Kate Lowell's Blog, page 33
June 29, 2014
My take on women writing MM Romance
QFT
Coming from a scifi/fantasy/spec fic background, the argument that women can’t write gay romance because they aren’t gay men is null. I doubt Stephen King has ever been chased by an evil clown. Or that Burroughs ever travelled through a cave into a world where dinosaurs still existed. So, thank you, Jaime, for saying all the things I’d like to say, but can’t, because it turns me into a spitting little sarcasm monster.
Originally posted on Jamie Fessenden's Blog:
The argument has surfaced again and again over the four years since I first published in this genre: Are women really capable of writing MM Romance? After all, it’s about men. Shouldn’t men write it?
My answer to those questions is a bit complex, so bear with me.
First, a little history. This is based upon my personal experience, supplemented by some cursory research, so don’t take anything I say as absolute fact. I would love to see someone do a really thorough history of the genre someday.
I don’t know how old modern “gay literature” is. I do know E.M. Forster wrote Maurice in 1913 (though it wasn’t published until after his death in 1971). Blair Niles published a novel in 1931 called Strange Brother, which tells of the friendship between a heterosexual woman and a gay man. Authors such as Christopher Isherwood and Langston Hughes…
View original 1,895 more words
Filed under: Uncategorized
June 27, 2014
June 25, 2014
Three Dirty Birds Talk Story Trumps Structure: Chapter 2
Click here to go to the post at Zoe Rider’s blog. :)
Filed under: Three Dirty Birds Talk, writing Tagged: story trumps structure, writing advice, writing books
June 24, 2014
Tuesday Guest Tickle: Technically Dating by Jena Wade
Jena’s got a new release. Hooray! Here’s all about it, including the spiffy cover.
Coming June 25th (Tomorrow!) from Dreamspinner Press
Blurb:
Meek and mild Bruce Collins decides to set aside his life in technical support for the evening and try a wild night on the town. Self-described nerd Bruce meets suave Westley Taylor at a club, but the night doesn’t go as planned. When they run into each other the next day, Bruce is determined to get the details right and finish what they started. Westley is impressed and invites Bruce on date after date. Bruce figures they’re technically dating and might even be in a relationship, until he accidentally overhears a phone message intended for Westley. Every aspect of their time together comes into question. Now, it’s time for Westley to set the facts straight.
Excerpt:
“I’m sorry.” Bruce sighed and cupped Westley’s face with his hands. “Any chance we could postpone this until later?” The temptation to say yes lingered on his lips, but they still had the issue of where they were going to hook up. Mature Westley choose that time to remind him of his responsibilities. “I have to work early tomorrow.” He couldn’t exactly start his walk of shame at his place of work. Though, it was appealing.
Bruce kissed him hard and then smoothed Westley’s swollen lips with the pad of his thumb. “I’m going to dream about these lips tonight.” He stepped back, and Westley felt the loss in the pit of his stomach.
“I’m sorry,” Bruce said.
“Me too.”
Westley stood in the parking lot of the club and watched Bruce walk away. The sound of the club thumped in the background, and the laughter of the partygoers reached his ears, but he ignored it.
Seeing Bruce again was unlikely. If he was staying at the hotel, that meant he wasn’t local. Loss settled in Westley’s chest when Bruce got into his car and drove out of sight.
Where else can you find Jena and her other amazing stories?
Her website
Her Twitter
Filed under: Guest Releases, Tuesday Tickle Tagged: mm romance, nerds
June 23, 2014
Three Dirty Birds Talk…About Writing and Writing Books
As a direct result of a random tweet by Zoe X. Rider, the Three Dirty Birds column/blog posts was born. It’s just myself, Ana J. Phoenix, and Zoe, talking about whatever turns our crank.
And, without further ado, I present our inaugural post:
______________________
Welcome to Three Dirty Birds Talk, where three dirty birds talk about writing, sex, wine, and whatever else takes our fancy (usually sex).
Today, we’re talking about a writing book we’ve all read and fallen in love with, but is it right for the erotic romance genre? Does it have a satisfying climax?
The book in question is Story Trumps Structure by Steven James, which purports to be a writing book for pantsers. (But you can still read it when you’re not wearing pants.)
We’ve decided to go through it, chapter by chapter, and see if it fits any better than our pants.
So, Chapter One: The Ceiling Fan Principle
Kate: I can’t read this title without thinking about all those old comedies where a guy gets hooked on a ceiling fan and spins around until he’s suddenly flung off, decimating the bad guys.
