Who Am I?

Well, to get the basics of who I am out of the way: I’m a second-year Creative & Professional Writing student at Canterbury Christ Church University; my name is Samuel, nice to meet you!

I chose to do this course because I adore telling stories — happy stories, the kind designed to make people laugh and smile — and wished to learn how to do that the best I possibly could. This dream of mine came about a little over a year ago, when I read a particular story I found online that wasn’t quite like any other I’d read before. Most experiences I’ve had with stories revolved around tension and conflict; even in comedy, drama was a given secondary addition in anything that wasn’t a children’s cartoon.

But this story was different. I didn’t stick around because I was caught up in any conflict, but because every word, every little self-contained story the characters made, made me smile. Even countless chapters in, the most harrowing conflict the cast had seen was a dragon who turned out to simply be a grumpy old stockbroker with his dragon’s hoard in shares and investments rather than the classic gold. Brilliant!

Not a single chapter went by where I wasn’t left smiling and with the warmest of fuzzies in my heart, in contrast to my usual experiences where I often left feeling worried and tense until the conflict eventually resolved. In that moment, I knew I wanted to be a writer who spread that sort of warmth around the world with the sort of certainty that can only come directly from the depths of your heart.

My hope is that, through the lessons I learn in my course, and with the help of my peers and teachers, I might fulfill my potential and one day find a career in writing thse stories I love more than anything else. For now, though, I’ll just keep trying my best!