An Interview With Gay Romance Novelist Peter E. Fenton

Peter Fenton talks about romance, writing sex scenes and the cover of his new book.

Writer Scott White sits down with author Peter Fenton to find out more about his latest novel, The Woodcarver’s Model.

Scott: First of all, thanks for taking the time to sit down and do this interview.

Peter: It’s my pleasure.

Scott: So you’re writing a novel. Based on your previous creative work, I thought you were more of a playwright? I mean, you wrote on a family musical, a screwball comedy for the stage and a biographical musical … is it odd to add a romance novel to this mix?

Peter: Not really. For me, regardless of the medium, I love writing and telling a good story. Many writers tell their stories across a range of genres. The author Roald Dahl comes to mind. He wrote children’s stories such as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, but he also wrote dark short stories that were turned into Twilight Zone episodes. He also wrote erotica. For me, this was simply a creative challenge and I was curious to see if I could do it. I still plan on writing on plays, but during the pandemic it seemed more productive to focus my creative work towards a place that wasn’t … shut down.

Scott: Writing a novel is a big undertaking. Where did you find the time?

Peter: In the spring of 2020 I was working full time at the Royal Ontario Museum. When the pandemic hit, I was very fortunate because I could still work at home, but in order to save our jobs, everyone in our department was bumped back to working only four days a week. That meant that I had Fridays off. And at the time, going out and socializing wasn’t exactly encouraged and I needed something to do. So I decided to write a gay romance novel.

Scott: Why a gay romance?

Peter: A friend of mine was talking about how the romance market in both film and novels was booming. During the pandemic in particular, people were looking for stories that would allow them to escape their troubles. This friend said that one of the biggest sectors of growth was gay romance, and so I thought … why don’t I give it a try?

Scott: How is a gay romance different than any other romance book?

Peter: Aside from the central characters being gay, I don’t think there is a big difference. I think some people assume that romances have a lot of sex in them. While sometimes that is true, it isn’t always the case. The key element is a character that is looking for love, and through the story finds that love. I think this book in particular will appeal to a wide audience, and if anyone is squeamish about the sex scenes, they can skim past them and still get a good story filled with heart and romance.

Scott: So you’d decided what type of book you wanted to write. Where did the idea come from for the story?

Peter: I actually started by looking at some of the formulas for writing romance novels, in terms of structure and story arc. I was missing travel, so the idea of writing a story that involved a travel writer going on assignment to a warm island and falling in love with an artist took shape and every Friday I sat down and wrote. And then eventually, I started writing evenings and early mornings, and in time … I had a rough draft of a novel. Of course, I broke away from the formula and wound up with a book that had the voice of a romance novel, but didn’t exactly follow the formulaic structure. And then I thought, “What do I do now?”

Scott: As I recall you gave it to me to read and offer some observations.

Peter: Yes. And you had a LOT of observations. I think working through the edits and notes on the first draft took almost as long as it did to WRITE the first draft, but in the long run it paid off.

Scott: How so?

Peter: It gave me the confidence to get a list of publishers for gay romance and start the process of sending the manuscript out for consideration. It’s a long process and at first, it was a bit disheartening to receive letters that politely declined the novel.

Scott: I told you they were “badges of honour.”

Peter: I saw them more as rejections, but after many many months, a company in England called Pride Publishing , a division of Totally Entwined Group sent me a different letter.

Scott: I remember the tone in your voice when you called and said, “They said YES.”

Peter: It was exciting. That was in July of last year and since that time, well, I’ve learned a lot.

Scott: In what way?

Peter: Writing a novel is much different than writing a play.

Scott: Can you give me an example of what you mean?

Peter: Well when I write a play, the action takes place in front of the audience and it’s always clear who is speaking. But in a novel, sometimes the reader needs a bit more information. So one way to accomplish that is through dialogue tags, like “he said” or “she said” which sounds so simple when you start out. But as I worked with the editor, passages that I thought were clear, needed more dialogue tags … and you can’t just always say “he said” or “she said” or it gets … repetitive. And then there’s where you place that dialogue tag. And then you start getting into what happens when you accidentally shift point of view in a section. As the writer, it was all perfectly clear in my head, but the editor worked with me to help me see the work with an outside eye and make sure the story was clear to a new reader.

