Alexander R Davis
United States of America
Age 29
I love stories, movies, and books alike. I learned many of my morals from the heroes in books and movies when I was younger. People have teased me about being a knight, more than once, haha. Because I saw how much of an impact stories had on me, I wanted nothing more than to be able to do that for someone else!
A story has such power to change. There is something about them that can touch hearts in a way that simple facts could never do. Textbooks are great, but they don’t hold a candle to the books that teach lessons through stories. I realized early in my life that stories are the best way to really teach and have an impact on lives. Think about some of the greatest speeches you have heard. Think about the lessons that really stick with you. Very often there is a story tied in that drives the lesson home. Even look at some of the greatest teachers. Look at Jesus, Gandhi, or even the best school teachers. They have a message and they share that message through stories.
Knowing the impact I could potentially have, I looked into becoming an author myself. I wanted it so badly, but for over a decade I had done nothing with it. I searched in the self-development world for the answer. After a lot of studies, I found that I had a belief that told me: „dreams are something to look forward to, but not have. They are something to see, but not touch.” Wow. When I came to this realization, it changed everything!
I worked on this belief and cleared it away. As soon as I was free of that limiting belief, my dreams became reality. In a decade nothing, and then in a year and a half, I published 6 books! Can you believe that? If I hadn’t experienced it, I would have laughed if someone told me what was going to happen.
You may ask: why should I care about all of this? I have an answer for you. If this young guy from a little town could reach his dreams, then so can you. You CAN and WILL succeed!
The book is a fantasy adventure about an objectively terrible human being, who gets the chance between death and becoming a hero. It follows his journey of trying to be something he most definitely is not and dives into what it takes to truly become a hero. It is much more than just having a bigger stick than the next guy or beating up the bad guys. It has much more to do with who the hero actually is. Their morals and ideals. The paths they decide to walk.
A war is coming, one that will wipe out all of humanity, and Jaron (the want to be hero) has one year to stop it all. The book also follows a man named Ren, who chases after Jaron when he finds out that Jaron is supposed to be the hero. Ren, unlike Jaron, is the perfect embodiment of a hero.
The third person it follows is a woman named Cawreen. She is obsessed with the prophecies of the hero and wants nothing more to study them, but that isn’t what she gets. She is part of a royal house and she gets caught up in the schemes and plots of the other royals.
Romelia: WHEN DID YOU FIRST REALIZE YOU WANTED TO BE A WRITER?
Alexander R Davis: When I was about 11. After I read my first fantasy book.
Romelia: HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE A BOOK?
Alexander R Davis: The fastest I wrote a book was 6 months, but usually it takes a few months longer than that.
Romelia: WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INFORMATION OR IDEAS FOR YOUR BOOKS?
Alexander R Davis: A lot of times it’s from dreams I have. I will have a dream and then I start thinking about it and how I could make it into a book.
Romelia: WHAT IS THE FIRST BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY?
Alexander R Davis: The Wheel of Time.
Romelia: WHAT IS THE MOST UNETHICAL PRACTICE IN THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY?
Alexander R Davis: I would have to say the compensation for the authors. I suppose this is more with the traditional publishing, but either way. The compensation that authors get is definitely a big problem.
Romelia: DOES WRITING ENERGIZE OR EXHAUST YOU?
Alexander R Davis: Most of the time it is an energizer, though there are still some times where it can be a bit of a slog.
Romelia: WHAT ARE COMMON TRAPS FOR ASPIRING WRITERS?
Alexander R Davis: Trying to please all of the critics. There can be value in the feedback people give, but ultimately it is your book, not theirs. Also, it is impossible to please everyone, considering the fact that people have contradicting ideas.
Romelia: DOES A BIG EGO HELP OR HURT WRITERS?
Alexander R Davis: This is a hard one. I would say having no ego is worse than having a big one, but if a writer’s ego is too big then they will never improve.
Romelia: WHAT IS YOUR WRITING KRYPTONITE?
Alexander R Davis: Outlining. Outlining the story is one of the hardest things for me. Whenever I try to outline, I find myself getting into way too much detail, to the point where the outline is almost as detailed as the book itself. So, I don’t typically do outlining. I just let the writing go wherever it wants to take me.
Romelia: HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN READER’S BLOCK?
Alexander R Davis: Most definitely. IT’S REAL. But there are ways to get around it if you take the time to experiment.
Romelia: DID YOU EVER CONSIDER WRITING UNDER A PSEUDONYM?
Alexander R Davis: Yes, in fact, I started off under one. Soon I decided to change that and just use my actual name though.
Romelia: DO YOU TRY MORE TO BE ORIGINAL OR TO DELIVER TO READERS WHAT THEY WANT?
