Note: This feature includes spoilers to the author’s book, Rey Collins and The Stag of Leighis. Read with caution.
X.G. Antazo is a brilliant 10-year old with an overflow of imagination who lives in Rizal, Philippines. He loves creating supernatural and out-of-this-world stories. When not writing, he spends his time coding apps and games or enhancing his digital art skills. Rey Collins and The Stag of Leighis is his first published book. Buy the book here or via Shopee.
Hi, X.G.! Congratulations on your book. When did you first realize you wanted to write?
I realized I wanted to write during the second cycle of my membership to a writers club. I found my passion, and I learned that being a writer is who I am, and who I want to be, and that I enjoyed immersing myself in worlds I created, especially sharing those worlds to readers.
Where do you get your ideas?
I get a lot of my ideas from books and nature. When I take a stroll around my house, even the smallest of creatures inspire me. I also take inspiration from the struggles of life, like how Rey had a hard time when his late father passed.
What was your favorite scene to write, and why?
When Barbara predicted the CEO’s movement from his Egg Phone, it felt like I was writing a scene from a spy movie. It was right then when the adventure started. From a writing point of view, it was also when I figured out everything that should happen. It is a very important scene, which defines the rest of the book. And adding tiny details (which all add up to the whole story) doubled my excitement while writing.
What was the hardest part in the writing your book?
The hardest and probably most time-consuming was deciding on the final book concept and plot. Thinking of an idea was easy. I’ve had truckloads of ideas, believe me, but my book’s idea was the needle in the haystack. I had to reject hundreds of good options before I finally said yes to that one great concept.
Who inspires you?
Mitch Albom is not just my favorite writer, but also my inspiration. I can confidently say he has influenced the way I write and look at things, especially after reading his book, The Next Person You’ll Meet In Heaven. I admire that he always writes about life, which is something that is also reflected in my own works.
Why is reading important?
Reading has a great positive effect: it helps exercise the mind and develops the brain. Is reading also important to writers? Very much. The things we can learn by reading other writers’ works are priceless. By being a reader ourselves, we understand what readers want and what we can explore. Just as how writing lets us build different worlds, reading gives us endless ideas that improves our imagination, and imagination is a required ingredient in order for us to create.
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Rey finds out he is no ordinary boy—he is a warlock, and things will never be the same again.
When thirteen-year-old Rey searches through his late father’s belongings, he discovers a book about the Stag of Leighis, a magical creature that can resurrect anyone from the dead. Lost in despair, Rey decides to hunt for it in the hopes of bringing his father back from the dead.
On his journey, he meets an unexpected friend in Miles, a fourteen-year-old orphan who tells Rey he is a warlock and introduces him to a lavish world of magic and spirits. Together, they go on a mission to find the Stag. Their biggest hindrance? Havoc, the evil warlock who wants the Stag only for himself, threatening to eliminate anyone and anything that gets in his way.
Will Rey and Miles get to the Stag before Havoc, or will they succumb to his wicked plans?
Buy the book here or via Shopee.
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BOOKBED 
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