Growing up in Chicago's suburbs, Gari took an interest in writing early on. Dividing his free time between authoring and watching movies, Hart spent a vast portion of his adolescence outside of extracurricular clubs and unaffiliated with most cliques. His tastes in film expanded, however his compositions took a realistic contour; becoming a critic for local music sites. Juggling college and work against adulation for cinema and writing, he departed from journalism (briefly) and moved into Chicago to focus on novels. Hart keeps an update blog on the progress of his work: The Novel Overture.