Hey y'all! I know its been a minute, but I have been planning my birthday party and it has been quite time consuming to say the least. Before the month is over I wanted to make sure that I took the time to highlight at least one Black Indie Author. This feature will be highlighting debut author Ajrea Huar who just released her debut novel The Year Package. If you enjoyed reading about Demon and Smoke, you are going to love reading about Dominic Aldrek. So without further ado, lets get to know Ajrea and The Year Plan.
Introduction
Question: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey as an author?
Answer: My name is Ajrea Huar I’m 26 and currently live in the UK but was born in Tacoma, Seattle. I am an anime lover who recently acquired a fur baby called Whisky. I’ve always enjoyed writing as a child and was a big notebook girlie and still have a lot of my notebooks which I hope to one day revisit. Funnily enough the ones that have made it to the notebooks have always stemmed from dreams and what’s crazy is that every idea I remember when I wake up I can still remember now and we are talking like 20 year old dreams. I wrote a lot online and my first website was fictionpress, and wattpad before you could add media to the stories. Never got into Ao3. Also fanficiton press which was the sister site specifically to fanfiction where I would roleplay my own characters in specific universes.
Q:How did you get started in writing, and what led you to pursue a career as an author?
A: It’s just been a thing, I’m a yapper you see so give me half a chance to tell you a story and I will. Sometimes I’ll wear my earphones and talk to myself. 10/10 would recommend.
Book-Specific Questions
Q: Let's talk about your latest book. What inspired the story, and what themes does it explore?
A: Not to sound like a broken record but I had a dream, I was the main character and I remember we were at the house of the second main character and I knew I was Scottish because he had the audacity to say “god get her some subtitles.” Sadly that didn’t make the Final Cut. Themes would be the difference between lust and love, coming into your own, being your true unapologetic self and freedom is a misconception
Q: Can you share a bit about the main characters in your book and what readers can expect from their journey?
A: You’ve got the main five, the ones that got their own aesthetics.
Mae: Designer by day, sex worker by night. She is the common denominator across all other characters.
Dominic: billionaire entrepreneur who runs multiple businesses that cater specifically to vampires. With all that money why has he just dropped over half a mil on a one night stand?
Stephan: the boyfriend, cutesy little cinnamon roll who lives in a tight knit community in the middle of the woods.
Conrad: the FBI agent who seems to have a personal grudge against Dominic and his family’s empire.
Rachel: The IRS agent who first came across the large amount of money that went from Dominic to Mae.
Magenta: Business owner, costume designer, witch and Mae’s boss. Owner of FolkWore and the sexy little thing they have going on behind closed doors.
Expect some shocks, some unreliable narrating, a third party narrator and sex.
Q: How does this book differ from your previous works, if at all?
A: In all my books there has been an element of romance, but this is the first where romance has taken the front seat and the supernatural, fantasy are passengers.
Writing Process
Q: What is your typical writing routine or process like?
A: The idea is the crux of it, the foundation. What I tend to do is expand. A whole lot of asking why and how. I used to be a notebook girly but now it’s all digital so my notes app is just filled with ideas and concepts and my OneNote is the same.
I’m not quite a planner but not quite a wing it girly. I do plan out my chapters but make it vague enough to anchor me but not weigh me down. I have yet to fully crackdown world building as at the moment it is overwhelming. When I’ve got enough chapters I tend to start writing making sure my plan is two or three chapters ahead because I find when I catch up I tend to lose my steam and begin to drop off.
Q: How do you overcome writer's block or challenges during the writing process?
A: At the moment I’ve been in a writing slump for 2 years, haven’t quite gotten out of it, it’s a mixture of losing interest or just not having the time. For me a lot of it relies on dopamine and hyperfixation. I will have a burst of interest for certain ideas, binge it then drop off. At the moment trying not to take it personally and ruin my confidence as a writer. However whenever I try to do any planning or writing outside of that I always find that as long as I get over the first 20 minutes I naturally find my footing and the dopamine jumps on with me, kind of like riding a bike up a hill and then coasting all the way down.
Character Development
Q: How do you approach the creation of your characters? Do they evolve as you write, or do you have a clear vision from the start?
A: They definitely evolve, and it’s just like meeting someone new, you grow to understand them and can sometimes go as far as to perceive how they’d react in certain situations.
A: Are any of your characters inspired by people you know or real-life experiences?
Q: Funnily enough I wrote this book in 2019. I met my current boyfriend in 2022 and you’d think I’d picked up Dominic and plopped a version of him into real life. The wit and the mannerisms are very similar. Also Kenzo is loosely based off someone.
Genre Related Questions
Q: What is your favorite genre to write and read?
