Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'Interview'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Gay Authors Community
    • Clubs
    • The Lounge
    • Forum Games and Humor
    • Help
  • Authors and Stories
    • Promoted Author Discussion Forum
    • Stories Discussion Forum
    • Peeks and Prompts
  • Writing Forums
    • Writer's Circle
    • Speculative Fiction
    • Poetry
    • Anthologies
    • Editors
    • Copyrights
    • Writer Clubs
  • Comicality's Shack Clubhouse's Cafe
  • Headstall's Paddock's Topics
  • Mikiesboy's Drop in Centre's Topics
  • C James Fan Club's Topics
  • Mark Arbour Fan Club's Topics
  • Stellar's Fan Club's Topics
  • In Memorium's Topics

Categories

  • Fiction
  • FanFiction
  • Poetry
    • 2023- Exploration -Poetry
    • 2015 Poetry Anthology: Remember
    • 2014 Poetry Anthology: A Storm Is Coming
    • 2013 Poetry Anthology: Whispers in the Dark
    • 2012 Poetry Anthology: Cracks of Time
    • 2011 Poetry Anthology: Into the Unknown
  • Fiction - Gay Authors Anthologies
    • 2024 - Long May You Run
    • 2023 - Leap of Faith
    • 2022 - Anniversary
    • 2021 - Spring - On The Road
    • 2021 - Spring - Potluck 2021
    • 2021 - Fall - A Winding Path
    • 2021 - Fall - An Unconventional Gift
    • 2021 - Fall - Potluck
    • 2020 - Spring - Full Moon
    • 2020 - Spring - The Storm
    • 2020 - Fall - Bridges
    • 2020 - Fall - Shadows
    • 2019 - Spring - Into the Stars
    • 2019 - Spring - Snapped
    • 2019 - Fall - Fall From Grace
    • 2019 - Fall - Raincheck
    • 2018 - Spring - Now or Never
    • 2018 - Spring - Encounters
    • 2018 - Fall - Fight Back
    • 2018 - Fall - Good Intentions
    • 2017 - Spring - Unintended Consequences & Jagged Edges
    • 2017 - Fall - The Fallout and Secret Spaces
    • 2016 - Spring - Crossing the Line
    • 2016 - Summer - Wicked Games
    • 2016 - Fall - Blindsided / The Forgotten
    • 2016 - Winter - Rewind: Pre-2016 Themes
    • 2015 - Spring - Full Circle
    • 2015 - Summer - Road Trip
    • 2015 - Fall - Blurred Edges
    • 2015 - Winter - Blackout
    • 2014 - Spring - Nature's Wrath
    • 2014 - Summer - The Backup Plan
    • 2014 - Fall - Scars
    • 2014 - Winter - Chain Reaction
    • 2013 - Spring - A Night To Remember
    • 2013 - Summer - Roll the Dice
    • 2013 - Fall - Pandora's Box
    • 2013 - Winter - Recipe for Disaster
    • 2012 - Spring - It Wasn't Me
    • 2012 - Summer - Choices
    • 2012 - Fall - Friends & Enemies
    • 2012 - Winter - Desperate Ends
    • 2012 - Special - Mayan Tribute: End of the World
    • 2012 - Anniversary - Secrets Can Kill
    • 2011 - Spring - People Are Strange
    • 2011 - Summer - Walk on the Wild Side
    • 2011 - Fall - Legends
    • 2011 - Winter - Aftermath
    • 2010 - Spring - I'd Never Do That
    • 2010 - Summer - Out of this World
    • 2010 - Fall - No Going Back
    • 2010 - Winter - Haunted
    • 2009 - Spring - Oops
    • 2009 - Summer - Carpe Diem
    • 2009 - Fall - Something Unexpected
    • 2009 - Winter - Deceptions
    • 2008 - Annual - It's Just a Game, Right?
    • 2008 - Spring - Living in the Shadows
    • 2008 - Summer - Escape
    • 2008 - Fall - Anniversary
    • 2008 - Winter - Ghosts
    • 2007 - Annual - The Road Not Taken
    • 2007 - Spring - Fairy Tales
    • 2007 - Summer - Ending and Beginnings
    • 2007 - Fall - The Rainy Day
    • 2007 - Winter - Worth Fighting For
    • 2006 - Winter - Blizzard
    • 2006 - Fall - Halloween
    • 2006 - Summer - Going on Vacation
    • 2006 - Spring - Day of Silence
    • 2004 - Winter - Christmas
  • Fiction - Story Contests
    • 2017- Halloween
    • 2017- April Fool's
    • 2016 - Secret Admirer Short Story
    • 2015 - Secret Santa Short Story
    • 2011 - Novella Contest
    • 2009 - Novella Contest
  • Non-Fiction
    • Writing Tips
  • Letters
  • Screenplays
  • World Building

