Welcome to Night Vale cocreator Joseph Fink learned storytelling from Grim Fandango

image via The Verge

August 29, 2026, 3:00 PM

• •The Verge interview profiles writer and podcaster Joseph Fink around the release of his illustrated novella The Nudge.
• •Fink says Podcast Addict is the first app he installs and calls it the main reason he stays on Android instead of switching to iPhone.
• •He says his sense of storytelling was heavily shaped by the 1999 adventure game Grim Fandango.
• •Fink names the Audible mystery series Unlicensed as the creation he is most proud of and says he would gladly spend the rest of his life writing it.
• •He cites advice from Meshell Ndegeocello about listening as a skill that matters beyond music.

The Verge interviewed Welcome to Night Vale cocreator Joseph Fink as his new illustrated novella The Nudge approaches publication. In the Q&A, Fink says Podcast Addict is the essential app he installs first and credits Grim Fandango with shaping his understanding of storytelling. He also says Unlicensed is the project he is proudest of and one he would happily keep writing indefinitely. The piece mixes promotion for The Nudge with brief personal answers about social media, advice, books, and creative influences.

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