Hudson Williams is not content with just being the breakout face of Heated Rivalry. The 24-year-old actor has quietly been building a second career on the page, revealing that he is deep into a “semi-autobiographical” book that pulls from the same whirlwind period that turned him into a streaming fixture. Instead of a glossy memoir, he is sketching out a blurred line between fact and fiction that mirrors the messy way fame has arrived in his life.
For a performer who has spent the past year fronting an intense queer sports drama, the move into literary territory feels less like a pivot and more like a natural extension of how he processes everything. Williams has talked about writing as a daily habit, not a side project, and the new manuscript looks like the moment that private practice spills into public view.
The “semi-autobiographical” project he cannot stop talking about
Williams has been clear that the book he is working on is not a straightforward tell-all, but a “Semi, Autobiographical Manuscript” that tracks a specific stretch of his life as fame hits and identity shifts. He has described the project as rooted in his own experiences while still giving himself room to fictionalize, a balance that lets him explore the chaos of sudden visibility without turning every page into a diary entry. Reporting on the Heated Rivalry star notes that Hudson Williams Is a project that explicitly carries that “semi” label, signaling that he wants the freedom to bend reality while still owning the emotional truth.
In multiple conversations around Heated Rivalry, he has circled back to the same idea: the manuscript is anchored in a period where he “blur[s] the lines between” his real life and the heightened version of himself that exists in the public imagination. In one profile, he explained that One of the major writing projects on his plate is that manuscript, which zeroes in on this liminal moment when he is both a working actor and a symbol for a certain kind of queer athletic story. Coverage of the book consistently frames it as a “semi-autobiographical novel” inspired by his own life, with notes that NEED readers to understand that this is not a detached exercise, but a story pulled straight from the emotional core of his twenties.
How journaling turned into a book-length story
The manuscript did not appear out of nowhere. Williams has been open about the fact that he writes constantly, long before anyone asked him about book deals or novel drafts. When co-star Sophie Nélisse pressed him on how he stays grounded amid the noise around Heated Rivalry, he answered that he has “been writing a lot” and keeps “two separate journals” as part of his routine. In that exchange, shared widely on social media, Buzzing Pop highlighted his answer to Sophie as a kind of soft manifesto about using the page to stay grateful and present, a clip that drew 35 replies and helped cement his image as someone who takes reflection seriously.
That same conversation has been echoed elsewhere, with posts noting that Hudson Williams told Sophie that journaling is how he stays “grounded and grateful in the whirlwind of fame,” and that he leans on those two notebooks as a daily check-in rather than a performative habit. Later reporting on the Heated Rivalry star’s book plans underlines that the “Semi, Autobiographical Manuscript” grows directly out of this practice, with coverage of Heated Rivalry pointing out that he journals frequently and mines those entries for the emotional beats that now shape his fiction.
Fame, Heated Rivalry, and the urge to blur fact with fiction
Part of what makes the book so intriguing is the timing. Heated Rivalry has turned Williams into a recognizable face, especially within queer sports storytelling, and he is choosing to respond not with a brand extension but with a story that complicates his own image. Coverage of the show notes that Hudson Williams has been in New York Cit doing press, talking about everything from on-screen physical affection with co-star Connor Storrie to hearing from closeted athletes who see themselves in the series. That kind of feedback loop, where strangers project their own stories onto him, is exactly the kind of pressure cooker that a semi-autobiographical novel can unpack in ways an interview never quite can.
Social posts amplifying his comments about the manuscript have leaned into the fan reaction, with one viral clip noting that Honestly, fans are ready to “just take our money” for whatever he publishes after he mentioned the book in a Wonderland interview. Other coverage of the Heated Rivalry star’s comments stresses that Hudson Williams is explicitly writing about a period of his life that blends his real experiences with the heightened drama of his on-screen world, a choice that lets him explore the cost of being both a character and a person at the same time.
A creative plan that stretches beyond acting
Williams has also started to sketch out a broader roadmap for his career, and the manuscript fits neatly into that bigger picture. In a short video interview, he was asked to map out the next five years, and he did not hesitate to say that it is “inevitable” he will direct and act in his own work. That clip, shared on Jan, frames him as someone already thinking like a multi-hyphenate, not just an actor waiting for the next audition. The idea of building a story on the page that could later be adapted for the screen fits naturally with that ambition, giving him a narrative he understands from the inside out.
Profiles of the Heated Rivalry star have also pointed out that he is juggling more than one writing project, with one feature noting that Heated Rivalry’s breakout is balancing that semi-autobiographical manuscript with other creative outlets, including the kind of stylized photoshoots that have made him a fixture in fashion coverage. Additional reporting that packages key facts under a “NEED TO KNOW” banner underscores that KNOWing about his semi-autobiographical novel is now part of understanding where his career is headed, not just a fun side note for fans.
Why his writing habit resonates with fans right now
Part of the reason Williams’s book announcement landed so hard is that it feels consistent with how he has been presenting himself since Heated Rivalry took off. Fans have watched him talk about journaling in interviews, seen clips where Hudson Williams answers Sophie’s question about gratitude with a detailed description of his two-journal system, and read posts that frame his habit as a kind of soft resistance to the speed of modern fame. Another social post that resurfaced the same exchange emphasized that Sophie was genuinely curious about how he stays centered, and his answer, rooted in journaling, resonated with viewers who are used to more polished, less vulnerable replies.
At the same time, coverage of his book plans has been careful to tie the manuscript back to the show that made him famous. Reports on Heated Rivalry stress that the 24-year-old is drawing on the same personal experiences that inform his performance, while other write-ups of The Heate highlight that his semi-autobiographical novel is explicitly “inspired by his life and personal experiences.” Put together, the picture that emerges is of a young actor who treats writing not as a side hustle, but as the throughline connecting his private reflections, his breakout role, and the next phase of his creative life.
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