Good news, Renee hasn't fired me yet! Even better news, it's time for another Ask An Author! As requested, we got ourselves a nice love story that will just melt the hearts of any Valentine's Day haters. I haven't even brought out the questions yet, and I know this is one heck of a Q&A session! We got some juicy ones for you in this interview with @Dabeagle, one of GA's Classic Authors! 

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The Right One
Dabeagle

Corbin's girlfriend is late after their first time. Add to that this boy named Declan that just confuses Corby to no end - who, in the end, will be the right one?

Corbin is a great friend and seems to be an all around great guy. I'm curious, do you see yourself in your characters at their age, and if so, how to you capture the age and maturity of them that makes them seem so real but not told from an adults POV?

Usually the only thing I see in my characters that I see in myself is their being clueless. The Corbin character has some flaws in a 'character dissection' sort of discussion. Given his mother is so sharp-tongued, one might think Corbin would be more aware. However, like many people, he's not seeing the trees of reality due to the forest of his own life before him. As far as the maturity level, my biggest error in writing characters of that age group is giving them more maturity than they normally possess. However I do know that because people come in all stripes, there are kids who are 'more mature' than they should/could be. The challenge comes in figuring out why they are the way they are. Some of my characters are that way from necessity, such as Ehren from Things We Lost. Corbin comes at it from a different direction - he's given responsibility and freedom at home because he's earned it from parents who are involved with him and know who he is. For me, I think Corbin is more life-like due to his struggles and self-doubt more than anything else. 

Like some of your other stories, you have a great mix of supporting cast. Some are good, some are bad. What do you find harder to write, a good character or a bad one? Do you prefer writing one over the other?

I find everyone has a bestie, so it only makes sense that your characters have people besides the writer to bounce their ideas off of. For some people it's their pet, like Oliver in Boy, Bus & Key, but mostly it's going to be another person who isn't your love interest. A supporting cast takes the story off in different directions as needed - like a sleight of hand so you forget the main character has a major decision to make, but the writer feels to jump right to that decision would move things a long too quickly. When it comes to 'good and evil'...I'm not a big fan of outright evil. There are reasons why people are who they are, whether we agree with them or not. Some people would be very quick to take a character like Ryder and throw him in the clink and be done with him, but why is he doing what he's doing? Why does he deal? Why did he decide it was okay to attempt to rape Declan? Is it that disconnect that somehow it's not rape (in his mind)? Has that been perpetrated on him, so that he sees it as normal?

If a boy, as they flower through puberty, spends sexual time with an adult -willingly - then does that not color how they see that when they get older? Might they become the older person in that situation because they filled the other role previously? Many people recoil and discussions about morality come into play - so you have to decide first, what is evil? Where is the moral compass before we write the character off?

I'm weak on 'evil' characters because I normally don't get very far into why they're jerks. The tendency is to make them more relatable so we understand why they are jerks - which is all well and good, but doesn't change what they did. In the end, I prefer redemptive arcs - 'yes, I was a jerk, but now I know I was a jerk and I'm trying hard not to be a jerk in the exact same way' sort of thing. Not always very realistic, because when was the last time you changed your mind about something? It takes a stressor, usually, and sometimes people just double down and dig in over being wrong rather than admit fault.

If I was a teenage boy (still), what message would you say you are trying to get across with Corby and Declan to all your audiences' ages and genders? It does seem to me that this story would appeal to multiple generations of readers.

Well, the answer may make some people uncomfortable, but I'm going to go with the truth. I'm glad for all my readers, I'm grateful for the ones who support me with messages, questions like these, and financially. As an adult, it's nice to read about the things people have the potential to achieve that we did not. Sometimes that's a bit of escapist fantasy. But the focus of these stories is to the ones that never write, never ask questions and are unable to be part of the financial wheel that helps keep things going - teenagers who may see themselves in my work.

As a group, gay teens are under-served and underrepresented. We've all been inundated with sex between straight kids for years in many forms. We've seen how straight kids have and break, fix and lose relationships. Straight kids get the chance to date in high school, to learn what they want in a relationship; what they need and can give. Gay kids aren't afforded as many opportunities, so on one level it's for them to see a potential of themselves. In quite another sense, it's to show how a positive relationship between them should work - communication, mutual respect, and self-respect. In this particular series we can see examples of each - from those that need help to get there, like Bell, to those that want someone to be clear about what someone wants, like Declan. We also see that even guys like Corby don't have all the answers, but that the important part is to seek them from people you can respect, like Nelson. That trying to be a decent person nets you friends who are decent people like Chris and Noel.

No one come out of a box and knows how to have a good relationship, or how to recognize a bad one. I hope that there are teens who do read these and see how positive relationships can be, and not just accept that it all comes down to how someone looks or if they have money or a car.

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What amazing questions, elaborate answers, and incredible story! I think I need to find myself a fedora and put a 'press' sticky note in it. Doing these articles is so much fun!

Don't forget to send me your questions, and I'll go pester the authors so you don't have to! Ask An Author doesn't happen all willy-nilly. You, the Gay Authors community, need to send in three questions about your favorite stories. You can remain anonymous to your admired author, and you just have to send it to me instead! Don't worry, I won't bite. 

I'll see you next month! Buh-bye!