Writing Love and Robotics: The Genesis
Writing Love and Robotics has arguably been the most complicated, exhausting and rewarding process of my life. Nothing has been simple or conventional - apt, really, for a story about a love affair between a washed up gentleman adventurer and an android sex symbol.
After completing The Revenge of Rose Grubb, I wanted to mix it up yet again and write a lesbian time travel romance. While I still think it has a decent plot and characters, and may well return to it at a later date, the time wasn't right (no pun intended). You know if a story's working, even in the early stages, and this was failing to come to life. I shelved it and started to sketch out other ideas.
One of them was about a paranormal investigator who got herself into all kinds of hi jinks. Again, it was a serviceable idea, but I couldn't get excited about it. Her girlfriend acted as a butler cum chauffeur for her uncle, an eccentric retired explorer. In one of the subplots he would be blackmailed for his relationship with a younger man.
At some point I realised I was more interested in the secondary characters and their forbidden affair, and made them my focus. I've always loved adventure stories based on quasi romantic friendships between men, and found their tacked on marriages to women we hardly see insulting. I'm not suggesting that devoted male duos like Holmes and Watson are couples, but wouldn't it make a great story if they were? I thought I would tackle such a relationship but make the subtext text. I could even bring in the apparent purple wedding and have one of them forced to marry.
I freely admit that when I first imagined Josh, he wasn't a robot, but a vague immortal. The more I mulled it over, I saw this wasn't good enough. Thanks to Twilight and its imitators, love and sex with vampires, werewolves and other creatures of the night are no longer taboo. I briefly considered making him an angel, but thankfully discarded this hideous idea. It was only when I noticed the public debate about advances in robotics - and moral guardians' morbid prurience whenever the subject is raised - that I found my theme. If Josh was a robot, that could prompt fascinating questions about love and identity.
Equal marriage still hadn't been legalised when I started writing; I won't deny that it coloured the narrative, not least the upsetting insistence from various authorities that my nine year relationship was unnatural and unreal. This is why I've resisted attempts to turn it into a straight romance - there are enough of those in the world already.
The original starting point was surely the trials of Oscar Wilde. I discovered him as an outed, self loathing teen; the thought that somebody could be imprisoned for his sexuality was barbaric. What bothered me most was the awfulness of his boyfriend Bosie - if you're going to be sacrificed on the altar of love, it should at least be worth it.
Next time I'll look at influences and inspirations. Exploring a brand new genre has proved quite the eye opener!
After completing The Revenge of Rose Grubb, I wanted to mix it up yet again and write a lesbian time travel romance. While I still think it has a decent plot and characters, and may well return to it at a later date, the time wasn't right (no pun intended). You know if a story's working, even in the early stages, and this was failing to come to life. I shelved it and started to sketch out other ideas.
One of them was about a paranormal investigator who got herself into all kinds of hi jinks. Again, it was a serviceable idea, but I couldn't get excited about it. Her girlfriend acted as a butler cum chauffeur for her uncle, an eccentric retired explorer. In one of the subplots he would be blackmailed for his relationship with a younger man.
At some point I realised I was more interested in the secondary characters and their forbidden affair, and made them my focus. I've always loved adventure stories based on quasi romantic friendships between men, and found their tacked on marriages to women we hardly see insulting. I'm not suggesting that devoted male duos like Holmes and Watson are couples, but wouldn't it make a great story if they were? I thought I would tackle such a relationship but make the subtext text. I could even bring in the apparent purple wedding and have one of them forced to marry.
I freely admit that when I first imagined Josh, he wasn't a robot, but a vague immortal. The more I mulled it over, I saw this wasn't good enough. Thanks to Twilight and its imitators, love and sex with vampires, werewolves and other creatures of the night are no longer taboo. I briefly considered making him an angel, but thankfully discarded this hideous idea. It was only when I noticed the public debate about advances in robotics - and moral guardians' morbid prurience whenever the subject is raised - that I found my theme. If Josh was a robot, that could prompt fascinating questions about love and identity.
Equal marriage still hadn't been legalised when I started writing; I won't deny that it coloured the narrative, not least the upsetting insistence from various authorities that my nine year relationship was unnatural and unreal. This is why I've resisted attempts to turn it into a straight romance - there are enough of those in the world already.
The original starting point was surely the trials of Oscar Wilde. I discovered him as an outed, self loathing teen; the thought that somebody could be imprisoned for his sexuality was barbaric. What bothered me most was the awfulness of his boyfriend Bosie - if you're going to be sacrificed on the altar of love, it should at least be worth it.
Next time I'll look at influences and inspirations. Exploring a brand new genre has proved quite the eye opener!
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