Ana: Would that still count as something going wrong?
Zoe: For the bad guys.
Kate: Despite my rather ADD attention span, what he’s actually talking about is how a story never really starts until something goes wrong.
Zoe: I think this is the first writing book I’ve read where that’s been spelled out so clearly right from the get go: something has to go wrong, or you don’t have a story.
Ana: I like that it’s really easy to understand and remember for my ADD mind.
Kate: ADD seems to be a common thread around here…
Zoe: Were you saying something?
Kate: Never.
Zoe: I think we sometimes create these characters that we fall in love with, and we just want to toodle along and see good things happen to them. (Well, maybe not you guys. You guys might like torturing your characters.)
Ana: I’m going to pretend like that doesn’t apply to me.
Kate: Ha! Considering the end I wrote into Bite Me last week, I have to say, I resemble that remark.
Ana: He does say readers want to see things go wrong to the characters they care about. Not sure I agree with that. I mean, yes, it has to happen, but I don’t know that people really read hoping to see something horrible happen. Consciously.
Kate: I think it’s more to do with knowing that everything will turn out all right in the end, unlike in real life. They enjoy reading about things going wrong, because, in a romance anyway, there will always be some sort of happy ending and closure. It’s hopeful.
Zoe: It’s rewarding, seeing people overcome the odds, as uncomfortable as the journey can be getting there sometimes.
Ana: I think that’s a big part of what I like about reading romance.
Kate: I’d agree with you there.
Ana: Like when I see a character being mangled I’m looking forward to seeing him put back together. (Comfort sex anyone?)
Zoe: I love hurt/comfort when it’s done well. LOVE.
Ana: I love hurt/comfort.
Kate: Oh, good, I have an audience when I get around to the side story from Knight. There is something that he misses in the book, is all the different forms of romance writing there is. Hurt/comfort is a story arc that he doesn’t really address, mostly because this is a more general ‘book for all genres’, but I think, also, because he’s a thriller writer and any romance in his book would be a subplot. Or a fridge.
Ana: I’m in love with my fridge.
Zoe: I really liked the point he made about “Characters make choices to reduce tension (after something goes wrong.” It gives you active characters.
Kate: That’s a useful distinction, too. Especially since some characters make choices that reduce tension temporarily, but end up ratcheting it up in the long run. Short term thinkers, my characters. (Not. So. Bright.)
Ana: Well, most choices characters make should eventually ratchet up the tension. Even if the character thinks it’s well thought out. (Not that a lot of my characters seem to do much thinking. Not with their heads, anyway.)
Zoe: I think of that as the “because” effect. “Because the character decided to do (or not do) this, this happened.”
Kate: When I’m critiquing, I call it ‘supporting their choices’. There has to be enough in the way of characterization or foreshadowing to make the choices logical, then the logical consequence follows.
Zoe: Which goes back to the character’s desire: he/she’s going to be making choices based on that.
Ana: I think we can safely say desire is key. (Maybe even for non-erotica)
Kate: Lol. Desire is what drives characters, some change they need to make in their circumstances or themselves.
Zoe: Or even the desire to avoid some change.
Kate: And then something goes wrong…
Ana: I love how he mentions the erotica genre once and then never brings it up again.
Zoe: Because erotica’s the only genre, you guys, where people are allowed to have sex early in the story without it ruining the story!
Ana: I know! That’s why I write it!
Kate: Okay, so overall, what did you ladies (and I say that advisedly) think of what Mr. James had to say in the first chapter?
Ana: Some good, some bad. (The bad being the lack of erotica, of course.) I liked what he said about tension-driven stories, because I think that’s something a lot of beginning writers tend to neglect.
Zoe: Yeah, I think he put some important stuff right up front and said it pretty clearly.
Kate: That clarity was huge for me. Some books are so dense, and you’d swear the writer is writing it more to show how smart they are than to actually teach. I thought he did a good job turning things on their heads, like talking about how you need to think about what should go wrong, instead of what should happen. I did sense a little disdain(?) maybe for the romance genre?
Ana: Reading the book sometimes made me feel that he didn’t understand the romance genre very well, and probably doesn’t read it much, but I can forgive it. (Not sure I can forgive the lack of erotica, of course. Too many writing books tell me my characters can’t have sex. Or, at least not with body parts being mentioned!)
