interactive fiction, game writing, narrative design, prose & poetry
Who is Langley?
Langley Hyde is a narrative designer at Your Story Interactive. She writes for Romance Club, a mobile app a monthly audience of approximately 4m players. She’s the writer of 7 Brothers, a contemporary romance, and Vying for Versailles, an interactive visual novel set in 17th-century France. Her work is known for its extensive branching, world-building, lyrical prose, and dramatized interpersonal relationships. She tries to make every choice count so that each play-through is unique. 7 Brothers and Vying for Versailles have been translated into Russian, Turkish, Spanish, Polish, and Romanian.
Prior to working for Romance Club, Langley worked with indie game companies and also wrote for Magic: The Gathering. Her short stories are available online at multiple SFWA-recognized markets. Her novel, Highfell Grimoires, was a Best Book of the Year in Publishers Weekly in SF/Horror/Fantasy.
Background
She began her career as an editorial intern and then a freelance editor with a focus on copy editing and continuity editing. She worked for five years as a science writer and editorial assistant for a research magazine. When working in higher ed, she created promotional articles and materials, such as MailChimp campus and alumni newsletters. At that time she trained and supervised a team of work-study students. She has instructional experience as a faculty member in the composition program.
She earned her Bachelor’s Degree of the Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College and her Master’s Degree of the Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Western Washington University. She is a winner of Writers of the Future and she is a Clarion alumna, a member of the Codex Writers Forum, and a member of Science Fiction Writers of America.
Other projects
She’s designing an interactive autobiography in Ren’Py, starting a small games company called depraved fancy that focuses on story-driven puzzle games and simulators, and she enjoys small audio narration projects.
Lately, she’s been writing more poetry.
Who is Langley outside of work?
Langley has lived in Washington state, New York, South Carolina, Britain (London and Oxford), Canada (Waterloo), and Germany (Friedrichshafen). She speaks German. Currently she lives in the Pacific Northwest with her two partners, two children, multiple cats, and her dog.
In her own time, Langley likes to garden. She has over 300 perennials in her garden and over 60 annuals, focusing on sustainable permaculture practices. She seed-saves heirloom varieties and grows and gives away her starts. Her multimedia art involves acrylics, found items, and resin. Her digital art includes collage and animation. She’s a voracious reader (particularly in the fantasy genres), enjoys tabletop co-ops and RPGs, and going to breweries. She makes her own soaps, lip balms, and lotions, and right now she’s working on the perfect hair gel formulation. She goes hiking in the morning with her spoiled dog, constructed a custom cat tree for her cats, and is building a catio.
One day, she hopes to live the Stardew Valley life. Find her on Bluesky.