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

In AtA #48, we heard from authors JackBinimbul, Mikiesboy, Palantir, and WolfM. 

Today in AtA #49 we hear from authors AC Benus, Parker Owens, HinderToyBL, and Milos.
 

First up today is Promising Author AC Benus.  Hailing from the city of San Francisco, USA, AC got a chance to visit Iceland earlier this year in 2017.  Perhaps he’ll write a new story based on some of his experiences there, such as the amazing northern lights, the hot springs, and the infamous penis museum.  AC likes to write in series, and one of his more recent is A Half-Once of Gold, a story about a stranger’s trip to Bali.  It’s part of the XXX Series, so reader beware!  If you like non-fiction, you might check out The Gay Experience, a collection of short essays along the same lines as AC’s blog; but instead of discussing music, he talks about some of the things he’s read.  It’s always interesting to venture into the mind of a creative genius.  A little scary sometimes, but that’s half the fun!    And don’t forget AC’s wonderful poetry!  There are more and more of them every day and they’re so varied that everyone is bound to fall in love with at least one.

To AC Benus:  Your FB/Christmas novella is awe-inspiring in both scope and complexity. Truly one of the most amazing things I've ever encountered on GA. My question is simple -- the answer may not be. Did this project come to you for the first time as to what it would ultimately become, or did you begin writing one section, and then see the need for the next, etc. Sort of how Wagner wrote his "Ring" -- backwards?

"Did this project come to you as what it would ultimately become?" The answer is no. I'm not sure what compelled me to get beyond the wish of 'maybe someday' to rolling up my sleeves and thinking I'm going to do this, now, but when I conceived of the project I thought I would be doing 6 short stories. I also thought the series would take me about 8 months in total. Boy, was I wrong on both fronts.

"Did you begin writing one section, and then see the need for the next, etc.?" To this one the answer is more complex. After I committed to doing the Christmas at Famous-Barr series I first pitched about deciding which years I had information on and compiled a possible list. Here arose my first problem – there were 8 Christmases that intrigued me, so my initial 6 went out the window. Before I let myself delve into writing the first one, I pulled out pieces of paper and jotted down notes and ideas for each year to be featured. Some of these notes filled up a few pages; others existed only as a paragraph or two. 2005 and 1880 are examples of the by-the-seat-of-my-pants approach. Once all 8 were grounded in a conceptual way, I immediately saw relationships of content. 1976 and 1929 were love stories; 1945 and 1913 were 'kid' stories; 1988 and 1964 were magic stories, etc. So, that's how I wrote them, in groups. The first two tackled were on themes of love – and a crisis appeared. They were outlined in proportions way beyond the scope of a short story, so I said, "Fine. The series will be 2 novellas and 6 short stories." That didn't work out either…. Each of the 8 Christmases presented expanded opportunities and all of them became novellas in their own right.

Thus, my original 8-month timeframe ballooned to me needing slightly less than two years to complete the project. Was it worth it…? Time will tell I guess.

Thank you for your praise of my work and your excellent question

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We saw Author Parker Owens just recently in AtA #46.  Like me, Parker lives in the North and, like AC Benus, is not one of our young twenty-somethings.  He has a rich background he shares with us in his stories and poetry.  Most people know Parker from his story A to Z.  It’s certainly a dark tale; it gets darker and darker and every time you think things couldn’t possibly get worse, something even more awful happens.  But eventually rock-bottom is reached and things start to look up for our main character.  It’s fascinating to see how Andy views the world and finds his own way to happiness.  He is continuing with Predator Prey, a story that I think is even darker than A to Z.  Parker keeps a lively discussion going in the forums, so if you have a burning question for him, that’s where you should look first.  He’s one of those people who just electrifies the forums, so look him up and see.

To Parker Owens:  You have graced us with some wonderful stories. But in a few, there have been brutally long and brutally describe periods before the protagonist is saved or redeemed. 'AtoZ' and 'Predator' immediately come to mind. My question is, how does such depth of depravity even get into your thinking?

This is a terribly hard question. I teach, I counsel, and I volunteer at homeless shelters. I hear some heart-stopping stories. And if that isn't enough, there is the news. In so many cases, the darkness encountered in reality makes pale anything I can conceive in fiction. I fear that these things got into my brain from actual news and stories told to me. All I did was fit them to the story lines.

In the case of A to Z, I felt the stories of children ignored, neglected and abused, needs to be told. It really is that bad for some, and yet the survivors often hold themselves as nothing special. In A to Z, I felt the need to write a story in which we can recognize such a survivor as an average someone who is nonetheless immensely significant. The depths of dark agony in the first few chapters were meant to be offset by the strengthening, brilliant light of the latter chapters.

When I began Predator, it started as a single chapter piece, but grew in response to an anecdote about what had happened to a campus dealer when his customers turned on him. There were no good guys: I wondered if it were even possible for even one of these characters to find some redemption.

There are real horror stories out there; these two stories explore what happens after the horror occurs

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We don’t see this too much, but Author HinderToyBL is actually a joint pseudonym for two different authors:  Thirdly & Rambling Robin.  These two lovely ladies have come together three times over the past few years to collaborate on a story.  Robin is an avid animal lover and has an interesting sense of humor.    Thirdly is a fantastic artist who absolutely loves video games, especially Pokemon.  (If you visit their profiles you can find stories they’ve written as themselves, on GA and elsewhere.)  Together, they make HinderToyBL and have brought us such amazing things as Kidnapping is Always an Option.  If the title doesn’t give it away, Robin’s humor comes out to play in the absurd situations main character Caspin finds himself in.  Also Thirdly puts a dash of cute in there just to keep you on the edge.  They do write about animal-shaped characters, and there’s usually a menage at some point, so read those blurbs so you know what you’re getting into.  I guarantee that even if you think you’re prepared, you’re really not!  Turn your common sense off and enjoy the show.

To HinderToyBL:  How do you work together?

Robin: We met through reading each other's stories online. I think we realized that we were both giving each other cooing reviews and so we started talking. It blossomed from there.

Thirdly: Yep, what Robin said. Somehow we ended up from writing long reviews to each other to writing e-mails to each other, and finally, to skype messaging. So, it's only a virtual partnership for now. I consider us distant sisters until I can pay her family a visit.

"Do you write individually and compare or is it a joint effort from the start?  Do you write the characters first or the plot?"

Robin: We seem to start with a character and then branch off from there. Usually, one of us messages the other in a tizzy about it. Some of the ideas get further than others. Our first attempt at writing a Unicorn/Nightmare story fizzled out, but then it eventually led to Lust and Chastity, which is chugging along nicely. We have so many ideas for it, sometimes it's hard to fit everything in. Once we have one character figured out, we then branch out from there. Where does he live? What's his conflict? What's his personality? Who is his love interest? We flesh all of those things out and then have excited little flurries of conversations about ideas for scenes. At some point in there we decide who will be in charge of which character. Then we take turns writing from our character's perspective. When we finish a chapter, we usually both edit it. Although lately I've been failing on that and Thirdly has been doing a lot of the editing, bless her. When we agree it's good, we post the chapter. As we go along, we save what we've written in a word file.

Thirdly: I digress (only a little bit!). First, there is a thought, theme, or idea. For Kidnapping is Always an Option, Robin really wanted to write a story with a kemonomimi/semi-anthro character in it (which eventually became Caspin). For Lust and Chastity, I stuck to that Unicorn/Nightmare theme, which is something that I have always, ALWAYS, wanted to write. Like Robin said, our first attempt flopped (mostly because I wanted to cling to a very old idea that never took flight...ever [but, I will keep trying because I don't know when to quit!]). I was persistent on writing a story with that theme, though, and I am glad we tried again because Lust and Chastity is more than what I could have ever hoped for (one has to try and try again!). After the idea/theme is set in place, then we dig deep into the characters and the cast keeps expanding as the characters are more fully developed and interwoven into the plot (most of the time the plot requires the characters to exist and not the other way around). So, in order, it would be:

1. Idea/Theme/Whimsy
2. Character Development
3. Plot Pow-wows and Squealings

OH! And regardless of whose idea or character it is to start with, we both have each other's input in just about everything. Therefore, yes, it is a joint effort from start to finish. The two of us try our best to compromise with one another and, though sometimes it's not fully possible (which has happened on more than one ocasion, but we quickly move on from dead ideas and form even better ones later on), it has worked out tremendously for the majority of the time. Partnerships (and projects, for that matter) require patience, prudence, and preparation. Robin has more patience than I do, we both have very little prudence, and I try to make sure that we're both pretty prepared. Whoever came up with the 3 P's never did say how much of each was needed, now did they?

Note from Site Administrators: While site members are allowed one account on GA, under certain circumstances we can understand the need for a second pen name. If you find yourself in the position of requiring a second pen name, please contact the Administrators via a support request so that we can review your request. 

Author Milos finishes things off today!  Also from the USA, Milos has been with GA for about six years now.  He’s the author of Die Catfish Die a story that begins with one of life’s more somber moments, when you lose a good friend to suicide.  The later chapters are just as powerful as the beginning.  And then there’s the cover art.  If you don’t know what cat-fishing is (in the story context), you can let Milos tell you about it from the perspective of his struggling teen characters.  He won’t let you down.  There’s a lot of serious content in this story, but I find it’s handled with respect while not minimizing what any of the characters are going through.  Just, if you’ve got something in your past, read with caution.  Some of these characters and situations can really get to you.

To Milos:  What inspired you to write Die Catfish Die?

I really wanted to explore more mystery in my writing, and I wanted to write something that totally ended in a way that nobody expected. I'd been featured in an anthology that did really well (under a different pen name), and I felt that I could have done better with my story. Even though the stories have nothing to do with each other, it gave me inspiration for Milos to pick up and start writing again. Mystery and psych-thriller are two genres that I've never really tried, and I really want to develop in these areas.

With Die Catfish, Die, the idea came from several news stories I'd seen, and the trend of teen suicide by way of cyber-bullying. This is a phenomena that we're only beginning to understand, and the cat-fishing is only one small aspect of something greater in the plot. I can't really say more about the inspiration aspect because it may ruin the ending if I do.

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!

I’ll see you next time, with repeats from Mann Ramblings, mikiesboy, Parker Owens, and WL!

I’m always in the market for new questions!  Simply PM me (Dark).

Until next time!

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