For my next Author Spotlight I’m joined by the wonderful Alex J. Adams! We chatted about being influenced by music, murder mysteries and Sherlock Holmes, and who’d she’d cast Tom Holland as.

Take it away Alex…

First things first, please introduce yourself!
Hi, I’m Alex, a fairly new MM author. I live in the UK, the NW of England to be precise and I’ve been writing now for about twelve months. I write dark, gritty, contemporary romances but always with a HEA. Finding forever, one chapter at a time.

Tell us a little bit about your writing style.
I’m a complete pantser and rarely plan my books out. They often start because I’ve heard a piece of music. Finding Beau was written after hearing The A Team by Ed Sheeran. The first line of the song just made me think of Beau’s sister and it went from there. Music is a huge influence for me on my stories.

Describe your books in only three words.
Raw, Gritty, Real.

What are you working on right now?
I’m working on something completely different at the moment, just finalising the cover. It’ll be shorter than I usually write and a bit smuttier. The working title was just ‘Smut’, but I have changed it now! I’m hoping to have it released within the next four to six weeks. I have everything crossed.

Out of all your books, which one are you most proud of?
I suppose I’m most proud of Dance With Me as it was my first ever attempt at writing. The story more or less wrote itself and was done in twelve weeks. 

What or who (or both) has influenced you most as a writer?
That’s a really difficult one. I’ve read so much it’s hard to pinpoint just one author. I’ve always read murder mysteries though; Agatha Christie, Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwell to name but a few. Romance wise, most of my reading until lately was MF. Elizabeth Hunter is a fabulous author whose books I’ve loved. In the MM world, it’s a really difficult choice, so many excellent writers. 

What inspired you to start writing?
I’d always thought of writing a book. When my children were younger, I was tempted to write a children’s book, but I never got round to it. I actually decided one lunchtime I was going to write a book, and that’s how Dance came about. Twelve weeks later, I had a completed 86,000 word novel on my hands.

What’s your writing process like? Do you have a typical “writing day”?
I don’t have a set writing day. I try to write every day even if it’s only a hundred or so words but often it’s more. I almost always write in the evening as I work during the day. I can very often be found at 1am tapping away on the laptop.

What comes first for you – the plot or the characters?
Probably the plot. I’ll often hear a piece of music, as I said, which will inspire me with a story. Having said that, I have characters for the next few boys as they were side characters in previous stories.

What’s a book that you wish you’d written?
That’s a really hard question! Sherlock Holmes? I love mystery and he had such an analytical mind, I would love to be able to write complex stories.

If you could only write one trope for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
I would love to write Out For You/Bisexual Awakening for the rest of my life. I think they’re fantastic stories.

What would be your three desert island books?
Little Harbour by Sophia Soames, The Complete works of Sherlock Holmes, Rule Breaker by Lily Morton

If one of your books could be made into a movie/TV series, which would you choose and who would you cast?
Saving Ziggy. I’d love to see that as a movie. As for casting… Tom Holland as Ziggy and Sam Heughan as Marc. I’d love to see that

What do you like to do when you’re not writing? Do you have a secret passion or hobby that we don’t know about?
I do cross stitch, have done for many, many years although I’ve not managed to do any lately. I may take some away on vacation with me.

Finally, what’s your favourite dinosaur?
Brontosaurus. Is there any other?

ALEX J. ADAMS is married and has three grown boys and two fluffy dogs. She lives in the UK and when she’s not writing about her dancing men, you can find her sitting down with a cup of tea and a good book.

She would love to write full time and dreams of the day she can sit in the South of France, overlooking the sea, writing about love and happily ever afters.

For more information on Alex and her work you can follow her on Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub. You can also join her Facebook Group for more news and updates.