A: To write fantasy, I really want to try a grounded cosy story, slice of life type book but I always end up adding otherworldly stuff given half the chance. To read the same, for the longest time I was a big no on romance. I wanted explosions, fight sequences, action and adventure as the forefront and honestly that still checks out.
Q: Why do you write the genre you write?
A: I enjoy it, and honestly this genre was the best way to showcase my characters. I honestly think this book was very healing and I came to terms with a lot of things in my own life.
Indie Author-Related Questions
Q: What made you decide to go the Indie route as opposed to the major publishing company route?
A: I had no expectation of publishing, so I posted my story on Wattpad cheeky 60k reads (thank you book club) and off the back of that was approached by a publisher.
Q: What is your favorite thing about being an Indie Author?
A: Being the main decision maker, I love being in charge so you can imagine the power I enjoyed wielding.
Q: Would you ever consider going the major publishing company route?
A: Yeah, if they wanted me. But whether I’d want them is a different question.
Book Marketing and Promotion
Q: How do you approach marketing and promoting your books?
A: Seeing trends and applying them to my area of marketing. I vary from funny generic writer or author related posts, posts that reference my book, snippets from the book and straight up buy my book
Q: How important do you think social media and online platforms are for authors in today's publishing landscape?
A: Social media is how people get their information, it’s the new word of mouth. Even if you have 50 followers and they all share it to one other person, that's your presence being shown to 100 people.
Favorite Moments and Achievements
Q: Can you share a favorite moment or achievement from your writing career so far?
A: One time I wrote a story in a month, I’ve noticed a lot of writers are saying the same 10 years ago 3k was light work now I’m scraping together 1k. Is this what it means to get old?
Q: Is there a particular reader response or review that has stood out to you?
A: I wouldn’t count them as a reader as they haven’t confirmed whether they have bought the book but they said something along the lines whenever I see your TikTok’s I’m so proud of you, and when I saw that I was like don’t make me cry because I am a weeper.
Future Projects
Q: Can you give us a sneak peek into any upcoming projects or works in progress?
A: I can give you the titles: Death, Dreams and Disaster (hoping that’ll be a three book series), Yes, today (standalone), Call of Alvera (7 books series if I ever crack down on the world building)
Q: Are there specific genres or themes you'd like to explore in your future writing?
A: I’d love to do a historical one. It would be cool. I love learning so the research aspect would be fun.
Inspirations and Influences
Q: Who are some authors or books that have had a significant impact on your writing?
A: Dean Koontz, I’ve only read his Odd Thomas series. I really liked how he portrayed the first person narration, Alex Scarrow - Time Riders love the way there was a main plot that ran through the series but still each book had its own specific plot that branched off. Also Malorie Blackman noughts and crosses, need I say more.
Q: Are there specific themes or topics that consistently inspire your work?
A: Annoyingly within every story there is an element of religion. I think that’s due to the weird relationship I have with Christianity and the church which is probably why every story has an element of religion somewhere. Also time, alternative relatives, time not being linear. Love a bit of timey wimey wibbly wobbly stuff.
Q: How do real-life experiences influence the fictional worlds you create?
A: It’s like an anchor for me, gives me a new perspective of things and causes me to think differently.
Personal Insights
Q: When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
A: I love anime, as a writer I couldn't recommend studying anime as a medium of understanding writing because one thing anime will do (sometimes) is give you fully fleshed characters and multiple plots. If we were to go for one of the big three one piece the main premise is to find the one piece simple enough. However the main protagonist luffy needs a crew, a whole arc is dedicated to him getting his starting six within each intro to a new crew we came across mini obstacles and top of that each crew member had their own motives which at any point the story could’ve followed them instead and still proved to be a good watch. One piece is just my go to when it comes to writing a universe that just keeps expanding and I take a lot of inspiration to how I plan. Just want to premise I’m on episode 893 and there’s 1122 episodes so far (tell Mr Oda it’s enough slices)
Q: How has being an author changed or influenced your perspective on life?
A: I’m always looking at people and still it's crazy to think that everyone has their own life, they have people in their lives that I will never meet or maybe have passed by. It’s like that theory that you’re 10 people away from knowing a celebrity. Or the other about everyone being connected.
Advice for Aspiring Writers
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring writers who are just starting their journey?
A: The market will never be saturated, as long as there are books there will always be people inspired and in turn create their own.
Q: Reflecting on your own experiences, is there anything you wish you had known when you were starting as an author?
A: That feedback should not make you nervous enough not to want to get it. Constructive feedback will only propel you further into your passion, not drag you out.
I don't know about y'all but I feel like I know Ajrea after reading this and I hope that y'all have a new author to keep on your radar! Thank you so much Ajrea for allowing me to highlight you! To keep up with Ajrea and get your copy of The Year Plan follow the link below and as always
Blissful Reading
Comments