This novel would make an excellent film. It has all the elements of a box office smash or a highly streamed miniseries. Period drama. Likeable characters. Sneaky dealings. A love story. Two teenage boys meet one evening just before the second world war. James is Irish and from a very poor family. Otto is the …
Being reviewed through a Romance lens
Two recent reviews prompted this blog. And it's a weird phenomenon when you write gay fiction. There are readers out there who review your books as if they are meant to be MM Romance. It's an issue I've always had. One of the worst examples was when a reviewer couldn't finish listening to her free …
That Problematic Chapter
One chapter in one of my works in progress has bothered me. It's a dramatic chapter where a character ends his affair. Every time I've read it in context with the rest of the manuscript, it hasn't made sense. It started with two men thrashing it out realising there was no room for bullshit anymore. …
Stories should have conflict.
Today's blog was sparked by a tweet from Kev St John (@Kev_away) He had given his work in progress to a Beta Reader who didn't like one character because she wasn't a good friend. He couldn't believe this response. This character is supposed to be a bad friend. That was the point. I had a …
Everything old is new again, in my writing.
I'm currently working on the second draft of my fantasy novel, Winter Masquerade. As I'm ironing out its shortcomings I'm finding the problems are the same as I originally faced with my first novel, Drama Queens with Love Scenes. At the moment my new work is novella length and I've been trying to find ways …
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Writing ‘At Your Service’ – Guest blog by K.S. Trenten
Author K.S. Trenten has popped over to tell us who's the fairest of them all in her reinvention of the Cinderella story for the NineStar Press anthology, Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume 2. I’ve been thinking about desire, what makes a person desirable for quite some time. Certain images are used in the media, marketed …
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Exotic locations
I'm lucky. In a world where so many people don't have the means to travel, I'm in the minority. My partner, Warren, and I love discovering new cities and will plan a world trip whenever we have the funds. You see, from Australia, it's cheaper to buy a 'round the world' ticket, which usually takes …
What is Gay Lit?
I'm excited. Why? Over the coming weeks I'm going to publish a very special Q&A blog series looking at gay themed literature. And to help me are several guests who have their own unique insights. You'll meet a reviewer, a representative from a major GLBT publisher, and an author who co-produces a podcast about modern gay writing. …
