I can't believe it's already November! The great thing about it being the start of a new month, is it's time for a new Ask An Author feature and this one is a Special Edition! For those who don't know, Ask An Author is when members send their questions for their favorite authors to Dark and they ask the questions. So remember, if you have a question you want to ask, but don't want to do the asking, send it to Dark!

Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors!

In AtA #32, we had questions for authors Aditus, Cia, and Wolfwriter.

In AtA #33, we have a special feature for you: 3 x 3 or nine different authors with the same question to answer. This is a question that is asked by many a person, with just as many different answers. Please note that all author replies are copied as is, spelling errors and grammar eccentricities original to the individual.

And the question is … What made you decide to write m/m fiction?

Andy78: I've always enjoyed writing stories since I was a child. However, I only started writing m/m when I joined GA. The simple fact is that until I joined here I didn't have an outlet for any m/m fiction.

BarricadeBoy: Well i started reading gay fiction back in 2013 and it grew fron there- i wanted to create my own characters and i knew GA was the best place to do it, and i was right. It all started with a Story i read here called "A Class By Himself."

CassieQ: I decided to write m/m fiction because I like to read m/m fiction. Once I find something that I'm really interested in, I can't wait to try it out and add my own flavor to it.

Cia: I read everything, so I write everything, including MM. I found GA as a writing 'home' because the writing community here is so encouraging to newcomers. The feedback kept me motivated to finish stories for the first time ever... and the rest is history!

Jammi: I loved the dynamics of male relationships. Best friends like brothers, realizing what they felt went beyond friendship. I loved writing stories like that. I also felt like there weren't enought gay stories out there and definitely not enough visibility for the gay community. I just wanted to be a part of that

Krista: For me, I got into M/M fiction because of my gay male friends. They had found M/M fiction sites, but didn't like that it was mostly pornographic smut. They wanted more romance, something they could relate to being in a closed-minded small town. They had found some good stories and had sent them to me. So I started writing and sending them what I had. I started writing other romances on the side, but it was their encouragement from reading the M/M that got me hooked. By that time they had gotten more out of the closet and more willing to expand their search for other gay people. I stopped sending them what I had written. So my audience changed from them to readers on the internet. I did well enough for it to encourage me to continue.

The stories I write are also stories that I want to read, so that helps.

layla: I'd written with the same characters for almost 17 years, their stories had gone all over the place, but there always seemed to be a lingering connection between two of the guys and one day I decided simply to begin exploring it. The story simply begged to be told and once I got into writing it, I found myself really enjoying what I was doing. To me its not so much about the genre but about giving the characters what they want. Not to mention that I have never been a big fan of m/f stories and despite being female don't really enjoy writing female characters, so it just seemed a very natural genre for me to write in.

Mann Ramblings: I'm old enough to have grown up without any visibility of gay characters in movies, stories; etc, that wasn't a serial killer or other affected comic relief. There was so little in entertainment that reflected the person I tried to hide. Positive examples of gay men and women were virtually non-existent. I wanted to see the domineering hero save his buddy and bed him down, not the obligatory girl placed in to prove his unerring heterosexuality. I wanted to see and read the stories that I never got to see and read.

When I first found M/M fiction, I was looking for porn, to be honest, but then I found out there were real stories out there with quality writing! The hero can get the guy! Who knew? I always had a knack for storytelling and now I have the chance to write the stories that were missing from my life. I can't give it up now.

Renee Stevens: I’ve been asked similar questions a number of times. To be honest, I never have a good answer. I used to read (and write) M/F romance, but it seemed like it was always the same and it was hard to find something that hadn't been done. I can't remember the exact details, but somehow I ended up reading a story by Sara Bell called "The Magic In Your Touch". I thoroughly enjoyed it and joined her yahoo group. She allowed other people to post stories and not only did I meet a lot of wonderful people, many of which became good friends, but I read countless stories.

After reading Sara’s story, and a few others, I decided that I wanted to see what I could do in the Gay Romance genre. My reasoning at the time was that as a M/F Romance writer I would have less chance of getting published as it is so hard to get noticed amongst all the other authors that write M/F romance. With a lot of encouragement from the friends I met through Sara’s group, I started my first M/M story and Eternity was the result. It's quite a bit rougher than my more recent works, but it was the first M/M story I completed. I ran it by my friends and they really enjoyed it and encouraged me to keep going, so here I am .

That’s it for now! For more info on these authors, go check out their stories, post in their forums, and/or catch them in chat!

See you next time, with an extra-special edition of Ask an Author!

Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark).