Tearrific Reads: Alex London's Book Signing Event in PH

Last August 30, 2014, I met one of the MOST inspiring authors, Alex London. He is the author of the Young Adult Sci-Fi duology, Proxy and Guardian. They also fall under LGBT, which isn't really the kind of genre that I mostly read but hearing my friends fangirl over them, the story seems really interesting! Plus, Alex is probably the most funny and clever authors I've met. His words just continuously poured upon answering questions and I can say that I was really amused by how he answered each question for him. The question and answer portion with him is really satisfying and fulfilling! He is very generous of his answers that there were times when he fell off the topic. But we didn't really care! We love how loquacious he was during his stay here!

Alex London answering the questions for him during the blogger's forum

I tried recording the whole interview with him but I realized I'm not good at transcribing so I just wrote down some notes. Here are some facts I learned about him:

It hurts him so much when he kills a character from his books. And he never thought they would be killed or they would end up dead. Yes they hurt. But they will also heal. It hurts him as much as it hurts his readers.
He's the newest writer for the 39 Clues.
Got maried a week before and celebrates his honeymoon with his Filipino readers. How cool was that? We wished he brought his husband with him!
He loves all his books because he's all of them. He relates himself to all the characters in his books.
He got some help from Marie Lu because he knew she writes about these things and she knows how these things go. And the character Marie in Proxy is actually named after Marie Lu.
The Valve is actually based on some of the places he went. The child soldiers were also based in real life - some children in Africa.
"Even in the darkest places, beauty is possible."
He always made up stories. He wrote his first book when he was 8 and gave the 'only' copy to his mommy. Being a journalist taught him how to write.
Biggest influence? His sister. His sister would read to him and make him read.
When asked if he's planning to write a third book, take this answer: "I am not done these characters, yet. I not done with this world, yet."
"You never stop improving as a writer."
The other writers show me what's possible. (If I Stay, Where She Went, Hollow City)
Proxy or Patron? "I'm not tough enough to be a Proxy. Sid is tough enough. I think I couldn't survive a day at the valve. I'd love to be a Patron and play with all the technology."
Favorite novel/s

F - A Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
MG - Charlotte's Web, The Little Prince
YA - Proxy, Feed by MT Anderson

His pieces of advice for aspiring writers:

1. Read. Every author I know reads a lot. Read everything you can. That's fuel for your imagination.
2. Write. It doesn't have to be good. You're allowed to suck at this. Write a lot and practice.
3. Write your book. Don't write a book for somebody else. Don't write a book to chase the trend. If it's honest, there will always be a reader who will pick it up. You might get a lot of rejections. Stick to your guns and write the book you want.

-o0o-

Photos during the public signing: