Native pursues writing path

TIFFIN — The COVID-19 pandemic caused the country to lock down; one Tiffin native used the opportunity to unlock his writing aspirations. Michael Wisebaker, who was born and raised in Tiffin, said he "wrote all through high school" and also has participated for years in online text-based group role play. Beginning in 2020, he said, adapting elements of the plot and characters of that role play became "my pandemic project." Wisebaker said he was the main writer in his role-play group and decided to "write it out the way I envisioned it in my head," filling in blanks and smoothing it out. Halfway through his initial writing project, he said, Wisebaker thought "This might be decent." Wisebaker said he asked a friend to review his work, who suggested he "keep going," putting pen to paper. In January 2024, Wisebaker, who writes under the pen name M.D. Wiselln, published his first novel, "Sins of the Forefathers" and a second novel, "Bloody Justice," was released in September 2024. A third title, "Scars," also was released in September 2024 and is a collection of stories that "fill in backstory or provide additional detail about the characters" from the novels, according to Wisebaker's website, wiselln.com. "Sins of the Forefathers" and "Bloody Justice," according to the website and part of "Law of Teeth" series of books that "follow the trials and tribulations of Geoff Cooper and his pack of werewolves." A third novel, "Dark Mistress," is in development and Wisebaker said there are six additional books "in my head." His goal is to publish one novel and one shorter story per year, he said. Wisebaker said becoming a novelist "wasn't meant to take the place of my day job" and is "a fun kind of exercise." Members of his gaming group from online role-play, he said, have read or are reading the books and have been nothing but supportive. They "are all really pleased with the way their characters are represented," he said. Group members are located all over the globe, Wisebaker said, from Akron and Carrollton, Ohio, to Canada and overseas locations. "It's a global community," he said, and his cover designer is a group member from New Zealand. Wisebaker said he remembers a 7th-grade English teacher when he was at West Junior High who was "so enthusiastic" about his writing and 8th-grade teachers who were very supportive of his creativity. Wisebaker said he attended Kent State University and later moved to Kansas, but still has family in the Tiffin area. "I still have roots there," he said. Printed copies and e-books of Wisebaker's novels can be purchased on Amazon.com and at Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Apple Books, Smashwords. Signed copies also are available.