Blogs

  • Liukas Soli's World of Words
  • Daddydavek's Blog
  • Escaping for just a little while
  • Myr's Corner
  • Tropical Paradise
  • Fortune and Mens Eyes
  • Wildenberg’s Blog
  • Gay Authors News
  • Incubus Lover
  • harcallard's Blog
  • Memoirs of Forgiveness
  • The Fantastic Mr. Wilde
  • 2010
  • GREEN & CHAZ'S BLOG
  • Daddydavek's other Blog
  • A Demented Blog
  • No longer here
  • Toast
  • but don't forget about my bomb...
  • Pocket Full Of Stars
  • Val's Blog
  • harveybirdman's Blog
  • Wombat Bill's out takes
  • What are you currently reading?
  • Writing Unblocked
  • Daveys Blog
  • A Stone's Throw
  • Stephanie L Danielson's Blog
  • Vic's Blog
  • Grunge - Zen
  • Just a thought
  • seanriter's Blog
  • wildone's other Blog
  • My Daily Bread Crumbs
  • Wry Wrambling of a Rebellious Rimbaud
  • mr.chris' blog
  • Fir Pro Diet
  • Mark Arbour's Pride
  • James Matthews Blog
  • Viv's Blog
  • Qboi's Cogitations On Life
  • Words, Words and Words
  • Joe's Blog
  • Luc Rosen's Blog
  • Editor's Notebook
  • ;; " .MidnightSecret. " ;;
  • Z's Blog
  • mmike1969's Blog
  • scotty94's Blog
  • Mercys writing
  • Read my blog
  • huktaunluv's Blog
  • CF's Ramblings
  • Owls' hoot's
  • Ichthyic Insanity
  • My Only Escape
  • advocatus diaboli's Blog
  • Zuri's Blog
  • Thoughts And Ideas That I'm Happy To Share
  • Rise and Shine
  • Rising towards reinvention
  • Twilight Chronicles
  • thephoenix's Blog
  • Aditus' Road Blog
  • The River Song
  • Personal Blog
  • Bender's blog
  • Daddydavek's Other Other Blog
  • Libby Drew
  • jamessavik's Blog
  • Ron's Random Access
  • Stevie’s In Love
  • HearSay
  • TetRefine's Blog
  • mickey1952's Blog
  • The Bad Dog Chronicles
  • Sagar
  • Thorn's Edibles
  • Thoughts, Oddities and Utter Chaos
  • Insurgency's Blog
  • Blog Archive
  • Thicker Than Water
  • John Doe's Blog
  • paul.b's Blog
  • On The Outside, A Soundtrack
  • Xan's Blog
  • Chronicles of My Life
  • DynoReads' Blog
  • When I'm Stuck
  • Genderqueer Musings
  • Zot spot
  • Little Buddha's Thatched Hut
  • Arizona Legislature: Crazy, Stupid, Misguided...or all of the Above?
  • Caedus' Blog
  • ACEd it!
  • See My Secrets... See My Shame...
  • Caz Pedroso's Blog
  • Nephylim's Blog
  • quokka's Blog
  • Camy's Blog
  • arsimms' Blog
  • PrivateTim's Blog
  • Reset, Reload, Redo
  • Kurt's Corner
  • THIS IS NOT A BLOG
  • Cole Matthews' Dark and Dusty History Corner
  • trackstar195's Blog
  • Wolf At The Keyboard
  • vlista20's Blog
  • Esther Night
  • Life's a Conflagration
  • JohnAR's Blog
  • LouisHarris' Blog
  • I fell in love with my straight best friend & it destroyed our friendship
  • Luc's Dementia
  • Renee's News
  • I fell in love with my straight best friend & it destroyed our friendship
  • My blog
  • Douw's Blog
  • ColumbusGuy's Blog
  • BarricadeBoy's Blog
  • IBEX's Blog
  • Craftingmom's Blog
  • Marc's Blog
  • lostone's Blog
  • Hogan2015's Blog
  • old bob's Blog
  • lilansui's Blog
  • Musings from Valhalla
  • drak's sekrits
  • John B.'s Blog
  • The Wisdom of M
  • Albert Nothlit's Blog
  • Dabeagle's Blog
  • The Life and Times of a High School Dropout
  • Mann's Ramblings
  • Jay's Blog
  • The Jordanation
  • Alex Canton's Blog
  • JustynC's Blog
  • Love that always hurts
  • Drew's Slice of Pi
  • Bolg
  • Meh
  • Riding Thoughts
  • blogage
  • double meh
  • Ducks and Fucks
  • C James' Goatpen
  • wildone's Blog
  • TheBlackDragon's Blog
  • It's knotme
  • My Life - My Views
  • On Call
  • Blog of Cynus the Pan-Ace
  • Ninja Scroll
  • Fixing My Destiny
  • The Alphabet Game
  • skinnydragon's lunch
  • The Talon's Claw
  • peaceofthesouls' Blog
  • Brandon Smiling: The Soundtrack
  • nobody
  • Making of My Stories
  • Melancholy ... the broken staff of life
  • James Hiwatari's Blog
  • Victor's Wavering Weirdness
  • My Feelings
  • North to Alaska
  • TIMID
  • Nymphetamine Abuse
  • Edward's Blog
  • Random Thoughts of an Alpha Female
  • NightOwl88's Blog
  • Writing World
  • Put onto paper...
  • Freddyness' Blog
  • Looking for sense in the chaos of my thoughts
  • jeet01's Blog
  • The Persephone Chronicles
  • General Silliness
  • blog
  • KC's Blog
  • GaryKelly's Blog
  • Snowflake: The Soundtrack
  • RainbowPhoenixWI's Blog
  • MusicalAlchemy's Blog
  • Renee's Recipes
  • MusicalAlchemy's Blog
  • Hunter Thomson's Blog
  • lomax61's Blog
  • Mortal Morphology
  • Ieshwar's Blog
  • Andy's other Blog
  • Chatter from the Chatterbox
  • Cailen's Conclave
  • Cody Waustin's Blog
  • What once was is now lost.
  • In My Own Way
  • News of My World
  • Skywriting
  • hands in the air.
  • The Seashell: Soundtracks and Textures
  • CassieQ's Fractured Thoughts
  • Reflections
  • MHSebastian's Blog
  • Character Galleries
  • jamiiewhiite's Blog
  • Continuous Story
  • A.J.'s Blog
  • JC's Writing Blog
  • Glittery Place
  • Mark92's Blog
  • Mikiesboy's Blog
  • ValentineDavis21's Blog
  • Adagio: Music and Textures
  • V's blog
  • Day in the life of KibaNaru
  • S.L. Lewis Many Thoughts and Updates
  • Strife and Harmony
  • HB's Blog
  • Altimexis' Blog
  • Wayne's Updates
  • Just random entries
  • The Fall of Ast@r0th
  • nordmanni's Blog
  • journals of the poems
  • We're all mad here
  • clo's closet
  • Musings by MacGreg
  • Randomnicity (aka Jay's thoughts)
  • Billy Martin's Blog
  • Dodger the Blogger
  • Eric's Blog
  • This and That
  • The GA Law Blog
  • Nick Buchanan
  • Bloggie Blog Blog
  • D/s BDSM
  • Of Gratitude, Goofing Off, and Good Times
  • 365
  • The DL Diaries
  • Trebs' Blog
  • Labrador's Blog
  • Lit's Blog
  • What Scares You?
  • Claustrophile's Blog
  • Nobody likes you when you're 23.
  • Michael's Playroom
  • hh5's Blog
  • Percy's Blog
  • Mollyhousemouse's Stash
  • Life is worth an entry
  • podiumdavis' Blog
  • sean's scribbles
  • ryan jo's Blog
  • Moggy's Haunts
  • Menace Years
  • Jordan's Blog
  • Raphael Farmer's Blog
  • The CSU Stories
  • Prompt du jour
  • KingdombytheSea's Blog
  • Happy birthday and I'm sorry
  • The Yettie's Blog
  • The Secret Life Of Billy Chase: Music For A Teenage Dream
  • Gone From Daylight: The Music of the Darkness
  • Intellectual Circuit Boy Gone Seriously Crazy in Hollywood
  • Linxe Termoil's Blog
  • Le Musique de le Souvenir
  • Andy's Blog
  • AdamP's Blog
  • Methodwriter85's Blog
  • DragonFire's Cave
  • kjames' Blog
  • Blashi Blog Blog
  • Ravings of a VampireMystic
  • My kingdom by the sea
  • Rompecabezas
  • BB's Blog
  • vEETalk
  • The Saga Continues...
  • Ashi's Blog
  • The new kid in school music collection
  • Do the sins of a parent transfer to the child?
  • Once Upon a Time Prompts
  • According to Puppilull
  • Saint Peter
  • When Life Gives You Lemons Make Beef Stew (PRIVATE CLUB)
  • Dear G A
  • Comments, Musings, Ponderings, Thoughts, 'N' Thangs
  • blogage (PRIVATE)
  • Pride of Lions
  • Simply Sid
  • Loveless - The Jimmy LaPlane Experience
  • Rano's Blog
  • Goodbye my Love.
  • asamvav111's Rainbow Couch
  • Random Thought's
  • Musings From Me
  • joann414's Blog
  • THINK BEFORE YOU WRITE
  • Jesse 101 Soundtrack
  • Thoughts from the Faerie Fool
  • The Triple J Ranch
  • Marty's Musings
  • SimonOhNoes' Blog
  • No Comments
  • layla's Nightwhisperz
  • A Class By Himself: Derrick’s Mixtape
  • Colored in Gray
  • Blog
  • S H E L T ER
  • TheLifeOfRydo
  • In Chandler’s Hands
  • Left Without Words
  • Gabriel Caldwell
  • miker33's Blog
  • rick thoughts
  • A Point of View...
  • Ranting and raving
  • The Great Escape
  • Autumn Dream's Blog
  • Umbereth
  • Dolores Esteban's Blog
  • Stuff from Cia
  • The Occasional rantings and ravings of Anita
  • Bandage's Blog
  • Waiting Outside The Lines
  • Delusions in A minor
  • The Vault of Worlds
  • Spots of Ink
  • My One Truth
  • GA Blogs's GA News Queue
  • GA Blogs's WW Queue
  • GA Engagement's Blog Staging
  • Review Team's Blog Staging
  • Site Archive of Doom's Blogs to Review
  • Site Archive of Doom's Archived Blogs
  • Prompt Team's Prompt Blog Posts

