What's on your m/m wishlist for 2013?

So here's a sort of a wishlist for 2013, things I'd like to see more of in m/m, and things I'd like to see a lot less of as well. 
Dub-con. I do love me some dub-con. Blackmail stories are really doing it for me at the moment. I love the power games at play there, but I've yet to find one I really love-love. Any recommendations are welcome! 
Puppy play. Hot, cute, and at the same time weirdly humiliating...or so I thought. So often puppy play involves the big nasty Dom getting his rocks off by humiliating his sub, the the puppy play becomes -- and this may be the point, I guess -- dehumanising. The problem with dehumanising a character though, is that pretty soon I stop giving a damn about him. M/m needs more sweet puppy play...but J.A. Rock and I have got some of that covered... :) 
Humiliation. No apologies, I love it. But, like with the puppy play, it's a fine line. Cross it into dehumanisation, and you've lost me. 
Age play. Sometimes creepy, sometimes awesome. I want to read more of the awesome, please. 
More drag queens! But only if we also get to see what happens once the make-up comes off. 
Frat boys. Because they're young, cute, and a completely foreign species to me. We don't have frats in Australia, so all my working knowledges comes from movies and TV. So I basically know nothing. 
ANGST! MORE ANGST! I do love a book that puts me through emotional hell. As a writer, I'm a sadist. As a reader, I'm a total masochist. But it's totally subjective. A book that makes you cry might just make me roll my eyes and wish every character hurried up and died. And vice versa. Everyone's taste is different, which is what makes comparing opinions so much fun. 


And now for the things I'd like to see less of. 
I'd like to see less insta-love, but that's always been a pet peeve of mine. 
I'd also like to see less of what's become a staple in m/m -- the solo shower jerk-off. Now admittedly I have one of these in one of my WIPs, but ever since it was brought to my attention how common it is (thanks, Ami!) it's going to go. 
And while we're on cliches, why are so many Doms multimillionaires who do nothing else but hang out in mysterious sex clubs? Seriously guys, you don't get to be a multimillionaire without at least occasionally going to work. This year, I'd like to see more Doms with real jobs and mortgages, who have to stop off on the way home from the mysterious sex club to buy milk. 
And I hate -- and will always hate -- when a Dom is a Dom because he was abused, abandoned or unloved as a child. Or, worse, when a sub is a sub because he was abused, abandoned, or unloved as a child. Not every kink needs a nasty psychological trigger, and not every scene is a therapy session. Sometimes you just need what you need. It really can be as simple as that. 
What would you like to see more of in m/m? And what really annoys the hell out of you? 
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Published on January 02, 2013 16:39
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message 1: by Lisa (new)

Lisa Henry ♥♥ Amaranth wrote: "I'm with you, I love the angst and the dub-con (blackmail is always good). Also, I want more cross dressing and male-preg stories. Don't know why I love that so much but I do and I'm not afraid t..."

I still love a good shifter story...but I'm with you. It's increasingly hard to find a good one when there are gazillions out there.


message 2: by Isa (new)

Isa K. My most hated trope lately is slave fic where the love interest is ridiculously wealthy. I should think the story would be all the more interesting if the love interest couldn't ever even hope to afford to buy the MC.


message 3: by Penumbra (new)

Penumbra I'd like more dub-con, but I don't want more angst, I'm not a reading masochist. However, slow shower jerk-off scenes I do like and hope they don't go away.

I could do away with the inst-love too, that's one of my pet peeves. And I totally agree with you on the multi-millionaire Doms, why are they all filthy rich and absolutely gorgeous? There are more average looking people, that's why they're called average. The number of characters in stories that are all stunningly gorgeous, tall, and surprisingly have an overabundance of green eyes is astounding. It's like only these type of people have all the exciting things happen to them in life. I want to see and read about average looking people, people I can relate to.

I love shifter stories so I hope those continue. I'd like to see more older-younger male pairings because age differences are hot :) I also like more pairings between students and professors, or someone in a professional position and the other an intern or apprentice.


message 4: by Emma Sea (new)

Emma Sea Everything you said.


message 5: by Penumbra (new)

Penumbra Isa wrote: "My most hated trope lately is slave fic where the love interest is ridiculously wealthy. I should think the story would be all the more interesting if the love interest couldn't ever even hope to a..."

How about if he starts out wealthy, then loses his wealth? How does he keep his slave? Or does he? And how does he get him back if his slave is taken from him if the owner happens to have fallen in love with his slave? ;)


message 6: by Isa (new)

Isa K. Penumbra wrote: "How about if he starts out wealthy, then loses his wealth? How does he keep his slave?"

Yes omg that would be awesome. Master cast out from his world of privilege, has to fight back to save his love... very slow burn. Would be especially awesome if the slave was technically considered a higher rank than his now-disenfranchised former Master

Ugh ugh I'm annoyed by the lameness of our genre sometimes. So many AMAZING stories that could be told but we keep trying to squeeze milk out of the same dried up cows.


message 7: by Penumbra (new)

Penumbra Isa wrote: "Penumbra wrote: "Yes omg that would be awesome. Master cast out from his world of privilege, has to fight back to save his love... very slow burn. Would be especially awesome if the slave was technically considered a higher rank than his now-disenfranchised former Master..."

OMG yes! The slave is now higher ranking than the Master! Can you imagine the angst? :D

You need to write iiiitttt! :D


message 8: by Isa (last edited Jan 03, 2013 06:41PM) (new)

Isa K. Penumbra wrote: "You need to write iiiitttt! :D "

...Before or after The Freelances II, Fun with Dick and Shame, Reversal, and my transgendered YA WIP....?

YOU should write it :3


message 9: by Penumbra (new)

Penumbra Isa wrote: "...Before or after The Freelances II, Fun with Dick and Shame, Reversal, and my transgendered YA WIP....?"

Write fasssterrrr!!! lol! :D


message 10: by Isa (new)

Isa K. Oh and I forgot about that serial killer + detective romance too :D


message 11: by Penumbra (last edited Jan 03, 2013 06:47PM) (new)

Penumbra Isa wrote: "Oh and I forgot about that serial killer + detective romance too :D"

The one I really want to read is Fun with Dick and Shame :)

Oh, and I'm not really a writer, I'm not as ingenious as you and a lot of other authors I've read.


message 12: by Isa (new)

Isa K. Maybe Lisa should write it? :D We are on her blog after all.


message 13: by Purplegirl (new)

Purplegirl M/M mafia. I mean a good one with violence and love. But the mafia boss needs to be hardcore and only shows the softer side to his partner.


message 14: by Leanne (new)

Leanne Yes! Everything on your list. Plus more medical kink :)


message 15: by Hal (new)

Hal Evergreen No frats in Australia? My dear, you have no idea how fortunate you are. Real frat boys are the scum of the earth. No kidding.


message 16: by Lisa (last edited Jan 04, 2013 05:05AM) (new)

Lisa Henry Isa wrote: "Maybe Lisa should write it? :D We are on her blog after all."

Wow, I go off to work for a few hours, and this turns into an awesome brainstorming session! Someone has to write the fallen master story!

* looking pointedly at Isa *


message 17: by Lisa (new)

Lisa Henry Leanne wrote: "Yes! Everything on your list. Plus more medical kink :)"

How could I forget medical kink? I think I'm actively trying to suppress it after reading Not His Kiss to Take before I went to the doctor. Um...awkward... :)


message 18: by Lisa (new)

Lisa Henry Hannah wrote: "No frats in Australia? My dear, you have no idea how fortunate you are. Real frat boys are the scum of the earth. No kidding."

So everyone tells me! I'm dying to write a frat story, but it would involve way more research than I want to take on at the moment. They're just fascinating to me... a whole foreign world.


message 19: by Lisa (new)

Lisa Henry ♥♥ Amaranth wrote: "Ok, I must clarify what I meant when I said no more shifter stories. I was pretty vague. I'm just tired of the insta-love, no-choice-in-my-mate stories. Uggh. And the idea about the fallen Mast..."

*looks pointedly at Isa again*

I totally get what you mean about shifter stories. There are some I love, but it increasingly feels like the current crop of them is just more of the same. And where did this idea come from of bonded mates anyway? Animals don't mope around waiting for their bonded mate. Hell no. They leap on the nearest viable candidate and stake a claim! They make their own bonds, they don't feel some weird mystical connection that means there is only one option for them in the whole entire universe. That's a fast track to extinction, that is. :)


message 20: by Penumbra (new)

Penumbra Lisa wrote: " And where did this idea come from of bonded mates anyway? Animals don't mope around waiting for their bonded mate. Hell no. They leap on the nearest viable candidate and stake a claim! They make their own bonds, they don't feel some weird mystical connection that means there is only one option for them in the whole entire universe. ..."

Animals do create their own bonds once they choose their mates, but the ones in stories are what I consider paranormal shapeshifters which has a different set of extra rules that don't pertain to ordinary animals. There is a mix of what seems like 'magic' affecting shifters that somehow was handed to them by fate. What I'd like to see is someone write a story where the mythology of why shifters have this instant mate recognition and where it came from. Was it a curse? Or possibly a mutation in the genetic makeup that causes it? Did it prove to be an adaptation that was beneficial to the weres because it somehow strengthened them when they found their mate? I kind of go with the curse or the beneficial aspect of the 'instant mate' aspect.

But I do like were stories and I like finding the mate part. It just hits the right spot for me because it's different from the 'love at first sight' found in so many romance stories in both M/M and M/F fic. Even if we don't know why weres need to find their mate, they have a reason for being the way they are, they are weres. The human romance stories are just overgrown with insta-love.


message 21: by Fehu (new)

Fehu I'd love to see more mpreg stories, also some more books that are not instant lust/love.

