Roz Tuplin
Roz completed both her BA and MLitt degrees at Newcastle University and currently works as a writer at one of the UK’s largest video game companies.
About Roz's career
Describe your current role:
I’m a writer for a major video game company in the UK. I do all kinds of editorial work, from coming up with stories and writing dialogue for the game to marketing and social media copy. I also appear on video streams and participate in other player-facing activities. I’m the Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion group at the company too. I mostly work from home, and my typical day might involve building a quest storyline, writing some tweets or editing an FAQ blog about a new in-game feature.
I loved being able to study novels, short stories, poetry, TV, film and games - it really prepared me to be an ambassador for video games culture and to be able to speak to its intersection with other forms of media.
How did you get into this job after studying English Literature at Newcastle?
I started out working for a local magazine in Newcastle. They were looking for a good writer with interest in culture to focus on the local arts scene, so my degree stood out to them on my CV. Then when I was in my mid-20s, I decided I wanted to be more involved in the arts myself, rather than just writing about them. I gained quite a bit of events experience during my postgraduate degree, assisting at conferences and research sessions, and this helped me to get a job working on games events. In 2016 I helped establish the London Games Festival, which is a 10-day programme of activities including exhibitions, live shows and conference talks. I got to run events in all sorts of cool venues and fly around the world being an ambassador for UK games, which was awesome! Then during the 2020 lockdown, everything moved online and I was working from home, so I took the opportunity to make a return to writing. I basically combined the two parts of my previous experience into one - writing and games became writing for games.
Studying Literature at Newcastle University
How has studying Literature at Newcastle helped you in your career?
Through all stages of my career, I’ve been grateful that the course taught me to think critically, express myself clearly and have confidence in my ideas. There were also tons of opportunities to try new activities and practice things like public speaking, event organising and project development. Now I’m working with words all day; it’s also a gift to have read different types of writing, heard diverse perspectives and had my imagination fired up by storytelling from different times and places.
What advice would you give to a student interested in studying Literature?
There’s a lot of pressure to know what you want to do with your life from the get-go, but I’d say: take your time and just be open because what happens after you graduate might surprise you. Read widely, choose modules that don’t seem obvious and just absorb it all. It’s also important to think of yourself not just as a passive learner but an active participant in an ongoing research culture, because that’s what you are - so where do your instincts lead you, and what ideas can you bring to the table?
What was the best thing about studying Literature at Newcastle?
The course always felt pretty cutting-edge in terms of what we studied and how we studied it. I loved being able to study novels, short stories, poetry, TV, film and games - it really prepared me to be an ambassador for video games culture and to be able to speak to its intersection with other forms of media. I’ve also got a bit of a butterfly mind and I like to dabble in a few things, so being able to study John Donne poems, cyberpunk films and 19th-century detective stories all at the same time was really special!