Product Groups

  • Member Groups
  • Advertising, Story / eBook Promotion
  • Site Promotion Groups

Categories

  • General Site Help
  • Step-By-Step Guides
  • Site Membership
    • Account Questions
    • Profiles
    • Rules and Discipline
  • Author Related Questions
    • Story Archive Author Questions
    • Authors
    • Tips & Tricks
    • Anthology Questions
  • Reader Questions
  • Forums
  • Forum Apps
    • Store
    • Blog
    • Gallery
    • Calendar
  • Advertisers

Calendars


Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


Favorite Genres


Topic Display Title


Interests


About Me


Website URL

  1. The first Wednesday of the month, for anyone that follows the GA News Blog, you know what that means! It's time for another edition of "Ask An Author". For those new to the site (or to reading the blog), Ask An Author is our month feature provided by Dark. GA Members are able to send questions they'd like to ask their favorite author and Dark tries to get the answer and compile them in the monthly Ask An Author! Now, let's see what Dark has for us this month! Ask an Author #17 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #16, we had questions for authors Menzoberranzen, Mark Arbour, and C James. In AtA #17, we hear from authors AnytaSunday, Billy Martin, and Kyle Aarons. 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. Our first author today is Author AnytaSunday. Since beginning her foray into the publishing world with Andrew Q. Gordon in (Un)Masked, Anyta has published over a dozen novels, many of which began as free reads right here on GA. She’s come a long way from New Zealand, hasn’t she? It’s amazing the kind of courage you find with the right friends. Go to her website (www.anytasunday.com) for more details about her books and life in Berlin, Germany. One of her favorite quotes comes from St-St-Stuffed, the second book in her series Enemies to Lovers: “Pop said life was like learning to drive. You were bound to fuck up, make mistakes, maybe even cause an accident, but if you practice and follow the rules, people didn’t have to get hurt—and one day you’d just get better at it. Just don’t . . . give it up, he said.” To AnytaSunday: Consider your past goals. Are you where you thought you'd be? Where do you imagine you'll be in five more years? They say it takes ten years or one million bad words before you start to get good at writing. Well, in the last four years, I most definitely have written my share of bad words. But there have also been some good ones in there too. Each novel has taught me something that makes my writing better--and I hope, over the next five years, there will be more and more better words. One day it would be nice to answer the question 'what do you do as a living?' with confidence and a smile as I say: "I'm an author." Today’s next author is Author Billy Martin, who many of you may remember as Billy Brat. He’s come a long way since first appearing on GA. As 2014 begins, Billy’s getting ready to end his first multi-chapter story, Trials and Tribulations. With over 30,000 views and 220 reviews, it’ll be a sad day for many readers, and yet a treasured accomplishment for any author. Just like Billy, the main character in his story also resides in the Appalachian Mountains on the East Coast of the U.S. The story follows the evolution of several teens as they learn and begin to accept themselves for who they are. We’re so glad to see Billy back and hope to see the conclusions long-awaited for Gary and all his friends. To Billy Martin: What are your initial thought processes when you are first captivated by an idea? (i.e. What steps do you take so that the idea can be developed)? I chew on the idea for a few hours, maybe even a day or so, thinking my way through it. I look at how it will affect the ruff ending I already have in mind and decide if it will add to the story or take off on a tangent that would hurt the story (lose focus). I'm pretty much a free thinker or writer in that once I have an idea developed to where I know the direction the story should go next, and when the feeling to write hits me, I sit down and allow the story to flow from my mind to the keyboard. I know this isn't how the great ones do it, but it's what works for me. I tried writing an outline, but when I did, I felt like I was wasting time that I could have been writing. Writing doesn't come easy for me as it does for some, so when the feeling hits, I have to let it out then and there or I'll lose it. I hope this answers your question. Our last author today is another mountain boy, Classic Author Kyle Aarons, the mind behind the GA classics The Kandric Saga and Re-Emergence. With more than half a million words, The Kandric Saga is one of the most ambitious undertakings I’ve ever been ever witness to. Though he doesn’t actively write for GA any longer, Kyle’s one of the founding members of our site and has been an active contributor since 2003. That’s ten years, for the math-impaired folks among us. 200 hundred followers of his stories means he must have done something right! To Kyle Aarons: Your stories are so realistic that you truly think that you are in the story. How do you write such amazing backgrounds? The biggest thing about Kandric, or any of my many other stories is the background work. I do extensive "world building" before I start. I work out a history, what things are the way they are, and how this shapes my characters. I then do histories on the characters. I know where they were born, what their lives were like before the story starts, and what is their basic education and motivation. I need to know how they talk compared with those around them and what their moral values are. I can't even start writing a story until I have those things worked out and for 3 to 4 characters I even develop a list of Quirks so I can so them being odd or different which I feel adds to them being "real". I can identify with that if she;s misunderstood... because I'm certainly misunderstood myself. For example, though I'm perhaps best known for my utter and total avoidance of cliffhangers, some people, shockingly, accuse me of them. 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: AQG, Ashi, and Sasha Distan. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  2. Have you downloaded your Signature Author Background yet? It's there, just waiting for you! Today we're continuing with Signature Week with an interview with Andrew_Q_Gordon on this month's story "Second Shot". Cia presented Andy with a list of questions which he was kind enough to answer and send back for us to share with you. Who knows, maybe one of these questions is one that you had! Interview: Andrew_Q_Gordon on Second Shot Interviewer: Cia What brought you to GA? My writing instructor said I needed to join something where I could get feed back on my writing. Her suggestions were all straight boards, so I decided to look for some place that would be predominately gay fiction. What inspired you to write Second Shot? A bet. Until I wrote this, most of my writing was fantasy. Someone suggested I try something contemporary. That led me to finding a story. I'm not sure what prompted it, but the first scene I wrote for this was what became chapter 25. Then I filled in before and after. This was your first story posted on GA, but was it the first story you ever wrote? The first story would have been a book that is still on yellow legal pages. I wrote it in college for a creative writing class. It's still there, but it needs so much work I almost don't want to think about it. You had a ton of feedback while writing your story, did you change anything you had planned for the story based on the feedback you received? Not really, but sorta yes. Now to explain that. Some of the early reviews were grammatical. Some were stylistic. But the story was mostly written when I started to post it, so suggestion really didn't make it into the story. Sure there were a few tweaks here and there, but nothing substantive. Do you have a favorite review you received on the story? The real answer is no. Almost all of them were very positive. I made some good friends from the reviews and to single out any one would be impossible. What I can say is that I do miss the back and forth with readers. GA is SO different from almost any other site I've come across. On Amazon or Goodreads if an author responds to a reader - even in a positive way, they run the risk of being attacked. (It's true,). In addition, there while there are a lot of positive reviews, some people go just to be nasty. On GA you get the ability to have a real dialogue with readers. They ask, you answer, other read and chime in. I don't find that else where, and I miss it. So my favorite reviews were the one that made me think, pushed me to respond, and that showed the reader understood what I was trying to do. Those uniformly made my day. What was the easiest part of writing your story? The hardest part? The easiest parts were the soccer scenes and the antique cars. I find that when I really "see" a scene in my head, the words come out easier. The Hardest ones were when I was going for a certain emotional