Zoe: I sensed some disdain for plotters too. But I just kind of read past that, because around that, there was good stuff.
Kate: That’s true. There’s good stuff in this chapter, but if you write romance or, I suspect, fantasy, you might have to roll your eyes a few times.
Ana: So, ladies, want to give me some ideas on how to keep the ‘romantic tension’ up in a book where you have your characters fall into bed with each other in the first chapter? (Or well, before the ending, anyway.)
Kate: Romance and physical sex are two different things. When I want to up the romantic tension, I focus on the emotions. Not on the crotch.
Ana: Well said!
Zoe: Right—in romance, you’re keeping them from a happy ending…till the ending.
___________________
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is our first rough foray into Three Dirty Birds. We’ll be talking about Chapter Two (how to open a story) over at Zoe’s blog on Wednesday!
Filed under: Three Dirty Birds Talk
June 20, 2014
Conversations with my Characters
Me: Nathan, did you have anything to do with this bottle of Frangelico in my bag?
Nathan: No.
Me: Are you sure? I mean, I already had a bottle of wine in my hand. I didn’t need to buy a bottle of liqueur as well.
Nathan: Not me.
Me: I dunno. It’s kind of suspicious. I mean, it is hazelnut.
Nathan: What, Frangelico?
Me: Now, you know your tail grows when you lie.
Nathan: Really?
Me: What have I done?
It’s all in aid of character building. And it’s Friday. I have wine. And, somewhere, Frangelico.
Filed under: Conversations with my Characters, writing Tagged: mm romance, weresquirrels
June 19, 2014
Necessities of Writing: Choosing Your Drink
No, not booze! (Although, I could do a post on that some day. Just imagine the research…)
Nope. By drink, I mean that nectar of the gods, and saviour of sleep-deprived writers everywhere…COFFEE.
There’s my Keurig, which I’ve only just noticed really needs to be cleaned. It’s a measure of my current indolence that I’d rather put that picture up than go down, clean it, and take another picture. (Never blog after eating out with your kids. So full…)
So, there’s three kinds of coffee shown here, because you need different coffees for different purposes.
There’s French roast, for first thing in the morning, when my eyes refuse to point at the same thing at the same time, but instead run wild like toddlers who’ve just discovered the chocolate fountain.
If words are good, and the stories are behaving, and my brain agrees to focus for more than ten minutes at a time, there’s the Blue Mountain. It’s heart attack expensive compared to other coffees, but drinks in much the same way a fine wine does, without the running into walls and falling down stairs part. (well, no, once the caffeine kicks in, it’s actually a very similar experience. No hangover, though. :) )
And, in the evening, I have this new thing to try. I’m not sure if you can get it in the States, but it’s out in stores here. It’s a decaf coffee, with valerian in it. Which hopefully will counteract the effects of the Blue Mountain and the French roast, and let me sleep at night. I’m trying a cup now, and there is a slightly herbal taste to it. There isn’t the richness of flavour that I find with the other two, but decaf tends to taste rather thin to me anyway. Still, we’ll stick it out for a few nights and see if I sleep any better. Knowing I have a manuscript sitting in my editor’s hot little hands, and knowing the story I’m working on needs to be finished ASAP, it’s probably a good idea not to stress my system out any more than it already is. :D
Filed under: writing Tagged: coffee, writer's tics
June 17, 2014
Tuesday Guest Tickle: Brick by Brick by Maryn Blackburn
I first met Maryn in the Erotica subforum at Absolute Write. She is a lovely lady, with a wicked sense of humour, and rock solid common sense. She is also, now, a fellow Loose Id author. :D Here’s her stuff!
****
Thanks for having me, Kate. (My mom would be so pleased I remembered my manners.) I’m Maryn Blackburn, author of Brick by Brick, a ménage à trois novel published by Loose Id. Here’s what it’s about:
Natalie and her husband James, who runs a Tucson masonry firm, are happy enough despite business being in a continued slump. After nearly a decade, their sex life has less spark than it once did. They’ve idly talked about a threesome, although they cannot imagine who (or how) they could ask. It’s a spicy fantasy until the night they attend a party where handsome actor Gage Strickland needs another guy to rescue him from his adoring fans, all of them women.
After two bottles of first-rate wine, their fantasy becomes a reality, but not the one Natalie imagined. She is not the object of two adoring men, one of them faceless and conveniently disappearing when the loving’s done. Instead, the other man is the gorgeous Gage, he’s the one in the middle–and what does that make James?
