Writing

Zak Hartzell on a road in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Currently at work on a full-length compilation of stories & poems.
Release: Mid-2024


Stories, Scripts, & Poems

Otherworld

I developed an overarching narrative for Otherworld in collaboration with artists, engineers, and an operations director. In communication with these teams, I wove story elements and puzzles into the interactive experience of the 32,000 sq. ft. interactive installation. | Time Magazine’s World’s Coolest Places 2019

People walking around inside the immersive Otherworld Ohio experience.

Dustbowl Children

This essay follows a cross-country Greyhound trip in the middle of a record-setting snowstorm. It was anthologized in a collection called The Year through Texas literary publication Crack the Spine.

The Year A Crack the Spine Anthology

Out of Love

This (decidedly love-free) poem was accepted in Carnegie Mellon University’s Oakland Review | Fall 2023 Edition

Carnegie Mellon University emblem.

Cheyenne Smith

This glimpse of an interpersonal moment at a bus station in Georgia is mostly true. It’s in some inspiring company in the summer ’21 journal from Corpus Callosum Press.

A dirt road winding through hilly plains with the text, "Plainsongs Summer 2021" in white.

Magic

This short exploration of the ephemeral made its way into a publication from Rubbertop Review out of the University of Akron in Ohio.

Rubbertop Review Volume 11

Rocked!

This collaboration with Trapped Columbus was my first project in the interactive narrative space. I wrote, sold, and acted in this script about a hungover band manager.