feel. Trying to tweak the words and action just so make it hard to say – okay, there, it's done. I was always going back and changing this sentence or that. Is there anything else you’d like to share with your readers about your experience while writing Second Shot? I learned a tremendous amount about writing and readers. Some times it's better to do less and other times more. What I mean is that not every story needs to have every trope you can thing of. I think I feel into that trap a bit here. People like to see their characters in real life situations, but they also want to 'believe' what they're reading. If you write about a character who lurches from one traumatic event to the next and seems to escape unscathed every time, you end up having to suspend your disbelief at some point. Going forward, I've tried to keep my stories more character driven than events. Time will tell if I succeed. How did you feel when you finally finished writing Second Shot? Glad and sad. (I sound like a Dr. Seuss book.) Finally writing "the End" was great. I was ready to start other things, and I needed to get this story out of my head first. But spending time with the characters makes it hard to just walk away. It's why people do sequels and companion stories. I don't want to sound like a nut and suggest they are real inside my head, but well formed characters are up there somewhere because you have to approach each scene with the question, what would {insert character here} do? That really forms an attachment with them. Did you enjoy returning to the world of Second Shot with your follow up story, The Senior Year? Can you give us an idea when you might come back to it? Very much so. The idea with Senior year is that it is not so much a story as it is a compilation of events that uses these characters. I once asked readers if they had any interest in reading about the every day lives of their favorite characters. I asked because while I do have sequel in my head for Second Shot, it's no where close to being ready to write. But the characters still have life left in them. So would they be interested in short peeks into their lives. The overwhelming answer was a conditional maybe. There needs to be a plot of some kind, tension, conflict and resolution. So when I returned to Second for the Senior year, that was the theme, it would follow these characters around for Jason and Peter's senior year. But the harder part was finding tension to create along the way, and then have conflict and resolution. My hope is that I'll walk the fine line between too many events, which makes it unbelievable and not enough which makes it boring. If you don’t have any plans to return to The Senior Year soon, can you tell us what you do have lined up? Yes, I have plans to return to the Senior year soon. I'm actually writing more chapters. As for what else – I've got so many different projects in the works, that I can't even begin to name them all. Next up for GA once Purpose is over will be something new. That should be staring in a couple weeks. Then Senior will return. Beyond that I have some anthology stories being published and a free fantasy novella that will be published by the Goodreads MM Romance group. The sequel to the Last Grand Master will be out soon and I've got two other contemporary stories I want to publish one day. I also plan to get back to the sequel to Second Shot. I have the plot roughed out in my head, but just not ready to put it down.
  3. It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that is always a special treat in the Gay Author's News Blog. As most people know, the first Wednesday of every month has been slated for a feature by Dark called Ask An Author in which different authors are asked a question from the members at Gay Authors. It's a great feature, and a big Thank You to Dark for keeping it going. So, let's see what Dark has in store for us this month! Ask an Author #16 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #15, we had questions for authors CassieQ, James Savik, and Libby Drew. In AtA #16, we hear from authors Menzoberranzen, Mark Arbour, and C James. 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. Our first author today is Promising Author Menzoberranzen. Don’t ask me how to pronounce that. Having been with us since 2007, I’m sure he’s had weirder questions from his fans. A Canadian!, Menzo is a self-proclaimed wanderer who has penned some poetry to accompany his stories. He also often participates in the quarterly anthologies and I am not the only one who enjoyed his entry to 2012’s It Wasn’t me, Conversations with Strangers. If you liked it, too, send Menzo a note in his forum. He likes that! To Menzoberranzen: What genre(s) do you tend to write in? What kind of genres would you like to explore in the future? 1) I don't ever think about genre, but I suppose you'd call them dramas, though that's awfully vague. My stories are about the characters - or as much of them as I choose to reveal. Not much actually happens in my stories; I'm interested in how the character's perceive the 'action,' and how they perceive each other. I don't always try to write real people, or 'real' dialogue....it's all constructed with a thought to the overall emotional reaction I want to elicit in the reader. 2) I would like to write an epistolary story. The genre gives the author a lot of freedom to manipulate what information the reader receives, and it presents the possibility for multiple possible interpretations of the story. Today’s next author is legendary Hosted Author Mark Arbour, who continues to spew stories left and right. There’s the family dynasty CAP series, the historical naval orgy of the Bridgemont series, and a handful of others. Why is he a legend, you might ask? Well, just “watch” him for a time. You’ll see. If that doesn’t convince you, then read! To Mark Arbour: Where do you find the time to write two storylines simultaneously and still work fulltime and have a family life as well? It's called "free time". Writing for me is a release and a hobby. Some people watch television (I rarely do), some people play video games (I rarely do), so when I have downtime, I write. I find that it's therapeutic for me, and it also gives me an incredible amount of satisfaction to craft these characters and make them as life-like as I can. Our last author today is “The Goat,” our dear, beloved C James, who started hinting earlier this year that his neverending story, Circumnavigation, is actually coming to a close. Say it with me: Nooooo! And then go read it again. We’ll see how long it takes you this time ‘round. To C James: Tell us about your character Bridget? (ie was there a particular inspiration?) Did you know from the start that she was going to be so evil? Or did she just become more dastardly and devious as the story developed? I knew the basic plot and ending for Circumnavigation before I started posting it, but Bridget... she's proven to be a bit more capable and avaricious than I thought. She's always been a brilliant tactician though, and an able manipulator. One thing that did surprise me about her; the way that she, such as when she was wounded during her escape from Florida by boat, or when she's violently angry, drops the veneer of formality and dignity, becoming again the hardscrabble Georgia farmgirl she was as a youth. Bridget isn't based on any one person. Her veneer of formality is based on several people I've known. I figured being a high-society type would be a good cover for a drug runner and money launderer, so it fit. As for her personality... she's, well, let me back up a bit. I never set out to design a character's personality for a simple reason: I suck at it. So, though I do lay out a few aspects, such as skills and abilities, I just write them as I see them. So, sometimes they surprise me. (and in Bridget's case, she's sure not somebody I'd want to argue with!) But is she evil? Perhaps she's just a little.... misunderstood. I can identify with that if she;s misunderstood... because I'm certainly misunderstood myself. For example, though I'm perhaps best known for my utter and total avoidance of cliffhangers, some people, shockingly, accuse me of them. 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: AnytaSunday, Billy Brat, and Kyle Aarons. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  4. It's time to continue with our Signature Week. This month's Signature Author Background features Dragon's Treasure by Signature Author David McLeod. Cia was kind enough to do an interview with David to help us get to know a bit more about both the author and the story. If you haven't already read, Dragon's Treasure, it's there, just waiting for you to take a gander at it! Now, let's see what David had to say!!! Interview: David McLeod on Dragon's Treasure Interviewer: Cia When did you first start writing? That would have been a very juvenile science fiction story written when I was in the fifth grade. My mother (naturally) saved it. I pull it out, occasionally, and just shake my head. Most of the writing I did through graduate school was only that which was required—themes, essays, book reports. It wasn’t until about ten years ago I started writing things I didn’t have to write. Who has been the most supportive of your writing over the years? Friends I’ve met through writers workshops and writers circles, and on-line. There are several folks, authors and readers on the GA site, who have provided excellent feedback, critical direction, and superb ideas. I can't list them all, here, but I have acknowledged and thanked them along the way. You write a lot of fantasy stories; do you have a favorite fantasy story or book to read? Anne McCaffery is nonpareil. And dragons rule! When you began writing Dragon's Treasure, did you know where the story was going all along? Or did your characters and story take on a life of their own? My goal was a “grail cycle,” a form of literature that I think one of my early English teachers invented, as I can find no reference to it, today, outside of Camelot and Lancelot. (If anyone knows a better name, I’d sure like to hear it.) The notion is that a hero, perhaps not knowing that he is—or is to become—a hero, undertakes a mission, perhaps not knowing immediately that he is on a mission. Along the journey, he gathers companions. Each of the companions brings a critical skill. It’s formulaic, and therefore fairly easy to write. Once started, however, the characters in “Dragon’s Treasure” (like most others) took on lives of their own, and I was hard pressed to keep up with them. If your story was made into a movie, who do you picture playing each of the four boys' part? Unfortunately, the ages of my preferred characters are much too far apart, today, and one is dead. I’d like to have seen Ulee played by Asa Butterfield at the age he was in “The Boy in Striped Pajamas.” River Phoenix at his age in “Little Nikita” would have made a wonderful Ian. Will Wheaton of “Stand by Me” age might have been a good Druid; and a younger Corey Feldman (“The Lost Boys”) would have made an excellent Thief. (Thorby, by the way, was inspired by Robert Heinlein’s “Citizen of the Galaxy,” Thorby Baslim, later Thorby Rudbeck.) What is your favorite part of the Dragon's Treasure? When after repeatedly being beaten down by evil or desperate people, Ulee and Ian find refuge and a mentor. That was influenced by Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” model, another but more difficult (IMHO) formula for storytelling and one I've never been able successfully to follow. Is there anything you'd do different, if you were to write the story over? I would make the last scene in the mountain meadow less abrupt, and lay the groundwork for it more carefully. Don’t want to give that away, so I’ll not say more. Dragon's Treasure is an older story, but do you think you'll revisit it again in the future? I am grateful to the staff and readers of the GA web site for the opportunity to post stories, to receive feedback, and to “experiment” with technique, characters, plots, and other elements of writing. Although the flaws in "Pilots II" and "Translator III" were too obvious to ignore and I plan to rewrite/repost those stories, I would rather create new than revisit old. I doubt that I’ll get back to “Dragon’s Treasure,” however, the treasure, itself, is featured in other stories. There are in development several stories that take place on World, including “Prince Errant,” “Smith’s Son,” and a Part II of “The Squire and the Acolyte.”
  5. Once again, a new month is here. It's hard to believe that it's already April, but with the new month, comes a monthly feature that I think everyone looks forward to. A big thank you goes out to Dark for taking the time to put together our "Ask An Author" feature. I hope you enjoy! Ask an Author #15 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #14, we had questions for authors Comicality, Stellar, and dkstories. In AtA #15, we hear from authors CassieQ, James Savik, and Libby Drew. 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. Our first author today, CassieQ, was one of the first authors interviewed for this blog series. That could be due to the popularity of Not the Sun. Since then, there’s been 2 more books and lots and lots of fans. In her spare time, Cassie enjoys her job as a “physical terrorist” (physical therapist) and somehow finds time to feed her NFL obsession. You can also find her in GA chat, where you can enjoy her lively humor and sunny disposition. Just don’t mention the Raiders. To CassieQ: What’s the most valuable piece of feedback or writing advice someone on GA has given you? This was a tough one. Any piece of feedback is valuable, but the best feedback I ever got on this site was from several authors who edited a piece of mine called Seasons of Love. What was so great about this feedback, was that they told me where I was weak with my writing, along with what they liked. It caused me to change a lot of things about how I wrote from that point forward and I think my writing now is stronger as a result of that. Today’s next author is James Savik. He’s a long-time member (been around since 2005!) and is frequently seen about the forums. He’s a bit of a science geek and, being from Mississippi, laughs at all the rest of us when we complain about the weather. Although a professed cynic, James often finds time to greet and encourage new GA members. One of his latest writing projects is Operation Hammerhead, a rich sci-fi tale about protecting civilization from an invader. To James Savik: Which story that you have written are you the most proud of? Why? Operation Hammerhead is my favorite novel and the Place in Between is my favorite short story. Operation Hammerhead is a bit of a misdirection. You think its about a war against a mysterious enemy out there but the really dangerous situation is going on at home. In the future genetic engineering technology has matured to the point to where it is possible to engineer human beings. While the goverenment tries to strictly regulate this technology to prevent abuses, there are people discovered to be the product of banned procedures. People are scared that they will be supermen and get bored with breeders (the naturally born). They are called illegals and they face quite a lot of discrimination. If I get any more allegorical, I think that I may be arrested. the Place in Between does something that I think is somewhat unique. It examines the cruising culture and, how many young people get caught up in it. Most of the time this sub-culture eats its own. It's terribly degrading and destructive for the people involved. This story examines the only way out of that culture that I know of. No one ever goes there intentionally. It's a side trip where people and souls get lost. Sometimes for just a while. Sometimes forever. Today’s final author is Hosted (and published) Author Libby Drew. She has been with GA since 2007 and has over the last 2 years started publishing her stories. One of her stories unique to GA is fan favorite The Art of Walking in Snow, a story about a man who falls in love due to a curious incident with a tree. Libby’s full and interesting life helps supply her with endless story ideas and I for one look forward to reading the next right here on GA before it gets snapped up by another publisher! To Libby Drew: When reading other fiction, what do you look for? What genres do you prefer to immerse yourself in? I love stories where characters are pushed outside their comfort zone. Not in a humiliating, embarrassing way. I like to see their moral beliefs tested. I like to see them blown out of the water, actually. Dangerous, risky situations attract me. I could read hurt/comfort stories all day long, especially when they are M/M. Certain paranormals grab me, those dealing with ghosts or other unexplained phenomena in particular. If there’s a story out there with all these elements, it’s a guaranteed read for me (sometimes despite poor editing), but I tend to find my favorite books fall within the mystery or adventure genres. 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: Menzoberranzen, Mark Arbour, and C James. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark).
