The Chrolli Factor
As a ghostwriter, I am often not emotionally invested in the projects that I take on. I don’t care about the history of wicker baskets. I am not giddy about YA mermaid fantasy drama. And bi-racial, bi-sexual, heteronormative angst does NOTHING for me. But there are a few exceptions and one of them is a very popular “first-time gay” novella that I was asked to write.
At the time, I was coming off of a “Verboten Liebe” binge on YouTube and was completely smitten with the storyline of Christian Mann and Oliver Sabel. For those of you who don’t know, here is a quick run down.
Christian is a boxer, and aspiring athletics student, an ex-con (he took the rap for his dad) and a ladies man. Oliver is openly bi-sexual (though, he quickly drops that line and comes out as gay) and in the food service and entertainment industry. The beginning of their romance is rocky to say the least. Christian has a girlfriend, Oliver is enamored though he doesn’t want to be. After months of fighting, they decide to call a truce because too many people they both love are caught in the crossfire, and they begin to see each other differently. Of course, Christian starts to fall for the charismatic, blue-eyed, black haired Lothario and the rest is history.
What you love about this couple is their chemistry. After they make the decision to be together, they get comfortable with their new status real quick. They hit some massive bumps in the road (it is a soap opera after all) but hold on to each other. Their “gayness” isn’t the issue. They are affectionate and funny. They are the couple you want to be a part of regardless of gender. Pretty soon the hit TV show was making waves all over the world, and both actors (best friends in real life) became the subject of massive “ships”. Think Kaisoo in German. That is why it took so many years for the TV couple to finally call it quits. The fans were not having it.
So when asked to write a “first-time gay” novella my first thought was of Christian and Oliver, dubbed Chrolli by their legions of international fans. I wanted to write a story about two people who, once they figured out they were more than just friends, just got on with the business of loving each other. No agonizing about whether or not they are gay or straight. No hiding their relationship for months and years, leading to unnecessary drama as you try to maintain your reputation as a straight guy.
I wrote two college-aged characters, who were best friends and became lovers. One is blonde; the other had dark hair. One is a jock and the other an artist. The sex is hot, and the woes they face are mostly caused by external forces rather than post-pubescent angst. And you know what? It worked!
All of a sudden my characters had fans. They had die-hard fans. I was shocked. I know that some people think that since I am the ghostwriter for the series I may feel cheated or slighted in some way. Not at all. I have been well compensated for my efforts, and I can still watch the rankings climb and read the reviews for my work. Also, the “author” listed is a fictional person, so it’s not like somebody else is pretending to be a writer and using my work. That would piss me off. Rather, it is a business arrangement where the publisher takes all the risk and I get to sit pretty and write what I like.
As a ghostwriter, I am discovering that my style is not to write beautiful and touching love stories, full of introspection and metaphor. I like page turners. I like it when things blow up, or somebody gets knocked out in a bar fight. And in the midst of all of the chaos, a story about real love and what it takes to keep that love alive emerges. My m/m characters aren’t flouncy or snarky. They may be “pretty”, but they are anything but feminine. They are men who love like men, openly and with great courage and often at great cost to themselves.
I owe that sense of genuine masculine romance to Chrolli. What couples, real or imagined, or imagined real (Da Yu and Baba?), have influenced your life?
