About Matt

Hi, I’m Matt Aye, pronounced “I.” Or “eye.” Or “aye,” if you prefer using the word that already exists. I write strange, funny, heartfelt stories about people trying to make sense of worlds that don’t always make sense themselves.

I’m especially drawn to middle-grade fiction, comedy, and the places where those things collide. And while we’re there, we might as well throw a dragon working at the DMV into the mix.

My first venture into writing was a piece of hard-hitting *Brave Little Toaster* fan fiction. Next, I submitted a harrowing original tale about a boy climbing a beanstalk to a land of giants to Walt Disney himself. My inquiry was returned with a very polite thank you and a pen with a floating ship inside it. Every writer’s stubbornness has an origin story. That might be mine. I’m currently working toward publication as a novelist.

I also create **Zero Draft**, an ongoing short-fiction project where I write and narrate original stories and pair them with intentionally rough illustrations drawn by me. They are quick. They are weird. They are definitely not perfect. I love them.

I’ve got big plans, and you’re here close enough to the beginning that someday, when your friends ask if you’ve heard about that dude who wrote that book, you can say you knew about him way back when.

That dude is me.

I’ve got a purple marker. A roster of stories waiting to be written. And a bone to pick with Disney someday over a certain consolation pen.

I’m Matt, by the way. My parents call me Matthew, but they’ve had more time to get used to it.