  6. 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! Enjoy!!! Also, don't forget that today is the last day to get your stories sent to the Anthology Editing Team for inclusion in the 2014 Spring Anthology! Ask an Author #14 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #13, we had questions for authors Andrew Q Gordon, Layla, and Nephylim. In AtA #14, we hear from authors Comicality, Stellar, and dkstories. 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. Today’s first author is one of GA’s founding members: Comicality. Legend says that Myr was a big fan and dragged Comicality kicking and screaming to the fledgling teen fiction website. Truthfully, GA would not be what it is today without the support and fabulous writing of Comicality. If you have a premium account, go check out Comsie’s horror/sci-fi story Empty Corners. If you don’t have a premium account, well, you’re missing out. To Comicality: In your opinion, what is the best character you've ever come up with and why? Hmmm...honestly, if I had to choose one, I think I would pick 'Cyrus' from the story "Savage Moon". I really have a lot of fun writing for him because I can really take myself to a dark place when trying to bring out his view of the world. He can be really harsh, but in a pleasant way. It's the seduction of darkness that makes his character so much fun. To take things that are so socially unacceptable, so morally wrong, and almost make them seem like a 'good time', it's tricky, but I enjoy it. So Cyrus is one of my all time favorites. Because even though he might approach you with a smile and a warm brotherly hug...there's real danger present with him. He's the kind of guy that you know would have no problem ripping you to shreds if he felt the urge. here's nothing holding him back. No moral obligation at all. And that can be frightening. Next up today is Author Stellar, who proudly admits both his sexuality and the fact that he is one of our many “Aspies” here on GA. He says, “… my sexuality and my atypical 'condition' make me who I am, in a very big way. I'd be a much different person if they weren't present. My preference is that people know that there is a fundamental reason for things being the way that they are. It's all about understanding.” He’s also a computer guy and a New Zealander, and how can this man not be beautiful when he writes things like Hidden Sunlight? To Stellar: our story Hidden Sunlight is quite complex; did you set out to do that? Are there character outlines, or chronology? Or is it more a case of setting off writing and letting those things develop as it goes? Yes, the complexity was intentional. I have detailed ideas and notes for lots of things that make up the history of the world. Most of that will remain notes though and probably never see the light of day as far as anyone else is concerned. The broad plan I use for plotline is that I know where I am going and the major points to hit along the way, so the writing is more around rounding out the plot with plausible fact and appropriate detail. Today’s final author is dkstories, the writing name for GA Hosted Author dkstories. A new generation of GA members have been able to discover the joys of a dkstories story this year as Dan returned to us after a lengthy absence. Dan likes politics and sci-fi, two things you find plenty of in his stories. For example, in Dreams of Humanity, a simple premise becomes more and more complex with each chapter as the villains and behind-the-scenes politics are revealed. Knowing this, I had no qualms about sending him one heckuva question, as you can see… To dkstories: Historically, being gay has been considered a trait amongst the poor, lower class, artists, bohemians... only recently with the advent of gay rights have gays been more culturally accepted. In the m/m genre, a lot of gay stories seem to revolve around the main characters being on the more wealthy side. Do you think this is a reflection of our culture and a desire to be more rich, or is it easier to tell a story when the characters are not poor? Cinderella, Snow White, the legend of King Arthur, and a thousand other stories we grew up with all deal with main characters being on the wealthy side. There's a simple reason for this, and one that a lot of people don't like looking at directly. It also borders on the political. People write, and read, these types of stories because they are fantasy - something that we can dream about but only a very few of us will ever attain. Fewer than two percent of us are ever to a point where we are wealthy so being able to escape from the dolldrums of daily life and dream about what it's like to be rich is enjoyable. There's nothing wrong with this. As an avid reader myself, being able to escape into other worlds, other realities, or into being rich all help me to deal with the stresses of every day life. Since I also write I even get another avenue of escape. As a writer, wealthy characters are usually able to whisk someone off into the world of fantasy is a good tool to bring the reader along as well. Who doesn't dream about being able to take a private jet to Paris for a moonlit dinner on the river Seinne? Having wealth, these characters make it possible for other characters, and the reader, to fulfill their dreams in fantasy. The same is true of almost any book. So in the end, the answer to the question is: both. Wealthy characters allow the reader to fantasize about what it is like to be rich, and they allow the author more options in what the characters can do in the story. 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: CassieQ, James Savik, and Libby Drew. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark).
  7. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far! On Monday we had a review of "Love In A Chair" by our Signature Author: Altimexis as a part of "Signature Week" here in a the Gay Authors News Blog. "Love In A Chair" was chosen for the February Background, if you haven't already downloaded your copy of the background, you can still do so by visiting the blog entry. To continue the "Signature Week" I sent Altimexis a few questions about "Love In A Chair" and he was kind enough to answer them for me! I hope you enjoy his answers as much as I did! Interview with Altimexis What made you originally decide to write “Love in a Chair”? As I suspect is the case for many if not most readers, my first introduction to gay-themed literature was the Nifty Archive. Of course I found the quality of the writing to range from abysmal at the worst to mediocre at best, with a few exceptions. In my reading, I came across a handful of stories that included characters with physical disabilities and although some of them were actually well-written, by and large they all portrayed those characters as helpless. I recall quite well that one story in particular had a gay paraplegic kid in the story who seemingly was incapable of propelling his own wheelchair! He had to be pushed everywhere by the other kids in the story. Yet he had perfectly functioning sexual organs. It was sickening. I grew up with an autistic brother and my best friend in college had a congenital defect that confined him to a wheelchair, and when it came to choosing a career, I chose one that involved working with people with disabilities. Seeing stories on Nifty that portrayed gay kids with disabilities as being helpless made my blood boil, and so I decided to do something about it. I'd always enjoyed writing and so I decided to write a full-length story about a kid with an acquired spinal cord injury. In reading through your forum, it was made clear to me that you wanted this story to be as realistic as possible, did you find it hard to write at times? Actually, writing about a character with a disability was the easy part! I have been writing professionally about people with physical disabilities for decades. I teach medical students and residents about many of the things that were in the story - things such as how to manage bowel and bladder function, and alternative means of achieving sexual satisfaction. These are the sort of things that are never brought up in a clinical setting, yet these are the things that bring the most distress to people with disabilities, even more than the loss of the ability to walk. I wanted to convey all of this in my story, yet make it uplifting in the end. Is there anything about “Love In A Chair” that you now wish you had done differently? Oh God yes! LiaC was my first stab at writing since I was a kid, and my first full-length novel. I almost can't stand reading it now - it's just so sappy. I'm probably my harshest critic, but I definitely could have made the characters more realistic, given their love more time to develop and given them much more depth. You seemed to have gotten a lot of feedback while writing your story, did you change anything you had planned for the story based on the feedback you received? I know there are some authors who write a story and don't even read the feedback they get while writing the story. Quite a few authors won't change anything in the story, even when a reader points out an inconsistency or an outright error. I have never seen a story as a static art form that must remain as originally written, no matter what. When I posted the first chapter on Nifty, I had no editors and I did my own proofreading. That very quickly changed. I started getting feedback right away and I even went back and revised some of what I'd already written. My original outline for LiaC did not include the accident scene investigation, nor time spent in jail. One of the people providing feedback, however, was a lawyer and his insights very quickly made me realize that these things were needed to make the story more realistic. There were other additions too. What was the easiest part of writing your story? The hardest part? The easiest part was writing about the clinical aspects of living with a spinal cord injury. As already stated, I do that for a living. The hardest part was writing about a serious suicide attempt. Most people with major disabilities think about it, and some think about it often, but very few actually carry it out. A few years before I wrote LiaC, however, I was approached by a