About

Raised by the Pirate King of Sarcasm and the Fae Queen of “Face Shows EXACTLY How I Am Feeling”, I am both blessed and cursed with a curiously sarcastic mind and a face that shows it.

(Yes, this caused an immense amount of trouble for me in school.)

Hiya!!!

So, who am I?

Quick Version: 

I’m Ryn, a Scottish writer born in ‘97. I write reviews and discuss stories, including myths & legends. Fuelled by sarcasm, dark humour and nightmares with a constant demand for cuddles and an obscene amount of water, I’m either happily immersed in a story or found sleeping.

Here you will find all things book, writer and story related! From reviews to discussions, rants to research, I’ll bring you stories that I’ve enjoyed along the way as well as dabble in my own writing.

Long Version:

I’m based in Central-Belt Scotland. So, please forgive me if some of my Scottish word-isms appear in my writing; the word “wee” pops up a lot. 

(Wee means small or tiny in Scotland)

I’ve always been a wee book worm and eventually turned into a book dragon, happily hording books. My love of stories was revitalised in my 3rd year of college during a Scriptwriting class in my TV Production course.

I use my college and university degrees to help me write book reviews that reflect my honest opinion. My favourite genres are Fantasy, Horror, Dark/Horror Fantasy, Paranormal/Ghost Stories and occasionally Sci-Fi. I pretty much love anything that whisps me away and scares me.

I write a mixture of Writer & Book related posts. Some posts discuss stories and plot, along with any latest news with the stories, including my opinions. Other posts are research posts, where I go an research something that I’ve either seen or read about. This will help me write my own stories better, which I also post, with the hopes of publishing a book one day.

All posts I write centre around stories, like lists, discussions on theories and plot points, and my own research of myths and legends that are related to the various stories I review. I love learning where the stories come from.

My goal is to release one post every Wednesday with someday having a set schedule for types of posts. As I’m still a full time student I’m happy with just one a week, but my next goal is for two a week.

Why should you read my blog?

If you love rich stories, theories and researching the myths & legends that were inspirations for storylines, then welcome to the chaos. I’m the same!

My wee slice of the internet is for anyone who enjoys stories, specifically focusing on book reviews, story discussions and my own writing.

I can get really into stories and start to obsess, which then causes me to learn everything I can about it. So, if that also sounds like you then this wee space can be somewhere to come and discuss the stories and their worlds.

In my posts a lot of my personality bleeds through, including in the reviews. I like reviews that keep levelled and slightly distance with no first-person narration, however, I love the more personal ones. It feels like talking to a friend, so mine are like that.

What can you expect from my posts?

The five main post types I write are reviews, lists, discussions, research and creative.

The post types are sorted under the featured boxes the sit near the top of most non-post pages on my blog. 

Reviews and Lists are separated under their own boxes, while discussions and research share a box as sometimes the post will contain a slight crossover between the two types. 

Discussions and Research posts are always under the “Ryn’s Rambles” category.

Reviews

In my reviews, I give my honest opinion about the story and how it is presented. I use my degrees to help me express and understand what I enjoyed and what could have been better. I also give my opinion on whether I feel spending the time and money on the story is worth it.

Discussion

In the discussion, I look at various aspects, plots, and theories from stories and discuss various topics, while giving my own views and expanding on the discussion as well.

Research

For research it’s pretty much what it says. Since a lot of the stories I read are fantasy and horror, it means there is normally always a link to real world myths, legends or other stories. 

I’ve always loved mythologies and urban legends, so when I can identify one in a film or show I get super excited!

Creative

Finally, Creative is where I post stories that I’ve written. I have so many on my Google Drive, so there is always plenty. Some are from broken bits of dreams, while others develop from research and prompts (along with Reedsy competition entries). You can find all my Reedsy entries on here and on my Reedsy profile.

Do I know what I’m talking about?

I have an HND in Television Production, three years in total spent on the degree; first year was my NQ (National Qualification), second year was my HNC (Higher National Certificate), and my third was for my HND (Higher National Diploma). I studied at Glasgow Clyde College.

As of September 2020, I enrolled in the University of Stirling to study Bachelor of Arts in English Studies and Journalism Studies, a four year course which expands my knowledge on writing and storytelling.

2022 (November/December)

I’ve spent two year trying to find my niche for my blog and I’ve finally figured it out.

I’m very new to writing reviews and such for an online space. I normally write reviews for myself and that’s all, so there is a lot of learning and discovering I still have to do. However, if you stick with me I’m confident we’ll have fun discovering and diving into stories.

What is my blog origin story?

My blogging journey started in 2018.

I started on WordPress.com with a blog called The Unknown Vale, and funnily enough, it was the exact same as what my blog is now.

Back then I wasn’t confident in myself or my blog. Recently graduated from college, suffering from burn-out and recovering from a horrendous relationship, I was just playing around and trying to figure life out. 

All I knew was I would return to education, but I had to figure out what I was going to do first. Writing eventually lead me to wanting to study English, even though I failed English in high school. I’m still amazed I got an unconditional into Stirling.

About the end of 2019, I made plans to buy a domain and through Bluehost and WordPress.org I would start a blog. In February 2020, I bought my domain and my journey began.

Over the next two, nearly three years, I struggled to find my niche. All the examples and “how to blog” tutorials never had examples of what I was interested. My confidence had taken a hit and I was trying to desperately fit myself into a niche I could find “how to” posts for.

Eventually, through my Journalism degree, we covered reviews and thats when it clicked. I could combine my love for films, writing and stories with my previous HND degree.

November/December 2022

So, now we are here. I’m just getting started on this journey; clearing up the unrelated posts, fixing the current ones, fixing the pages and planning what to write.

This is the most confident I’ve ever felt about my plan and blog. I’m looking forward to my future here.

More About ME

Early Years

My first memory of reading is following along to one of the My Secret Unicorn books as my Mum read it to me, even though my Mum doesn’t. So, it’s an extra special moment. Since then I fell for books, but stories in general. My Dad is the book worm, but Mum pulled me into a love of magic, while Dad made critical thinking for stories fun.

Primary School & High School

When I was my final year of High School, I found myself unsure what to do. I sat down with a couple of teachers and they suggested Film or TV Production. Since I had nothing else in mind, I went for it. Despite taking Higher English in my sixth year, I was predicted to fail it, which I did, along with Higher Maths.

College

I graduated college with an HND in Television Production after three year of College (one year doing an NQ TV Production and then my HNC to HND the next two years). I’m now working towards my Bachelor of Arts in English Studies and Journalism Studies, going into my fourth year in Autumn 2023.

I have a mixture of my parents interests in stories, through films, shows and games which filter straight into books. Where I completely differ from both is when I wander into the realm of Horror, which Mum doesn’t like and I’m not sure about Dad. I don’t see him watch horrors. So, I will let the unfiltered internet and YouTube take the credit for this, as I’m sure this is where I developed my liking of the darker themes.

University

Unfortunately for my University work, I enjoy getting lost in stories more than doing the readings for them. However, fortunately for me, my fourth year of University is all about my Dissertation which is a Creative Writing Dissertation. This means I need to read all about what my story is related to, so I get to read lots of books from my TBR that are story retellings and horror.