I go where the story/series leads

It’s completely understandable that non-writers sometimes thinks writers are insane. I suppose we kind of are, in a way. Most writers will tell you that they hear voices and have full developed people in their head. Many writers will tell you that they don’t know where a story is going and that they just “follow the characters”. I’ve said it to people and gotten that “look”. The one that’s equivalent to a smile and nod. The one that tells me that they think that I’m off my rocker but they’ve decided that I’m not a dangerous looney.

But it’s true. Oh sure, I might come up with the original concept. I do create the characters. But once they develop a life of their own, once the story takes root in my imagination, I’m just racing to catch up. They’re off on their own and it’s my job to record and to, occasionally, steer. What I mean by the last is that a character will take himself into uncharted territory sometimes and just can’t be brought back to the story. That’s when we have to have a discussion and I need to nudge him down a different path. Trouble is, if I try to nudge but he stays staunchly pointed in that direction, it usually means that I’m not seeing the full picture. He’ll stay stubbornly turned away from me until I agree to look. Nine times out of ten, I’ll see where he’s going and agree that yes, that’s the way to go. Then we’re usually back to smooth sailing.

Sometimes, it’s a rough choice. For instance, Dark Elves V: Discovery. Although the first four books of my Dark Elves series acknowledged that the elves were bisexual and there were plenty of menage scenes, there were only two scenes with m/m action. In book five, the main couple is m/m. There’s plenty of m/f sex in the book thanks to the plot, but it definitely starts m/m and the main couple is very much in love. That’s the way it happened and those are the characters who spoke to me. I knew ahead of time that I’d probably lose some readers with that story, but I’d hoped that most were so caught up in the world of the elves and their background that it would be acceptable. So far, that seems to be the case.

Now, I’m doing it again. I’m writing another Heaven Sent book but this one’s got girl cooties. I think I’ve mentioned that here before. It’ll be the story of Gretchen, their manager. There will be m/m action in the book since it’s a menage, but there will be a girl in the mix. I do understand that it’s a definite no-no in yaoi and I had to think hard about whether to write it or not. But, again, I’m hoping that most readers will have come to care for the characters more than the genre and want to see the woman who’s had a major influence on the boys have her happily ever after.

I write about characters and they’re all individuals. So they’re not all gay and they’re not all het. They’re not all male or female. In fact, it seems that most of my characters are sexually ambiguous. Is that a reflection on me and my tastes? To be honest, I hope so!