Marshall’s Comments (group member since May 17, 2014)

Marshall’s comments from the Ask Marshall Thornton group.

Writing has many purposes. Certainly, it should be entertaining but it should also be, I think, educational. One of the things that's important to me about writing the series is collecting stories and attitudes of the period. Some of my audience is people who were there and remember but a lot of my audience was not... and it would be very limiting to only want one kind of reader.

I'm not deciding ... that's why I don't put a model on the covers. I don't want to get in trouble with readers....

I wasn't at all offended. No worries.

I think some people's views have evolved. But you're right there is still a lot of this in the gay world. Guys say "no fats or femmes" on there internet postings. They ask for "straight-acting" dates. It's a kind of internalized homophobia. I know that's a big word with many uglier meanings. Here I use it in it's lightest form. We all have negative things we've learned and are in the process of clearing.

On a personal level, I've always felt being gay meant I didn't have to worry where I fit on the "masculine" scale... that said, a character's attitudes toward those things can show a lot about who they are.

All minority groups face the assimilate or don't assimilate question. In the gay community those who are less masculine represent the don't assimilate side.

I don't know enough about Hansen to really say if that was his personal opinion. I know he didn't like the word gay, he preferred to be called homosexual. And he was something of an activist. They sometimes saw "nellies" as problematic for the "cause".

I do think Dave's distain for "nellies" would fit the character in that period. It never bothered me when I read the books because I always try not to overlay contemporary opinions on older books.

As far as Nick is concerned I try to keep opinions like this fluid and evolving. Certainly, Owen Lovejoy Esquire is pretty effeminate. When he's introduced it's explained that he's the prep lawyer and doesn't do trials because a jury wouldn't "like" him because he's too gay. Nick doesn't have a problem with him or with Miss Minerva Jones, for that matter. But, when you dislike someone as he kind of does Ronald Meek, it's human nature to go for characteristics which society disdains.

Writing outside of yourself is a complicated issue. On the one hand, I would never say that a writer should be limited by gender or sexuality or race or religion in what they write. On the other hand, all writers are writing about themselves - even if they're writing something as far reaching as sci-fi or fantasy. You're writing your thoughts so ultimately it is about you whatever it ends up being.

In my own writing I've noticed that a lot depends on POV and form. In film scripts I'm comfortable writing about all sorts of people since it's mainly about external observation. The same goes for the minor characters in Boystown, though there they're Nick's observations rather than a camera's.

In the Jan Birch mysteries I used third person which helped me since the main character is a 60s housewife in her early forties. That character was, to some extent, based on my mother and the women I grew up with. So, for anything internal I used that as a kind of litmus test to see if it felt real to me. That series is very female-centric and I got both very positive and very negative comments about it. Which might reflect more on the readers than on me... there's a wide range of beliefs on who women are and how they should be portrayed. It's easy to run afoul of someone somewhere.

I did try once to write in first person from the point of view of a black police detective and I abandoned it because I felt it was inauthentic. And if it felt inauthentic to me then I can only imagine that it would have been offensive to a black person.

I'd done one short story that came out at the end of 2008 (The Christmas Visit) and wanted to do some more. Originally, I thought the stories would come out individually. It was almost a throw away idea. Like, okay I can do these and maybe they'll catch on. I expected them to come out as shorts. My first publisher suggested they come out as a set - mainly because I wanted them to come out sooner (they had a backlog of short stories). So, that was Boystown 1.

I always loved mysteries, though. Hansen is an influence but more in retrospect. I'd read the books and looking at them since I can see how much I absorbed. I'm also very influenced by Sue Grafton... but I didn't really sit down and think I want to be a mystery writer. It was more like I realized after Boystown 1... oh, wow, I'm a mystery writer now.

I began to take the series more seriously beginning with the second book and began to really think about what I was doing. I do believe that one of the reasons to write mysteries is that they allow you to write about anything. For instance, Book 5 is very much about grief. It's very hard to sell a book about grief but if you slip it by people in a mystery then it's a lot easier.

Literary fiction is a very narrow, trendy market. There's not a lot going on at the major publishers with gay content. Even established gay writers talk about how their work isn't really gay. It's kind of offensive, IMHO, since they seem to be distancing themselves from their own work in order to sell books. And the smaller publishers are really more about genre then literary. Though, to be honest, it rarely crosses my mind to try a more "literary" bent. I rarely like the most popular literary books anyway.

