Who I Am
Ace Molloy is a disabled and queer writer from Virginia. They primarily write fiction and fairy tale adaptations, and they love to address the topics of disability, queerness, and gender in their pieces. They primarily write short stories, but they are currently working on a collection of fairy tale adaptations.
Ace is a senior at the University of Mary Washington preparing to graduate in the Spring of 2026. They are majoring in English: Creative Writing with a minor in Disability Studies.
My Professional Life
Ace has worked on two different literary journals: the Aubade Art and Literary Magazine and The Rappahannock Review. Ace is currently the Submissions Director for the Aubade Art and Literary Magazine, the University of Mary Washington’s student art and literary journal. They previously worked as a Nonfiction Design Editor for the 12.1 Issue of The Rappahannock Review.
Aside from their work on literary journals, Ace has had multiple leadership positions and jobs. Currently, they work at the University of Mary Washington in the department of English and Linguistics as a Student Aide.
In the future, Ace wants to go into the publishing field as an editor. Their love of stories drives them to want to help others publish their own works.
My History with Stories
Growing up, Ace loved stories more than anything else. They would listen intently to true stories told by their family members. They would read fairy tales over and over again until their books would begin to tear with use. They would scour the bookshelves of their local libraries to find more and more books to read. Stories, both oral and written, made up their daily life.
Eventually, Ace learned to write stories of their own. Worlds that only existed in their head came to life by their hand, and it sparked something in them. Writing became an essential part of who Ace is, and this love of writing was further fostered by friends that also wrote.
The time came for Ace to decide about what they wanted to do with their life. Over and over, they had heard about how STEM was the best career option. Over and over, they had told themself about how writing needed to stay a hobby. Despite everything, Ace decided to take a chance. They applied to UMW’s creative writing program. They took a step into a world filled with stories in the hope that they could work with others to help them write and publish their stories.
Me and My Relation to Digital Storytelling
Ace loves all forms of storytelling, but one form that interests them a lot is digital storytelling. Ace grew up playing narrative video games which showed them that there are more ways to tell a story than the traditional print method. Print media has a place in writing, but digital media has its own place and value in writing as well.
Ace has taken two university courses on new media already. One was Games and Culture, which looks at the ways video games tell stories and both impact and are impacted by society. The other was Electronic Literature, which looks at various kinds of digital mediums for storytelling. They are currently taking two more university courses that look at new media. The courses are Digital Storytelling and Creative Coding.
Ace has already made two pieces of digital storytelling. They wrote and coded a piece of interactive fiction using Inform 10 that played with the fairy tale form. They also worked with a group to write a hyperlink story using Twine about a character living through a time loop. They hope to continue writing using digital media and to publish a video game of their own someday.