Meet AJ Somers
If your perfect romance comes with danger, devastation, high-stakes survival, and a whole lot of heart, it’s time to meet AJ Somers, a romantic suspense and apocalyptic romance author who isn’t afraid to put her characters through a little chaos on the way to love.
AJ describes her books in three words: chaos, heart-wrenching, and thrilling, and one look at her Amongst Desolation series tells you she means it. With Valor Amidst Decay and Chivalry in Chaos, AJ blends romance with darker, suspenseful storytelling, creating worlds where survival may be uncertain, emotions run deep, and love still has a fighting chance.
Based in Southern California, AJ is both an author and artist, though she’ll be the first to call herself a novice artist since writing tends to steal most of her creative time. As a neurodivergent and disabled author, she also draws from her own experiences and past advocacy work to bring awareness to difficult subjects and remind readers who may be struggling that they aren’t alone. That emotional honesty brings another layer of heart to stories already packed with tension and danger.
Away from the page, AJ is a self-proclaimed introvert who is much more comfortable chatting online than working a room in person. She has an admittedly unhealthy love of zombies, spooky things, coffee, camping, thrifting books, suspenseful stories, gaming, and taking on approximately twelve more projects than she has time for. Basically, creative chaos seems to follow her both on and off the page.
AJ shares that chaos with her husband, two daughters, fur babies, and a bearded dragon named Alduin. And yes, if you immediately recognized that name, you probably already know you and AJ would have plenty to talk about.
Get to know AJ Somers as we dive into a Q&A and explore the creativity, heart, and beautifully apocalyptic chaos behind her stories.
Q&A
Tell me a little bit about your writing inspirations and/or how you got started.
I started writing when I was a kid, around middle school age. It started off as poems and what I hoped would be lyrics to songs some day. I played the guitar a little as a kid so I thought I could be a songwriter. But it really started as a way to work through a lot of ongoing trauma growing up and it was my lifeline. It wasn’t until a teacher I had in I think 7th or 8th grade that encouraged me to write more creative stories. For a long time, before I really knew any better or had any idea that writing a book could be possible, I had wanted to go into maybe journalism or something since I eventually took up film photography in community college. But life continued to happen and what I thought I wanted to do changed a few times before one day, quite literally out of nowhere, ideas for stories started to come back to me vividly. I tried writing a fantasy story first but put it down because I had no idea what I was doing and burned myself out. But about a year or two later, my husband got me a laptop for my birthday and Ren and Dahlia (my characters) came to me like a brick to the face. They wouldn’t let go, so I started to write their story.
Can you explain your journey of being a self-published author? Are there any tips you would give an aspiring writer you wants to self-publish?
When I started writing Valor Amidst Decay (VAD), I honestly wasn’t sure where it would go. A friend of mine came across a reel on her instragam of an editor. She sent it to me so I scoped the editor out and started to gain enough courage to reach out. In the beginning, I had to learn to have those “f*ck it” moments a lot. Otherwise, I’d never get anywhere. I was terrified to take that first step in reaching out to my editor but I am SO glad I did. She’s amazing and really helpful in giving me kind of a rundown of what it would be like to indie publish and even gave me some info on trad if I wanted to go that route. I never had a desire to start off trad so I was excited to have some direction in indie publishing. From there, I continued to have those moments where I had to step out of my comfort zone and connect with other people who later became friends/peers who’ve helped me when I got stock. My tip for any authors starting off is to not be scared of reaching out to others and connecting with other authros, even debut authors! Some of my good friends were also publishing their debuts around the same time as me!
How do you handle writer’s block or periods of low creativity? Are there any specific strategies you use to get back on track?
As someone who has regular mental lows (bipolar 2), and horrible executive dysfunction, I get some gnarly writer’s block/moments where it’s super hard to get anything done. Sometimes, I have to just ride it out by reading or watching something and give myself grace. The times it’s gotten really bad, I started having to give myself deadlines which later would get fire under my butt before I hit those deadlines. It’s kind of why I don’t like taking a lot of breaks because once I get stuck, its so hard to crawl out of that hole. For instance, after having my baby in January, it took months to finally start writing regularly again. For inspo, I do like to watch movies and listen to music. Regularly listening to music can help those cinema-like images come to mind for my stories. I’ll put whatever on that matches the vibe of my story and that helps me a lot. I’m working on a horror novellette set in the 90s and I’ve been playing music from around the year the book is set to help. If I’m stuck but still have some words in me, I’ll jump to part of the story I can write and that’s kind of how I end up with random scenes already typed out before chapter 1.
Could you share some insights into your writing process? Do you have any rituals or habits that help you stay productive and creative?
One thing for sure is music. Having music on while I’m working, cleaning, or just any mundane tasks helps keep my creative mind going. When I’m writing, I like to have my coffee and something else to drink nearby but I don’t have any special habit or ritual. I’ll write at a desk or in bed. Anywhere really. I will say, I do love writing out at a coffee shop or somewhere though. Something about it removes distractions from home. I work from home, so getting out of the house is just a nice plus too. As I menationed before too, deadlines help me. It may stress me the heck out, but I need it, otherwise I won’t get things done. One thing I can also say, is I have gotten pretty good about letting myself write the frist draft without going back to fix much of it. Just getting the story out on paper is the most imporant thing and I’ve gotten pretty good at not worrying about how messy it is at first.
How do you create complex and relatable characters in your novels? Are there any specific techniques or inspirations you draw from when developing their personalities, motivations, and arcs?
