John Holmes-Carrington is a Team Leader at RTC North, and when he’s not managing his team at work, he enjoys writing fictional short stories. We caught up with John to find out all about his passion for writing.

John tells us he mostly writes in the sci-fi/ fantasy/ weird and wonderful sphere “I enjoy creating short self-contained stories, ideally with a twist. I don’t stick to any one particular genre.

Sometimes it can actually be fun trying to write to a theme. I once wrote a story around plumbing which started as a joke that got out of hand. It actually spawned a whole collection from various authors. And yes, it did get published! Other ideas might be in response to a news story, or just posing a ‘what if? The latest anthology was themed on Teddy Bears. It’s amazing how dark some people will go with what you would expect to be cute and cuddly.

The beauty of these kinds of genre is that you can make stuff up. Historical writing for example requires a lot of research to ensure accuracy and believe me there are readers out there who know a lot more on certain topics than many authors.”

When asking John what he enjoys most about writing stories, he replies “Turning them into a narrative can take them in all sorts of different directions and sometimes the stories can be as surprising for the writer as the reader.

It all started for John back in 2018 when a friend of his, a former client and publisher invited John to contribute to an anthology series. The series is called Harvey Duckman Presents, the idea was to attract new writers, giving them an exposure to the world of publishing.

John reveals “It took until the 4th edition before I dared release something into the wild, but she printed it as she’d promised. The anthology series is available on Amazon as paperback or Kindle. Reading it back now, it’s very naïve but it was a start. She asked if I had any more.”

John has had six stories published under both his and a pen name, and there are more in development! He explains, “Sometimes an idea just pops in and sometimes it’s in response to a challenge.”

John adds, “They say everyone has at least one ‘novel’ in them. I know some who work here have written more than one. Mine is still a ‘work in progress’. Short stories are more fun and give a chance to explore different ideas and voices.”

If you would like to read a short story by John, click HERE to read ‘Artie’s Sea’