Margaret Weis

Margaret Weis – Life, Career, and Legacy

Explore the life, works, and impact of Margaret Weis — American fantasy and science fiction author, co-creator of Dragonlance — including her major series, writing philosophy, and influence on gaming fiction.

Introduction

Margaret Weis is one of the most prolific and influential authors in fantasy and game-based fiction. Best known as the co-author (with Tracy Hickman) of Dragonlance, she has written dozens of novels spanning fantasy, science fiction, and tie-in game worlds. Her career bridges role-playing games, novel writing, and publishing, making her a central figure in the evolution of gaming fiction. In what follows, we trace the life and career of Margaret Weis, survey her major works and themes, and reflect on her legacy and lessons.

Early Life and Education

Margaret h Weis was born on March 16, 1948 in Independence, Missouri. She grew up in Missouri, where she developed a literary interest early on.

Weis attended the University of Missouri, where she majored in creative writing and literature, graduating in 1970 with a BA degree. It was during college that she discovered heroic fantasy: she recalled reading The Lord of the Rings during a summer term and being captivated, declaring she “literally couldn’t put them down.”

Despite her passion, she was mindful of practical constraints. She once joked that her mother insisted she get a “real job” because a creative writing degree wouldn’t pay the bills.

After graduation, she entered publishing, first as a proofreader, then in advertising and editorial roles.

From 1972 to 1983, she worked for Herald Publishing House in Missouri, ultimately becoming the director of its trade division (Independence Press) by 1981.

During those years, she also wrote juvenile nonfiction, biographies, and simple readers, sometimes under the pseudonym Margaret Baldwin.

Her first published book was a biography of Frank and Jesse James, local outlaws whose graves lay near her childhood school.

Entry into TSR and Creation of Dragonlance

In 1983, Weis applied to work at TSR, Inc. (the company behind Dungeons & Dragons) in a gaming role. Although she was rejected for that position, TSR hired her as a book editor.

At TSR, she met Tracy Hickman and became involved in what became Project Overlord. This project was initially conceived as a novel plus three AD&D modules. As the development process proceeded, the two found themselves deeply invested in the characters and setting to the extent that they ultimately decided to write the novel themselves. Project Overlord evolved into the first Dragonlance novel and associated modules.

The first Dragonlance novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, became a bestseller, and soon TSR supported it and its sequels both as novels and as adventure modules.

Weis and Hickman continued working together, producing Dragonlance Chronicles, Dragonlance Legends, and many other works set in the world of Krynn.

Because Dragonlance combined narrative fiction and role-playing game elements, it helped pioneer the model of “gaming fiction” — stories tied to game worlds, with lore, shared settings, and phenomenon fandom.

Major Works & Series

Margaret Weis’s bibliography is vast. Below are some of her most important series and notable works:

Dragonlance Universe

• Dragonlance Chronicles (with Tracy Hickman)

• Dragonlance Legends (a direct sequel)

• War of Souls trilogy: Dragons of a Fallen Sun, Dragons of a Lost Star, Dragons of a Vanished Moon

• The Soulforge, a standalone novel about Raistlin Majere’s earlier years in Krynn

Other Notable Series

• The Darksword Trilogy (with Tracy Hickman)

• Rose of the Prophet Trilogy (with Hickman)

• Star of the Guardians (her solo space opera series)

• The Death Gate Cycle (with Hickman)

• Dragonships / Dragon Brigade, Sovereign Stone, and various collaborations with her daughter Lizz Weis and other co-authors.

Weis has also produced tie-in works, short stories, and anthologies, as well as game-related publications through her companies.

Publishing & Entrepreneurial Ventures

Beyond writing, Margaret Weis has been actively involved in publishing and game design:

• She is the founding CEO / owner of Sovereign Press, Inc., a company producing role-playing supplements and licensing game content.

• Later, she founded Margaret Weis Productions, which licenses popular franchises (e.g. Serenity, Battlestar Galactica) for role-playing game lines, in addition to publishing original works.

• Her work in bridging fiction and game design has placed her among the most influential personalities in gaming literature. In 1999, Pyramid magazine named her one of The Millennium’s Most Influential Persons, crediting her and Hickman with being “basically responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre.”

• In 2002, she was inducted into the Origins Award Hall of Fame in recognition of her contributions to game-related fiction.

Her entrepreneurial efforts mean that she has influence not only as a writer but as a curator, licensor, and steward of fictional worlds.

Themes, Style & Influences

Margaret Weis’s writing is characterized by a few recurring features:

1. Collaboration & co-creation
   She frequently co-writes (notably with Tracy Hickman) and builds shared universes where multiple authors contribute.

2. Worldbuilding tied to game mechanics
   Because many works are tied to RPG settings, her narratives often interweave magic systems, lore, artifacts, quests—things that make sense in both story and gameplay.

3. Heroic fantasy with moral stakes
   Her worlds often involve struggles of good vs. evil, redemption, prophecy, sacrifice, and characters facing moral dilemmas.

4. Accessible prose
   Her style tends toward clear, readable narrative rather than dense literary experimentation, designed for wide readership.

5. Recurring character arcs and mythic resonance
   Characters often belong to archetypal paths (the flawed hero, the fallen mage, the quester) but are given personal motivations and emotional depth.

6. Resilience and transformation
   Many of her narratives emphasize change — characters who survive hardship, grow, or transform across series arcs.

Her early influences include Tolkien (she cites reading The Lord of the Rings as formative) and other high fantasy traditions.

Critically, she has been under-discussed in academic circles, likely because her works straddle genre and tie-in fiction, but there is growing interest in studying her contribution to fantasy and gaming culture.

Legacy & Influence

• Pioneer of gaming fiction: By merging RPG settings with narrative fiction, she helped establish a genre that continues to thrive (e.g. Dragon Age, Forgotten Realms, game tie-ins).

• Fandom & world longevity: The Dragonlance setting remains active decades later, sustained by new stories, reprints, and game supplements.

• Mentorship & collaboration: She has empowered co-authors, including her daughter, to write within her worlds or alongside them.

• Bridging creative industries: Her career illustrates how authors can navigate publishing, licensing, game design, and narration.

• Commercial and popular success: Her many series have sold millions of copies, appealing to generations of fantasy readers.

Even if not always heralded in literary criticism, her influence is deeply felt in fantasy communities, game design, and genre publishing.

Lessons from Margaret Weis’s Journey

From Weis’s life and work, we can glean several insights:

• Build from what you love: Her love of Tolkien and fantasy drove her to persist in speculative genres, even when conventional paths were uncertain.

• Learn the trade first: Her early years in publishing gave her insider knowledge about editing, production, marketing, and licensing, which later helped in her success as an author and publisher.

• Collaborate strategically: Her frequent partnerships (especially with Hickman) allowed shared vision, division of labor, and creative synergy.

• Embrace multiple roles: She didn’t limit herself to writing — she became an editor, game publisher, licensor, business leader.

• Support your worlds: By creating companies to maintain game settings and licensing, she ensured her fictional universes remained alive and evolving.

• Resilience over prestige: She built a large body of work through consistent output, sometimes in genres under-appreciated by academia — but that earned her widespread popular impact.