About Us

Who we are and what we want to achieve

Mark

Hi, I’m Mark Harris and I predominantly write fiction, but I may also try my hand at some poetry now and again. I’ve written a 70,000 word adventure sci-fi novel targeted for young teens called ‘The Vortex’, and currently I’m halfway through a satirical fantasy novel named ‘Stormsrock’. Don’t expect that to be finished anytime soon though. I’ve also written a handful of short stories.

               

Unsurprisingly, I love reading, and I’m open to reading all forms of literature, across all genres, from Homer to Shakespeare to Rowling. I particularly enjoy reading fantasy stories in my free time, and have found inspiration for my current project through writers such as Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Andrzej Sapkowski, Patrick Rothfuss, George RR Martin and of course Tolkien.

               

I’m a first year student at the University of Nottingham, living on campus, studying English with Creative Writing. Other than reading and writing, I like to play piano, bass guitar, ultimate frisbee, video games and go for cycle rides. I’m excited to get this blog running and I hope you can expect great things from it!

Steven

My name is Steven William Hardy; I enjoy the Arts, with a particular focus on writing and acting. I am willing to try my hand at a variety of genres, but especially enjoy the fast page turning action associated with modern teenage fiction and fantasy. My favourite writers range from J.R.R Tolkien and J.K Rowling, to Angela Carter and C.S Lewis.

I enjoy acting, which has led me to consider writing plays and screenplays, something I hope to explore during my time at University. Poetry is a skill I am yet to fully devote myself too; however, I hope that through this blog I can share some rough pieces with you. I have a particular love for how a book becomes a script and a script a film and so on; this stems from a love of literature and of film. There are many people who inspire me; from writers to actors/actresses to musicians to comedians and poets alike.

To contribute a unique gift to someone whether it be through writing, acting or any of the Arts is a profound goal, which I hope to achieve. To make someone laugh, smile, even cry, but fundamentally allow them to relate to the work I create, is a thing of beauty to me.  I write a range of material from comedy all the way to dark literature, but I still have a lot to learn and work on. I hope that through this blog, you can see some of the creative potential ‘floating’ around as we try to redirect it and entertain you!

Ben

Hi, my name’s Ben Garry, and I’ve loved creative writing for as long as I can remember, but it’s very hard to put my finger on what it is that I love about it. Why do I do it? It’s a way to express myself, yes, but often I don’t begin writing something with a particular point to make or aspect to emphasise. I think that more often than not, I write simply to create stories. I’m a big fan of stories. We cannot escape from stories. Our culture is built on stories. They saturate daily life and we all tell them without even thinking about it.

I suppose that what I really love are stories that take you somewhere else: another place or time. Fantasy, science-fiction, myths, legends, that sort of thing. Some people mock this type of fiction for being escapist, but I think that escapism is one of its great strengths. If an author can make their world so believable that you think you’re there, then I reckon they’ve done a good job.

Thus, my inspiration comes from a variety of sources, old and new. On the one hand, I can’t get enough of the ancient stories: Beowulf, the Aeneid, the two Eddas….but on the other hand, more modern authors such as Cormac McCarthy, Tolkien, Terry Brooks and William Blake have all made an impact on my writing. I also have to admit that I’m a bit of a comic geek, and the modest Marvel collection staring at me from my bottom shelf cannot go unmentioned.

In terms of my own writing, I like to experiment a little bit. Normal prose is fun, but I like to play around with what you can do with it, as well as experimenting with different poetic forms, from various rhyme schemes to Old English alliterative verse. I like a bit of everything really. That’s me.

Our Aim

We’re three English students at the University of Nottingham, and our aim is simply to create a platform where we, and, in the future, other students, can share works of creative writing. We feel that a blog of this kind can only be enriched by having a variety of authors; we all have different inspiration, different ways of writing and different views on life, which hopefully will come together in a rich, diverse online space.

Over the coming months, we hope to provide readers with a wide spread of prose, poetry and plays from a variety of different genres. We know that, just as writers all have different styles, readers all have different tastes, and we like to think that, no matter what your preferences, there will be something on this blog that you can truly enjoy. Another possible benefit would be that you may read something a bit different and find that you like it. Perhaps you don’t read poetry, or haven’t really seen fantasy before; it would be awesome if you could find something new to enjoy through this blog.

So stick with us, keep reading, and hopefully you’ll find something you love on this blog over the coming months, because there’s no point in creative writing if no one enjoys it.