An Interview with Author Richard Vohl
Author Richard Vohl current work:
Bangkok Boy Bar
Published on November 2015
Publisher: (self-published)
Young: Tell us about your Latest Book/Book about to be released? Release Date? And can you give us a teaser
Richard Vohl (R.V.): Bangkok Boy Bar was launched on December 15, 2015.
Bangkok Boy Bar is my true life chronicle of romance and enlightenment during my first trip to Thailand. There are more than 100 pictures embedded within the book, most of which were taken by me.
Many of the pivotal scenes in Thailand take place in the infamous gay boy bars in the Silom District of Bangkok, and the Sunee Plaza Neighborhood of Pattaya. Within these tales, the numerous love scenes are more poetic and sensual than explicit (with notable exceptions).
The book is not a travel guide, yet seamlessly incorporated within the story are details about Thai culture, language and cuisine, gay resorts, neighborhoods and boy bars, how not to fall out of a tuk tuk as it���s racing through the streets of Bangkok ���
The book completes with the final chapter of my return to the U.S. after a life-threatening event in Thailand. I recount the repercussions of how an awakening begins to change my life in both subtle and profound ways.
The book���s trailer can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy1bXzH5Jlg
Young: What other books/short stories have you written?
R. V.: I have written various poems and short stories, and a 2 hour television pilot called ���Waystation.��� However, this is my first book.
Young: Do you publish in e-book, print, or both?
R. V.: The book is currently available on kindle, and is enrolled in the kindle unlimited program.
Young: Where can readers find your books?
R. V.: ���Bangkok Boy Bar��� by Richard Vohl
ASIN: B018R1G5F2
Young: What do you think are the biggest challenges for the type of writing that you do?
R. V.: I spent nearly two years writing and researching for the book. I wanted to accurately capture my first experience in Thailand ��� the vibrant city life, the warm and welcoming Thai culture and religion, the aromas and flavors of the street food, and of course the breathtakingly beautiful Thai young men.
I discovered that I liked writing love scenes, which is why there are more than I had originally planned. However, love scenes take a long time to write. Each scene was rewritten numerous times. More than any other detail in the story, I wanted to capture the beauty of the young male Asian form.
However, the sexual content has resulted in challenges in marketing the book. Although 98% of the book is about romance and love and discovering what is true and lasting about life ��� that 2% of the steamy stuff has caused some advertising sites to reduce the description of my book down to one word ��� ���erotica.��� I have had to persuade these advertising sites, and prospective readers, that there is so much more to the book than just those scenes.
Young: How did you get started in writing?
R. V.: As a teenager, I would write screenplays for my favorite television shows, including Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. I enjoyed taking characters from my favorite shows and creating my own adventures for them.
Young: Where and How can readers get in touch with you?
R. V.: My author���s facebook page is below. Feel free to contact me about the book, or about Thailand, or anything else really. I am thinking about visiting Cambodia sometime soon ��� Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. So if you���ve been to Cambodia please feel free to share your experiences with me.
https://www.facebook.com/Bangkok-Boy-Bar-420819454783182/
Young: So with your latest work released/or being released, what comes next? What can we expect from you in the future?
R. V.: Ha. I am so exhausted right now, I can���t imagine writing another book for awhile. But then again, I didn���t plan on writing this one. Adventure just kind of happened, and then I had a burning desire to write it and share it with the world. I continue to travel to Thailand. So I guess we���ll just have to see how the adventure continues.
But I am inspired by the initial reaction to the book. It is already an Amazon best-selling book, and has ranked #1 in 3 categories: GLBT Travel, GLBT Biographies and Memoirs, and Specialty Travel.
Young: How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?
R. V.: All of it is real. This first trip to Thailand changed my life forever. There is a life-threatening event that is described in the book. Every time I revised that portion, I couldn���t help but cry. I almost lost everything.
Young: Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow?
