Creative Writing Samples
Outside my work as a narrative designer, I love writing short fiction. Below are samples of my work, a collection of pieces I've written for academic classes and for personal enjoyment. Though it is a hobby of mine, I feel that short fiction is among the best ways to develop skills as a narrative designer, so I want to share my development with you.
​
To read an excerpt of a story, just click on its title. If you want to read further, please contact me!
A hand made of metal faces the sky. It is a deep, greenish-brown and rusted through. There is a wide indentation - a bruise - outlined in blackened singe on its palm, as if it once held a ray of starlight. The hand creaks as steel shifts against steel; it acts of its own accord, but as though it is learning to move for the first time.
Inspired by Jonathan Bailey Holland’s orchestral tone poem of the same name, Halcyon Sun follows the awakening of a war automaton centuries after it fell in battle. As it begins to remember, it must come to terms with a bloody past and a newfound, fast developing conscience. I recommend listening to the music while you read!
​
CWs: Depictions of Gore, Violence against Robots and Constructs
To the best of anyone’s knowledge, the Photonic Eradicator of All Certain Exceptions, otherwise known as PEACE, is the single deadliest weapon in the history of the universe. It is a device that names a thing, or group of things, an exception to a rule and promptly wipes said exception from existence by doing … something or other. It has existed only three times, despite the countless thousands of cycles it has been theorized and worked on by the finest Probabilistic Demolition Experts (and most of the not-so-great ones).
Jessica’s eyes grew wide, and she grinned with maddening glee. She stared at the illusion, believing it to be real. She was being Called. She was the Deer’s Chosen; she would rise to join the Elders. She would be closer to the Gods. She would know the Gods.
​
Jessica looked towards David, unnerved by her expression, and giving him a brief nod, shot off towards the illusion.
​
“Wait!” shouted David, sprinting after her. “It’s not safe! Come back!”
​
“Deer! I have found you! I am yours! Let me guide you!”
And The Sky Turned Red, a love letter to absurdist space opera, follows Fru Galar as she grows up in a galaxy overturned by war, trained into a battle-hardened mercenary by her mother, V’Taz. When V’Taz becomes Grand General of the Resistance and unveils a deadly weapon, Fru must choose between her mother and the safety of the galaxy.
​
CWs: Fantasy Violence, Alcoholism
Set decades after an apocalypse called The Harrowing, The Calling follows a young boy named David participating in a ritual called “The Calling”, in hopes of becoming the Elder in Green. What David does not expect are the horrors he must face, and partake in, to achieve his goal.
CWs: Violence against Children, Murder, Cult Themes, Depictions of Gore.