasitic games.

Do you believe the interactive aspect of games add something to the horror experience? Why or why not?

I definitely believe interactivity adds to horror. I love a good horror movie and can watch The Ring 'til my eyes bleed, but when it comes to Alien: Isolation, I scream every ten minutes. I don't think horror games are inherently scarier than other forms of horror, but I think there's a very different kind of immediacy that involves your survival instincts (if it's all done well, you're open to being scared, etc). And in terms of interactive fiction, I believe that pacing is so important in horror stories, and being able to control the speed at which the player reads is everything.

What would be your dream horror game to work on?

IP wise, I'm dying to work on a Saw video game. I looove Saw. Outside of franchise IPs, I really would love to work on something akin to Mouthwashing – something weird and unsettling and really novel.

The games industry has faced a number of challenges in recent years, from layoffs to lack of funding. It doesn’t seem to matter if you work at a major company or an indie studio. Times are hard. How do you remain resilient as game designers in these challenging times?

I try to believe every day that things are going to get better. Which is much harder some days than others, but I can't let the doomerism get to me. Doomerism is the mind-killer! I really do believe that video games will always exist, and that humans will always want art made by humans. I don't know what things will look like moving forward, but I know that I can support my peers and do my best to make work that I'm proud of, and on hard days, that's enough!

As a final question, let’s pay it forward. Are there any horror games, movies, or books that have inspired you lately?

I love Mouthwashing and I'll talk about it 'til the day I die. I think The First Omen was super overlooked, and if you haven't seen 28 Years Later and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, you've got to fix that ASAP. I've started reading Where I End by Sophie White and I'm having a great time.

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I make games! You can play some for free on Itch. If you’re a game developer looking for a writer or narrative designer, please check out my portfolio.

I also write poetry! Find my books here.