The challenging thing about gay fiction is that there should always be some element of sex. We are a sexual minority and so to not talk about sex is strange. There was a very active pulp market in the 60s and 70s. These were books that were typically kept behind the counter at newsstands and you had to ask for them. Which is the same way a lot of het erotica was sold in the period. The books ran the gambit from mild to wild, though there was a healthy market in wild. Most of the notable gay fiction from that period was actually by women Mary Renault, Patricia Nell Warren... (my understanding is that both were lesbians who, by posing as straight women and writing about men, could write about subjects that mattered to them) ... Maurice, Forster's very romantic book from 1913 was published after his death in 1972, that and the rise of the "Woman's Novel" (which included some great lesbian fiction like Rubyfruit Jungle) really began to open things up for more mainstream gay fiction... (these are very off the cuff thoughts so I may be missing a few things)

I hadn't actually heard that before. I know he lived in Laguna Beach at the end of his life. Laguna Beach was a gay enclave until the mid to late 90s. It stopped being gay somewhere along the way. Now it's only for the insanely rich. Nothing but 1%ers.

I have many, many editions of Hansen's books, including an autographed copy of Skinflick.

Make sure to go to Ann Sathers (the one on Belmont is the original, there are others but they came later) and have a gyros somewhere - There are little shops all over that area. The Melrose is still there too. And stop in at Unabridged Books on Broadway. They have a huge LGBT section. Lots of paperbacks you've probably already read as ebooks.

One of my friends wants me to put together a walking tour the next time I go to Chicago and I just may do that.

I've heard that it's a rule that the audience should meet the killer (or guilty party) early in the book. That doesn't always mean the character is physically there but the information does need to be. I think you're supposed to give the reader the opportunity to figure out the mystery. I decided long ago not to worry about whether people can figure out my mysteries. It's really much more about the character and how they do it.

I began as a playwright so I've always felt most comfortable with dialogue and you've probably noticed that I often include more dialogue than a lot of other writers. I do sometimes write in 3rd person - My Favorite Uncle is 3rd. But I much prefer first person.

Even as a reader I like it better which is probably one of the reasons I enjoy mysteries in the first place. Much of what other writers consider disadvantages of first person I find to be strengths. For instance, in a first person mystery the reader only knows what the detective knows. I think that helps bond the reader to the MC. It's a more intimate read if the reader only knows what the character knows. Personally, as a reader, I don't like knowing more than the detective knows.

Rosa, really wants to be a Recidivist wrote: "Lena♥Ribka wrote: "Rosa, really wrote: "Lena♥Ribka wrote: "I'm checking Amazon, since for a while, CONTINUOUSLY. Why is Boystown6 is not yet listed there??????
I reject to accept any new release da..."

I don't think they let the smaller publishers do purchase in advance or if they do it's kind of hassle for a small staff.

Lena♥Ribka wrote: "I'm checking Amazon, since for a while, CONTINUOUSLY. Why is Boystown6 is not yet listed there??????
I reject to accept any new release date except of 23th of May!"

I don't think it will be up until Friday... and they haven't even sent me copies yet.

True.

Sofia wrote: "Marshall wrote: "I can't answer with certainty. I've drafted 7 and have ideas for 8 but beyond that I only have vague feelings. I do think that good detective characters are outsiders. Some of the ..."

Absolutely. Though, for me, Nick's interest in justice corresponds with the over all quest for justice in the GLBT community that was really taking hold at the time.

Things do change as you publish over time. Ultimately, building on what you've already done is more important the inspiration. I know sometimes author's will count on readers forgetting what happened two books ago but I don't like that as a reader so I try to avoid it.

BTW I've hung out with Lou several times. She's been very nice to me over the years.

Rosa, really wrote: "Marshall wrote: "Rosa, really wrote: "SINCERE QUESTION:

Mr. Thornton, I've heard that you only intend to write 7 books in the series, however I also saw an article in which you said that you'd lik..."

Then I'd have to move him to California.

Nick's appearance. When I lived in Chicago there was this guy my ex worked with. He was of Polish decent, a little closeted and just about everyone I knew had a complete crush on him. That's who I think about. Although at this point, he's really just Nick...

Rosa, really wrote: "He's what, early thirties in the first book? So about 15 years later? Late 40s?

Another sincere question: Mr Thornton - actually you probably won't answer this, but I see Nick as one of life's obs..."

I can't answer with certainty. I've drafted 7 and have ideas for 8 but beyond that I only have vague feelings. I do think that good detective characters are outsiders. Some of the best, in my opinion, are minority characters because of that. Regardless of what happens I don't see how Nick can loose that sense of being on the outside.