Because she loves her husband, she accepts his new reality. Their intimacy is refreshed, their needs like newlyweds’ as the days pass waiting for Gage’s call, until they can only conclude he never will. They were a one-night stand.
Gage does return, seeking not just sex but a relationship, although he has no idea how they work. He has his reasons for choosing sex with strangers in the past, since they’ve been eager to do what Gage wants for the bragging rights. Now he’s inclined to leave at the first sign of trouble rather than working through it.
Tripped up by Gage, the ménage stumbles often but continues. Natalie soon fears her James prefers Gage over her. There’s one thing Gage won’t do in the bedroom, but is her willingness enough to hold onto her husband? Or will Gage sabotage the whole thing before they reach that point?
I hope I haven’t told too much, but it’s probably like telling you Dorothy makes it back from Oz. You know how it’s going to play out, just not the details. Like Mom said, the adventure is in the journey, not the destination.
Oh, and the one question which will come up? Yes, Gage is based on a real actor, although it doesn’t matter who. But know this: A book that starts out as the worst sort of fan fiction, imagining your life intersecting with an actor’s and what might happen next, can become something richly complete and entirely free of him and yourself. I actually prefer Gage to the man he’s based on, since I got to mold him. The actor refuses to let me do the same for him, as if he had the right to control his own life. Imagine that!
Excerpt:
“You’re an actor too?” Gage sat straighter, his expression freshly attentive.
I rarely saw James flush with pride, not even when customers gushed about his artistic masonry. “Just TV ads.” He drank. “None lately.” He lifted himself from the recliner with a little groan, then added another log to the fire and prodded it to life.
“They still show his cotton ads,” I said. “Putting on a T-shirt. Taking a pair of jeans off the clothesline and smelling them, and the camera goes back and you can see there must be hundreds of pairs. Flopping onto this big bed and the sheets puff up around him. My sister thought that one was dirty, the expression on his face.”
Gage was a good audience, listening more than talking, laughing a lot when I blurted whatever was in my head without thinking first. Time glided past rapidly. Gage moved to refill my glass; I wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. I asked James with my eyes if I was doing all right.
“Go ahead, Nat,” he said. I knew that lazy smile. He wasn’t drunk, just uninhibited, loose to the nth degree. Some of our best sex included that look—and some of James’s best TV ads did too. “It’s a party, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Gage filled my glass halfway before the bottle emptied. “A good party.”
“With only three, I think we have to call it an intimate gathering,” James said.
Gage’s smile dazzled. “Do I open the next one?”
What the hell. “If you like your gatherings really intimate,” I said.
“I think she wants you to stay,” James said, laughing. “Open it, already.”
The cork squeaked out. “See if you taste layers of fruit.” Gage sounded a little buzzed too.
James sipped, rolling the wine in his mouth with a frown of concentration.
“Taste it? Blackberries and raspberries? Kind of voluptuous and round. God, listen to me, one bottle and I turn into a pompous wine asshole. Anyway, it’s really ripe and full-bodied. Like Natalie.” He held his glass up, admiring the color.
Or toasting me? No. Ridiculous.
James raised his glass as well. “She’s something in that dress, isn’t she?” At Gage’s nod, he added, “You ought to see her out of it.”
Like the teaser? You can buy it here today!
Filed under: Uncategorized
June 16, 2014
Aaand…We’re Done!
Finished out at 79, 400 words. It probably won’t stop there, but it was a whopper of a story. It’s entirely possible we may cut some chapters before we’re done, but that will have to wait for editorial comment.
In the meantime, I’m feeling a bit at loose ends. I shouldn’t feel like I still owe words, because I wrote 3000 today alone, went through the manuscript twice, and completely rewrote the ending. But I do. I guess because I’ve never shut down LSB before 10 pm in a long time.
I think, for tonight, I shall have a bath, read a book, and play a bunch of Tapped Out. I’m grinding for cash and Stonecutter emblems. Woohoo!
Filed under: Bite Me Later, writing Tagged: finished, mm romance, werewolves, witches
June 13, 2014
Ugh
That moment when you realize that you have 2600 words of the wrong viewpoint, and that you’ve wasted the better part of a week over it.
Although it’s good to have the mystery solved.
Still want to cry, though. I wanted this story to be done!!
Back to the (embarrassing) trenches.
Filed under: writing Tagged: revision hell