Scott: Tell me a bit about the process of working with your editor?

Peter: My primary editor was Anna Olson and she is AMAZING. Prior to this, I had always thought of editing in terms of grammar, punctuation and spelling, but what she did was so much more … and the editing process is just that … a process. The editor doesn’t take one pass and ask for corrections. They go through the manuscript and fill it with notes, observations, and suggestions. In one case, it was suggested that a chapter be cut because it didn’t forward the narrative and the material was covered in a later chapter. In another case it was about where and how to break up chapters to fit the needs of the publisher, but also to fit the flow of the book. And with each set of edits, I would do corrections, and then another set of edits would come back which would result in a lot more work. In the final session, two other final line editors came on board to do a read and offer their comments. The process ensured the best possible outcome and the clearest story-telling for the reader.

Scott: In the editing process did you do much re-writing?

Peter: For this novel, there wasn’t a huge amount of restructuring, but there were lots of tweaks, and lots of finding stronger endings for sections and chapters. And every round of edits, I redid the sex scenes. Writing sex scenes is more challenging than one would think.

Scott: How so?

Peter: Well, this particular book is a romance, but there is also … sex. And the challenge is that I didn’t want the scenes to be too graphic, but I also wanted them to create some excitement. So at first, I kind of went at it from a more anatomical perspective. I sort of looked at the physical mechanics of what I wanted to depict and then figured out what was possible. But then … describing that in a way that would allow the reader to visualize it … I mean there are only so many ways you can describe body parts and positions. So my first attempts were rather clunky. My second attempts where I tried to make it steamy were … awkward. What I learned is that if you set up a scene and start the action, you don’t have to describe everything after that. You can let the reader’s imagination take hold, and it sort of helps. In some ways, when writing a sex scene, a good set-up can do a lot of the work. I’d never had to write a sex scene before.

Scott: Were you satisfied with the end result?

Peter: I think it was better than when I started. The sex makes up only a small amount of the book. There is a lot of romance though. The publishing company ranks the level of sex in the book so readers know what they are getting. My book wound up in the “simmer” category. The story of the central character, his journey to romance, the wacky cast of characters he meets along the way and the added mystery connected to the love interest’s past is really what makes the book fun to read. And I think the cover of the book is going to make a lot of people take an interest.

Scott: What’s so special about the cover?

Peter: Pride Publishing works with a skilled team of artists to come up with an image that is compelling and captures the tone of the story. The book is called The Woodcarver’s Model and the cover has a man modelling in a state of … partial undress. It is very tastefully done, but honestly … it’s pretty sexy. If the book doesn’t sell a lot of copies, I suspect sales of a poster of the book cover would make up for it. I was so excited when I saw the cover. It made it real.

Scott: So where can one find out more about the book?

Peter:  My blog page at www.peterefenton.ca. And if you subscribe to the page, the news will come straight into your inbox. Readers will be the very first to view the cover of the book, see advance reviews, have the chance to read excerpts. The site will arouse curiosity and also share news after the book comes out.

Scott: And what happens after the book comes out?

Peter: There will be some marketing work, but already I am working on something new. A gay detective series that I hope will be released over the upcoming years. I retired from my full time job last fall. Writing on the novels and then eventually getting back at the plays is how I hope to spend my time. And hopefully I’ll also fit in some travel again when that becomes a bit easier.

Scott: It sounds like you haven’t really retired, you’ve just switched to a different job.

Peter: I love to write, and retirement will afford me the opportunity to pursue my passion and hopefully bring some joy to a lot of people.

Scott: Thanks so much for the interview today.

Peter: My pleasure.

The Woodcarver’s Model will be released by Pride Publishing on April 19th. For details on pre-release and more information on upcoming novels, watch this site. For more information on other books by Pride Publishing, go to www.pride-publishing.com

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Published on January 19, 2022 12:15
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