R. V.: I have always wanted to be a published author, but never really found a story for which I had that burning desire to tell. It wasn���t until almost two years after the trip to Thailand when this story finally congealed. I think I needed time to understand what had changed about myself.
Young: What is your routine once you start writing a book?
R. V.: It was a struggle to find the time to write the book. During weekdays I would write after returning home from work (including my daily commute through Los Angeles traffic). Each weekend I was driving to San Diego to help my friends take care of their baby, so I would try to squeeze in an afternoon in a coffeeshop whenever I could.
Young: What about you in general? What is it that makes you tick? Makes you you? Things you like to do and what prompted you into writing?
R. V.: I still would love to write a Sci-Fi screenplay. I will always be proud to be a nerd. I am also a HUGE k-pop fan. And Korean hip hop. This is in the book. Probably more than what some readers may want, but too bad ��� it���s my book. But I still haven���t decided which kpop boy will be my future husband. Taemin of SHINee? Yoseob of BEAST? Bam Bam of GOT7?
Young: Among your own books, have you a favourite book? Favourite Hero or Heroine?
R. V.: I probably shouldn���t admit this ��� but I don���t read all that often. If I do, it tends to be reading, or writing my own, technical documents. But that experience of writing with attention to detail helped me capture all the senses of a Thai adventure.
Young: Where do you see yourself in five years?
R. V.: I will be retired from my life as office slave and will be homeschooling my friends kids in San Diego. They have two now. And yes, I will incorporate kpop into the music lessons.
Young: What kind of research do you when writing one of your works?
R. V. : I conducted a lot of internet searches for Thai cuisine, language, culture, ��� As described in one chapter, I met some Thai young men from the northeast region of Isaan. So I researched further the distinct Isaan culture and music that I experienced with them that night.
Young: What does your significant other think of your writing?
R. V. : My boyfriend is Thai. He scowled when he read some of the love scenes of me with some other boys, but he understands that the story occurred before I met him. But Thais understand money. He hopes the book sells well.
Young: Do you ever ask them for advice or ideas to go into your works?
R. V. : I intentionally did not read any other books about Thailand. I wanted mine to be unique and not influenced by other works. Although it wasn���t planned, there are two introductory chapters that describe my life before I flew off to Thailand. At the time I was writing these chapters, I wasn���t sure exactly why they needed to be in the book. I just had a feeling that they needed to be included. After writing the final chapter about my return to the U.S., it finally become apparent how elements of the pre-story provide additional context to my visit to Thailand.
Young: Have you ever experienced Writer's Block? If so how did you work through it?
R. V. : Whenever I got bogged down in the research, I would just return to work on one of the love scenes. That would always re-inspire me. : )
Young: Anything else you'd like to tell our readers?
R. V. : When in Thailand, try the Sangsom ��� a Thai whiskey. And if you find a breathtakingly beautiful yet seemingly shy and humble young man in a Thai boy bar, should you allow yourself fall in love? Well ��� I can���t answer that without it being a spoiler to the book.
Young: Lastly do you have any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?
R. V. : When you discover that story that becomes your burning passion, don���t let anything stand in your way. Not your day job ��� nor changing diapers on weekends ���
And open your mind to find inspiration anywhere ��� in unexpected places. One weekend evening in San Diego while walking my friend���s dog, I was thinking of new ways to describe a love scene. As I was passing by a garden, the word ���cauliflower��� came to mind. A little voice told me there���s something sensuous about cauliflower, although at the time I had no idea what that might be. When I finished walking the dog, I researched cauliflower and discovered it���s an ���inflorescence.��� That���s such a beautiful word. It���s what I was looking for. Okay, but I���m not a botanist, so what the hell is an inflorescence? It���s a stalk, like a floral axis. Okay, that could work. It���s like the bodies of two embracing lovers. And that���s how I came up with the line: ���The love we made was ethereal, emotionally exposed ��� the twining of our bodies into a single inflorescence.���
