Ask Andrew - The Ladies Who Write MM Romance - Andrew Grey

Dear Andrew

I am an avid reader of the M/M genre.  My question comes from recent newsletters for other authors I've gotten.  Once again there are people who criticize the efforts authors put into their storyline saying that women truly do not understand how to pull an M/M story together and all they truly care about is the sex scenes.

If the story is researched properly and the author has a level of emotional connection to the characters, does the gender of the author truly matter?  What are your thoughts on this?  Can there be storylines with very little sex scenes? (I think so)

Interested in your view.
Sheryl

Dear Sheryl

I decided to answer your question because it is probably the one I am asked most often.  As a guy I get their question as conventions and from other readers.  I love lady MM authors.  They write wonderful stories that I can't put down.  I'm not going to list names, but there are two that I consider my writing sisters and I love their work and them.  If a story is good, with great characters and a compelling story, I don't care if a man, women, goat, cow or chicken wrote it.  What matters to me is the story.

As for the whole sex scene thing.  There are some stories that consist of too much sex and not enough story.  All I can say is that there is something for everyone.  I believe that sex should be used to further the story or deepen the relationship.  With the Farm Series I kept sex to a minimum because of the type of story it was.  With Eyes Only for Me, there is more sex because the story itself and the journey being taken revolves around sexual identity.

As for stories with little or no sex.  Of course there are great stories with little sex.  Right now you have a search for them because the stories with quite a bit of sex seem to be more prevalent.  After all the oldest adage in advertising is that sex sells.  That goes for romance as well.  Now there is nothing wrong with writing sexy stories or reading them.  All I'm saying is that there are stories of all types being written and there are readers who love them.  And it doesn't matter who wrote the story as long as its good.

I hope this answered your question.
Hugs and Love
Andrew

Ask Andrew is your chance to ask questions of a gay romance author.  The questions can be about the writing process in general, writing sex scenes, gay men, sex, characters in romance, characters having sex... okay you probably get the picture.    I promise to answer your questions as frankly and with as much humor as I possibly can.

So if you have a question, please send it to andrewgreybooks@comcast.net.  This is different from my usual email so your questions don't get lost.  I will answer one question a week.

Please remember this is meant to be all in fun.  (I was going to say good, clean fun, but who wants that.)    So send me your questions and let's see what mischief we can get into.

Visit Andrew on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/andrewgreybooks  and you can join Andrew's fan group All The Way With Andrew Grey.

Follow him on Twitter:  @andrewgreybooks

Visit Andrew's web site:  www,andrewgreybooks.com