North Harford features multiple English courses that contains students with a passion for writing, especially in the Creative Writing. Senior Emily Engelhaupt has had a passion for writing ever since she was in elementary school. Engelhaupt discovered her passion when she competed in a contest in fifth grade, where the contestants had to write a short story. “I wrote something really stupid, but it was fun. I lost the contest, I’m pretty sure, but it was still interesting and I discovered it was fun to create characters and worlds,” explained Engelhaupt.
Fantasy and science fiction are Engelhaupt’s favorite pieces of literature to write. Out of all of her works, Engelhaupt’s piece she’s currently writing, Anna Bella, is her favorite piece of work that she’s currently writing. She described the work as an urban fantasy story about a creature she made up and the racism they experience. “It’s something completely different from what’s out there because they are my own creatures and I get to explore what it means to be human as much as it means to not be human.”
In the future, Engelhaupt is planning on going into publishing or editing but would love to become a full time novelist. Engelhaupt gets inspiration from everything around her in order to write, especially nature and the people around her. The biggest challenge Engelhaupt faces is writer’s block. “Sometimes it’s the stupidest thing, I’ll just writing whatever comes to mind and character descriptions and just forcing yourself to get over it,” explained Engelhaupt.
Junior Becca Darwin also loves writing and recently got back on track with her passion for writing. In second grade, Darwin wrote her first story, however she only completed two pages before she gave up. Darwin gave writing a break before picking it back up again when she took creative writing. Darwin took the course because it’s part of her pathway and literary arts. “I also love to write. I thought I would like writing and [after taking the course] I do really like it,” said Darwin.
Out of many genres, Darwin’s favorite topic of literature to write are crime stories, especially in the point of view of a criminal. “I wrote this really good little story last year and it was in the point of view of a murderer and it was so good and I lost it! I lost the whole thing and it made me so sad,” exclaimed Darwin.
An aspect about this type of writing Darwin likes the most about this hobby is there are no rules. Darwin stated, “It’s not as strict as other subjects, it’s more creative.” Darwin believes that she has a big imagination and that’s what first intrigued her in second grade. “There’s always stories in my head and my dreams. Sometimes, I swear, they have plots in them and they’re real stories,” said Darwin, “I try to write them down, but it doesn’t really work out well. A lot of times they don’t really make any sense.”
Along with writing, Darwin enjoys editing and is considering a career in editing in the future. “I like fixing other people’s mistakes, so I was looking into it as a career… It’s scary to try to make it as a writer because it’s so hard,” said Darwin.
Personally, starting a story is the biggest challenge she faces. “I don’t like to start a strategy. For writing you just write down whatever comes into your head even if it sounds really bad, but I don’t like doing that. I like everything that I do to be perfect right away, so it’s really hard for me to just start writing,” explained Darwin.