In case my About Me page didn’t delve deep enough for some of you into the mind of the woman behind the world of deviants, here’s a little more about me.
I’ve always loved writing. I’m telling you, before I even read Harry Potter, I was already writing my first novel – a story about a girl who meets a unicorn that takes her into a magical world full of more unicorns. Ten-year-old Jill for the win, y’all.
I took my first creative writing class in high school, where I wrote a book called The Glass Bluebird about a group of teenagers who accidentally kill their crazy stalker. Cool premise, but not something I’d still put my name on today and hit “publish.” Still, it taught me a valuable lesson: how great it feels to write something original from start to finish.
I took some TV/Broadcasting classes in high school, too, and developed a love of filmmaking. I ended up going to college (FSU Film School, and proud of it!) for film production with the intention of becoming a screenwriter. In the end, I learned that I prefer prose to screenwriting. But don’t worry, Mom – the college degree was still worth it! I’m now a Director’s Guild of America assistant director working on film sets in Atlanta.
I love my job, but it doesn’t fully satisfy my creative side the way writing does. A few years into my career, I decided to give writing another go.
Superpowers, angry female leads with dark backstories, and futuristic timelines are not topics I would have envisioned for myself. In fact, when I started Pretty Monster, it was really just an outlet to get some raging feminism and X-Men appreciation out of my system. But when you work twelve to fifteen hours a day and come home with an exhausted brain, the only writing you have time for is the kind that, in my opinion, everyone should aim for: the fun kind. And of all the novels I’d started and dropped, Pretty Monster was the one that kept me going.
It took me a few more years, and a worldwide pandemic, to finish the next novel, Flame, but I’m even more proud of it than of my first. To learn more about the motivations and backstories behind both of these stories, be sure to check out my next two blogs, which will be specific to both of them.
In the meantime, enjoy my site, and if you haven’t already read my stories… well, what are you waiting for? Go, go, go!
Jill Somers Books 