Alex Butler
Writer

That's the number one question everyone wants to know isn't it?  You've just joined a new group of people and the first thing you're told to do is 'Tell us your name and a little about yourself.'  I never actually know how much I should actually tell people, do you really want to know something like I had a pet fighting fish when I was seven that killed my brothers gold fish because we put them in the same tank?

 

No?  Perhaps I should leave those stories for later?  So how about I start with the basics and we can go from there.

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I'm Alex Butler and I am a young adult romance and fantasy writer.

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I was born on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia some twenty-two years ago now.  My parents moved a lot because they were both in the Army, so I ended up attending four primary schools before my parents left the Army and we settled in the Gold Coast Hinterlands (Awesome place that's inland from the Gold Coast.  It's a real country sort of place that's only half an hour from the city so I get the best of both worlds.)  All the moving meant it was hard to make lasting friends (plus mobile phones and Facebook weren't a thing at that time) so my only constant companions were my two younger brothers and books.  I developed my love of books from my dad reading me stories before bed whenever he was home to do so.

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I really enjoy fantasy books, with as many dragons and spells and epic chosen one hero types as possible crammed into the span of 60 000 words.  Having said that my bookshelf is an eclectic collection of kids' books (not just from my child hood, I still buy kids' books sometimes), fantasies, classics and real life dotted with the occasional romance.

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So how did I go from hording books to deciding I wanted to write my own?  I go to author talks a lot, and I hear all these incredible stories about how authors got inspired to start writing from all these beautiful books that had profound effects on their lives.  Makes my start in writing sound sort of lame.

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I am not kidding when I tell you that one night after school I was lying on my bedroom floor trying to do homework when I started scribbling down a story about my trip home from school on the bus.  I wrote some amazing story about a bus trip from hell, where my friends and I instead of simply returning home from school, were going to hell.  A little morbid for a twelve year old I'm sure...but that's how I started writing.  From there we had a short story assignment and the teacher saw my potential and started helping me develop my skills.  It's just gone downhill from there, I couldn't even tell you how much money I have spent on writing equipment and courses since that faithful day ten years ago.

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What other things do people normally like to know?  I'm going to answer questions from what I remember being asked at author talks I've attended.

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First book I ever read? 

Deadly by Morris Gleitzman and Paul Jennings.  If you have read this book yourself you'll know it was a strange book, sometimes I wonder if it should be a children's book or not.  I don't remember much more about it, I was pretty young when I read it.

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Favourite book of all time? 

Tom Appleby: Convict Boy by Jackie French.  I love learning about Australia's convict past, there are so many stories that come from that time that I love hearing.  I found Tom Appleby while I was visiting Port Arthur in Tasmania with my family.  I couldn't put the book down, at the time I was only a few years older than the main character and I could just imagine what being in his position would be like.  It's fictional but based on truth and I recommend it to anyone, not just young kids.

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What inspired me to write my story? 

My current (and first) project was inspired by a photograph that I found while procrastinating on Pinterest.  It grew from there and now also has hints to real life events happening.

 

Now this is a question I love to ask authors, so I'm going to answer it myself as well.

 

What is the weirdest part of my writing routine? 
I have to eat before I start writing.  It doesn't matter if I spent three hours in McDonalds writing and then moved to my house (or my friends) I have to eat again before I can actually start writing.

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So, check out my blog to keep up with what's going on and learn more about me and how my project is going!

 

Alex Butler

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