I sit down with Harvey Hamer, an emerging writer in multiple genres, to chat about creativity, the past and the possible future, and his many, many projects.

“So I just keep reading, keep watching and build up a sense of what you enjoy reading and watching and then just make what you enjoy making and hopefully that passion will come through. And if you’re enjoying the process then it doesn’t matter. I’ve written so many things that haven’t been released but if you can enjoy doing it then you will have this backlog of work that will keep you moving forward.”

Harvey tells me off the bat: “Writer across a range of mediums: I write novels, screenplays, comics - I’m the lead writer on a video game at the moment and it’s all sci-fi/fantasty just general genre.”

Immediately intrigued by the latter, I ask him some more about it?

He informs me that, “It’s a multi genre game, it’s got 2d levels, it’s got 3d levels” and is celebrating a youtuber’s 10 year journey. “I’m lead writer of a group of six other writers. It’s an indie dev team so it’s going to be all of our first games.”

I ask him how found himself involved in such a project?

“So I started - I was very lucky - I started self publishing my own books when I was 12 and they were based on a minecraft youtubers series. I’d seen somebody else do it and thought ‘I could do that’ and that would be fun.” He goes on to say, "So I met him at a convention and he gave me the right to start self publishing and I ended up writing 30 books in a kind of multiverse based off his series and everything else I was interested in.”

“So I finished that when I was 18 - that was a six year process. But then two years ago, one of the bigger fan channels for this youtuber wanted to make a fan game to celebrate him hitting 30 million subscribers,” He chuckles, “and I already of course knew everything about everything he had created over the last 10 years”

I ask him about working in a team for such a project?

“It has been a fun challenge, that’s a fun way of putting it!”

He goes on to say, “As lead writer I’m the one with final say on the video game script and the story. It’s been a balance of - and this is something I enjoy and do anyway in my work - but taking lots of disparate things and kind of making them work together.” He explains to me that, “Once we’ve settled on something to base everything around, then it’s all these easter eggs and references that people want to put in, and I’ve got to sift through that and combine it into something I can hold in my head as cohesive whole story across six levels.”

As well as the game, I ask Harvey about any other recent work?

“The most recent thing is a zine called “Glue.” I’m a collaborator on that. I’m contributing three different poems to that and one of them is a photo-poetry comic, which is a poem put to photos I’ve taken, playing with all the spacing between the words and the images that I’ve taken - which has been a fun experiment.”

I ask him why people should read it?

“I think if you’re a creative or you just like creativity of any sort, we’re a really creative bunch. It’s an incredible variety of things, even I was amazed.” He tells me, blown away himself, “Somebody 3D printed a modular greenhouse that self regulates the amount of water that goes in.”

Overall, he says, “There’s photography, non-fiction, poetry, comics. It’s all around the theme of systems.”

I ask Harvey about his process and working between different mediums and genres?

Enthusiastically, he explains, “Generally, I always like celebrating creativity. It’s all the things that inspired me when I was 10 - which was when I started writing on my own. It’s big franchise things that we all know and love but then obscure ancient history facts and all different real life stories.” He smiles, “So like, blending the ancient with sci-fi concepts is something that I do a lot.”

He tells me it was different at the start but now his process is effectively universal. “I started with novels and then as I studied screenwriting, I think that influenced my writing in a more general way, so I’m using more screenplay formatting writing tricks in my prose as well. It’s all the same imagination storytelling process.”

I ask him if there’s anything he’s looking forward to?

“Well the film I’m looking forward to the most is probably “Project Hail Mary.” I’m a big fan of that book - and I actually use that as a comparable novel when I’m querying agents. My novel is also sci-fi and plays with amnesia. I’m really looking forward to that.”

He also excitedly tells me that he “was an extra in two short films over the past couple of months. For one of them, the trailer, just came out last week and it's called “We Dream in Colour.” It’s directed by a friend of a friend of a friend. I had a really fun time on that set. I made it into the trailer! I’m being arrested and thrown against a wall!”

I ask him if he has any advice for anyone trying to get stuck into the creative world as much as he is?

“I’d say just start writing and keep writing.” He tells me after thinking for a moment. “There’s so much good advice out there. You can just meet one person who then just opens up a whole another world of advice and connections that you can find online.”

“So I just keep reading, keep watching and build up a sense of what you enjoy reading and watching and then just make what you enjoy making and hopefully that passion will come through. And if you’re enjoying the process then it doesn’t matter. I’ve written so many things that haven’t been released but if you can enjoy doing it then you will have this backlog of work that will keep you moving forward.”

I ask him what’s next?

“Hopefully my first shortfilm! I’ve written quite a few screenplays. I’ve had one that was used in a show on Youtube. But this will be my first and it’s a story I’ve been wanting to tell for a long time and hopefully I’m in a place where I can release it in some form.”

He goes on, selling it to me: “It’s set in the village where I went to primary school and it involves all the ancient sites around there but also an alien otherworldly horror aspects.”

“So I’m hoping to start making that later this year. I’ve been working on a pitchdeck and sending the script to a few people for feedback and then the next step is sending it off to producers who may be interested.”

He tells me about another screenplay of his, one that has already been filmed, “The screenplay I’ve had made so far was for a LAMDA graduate and she does a show with different actors and guest directors and it’s called “Be Scene: Director’s Cut” That was a great experience, that was my first time having success at a networking event! Which was this actress looking for scripts and I sent some through and she chose one to get made. I couldn’t be there for the filming sadly. It released last November which was very exciting to see my words come to life out of actors mouths for the first time.”

Finally, I ask him about the novel he is working on?

“You can know about that! The short film I want to make is like a dream section of that book - You can write a lot that is hard to put to film.”

“The book is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror. It’s kind of like “Project Hail Mary” meets “The Road.” It’s taking lots of things, the “Star Wars” family dynamic,light vs dark, some kind of ancient power. There are places called the Medway Megaliths in Kent, which is where I grew up, and they are kind of the earliest prehistoric burials and stone monuments in the UK. So it’s taking that and some of their beliefs and comparing that to concepts of other dimensions and all other sci-fi elements.”

Henry tells me that he is a contributor to the very final issue of Star Wars Insider and implores everyone to check it out as the beloved 30 year old magazine comes to an end.

The link to Glue can be found here: https://gluethezine.bigcartel.com/product/glue-issue-2

The link to his videogame can be found here:https://store.steampowered.com/app/4117430/The_Diamond_Adventures/

The link to Be Scene: Director’s Cut can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boHDnBNhEZE

The link to his self published book series can be found here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B093QKN2FL

His personal linktree can be found here: https://linktr.ee/harveyhamer

His instagram page can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/hhamer5/