Hmm. Honestly, I don’t have any special techniques or anything. I take what I know and what I’ve experienced and like to use that as a base for my characters. Humans are messy and that’s one thing I’ve always loved. We aren’t perfect and sometimes our motivations are simple like Ren in wanting to keep his family safe, but can also be complex and sometimes misunderstood. My one goal in writing is to make my characters as real as possible. I’m also the type of person who doesn’t just look at something at the surface but instead, deep dives into those motivations and reasonings for why or how. The cause and effect type thing. This helps me a lot when it comes to my characters because it gives me a better understanding on why they make certain choices, even if it wouldn’t make sense for some people. I also tend to put a lot of myself in all my characters and those who know me really well can probably pinpoint a few things about each of them that seems familiar.
What have been the most rewarding moments in your writing journey? Conversely, what challenges have you faced, and how did you overcome them?
I think the most rewarding thing for me is the personal achievement of actually publishing the dang thing. As someone with learning disabilities, especially dyslexia, publishing a book is a huge accomplishment. But also finding an amazing team and peers who lift me up and support me has been incredible. The biggest challange in all for me was putting myself out there and stepping out of my comfort zone. But I pushed myself more than I’ve ever done before and am so grateful I never gave up. In order to keep going and push myself, I kept reminding myself that I want to be an example for my kids. Someone who took her dream and made it a reality, no matter the setbacks and obstacles. But also to make the little girl I used to be proud too.
How do you connect with your readers? Do you have any memorable interactions or experiences with fans that stand out to you?
I may have a small readership, but oh man are they all amazing. They all show up and support me when they can. I know I may not always be able to, but for now, I like to be approachable online and chat when they like. I have a small streat team too. It’s been a bit of a learning curve and I may need to eventually find someone to help me manage it, but I like to have that space for those on the team to see any sneak peeks and what not too. I may not say it enough honestly, but I appreciate my readers immensely. I wouldn’t be here without them and I remember each one who has shared and reposted my content or have said something kind about my books/me. A few I haven’t heard from in a while but I still think about them!
What advice would you give to new writers?
My biggest advice would be to just write it. Don’t second guess yourself or be worried about that first draft being messy. It will be and you’ll probably laugh later at some parts wondering what the heck you were thinking. But in the end, you won’t get it done until you get the story’s bones onto paper. And also, connect with those in the community. Not everyone will be your friend and some people may want to stick with their small circle, which is totally okay, but you’ll find people for your own growing circle.
What are some of your all-time favorite books, and why do they resonate with you? Are there any lesser-known gems you'd recommend to fellow readers?
This is honestly a hard question because there are so many amazing books I’ve read and reread. I’m a huge mood reader too so I’m all over the place. There was an old urban fantasy series from the earlier 2000s that I had read a lot because I loved the world building and honestly, I was in highschool when I read it for the first time and it gave me a way to escape some of the stuff I was going through. It kind of became a nostalgic thing for me. But now, I’d say some of my fave books would probably be The Hemorrhage Of Us by Roslyn Reed and Naomi Lucas’ The Naga Bride series (no judging, okay? LOL). But for THOU, it’s a folk horror romance and the characters are what really made me love the story. Especially the FMC. Out of the Naga Bride series, I love Deathadder. Alien/SciFi romance is a comfort genre for me, same with zombie and apocalyptic romance. Speaking of which, I’m currently reading M.A. Cobb’s Forbidden Return, it’s an EMP apocalyptic romance and it’s been so fun! I had to put it down to work on my own story though so hopefully soon I can jump back in.
What do you wish people/readers knew about you?
Oh hmm. To be honest, I’m not sure. I try to be as open as I can in hopes to inspire someone or be that reassuring presence that they aren’t alone in things. Life and people are messy and us authors are people. We go through ups and downs and unfortunetly my downs can be pretty bad. I try to open up about that but sometimes, I don’t actually think I am as open as I wish I could be. Like recently, I debated on checking myself into the hospital for psychological help. It was getting to the point that I was afraid I was going to hurt myself. I’m okay and safe now, so don’t worry! I want to be honest with people so they can see it’s not just them who goes through those things. It can just be hard to be vulnerable at times.
What future projects or ideas are you excited about? Can you give us a sneak peek into what you’re working on next?
I’m currently working on The Siren’s Fall, the horror novelette for The Neon Static Anthology as well as Book 3 in my AD series. I’m still debating but I think I’m going to set The Siren’s Fall as a prequel to a dark Sapphic paranormal romance that will take place years later. But I’ve been doing a lot of brainstorming into some spinoffs for my AD series and actually decided to do a new series set in the same universe as VAD and CIC except it’ll be some of the side characters getting their chance at love. They’ll all be interconnected and the first book will be about Ren’s cousin since that book connects directly to book 3. I also have a Sapphic romance for that series that I am so excited to write but I can’t say much because it will spoil book 3 a bit.
Can you tell us about a scene or character that was particularly challenging to write? How did you overcome those challenges?
Oh I probably have a few honestly. Especially the beginning chapters of each book. I struggle with the setup because I tend to want to just jump in to all the good bits. But one character that was a little challenge was actually Jay, in Chivalry In Chaos. I wanted his character to be as morally gray as they come, a villian of sorts in book 1 but transition to a redemption arc in book 2. My editor helped me through developemental edits and he was a topic that came up. I changed some scenes and language because I originally made him too harsh where it wasn’t quite believable that he cared for Dahlia in any way or why she would even trust him after book 1 when he continues to treat her like garbage. I ended up giving him some more page time and reworked his character motivations to make things work. But in the end, I love who he turned out to be for Dahl and I want to write his own story sometime later.
Her Work:
Where to Find Her
AJ loves connecting with readers! You can find her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads.