man who'd been a quadriplegic for more than thirty years and wished to be taken off his ventilator. In the end he got his wish and I was with him when he passed away. I still have nightmares about it to this day. How did you feel when you finally finished writing “Love In A Chair”? I felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment. I'd never attempted to write a novel before and would have never thought I could do it before. LiaC gave me the courage to continue writing, and I've now written several novels and novellas, and more are on the way. Unless I am mistaken, you posted “Love In A Chair” as you were writing it, did you wish you had waited until it was finished to start posting it? LiaC was a special case. It was my first attempt at writing a novel and I wanted to get it right. There is nothing I hate more than an abandoned story, however, and so I adopted a paradigm I still follow to this day - I will not begin posting a story until the first draft is done. That doesn't mean I won't make revisions as I receive feedback, however, and I will always correct outright errors, even after they have been published. With LiaC, however, there were major revisions along the way. Nothing I've written since has undergone such significant revision once I started posting. Is there anything else you’d like to share with your readers about your experience while writing “Love in a Chair”? I want to thank my readers for their support and for their invaluable feedback. I also want to thank them for putting up with all the over-the-top sappiness in LiaC - it was my first serious attempt at writing and it shows. Still, I think it is a good story and it is by far the most accurate portrayal of a gay teen with a disability that I am aware of. I hope my readers enjoy it, and ask them to check out some of my more recent stories at GA.
  8. I've heard countless times how much everyone loves the Ask An Author feature and want to give a big Thank You to Dark for taking the time to contact all the authors and compile these wonderful Wednesday pieces. Don't forget, if you have a question you'd like to "Ask an Author" all you need to do is send Dark a PM!! Hope you enjoy!!! Ask an Author #13 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #12, we had questions for authors Cia, Riley Jericho, and Thomas Nealy. In AtA #13, we hear from authors Andrew Q Gordon, Layla, and Nephylim. 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. Today’s first author is published and Hosted Author Andrew Q Gordon, aka Q. 2011-2013 are proving to be a few momentous years for Andy. First, there’s Lil’ Q; then there’s that fiasco with a creep on Amazon; plus, don’t forget Andy’s website, and the 3 novels that have been published, one co-authored with friend and fellow GA author AnytaSunday. But above all, Andy and Mike celebrate 18 years together in 2013. Congrats, you love birds. To Andrew Q Gordon: As writers we covet, and pull from the things we know and see around us. Our characters are formed from stereotypes and enhanced with parts of our memories; places are put together from things we have seen; conversations are repeated from real life; and even whole stories are retold on paper. If you were a character in one of your stories, what would you draw from the most to ensure the character would be most like you? You mean I'm not a character in a book already? To answer this would depend on what type of character. For instance, am I writing about me now? As a teenager? College? Work related? Home? Each of these would result in a different character unless it was autobiographical and that would be boring. But, I think if I had to draw on anything it would be my location. I think that accurate, detailed location make it easier for the writer to 'see' the scene. To me, that is most important. Try describing something you've never seen. So you're making it up whole cloth. That is one of the big difficulties in Sci-fi/Fantasy - these places do not exist so you're forced to make it up. And since the world evolves over time, it makes sense that the scene you 'see' would change and become more vibrant as you 'live' with it longer. So if I were adding myself in as a character, I'd draw up my time in a specific environment in order to make it feel more real and give me more depth to the reader. Our next author is Layla. She’s a Midwestern girl who you don’t want to mess with in a dark alley (she has a black belt in Tae Kwan Do!). Besides taking care of her family, writing, and winning acclaim for her photography and jelly, Layla is also going to school for animation. If you don’t think that’s quite enough yet, Layla made a list for her New Year’s Resolutions, like camping and hiking and hunting and gardening and music and …. And don’t forget to check out Guitars and Crossdressers, a story about figuring out what’s important in life -- and let’s not forget the endearingly flawed characters. To Layla: Your characters are so flawed, which I think is brilliant, but do you worry that you make them too unlikable for the reader? What keeps them redeemable? Yes, there are many moments in a story when I do worry about the way that the readers are going to perceive the actions of the characters and if it will turn them away from the story. I guess in the end, I try to think about what motivates the characters to do the things they do and how much growth can come from their flaws and failures in the end. People don’t learn and grow and in a day, and more often than not we heap mistakes on top of mistakes before we find the right path. I kind of look at my stories as journeys that the characters are on, and I think what keeps them redeemable is the changes they exhibit along the way. My characters are going to fall down and they are going to fail many times over the course of a story, and for all of them, I try to show shades of gray. Few characters are going to be completely bad (like Jasper in Angels), and few are going to be completely good, because that just isn’t how real life works. There is a brutal honesty to the pain and follies of the characters, and I think that makes them redeemable too; that the readers can see past the cracks and the flaws to the people the characters could be. Today’s final author has also become published here in 2012-2013. That would be Hosted Author and fallen angel Nephylim. These days she spends a lot of her time publicizing her work and putting herself out there through weekly flash fiction on her website. Lucky for us, she’s also posting her flash fiction here on GA and the first of those was In the Arms of an Angel, a charming story about what might happen if you -- quite accidentally -- run over an angel? Of course it was an accident! Don’t be silly. To Nephylim: How do you come up with the titles of your stories? How do you know this is the one? It really varies. i always give the story a name at the beginning, when i open the Word document I'm going to write it in and there is only one story i have ever changed the name of afterwards. That was 'Fallen' which started off as 'Vampire Lightly'. The reason I changed it was because I thought people would be confused by the name, not because I didn't like it. As for how I come by them, the answer is very simple and somewhat boring.\All my stories start with a flash of inspiration, whether initiated by a dream, a TV program a conversation on a train etc, and the name usually comes with it. I very rarely have to think about it. 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: Comicality, dkstories, and Stellar. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  9. I think one of my favorite things about the GA News Blog is when we have the opportunity to get to know the many authors that can be found on the site. Today is one such day as Myiege came to me not to long ago and told me that they had interviewed one of our newest Hosted Authors, CassieQ. Myiege asked if I would be interested in the interview for use in the GA News Blog and I instantly said YES! Cassie has also agreed to hang out for a "Blog Chat" from 8pm-9pm Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday evening for anyone who has a question they would like to ask. If you can't be around during that time, no worries, you can still participate! Just leave your question in a comment on the blog and Cassie will still answer them! Hope you see lots of comments! Now, lets get to the interview!!! Interview with CassieQ Interviewer: Myiege Today, it is my pleasure to introduce one of GA's newest Hosted Authors, CassieQ! CassieQ has been with us since February of 2011 and has published 19 stories on GA and has written an impressive 417,060 words! Let's all give a warm welcome! First off, why don’t you tell us an origin story! When did you start writing, writing M/M? I've been writing ever since I can remember. I was a voracious reader growing up and, frustrated with finishing a book and not having any new material, I would try to continue the book where it left off, experimenting with different styles depending on who I was reading. (My V.C. Andrew's phase is particularly embarrassing). It wasn't until after college that I really