About Me
A rare photo of me smiling
So, who am I anyway?
Hi, I'm Travis Kowlessar - welcome to my website! Thank you for taking an interest in my work and staying around to find out more about me!
Like any introverted author obviously I love talking about myself... so let's just keep it real: I love creating things. Whether it's writing novels, composing music, designing games, film making, or whatever other flight of fantasy my mind is taking me on at any given second of every day - it's what I am here to do. For me, creating stuff is what it's all about.
This flow of creativity has always pulled me in twelve directions at a time, for years kind of putting me in a strange creative purgatory where I never quite commit to any one thing. Because of this, I've been down so many creative pathways in my life that I've achieved a few milestones along the way.
The Milestones
My first creative loves were music composition, and game design. I've been doing both practically since I could speak. I carried this passion forward all the way though to my undergraduate degree in game development.
After graduating I felt that although I had covered the more technical sides of game design, I was lacking the knowledge to bring out a more artistic side in my games. Because of this I completed a graduate diploma in screen and media where I honed my skills in cinematography and writing.
From here I still felt like I was lacking something, and that was a unique depth to my expertise, and so elected to complete a Master's degree with a thesis investigating the relationship between a game's difficulty and resulting levels of player engagement. This was a nuanced area which has always fascinated me, and even after completing my thesis I still have an urge to go even deeper with my research in the future.
And so, after graduating my masters it was finally time for me to put everything I'd learned into effect - but I suddenly hit a bit of a wall: no matter what job I considered, none of them could give me the sense of true creative freedom I craved.
My Master's thesis investigated player engagement in digital games
My debut novel 'Brand of Malice - The Cleric's curse' is set for release on 04/04/2023
Climbing the wall
There seems to be one obvious answer to getting over this creative wall: just create! Forget climbing corporate ladders, forget joining existing companies with departments, stakeholders and market research teams - just create what I want to create, when I want to create it. I want to live my life the way I want to; with full creative freedom, creating the things I want to create with no holds barred.
This brings me to my debut novel: Brand of Malice - The Cleric's Curse. Although not the first novel I've written, it will be my debut release, and what more exciting way is there to explore the wonderful world of writing than as an indie author? I can't wait to begin this next chapter of my life and I hope you'll join me on the adventure by checking out Brand of Malice on Amazon when it comes out: 04/04/2023!