I love bonding stories or forced to marry/bond themes and there are not a lot of them out there, especially ones where the two person forced to bond don't fall in love after 20 or so pages.


message 22: by Emma Sea (last edited Jan 04, 2013 03:39PM) (new)

Emma Sea For the ultimate in bonded mate stories someone needs to write an Anglerfish shifter fic.


message 23: by Lisa (new)

Lisa Henry Emma wrote: "For the ultimate in bonded mate stories someone needs to write an Anglerfish shifter fic."

That would be weirdly disturbing...I'd read it in a heartbeat!


message 24: by Lisa (new)

Lisa Henry Penumbra wrote: "Lisa wrote: " And where did this idea come from of bonded mates anyway? Animals don't mope around waiting for their bonded mate. Hell no. They leap on the nearest viable candidate and stake a claim..."

Yeah, I should have been more specific in what I meant. Its the paranormal bonding aspect that I've read too much of lately, and I'm a bit tired of it. You're right -- it's never explained. And I'd also like to see it used more negatively. What about two people who are bonded, who really don't like each other, but who need to be together? There's some fun conflict, right there? But no, it seems that the second they're bonded, they always stop fighting it.


message 25: by Lisa (new)

Lisa Henry Fehu wrote: "I'd love to see more mpreg stories, also some more books that are not instant lust/love.

I love bonding stories or forced to marry/bond themes and there are not a lot of them out there, especiall..."


I'm not a huge fan of mpreg, but maybe I haven't read the right ones yet! I do love forced marriage stories, but I love forced anything stories... :)


message 26: by Penumbra (new)

Penumbra Lisa wrote: "And I'd also like to see it used more negatively. What about two people who are bonded, who really don't like each other, but who need to be together? There's some fun conflict, right there? But no, it seems that the second they're bonded, they always stop fighting it.
..."


I think it would be nice to see some angry, lustful mate sex, but they can't stand each other either. Maybe it would be some sort of story where one is working undercover and has to be someone he isn't and the mate doesn't know he's undercover but can't stand the 'person' the undercover mate has to portray. So he hates the other shifter even though they are mates. And the other undercover mate hates his mate because the mate is giving the undercover mate such a hard time about an image that he has to have for the undercover job. Lots of misunderstandings so there is lust but angry sex :D Until the very end when everything is straightened out :)


message 27: by Lisa (new)

Lisa Henry Penumbra wrote: "Lisa wrote: "And I'd also like to see it used more negatively. What about two people who are bonded, who really don't like each other, but who need to be together? There's some fun conflict, right ..."

That would be great fun! This discussion has let loose so many crazy plot bunnies... I must hunt them down!


message 28: by Penumbra (new)

Penumbra Lisa wrote: "That would be great fun! This discussion has let loose so many crazy plot bunnies... I must hunt them down!
..."


I can easily think of plot bunnies, they multiply like...bunnies, lol. I'm just not good at writing stories to the plot bunnies :\


message 29: by D (new)

D Purplegirl wrote: "M/M mafia. I mean a good one with violence and love. But the mafia boss needs to be hardcore and only shows the softer side to his partner."

Big Deal, Volume 1 Lust for Vengeance by Katsura --series is as close as I could get to what you describe, Purplegirl. I was surprised on many levels. The thought of M/M mafia sends tingles all through me. *fans self* Can you imagine?

=============================

Fehu wrote: "I'd love to see more mpreg stories, also some more books that are not instant lust/love.

I love bonding stories or forced to marry/bond themes and there are not a lot of them out there, especiall..."



Want, want, want. So true....especially good ones.

===========================

I would wish to read books that have more dialogue between characters than just one or two sentences in a paragraph. With the rest stretched into the what, when, where, and why they said what they said. I flip through pages so fast wanting to get to what 'so-and-so' will say or do next. Can't they just have a conversation (a long one) for chrissakes?

Really? Does one need to know what his lubed fingers will be doing for the next four to five pages? When the boy says 'fuck me', that's what you do.

I have read some seriously good stories that keep me glued to the Kindle. But I'm finding them less and less. *sigh*


message 30: by Purplegirl (new)

Purplegirl D wrote: "Purplegirl wrote: "M/M mafia. I mean a good one with violence and love. But the mafia boss needs to be hardcore and only shows the softer side to his partner."

[bookcover:Big Deal, Volume 1: Lust ..."


Thanks D! I will check that out.


message 31: by Lisa (new)

Lisa Henry Penumbra wrote: "Lisa wrote: "That would be great fun! This discussion has let loose so many crazy plot bunnies... I must hunt them down!
..."

I can easily think of plot bunnies, they multiply like...bunnies, lol..."


And this is why I have a computer full of half-started stories that may never see the light of day :)


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