Every person has a different story to tell, and there are English students who are working to put those stories into print.

One might be another legend in the making. Matt Holmes, a junior in English with a concentration in creative writing, has been working on his story for at least seven years.

“It’s been in the planning since high school,” he said. “I’ve just been planning it and getting ideas.”

His novel will incorporate elements from both fantasy and science fiction, and so far he has completed a chapter; most of his time has been spent doing extensive research.

“I’ve done a whole lot of scientific research about the way planetary systems and solar systems work,” Holmes said. “If you’re doing sci-fi you need to know what you are talking about.”

Sophomore Ryan Graczkowski, also an English major concentrating in creative writing, began his novel last year. He is writing a fantasy sci-fi piece as well and said planning was an important part of his writing process, too.

“I’ve been spending all this time planning out my world. The world defines what your story is going to be,” he said. “Without your world you don’t have a story.”

Graczkowski said a huge inspiration for him is J.R.R. Tolkien’s work; especially the time and energy Tolkien put into designing such a complex and intriguing world, a world “fallen from grace.” “Mine’s basically the same thing [as Tolkien’s], but it has more of a sci-fi edge to it,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to get quite that big, but that’s the role model I have to look up to.” Other writers, like English major Leslie Pagano, get their inspiration from stanzas and syntax.

Pagano is working on a poetry compilation, and she said E.E. Cummings and Billy Collins are two poets that helped spark her interest in the art form. However, many other writers have inspired her as well.

“All poetry, all the poems I have read have kind of helped me,” she said. “I feel like everyone has their own style.”Pagano expressed the importance of staying true to personal style when writing.

“You can try to emulate someone else, but in the end your own style is going to go into the words, whether you want it to or not,” she said.

Another inspiration for Pagano is her parents’ support, especially her mother, who Pagano can relate to, because she is also “hardcore English.”

“I’ve never written a poem and not sent it to her; she reads everything I write,” she said. “My parents are a big part of what I do.”

Sarah Boone, a Masters student in English, has been writing off and on since her undergrad years at UNC-Chapel Hill over 25 years ago, but said she really started writing seriously about five or six years ago.

Boone specializes in short stories, but she also started a novel several years ago that she usually works on in the summer.

She said the staff in the English department has been very helpful to her throughout her time at N.C. State. While many of the professors have helped her, she noted Wilton Barnhardt as being a “big help” with her novel, and said Angela Davis-Gardener helped her a lot with her short stories.

“She has just been very supportive. She sees things I can’t see,” Boone said. “Ultimately you have to find somebody who gets your writing and is able to help you shape it and refine it.”

Boone said she feels her style is different from most writers.

“Some writers are very visual — they see. But I’m more, maybe, aural. I kind of hear the language that people use and kind of create a character from language, and then the character kind of evolves into a plot,” she said. “You create a certain character and that character is going to do certain things.”

Boone often surprises herself with how her stories turn out, and when she does decide on an ending in advance, it can end up being totally different from what she imagined.

“I never know when I’m beginning a work how it will end,” she said.

Even though Holmes has been planning and researching for a while, he said he agrees.

“It’s no fun if you’ve got everything planned out already,” he said. “You’re going to want to surprise yourself as you write.”

Pagano said because she sometimes feels her poetry is tainted with teen angst, occasionally she does surprise herself.

“Sometimes something good will actually come of my attempts, some rare thing,” she said. “It’s amazing what words can do.”

While Pagano is uncertain whether she wants to try to publish her work or keep it for herself, she is clear about one thing.

“I’m not trying to make money.”

She said she hasn’t set a time limit for herself as to when she will be finished, and that she is taking it day by day, seeing how things go.

“Maybe when I run out of things to say, which I doubt will ever happen,” Pagano said, laughing.

Boone agrees, and while she would like to be published, writing is “not about being published.”

As English students, all of these writers have papers to write, books to read, stories to turn in and critiques to complete. Along with this they have to keep their own passions in the forefront of their daily activity.

Boone teaches classes at both Meredith College and NCSU, along with being a student, and even with a loaded schedule she stresses the importance of setting aside time to write.

“Just to wait for inspiration is not going to get it,” Boone said. “You have to write often, preferably every day.”

For the most part these aspiring writers have found a balance.

“I want to get sidetracked, but it hasn’t really been a problem lately,” Graczkowski said. “Generally, I keep myself straight.”

Holmes uses his creative writing classes as a chance to work on his novel, and as a venue for criticism from others. He also sets aside a few hours a week to himself to work on his story.

“It can get tedious sometimes,” he said. “Planning is part of my life.”

Boone stresses perseverance in writers, and recommends writing to all because it is “very liberating.”

“Some days you write and come up with very little that’s useful, and other days are different,” she said. “Sometimes you write something and it’s years before you ever really figure it out enough to shape it, see what form it takes, what character it takes.”

Holmes agrees that perseverance is essential, as well as having faith in your own work.

“You’re always afraid of what other people are going to think. It’s important to take what other people think in stride and remember it’s your work,” he said. “You’ve got a message to send through the experience of your character. If it’s that important to you you’ll keep writing it, no matter what anyone else thinks.”

Whether rhyme and meter, epic battles over the fate of the universe, or commentaries on life through a single scene, writing speaks volumes of ideals and emotions. With a little luck and a lot of talent, these ambitious students will have the chance to typeset theirs.