Born in Texas and raised in Northern California, Mari N. Schaal began her writing career in 1988, with a poem published in Buddha Rose. Since then, she has had short stories published in numerous online and printed digests and won the Signature grand prize for her essay in 2004. She began her career in games in 1995 and has accrued an extensive resume writing for video game giants such as Sega, Namco, Konami, Activision and Nintendo.

In addition, Mari is an illustrator and fine artist under the name "MariNaomi." She is also the creator of Estrus Comics, with her stories appearing in numerous anthologies such as Pet Noir, Missed Connections, True Porn, Not My Small Diary and many others.