Trent Hergenrader

I am a fiction writer and Professor of English at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where I teach courses in worldbuilding, creative writing, literature and media. My primary research area is the use of games and gaming in creative writing classes, more specifically using role-playing games to help beginning writers develop a better sense of their characters personalities, histories and motivations; I also have students use digital tools to collaboratively create immersive fictional worlds.

I am also involved in creative writing studies, an academic field that interrogates the discipline of creative writing especially as taught at the university level, as well as digital pedagogy, or how instructors can best use digital technology in the classroom.

When I find time for fiction writing, it's usually speculative fiction leaning toward dark fantasy and some science fiction. My work has appeared in Best Horror of the Year #1, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Realms of Fantasy, Cicada and other top publications.