Alexander R Davis: I would have to say that I try to write my own work more because I found that no matter what you do, not everyone will be pleased. Knowing I couldn’t please everyone made me decide to just write whatever I want to write.
Romelia: DO YOU THINK SOMEONE COULD BE A WRITER IF THEY DON’T FEEL EMOTIONS STRONGLY?
Alexander R Davis: Definitely. I have read some books that seem to be completely displaced from any kind of emotion. So yes, I think someone who doesn’t feel massively passionate/emotional about what they write, can still be a writer. I will say it’s easier to write when you feel something for your writing though.
Romelia: WHAT OTHER AUTHORS ARE YOU, FRIENDS, WITH, AND HOW DO THEY HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER WRITER?
Alexander R Davis: I’m not exactly friends with any of the big names. Most of the writer friends I have are found through college writing courses I’ve done. They have helped me a lot by reading and pointing things out. One big thing was that I need to write in such a way that anyone could understand without me there explaining. If I have to explain a motive or scene, then it simply won’t work. It’s not like I can be in everyone’s house every time they pick up my books. I may soon, but haven’t figured out that superpower just yet.
Romelia: DO YOU WANT EACH BOOK TO STAND ON ITS OWN, OR ARE YOU TRYING TO BUILD A BODY OF WORK WITH CONNECTIONS BETWEEN EACH BOOK?
Alexander R Davis: I would say more on the side of standing alone. I typically write series, but at this point, I would say I keep the different series apart. I don’t have plans to connect the different series. At least not yet.
Romelia: IF YOU COULD TELL YOUR YOUNGER WRITING SELF ANYTHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Alexander R Davis: Don’t put so much stock into what the critics say. Examine the feedback and look for value, definitely, but only take what is valuable and then discard the rest. There will always be naysayers, regardless of how good you write, so don’t dwell on the bad. Dwelling on all the bad will only make it harder for you to write.
Romelia: HOW DID PUBLISHING YOUR FIRST BOOK CHANGE YOUR PROCESS OF WRITING?
Alexander R Davis: It made me realize how important the editing process is. It isn’t just proofreading it once myself and leaving it at that. No, not even close. So, it changed the way I write in several different ways, one of which is that I do editing along the way. After I write a chapter I go back through it several times to make sure it says what I want it to say and catch any errors I can personally see. That way there is less editing at the end.
Romelia: WHAT WAS THE BEST MONEY YOU EVER SPENT AS A WRITER?
Alexander R Davis: It would have to be the money I spent buying other people’s books. I’ve found that the more ways of writing you see and hear, the better your own writing becomes.
Romelia: WHAT AUTHORS DID YOU DISLIKE AT FIRST BUT GREW INTO?
Alexander R Davis: I’m an odd one here. Maybe a little too stubborn? I can’t say there are any authors that I originally didn’t like that I grew to love. I will give pretty much anyone a chance, but typically I know early on how I feel about them, and it doesn’t really change.
Romelia: WHAT DID YOU DO WITH YOUR FIRST ADVANCE?
Alexander R Davis: I didn’t go the traditional route of publishing, but did self-publishing. Since I did it that way, I didn’t really get an advance, unfortunately.
Romelia: WHAT WAS AN EARLY EXPERIENCE WHERE YOU LEARNED THAT LANGUAGE HAD POWER?
Alexander R Davis: It was when I picked up my first fantasy book. Up to that point, reading had only been a chore and nothing more. I fought against reading more than just about anything else. Then I picked up a fantasy book and things changed. the language of a fantasy book was so much different than what I had read before then and it had the power to draw me in and make me actually excited to read, which was something I had never before experienced.
Romelia: WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT MAGAZINES FOR WRITERS TO SUBSCRIBE TO?
Alexander R Davis: I personally don’t subscribe to any magazines, so I may be a bad one to ask this question to haha.
Romelia: FROM WHERE DID YOU GET INSPIRED WITH YOUR FIRST BOOK?
Alexander R Davis: I would say I got inspired to write my first book from dreams. I often will have dreams that I kind of fall in love with, then want to make a story out of it.
Romelia: DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN A FEW SENTENCES. TELL US SOMETHING WE DO NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU AND SOMETHING YOU HATE ABOUT THE WORLD.
Alexander R Davis: I love writing, but unlike some writers, I actually enjoy being in front of people. It’s been said that the fear of public speaking is worse than the fear of death for most. So those people who speak at funerals may sometimes rather be in the casket. That’s not me though. I would much rather be the speaker and enjoy it most of the time too.
Something I hate about the world… would probably be the lack of communication. It’s a skill that very few practices and therefore has become a huge point of conflict. People come off as complete jerks because they simply don’t know how to communicate.
Books for Life 