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Ask An Author #19

Renee Stevens

Entry posted by Renee Stevens in Author Interviews

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The first Wednesday of the month, you know what that means! It's time for a visit from Dark with the ever popular, Ask an Author! If you like this monthly feature, don't forget to send your questions to Dark so that we can keep this feature going. Enjoy!

Ask an Author #19

 

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

 

In AtA #18, we had questions for authors AQG, Ashi, and Sasha Distan.

 

In AtA #19, we hear from authors Layla, lilansui, and Thorn Wilde.

 

For their protection, the members who asked these questions shall remain nameless (unless they choose to reveal themselves). Please note that all author replies are copied as is, spelling errors and grammar eccentricities original to the individual.

 

Midwesterner Layla starts us off today. Since the last time she was featured in this series, Layla has taken her place as a Promising Author and I know I’m not the only one waiting for the day she joins the ranks of our Signature Authors. An exciting thing to happen in 2014 is the beginning of Guitars2, the second half of the very popular Guitars and Crossdressers. That particular story has helped Layla amass over 2000 likes! But you should definitely check out some of her others, like her poem “Until the End” and short story Cold Confusion.

To Layla: What is your favourite work you've written, the one you are most proud about and why do you think it's your best writing?

 

That's really a hard question, actually, because i feel like with every story my writing gets stronger, my characters become more evolved and I feel more comfortable delving into areas and topics that I maybe shied away from or skimmed over previously. I think my best writing, to date has been in Broken Prince and Mismatched eyes, despite the fact that it is the most difficult of my stories for me to write. Where some of my other pieces are more straight forward, in that one there are multi-layers and plot twists and characters who are never really as they seem and to me that's kept things exciting. I'm proud of the fact that in continuing to work on that story I took myself out of my comfort zone of gritty urban or supernatural drama and went into something that's somewhere between fantasy and history. I'm also very proud of the way the main characters have grown and the depth of the relationship that is developing between them.

 

Today’s next author is Author lilansui, author of Electric Blue and Catnip, nominated in the 2013 Reader’s Choice Awards Best of GA Stories category. The newest story in her arsenal is A Rescued Life, which has attracted 33 followers in the first week since its posting. Anyone who has read the first chapters will see why! lilansui is one of our international members, living and working in Diani Beach, East Africa, where she’s had LOTS of fun and interesting adventures, like the wedding fiasco in March. Closer to home, lilansui’s blog has been nominated for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. Who knew 2014 was going to be such a momentous year? Here’s to you, lilansui!

To lilansui: What does your family think of you writing m/m stories?

 

Had you asked me this question in 2012, I'd have said no way would they be okay with it. But things have changed lately. I'm happy to say my closest family is supportive, my mother especially since she always knows what each of us is doing with ourselves. She's like a ninja when she wants to find out what we're hiding from her, lol. She found a notebook of mine filled with my first m/m story a couple months ago. She was visiting my house and as always checking out my bedroom. My mother is insane that way. She asked, "Sui, what's this?" I'm like in shock going like, "Uhmm...Mum!" Lol.

 

We had a long talk after that and in the end she was okay with it especially because of my youngest brother. I have four brothers: three older and one younger than me. A few years back, my younger brother had a really hard time coming out to the family. I can't describe just how hard this was for him. It's always tough especially in a family like ours where my mother pushes us a lot to conform with so many customary rules. Marriage at a certain age, live a certain way...that kind of thing. For a moment, I thought the family might fall apart, but we didn't, we stood strong, which I'm happy for now. In a way, my stories are my own way of supporting him. My older brothers don't read the stories, but they don't mind. Although I do get teased a lot for writing them, which makes me think that they read them anyway...lol. And my younger brother thinks I write them for fun and because an m/m perspective fascinates me. I'm just glad they know now and are okay with it.

 

Brand-new Promising Author (as of April 2014) Thorn Wilde is our last author today. A Whedonopolite like myself, Thorn is a fan of fantasy and sci-fi and admits to an addiction with Tumblr. You can also find quite a few delicious recipes posted in his blog. I’ve made his garlic butter and it’s definitely easy and delicious – come on, if I can make it here in the nowheres of Alaska, so can you! I haven’t made it yet, but I’ve saved the recipe for salmon soup … While making your next meal, why don’t you snack on some of Thorn’s posted work? His series Nemesis is currently on book 2, though you can read more of the characters in the collection Hubris. My personal favorite so far is Half Jack, Thorn’s take on 2013’s Recipe for Disaster Anthology, but there’s plenty more, including a Buffy/Angel fan-fic, to suit many different kinds of readers.

To Thorn Wilde: Do you find that when writing characters with interesting or extreme vocal habits (such as Marcus), that you start to reflect those habits in your own daily speech?

 

I think it's rather the opposite... That is to say that Marcus reflects me on a really bad day, if somewhat amplified. And there's generally less aggression behind it when I use colourful language. Though I won't deny that I've sometimes written a particularly good insult and then filed it away in the back of my mind for an appropriate occasion.

 

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!

 

Coming next time: Aditus, Celethiel, and TetRefine.

 

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

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Cole Matthews

Always an interesting insight into some of our awesome authors. Three of my faves this time and more coming up next time. :) 

Thanks Dark!

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joann414

lilansui, I've read almost all of your writing, and you have the gift of the happy ending with drama entwined.  Your angst is always at the perfect point in the plot.  Do you read other things to get ideas or is it just instinct?

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Mann Ramblings

Nice series of Q & A, but I can't help but feel especially warm over the anecdote of Lilansui's family. That's the kind of thing you love to hear. :)

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lilansui

lilansui, I've read almost all of your writing, and you have the gift of the happy ending with drama entwined.  Your angst is always at the perfect point in the plot.  Do you read other things to get ideas or is it just instinct?

Thank you so much Jo Ann for reading my stories.  That makes me happy.. :) I think it's a mixture of both reading and instinct...hmm. Well, reading is dangerous at times for me. If I read something and it resonates with me, I keep myself away from my stories.  Why?  Because I feel like my characters have to go through something like that, and that is just bad for any story I'm writing.  This has been my challenge, finding my own style and keeping away what others write out of my style.  I do lots of research mostly.  I obsess over towns, or jobs to understand them better.  When it comes to the emotions...I think it's mostly imagining what a person would feel in that situation. I sometimes over capitalize on emotional drama, Rick who edited EB&C often had to reign me back when it got too much...lol. So in answer to your question, I seek out people who have experienced such situations and pester them with questions, which can include a lot of research. If it's not coming together, then I obsess even more, until it does. I love it when I'm working with someone, coz I'll bounce off ideas on them. I did that with Rick, for EB&C and also for my other story  with Lisa. Getting a second opinion makes it come together, it really does.

 

What about you?  Do you write out of instinct or reading? :) 

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lilansui

 Thank you Dark for featuring me, You do a great job.  I loved Layla's Desolation Angels.  And I got to meet another Buffy/Angel fan, Thorne Wilde.  It's great to be in such company. 

 

Thanks again Dark!!

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