Jay C. Alexander

What was your favorite book as a child?

There are three books I remember being obsessed with as a child. First, there was Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid (yeah, I know). My mom gifted me the first two books of the series, each around 200 pages long, and for some reason I challenged myself to reread them until I could read both in a short amount of time. I think my record was under an hour, though I might’ve cheated by skipping the drawings.

The second book was Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. When I was ten, I found copies of the two volumes — which my mom bought when she was a teen — and read them, then became absolutely miserable when I got to Beth’s ending. No spoilers, I guess. 

The third book — and what I’d call my favourite — was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), though when I read it, I only knew it as El Principito. There was something very charming about the book that made me wish I got lost just to meet the Prince. I want to adapt the book into a play someday.

What was the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

I’m not even gonna lie, I wanted to write fanfiction. Okay, well, not only that, but it was definitely what kickstarted my writing, along with rap. See, I’m a walking contradiction: an aphantasic daydreamer. I spend a concerning amount of hours just thinking of scenes and stories and drama… but I don’t see it. Nor can I hear it, taste it, or feel it. So when I was in sixth grade I figured I could grab an extra notebook and ruin my hand by writing in my free time. Writing fanfiction, I didn’t have to worry too much about creating characters, a world, or sometimes, a story — instead, I could focus on the actual writing part and the scenes I “saw” in my head. I also used this to learn English, which led to horribly written stories back when I could barely introduce myself. The aphantasic thing is also the main reason I’ve gotten into film and screenwriting; you tell me I can write a story and put it on the screen? That’s crazy!

What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?

I’m a very boring, unadventurous individual, but I can tell you about the time I tried to meet a witch in a different continent.

This was two years ago. I’m half Spanish, so I went to Seville with my father to visit family. Unfortunately for everyone, it was my first trip as a Responsible Adult (because the “teen” in eighteen is a suggestion), so I decided to make the most of it. At the time, I was academically into Wicca due to something I was writing, and wanted to buy a tarot deck from a witch. So I found a witch online, whose name was similar to mine, and went out by myself, without letting anybody know I was gonna meet her. The building’s hallways were empty and dark. The elevator was so old I walked up the stairs, and when I reached the witch’s floor, I started thinking, “this is how people get kidnapped overseas.” I knocked on her door. Then knocked again. Looked at her sign. Her open hours on Google Maps were wrong.

So I said goodbye to the closed door and powerwalked outta there, because like I said, I’m a boring, unadventurous individual.

Do you listen to music while reading or writing? Why/why not?

Most of the time I do. If I’m trying to concentrate hard on a story, I might play something without lyrics or in a different language, but generally I can play normal music while writing or reading without getting distracted. More often than not, complete silence is worse, because then I notice every single sound around me, as I have pretty decent hearing. Hell, sometimes I even play a familiar video essay in the background just because the voice is nice. I’ve been listening to music while I answer all of these questions (Cheekface’s “Best Life” is playing as I write this sentence).