About Me

Xander Lessel

Thanks for coming to the website to take a look. I'm Xander Lessel. Sounds strange when I write that, because it's not my real name, it's my pen name. I try to avoid giving out my real name online if I can help it, but everything else I write is honest about myself. I was born December 4th, 1993, I grew up in Oregon, USA.

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I began writing Zenarok in 2021, but I first started writing as a hobby while I was still in school back in 2003. They would make us write for an hour every day in 3rd grade. I remember the first stories I wrote, I was inspired by things like video games and TV shows. And honestly, that's never changed. Back then I wrote stories heavy with action, and dialogue, and I even drew in the pages when I couldn't think of what to write next. Thinking back I've grown so much as a writer but my old habits are the same. I remember reading my stories to my friends and family. At first, they didn't seem to care too much. That was until I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea to get them interested. I would write characters into my story that reflected them directly, I would even let them name the character, and tell me how they would react if they were put in the same situations as the ones in my stories. I still do this, many of the characters in Zenarok are based on people I've met throughout my life, and I still go to friends and tell them how I wrote a character based on them. It really does add a fun element to the story while remaining somewhat realistic to my vision. I'm sure lots of professional writers would advise against this kind of thing, but one thing you need to know about me, is I don't really like limiting my creative freedom. I'm the type of person who says, "Oh you're only supposed to have one prologue in a story? Fuck you, I'm making two, and they're in first person perspective while the rest of the book is in third person because I can."

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So if you're still reading, you must want to know more about me. I'm an amateur hobby writer, and whether I'm any good at it or not depends on whom you ask I guess. If I'm honest, I don't think I'm anything special, I write what I like, and I think the best creations are made when someone creates them with that in mind. As I said, I'm heavily inspired by the media I consume, video games, movies, anime, TV shows, books, and even videos, memes, and art I see online. It goes without saying that I'm basically just a computer nerd. That means my work will seem derivative at times. But I assure you, I try my best to make everything in my stories fun to read, even if that means taking a few elements here and there and giving them my own spin. Jokingly I call myself a bad writer because of this, and also the fact that I keep putting lots of edgy subject matters and adult themes into the stories. Can someone who writes like that really succeed in this politically correct world we live in today?

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The reason I love writing so much is probably that I'm a bit guilty of having a protagonist complex paired with the fact that I can never stop talking. I like to think of myself as a leader, not a follower. It tends to get me in more trouble than it's worth honestly, so I don't recommend it. But I justify my horrid personality by being self-aware at the very least, even if a bit self-deprecating. I'm also very bad at explaining things in my opinion. I tend to over-explain them or repeat myself often, and I swear it's not because I'm a man. I'm also pretty adamant about my point of view, I love to debate. Whether that's because of the environment I grew up in or just my personality, that's for you to decide.

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I think my biggest weakness is keeping things simple. It's difficult for me to write something and think it's enough, just as well as thinking I've said enough. I always look at the details and love the small subtle hints left behind in the world. There's something about the discovery of small connections that excites me, like learning that a voice actor for one character I love also voices a second character I really like, or finding out two pieces of music I enjoy was made in the same studio. Like when you find out a movie is based on a book, and the book is based on real life. Something about the way stories can be told through small context clues is fun and fascinating to me. That's probably why the authors I look up to are so wildly different, people like George R.R. Martin, Theodore Gisel, Scott Westerfeld, Sally Grindley, J.K. Rowling, Ken Kesey, David L. Robbins, and Brian Jacques just to name a few. And that's just from English books and novels, I also partake in quite a lot of anime/manga, movies, video games, and TV shows too, and listing all my favorites would take hours of reading time. So instead, just go read my chapters and see if you can find any inspiration of your own.

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Anyways, when I die someday, a good writer will probably write something better about me. If I'm famous that is, so let this be a cringey time capsule of who I am now.