My name is Alex, and first and foremost, I’m a nerd.
Everything else—writer, reader, university student, etcetera—comes second. I’m a nerd for writing, good narratives and most of all, learning as much as possible. If I’m not writing or doing homework, you can usually find me watching an obscure history or unsolved mystery program when I’m supposed to be asleep.
By the time I was in grade two, I was already in deep—first came the MAGIC TREEHOUSE chapter books, and then CHARLOTTE’S WEB and CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. And then my fourth-grade teacher read us HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE, and I was powerless to stop the inevitable—I tore through the rest of the series, became a mega Potterhead before I even knew what a Potterhead was, and it all went downhill from there. By fifth grade, my teachers had to take books away from me because I’d read them during class. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. And a year later, I had a dream that would become the basis of my first ever original story.
My real start at writing came in the summer before eighth grade, when I binge-read the PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS series and realized I couldn’t wait until the second book of the HEROES OF OLYMPUS series, THE SON OF NEPTUNE, came out. Instead, I decided to write my own version of the book, and that fanfiction turned out to be my first serious writing project.
From then on, I was hooked. But the drive wasn’t there yet; I started about four or five stories and scrapped each three chapters in. Then, in grade nine, I read THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and bawled my eyes out. That’s when I realized the goal I still have today: to write a book that makes someone feel something like TFiOS did for me at a time when honestly, not much did.
I finished my first full-length novel, a 58,000-word Contemporary YA story called FAIRY TALES, about five years ago. At its core, FAIRY TALES is a coming-of-age novel about two best friends: a boy who has loved a girl from the moment he was born, and a girl who’s too selfless to let herself love him back. This story taught me so much about writing and who I am as a person and I’m so grateful for that. I spent another year revising and editing it before shelving it. I’ve now posted it to Wattpad where you can read it here.
Soon after, I decided to start something else: a YA light fantasy novel called VINDICTA. I finished that one about three and a half years ago, and spent the next few years tweaking it. While FAIRY TALES represented a way to get rid of my ghosts, VINDICTA is the story of a girl learning to believe in herself—something I’m still working on myself.
I’ve also written a novella, DELTA, and three short stories, including two I’ve published with Tapas: HUMAN and DEAR LIZZIE. Last year, I wrote a personal essay for Willow Press, Who Am I, that I’m really proud of. I haven’t written much recently, but I’m working on that.
On this blog, you’ll find everything from snippets of my stories and writing advice to think-pieces about pop culture and politics to movie reviews. I may not stick to one topic or theme, but I promise that no matter what I write, I’ll always be as nerdy as ever.
Feel free to browse through my blog or navigate using the drop-down category menu above.
A. C. Wyatt 