started to write steadily and produce completed projects. I also started reading FAKE at the same time and found the online world of M/M romance. I liked reading it so much, that I finally decided to try writing some of my own. What do you regard as the best writing you’ve ever written? Why? It's hard for someone to judge his or her own work, but I would probably say Save Tonight. It was an important project to me and I remember really struggling with it. Once I finished it, I was really happy with it. After it was posted, I had a lot of feedback from people who said it moved them to tears and that the child in the story really resonated with them as a parent, which was amazing to me. I loved sharing that story with readers. Save Tonight was one of my favorites as well. For those of you readers who haven't read this touching story, it was part of the Summer Premium Anthology and can be found in the Premium Section! Changing gears a little, how long did it take you to finish the Not the Sun Trilogy? Approximately five years. That being said, I was also working my way through PTA school, moving and starting a new job, so there would be occasional dry spells where I wouldn't work on it at all. I think if I had written it now, where I have a slightly more consistent schedule, it might have taken less time. Speaking of Not the Sun, you had some trouble with plagiarism regarding this story, right? Mind telling us about the experience? What have you learned from it? The plagiarism of NTS is actually what brought me to GA in the first place. One of the moderators alerted me that a member had plagiarized my work and the work of several others. I remember being so angry that I actually hurt my shoulder after punching a piece of furniture. The moderator offered to remove the stories, but I didn't think that would be fair to the people reading them, so I joined the site soon after. Since then, I've been more aware of how plagiarism works in the online world, and how to be more aware and proactive about protecting myself. KC had a run in with a similar issue and gave some great advice in a previous blog issue as well. Do you have a favorite character? I like all of my characters (except Keith, he's a creep) but if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be Brandon from NTS. He was just so much fun to write. Keith was definitely a creep. I don't think I've ever hated a character so strongly! I have noticed that in many of your stories, there always seems to be a prominent female presence. Tell us a bit about why. Well, it's not as common now as it was when I first started writing, but when I was reading M/M I noticed very little female characters unless they were a conflicting love interest or an enemy or just disappeared once the romance started. I like supporting characters, and I like seeing females in M/M stories outside of a romantic role but still as a valid character. Are you a pants-er or a planner? Totally a pantser. If I have a large project, I'll have an outline just to make sure I cover everything I need, but if I know every single detail of the story before I start writing, it loses a lot of the fun for me. One of my favorite things about writing is seeing what my characters are g oing to do once I let them loose to wreck some havoc Your current story, Geeks, seems to take a different route than some of your previous stories. It’s definitely more mainstream. Any reason why you decided to take the road…more traveled this time around? Geeks is the result of a request from my beta way back when I was working on The In Between . He likes more lighthearted fiction, so that is what Geeks turned out to be . I am actually more comfortable with heavy drama and a bit of angst, but this is the first time I've written a large project that doesn't contain too much dark material. That might make it more mainstream, I don't know. I just write the kind of things that I like to read. Are there any ‘up and comers’ you’d like to give a shout out to? As far as newer writers, I like my interviewer's work quite a lot, and I think Ron, Cole Matthews and totallyy all have good work. But I also like some of the more established writers, like Stellar and Renee Stevens. Aw! Thank you! I quite love your writing too Before we cut this loose, is there any advice you’d like to give to writers just starting out? I'm horrible at giving advice, but the main thing I would say is to read. Read, read, read, read, read. There is nothing that will help you write more than reading. Thanks for the enlightening interview! Readers, be sure to check out the plethora of stories by GA's own Hosted Author CassieQ! Thank you Myiege and Cassie for this wonderful interview! Don't forget, Cassie will be available on the blog Wednesday night at 8pm EST to answer questions that you might have. Also, I'm always looking for blog content, so if you want to do an interview, or have an idea for an article for the blog, send me a PM and let me know!
  10. I hope everyone enjoyed Mann Ramblings review on "Prophecy" by Comicfan. Now it's time to continue our "Hosted Week" with an interview with Comicfan on his story "Prophecy". I know that many times we have questions we'd like to ask authors about their story, and I'm no different. Hopefully, some of these are questions that you had as well, and now you'll have your answer! ENJOY! Prophecy by Comicfan I know that some of your stories are based on fairy tales, is “Prophecy” based on anything and if not, how did you come up with the idea? The story just sort of came to me. I was toying with the idea of what kind of disaster could I come up with. I didn’t want to do something like a fire, but figured what if it was personal. The world of science fiction and fairy tales is one I like to play in, so I picked a popular idea of a child taken from his family and raised by another. It is something you see in authors from Terry Brooks to Joann Rowling. I just put my spin on the idea. How did you come up with the actual prophecy that you included at the end of the story? I wish I could say I wrote it first, but actually it was written so that there would be a sort of conclusion to the story. By giving the prophecy you get an idea of where the characters would eventually arrive. Who is your favorite character and what about that character stands out in your mind? Prophecy had two characters that came to mean a lot to me and for very different reasons. The first was Duncan. Right from the beginning you know he is a man who just wants to relax and forget the rest of the world. However, once Regent comes into his life you see how devoted he is as a father, willing to do anything to make sure his son is going to be safe and happy. The second character is Damian. He sort of made his own way into the story. He wasn’t planned but having a man who was living for twenty something years as a bear just made me chuckle. Is there any special meaning behind the names you used for the characters and if not, how do you come up with the names for your characters? Most of the names are just ones that seem to fit the characters I create. The only name that was done sort of as a joke was Regent. He is the future ruler of part of Fairie.However, his name suggests he is chosen to rule until the actual ruler is old enough to take over. I just liked the twist it gave him. What was your favorite part about writing “Prophecy”? Showing how different types of magic were used. From Marish willing to give her own life in the blood blessing on her son, to Duncan changing his house and creating a crib, to the mistake of Matty turning her brother into a bear. It is just showing how in this world, magic is constantly in use. What was the most challenging part about writing “Prophecy”? Getting Prophecy done at all. The damn idea came to me last minute and I was scrambling to get it done in time. This was literally a last minute entry. What made you choose a bear instead of some other animal? As a child I can remember a television show called Grizzly Adams. The man lived with a bear. So even outside of the idea of the gay male bear, it is something people are use to hearing. I think it would have been stranger if I made Damian into a deer or a beaver. God, could you imagine him as a beaver? Sorry, can’t keep a straight face on that one. Is there anything you wish you could change about the story or are you happy with it as is? Oh I know from those who left comments, many people would be happy if I took Prophecy and made it into a full blown story. However, I am happy with how it came out. Well, that's it for today's Wacky Wednesday! Hope you enjoyed reading what Comicfan had to say about writing "Prophecy" and if you haven't already read it, what are you waiting for!
  11. **NOTE - Friday's Prompts may be delayed due to weather issues. We hope to have them to you as soon as we can. Thanks for understanding - Trebs HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful time while saying goodbye to 2013 and welcoming in 2014! There's a lot of exciting things planned here at Gay Authors for the new year and I for one am looking forward to being involved in them. To start the new year off right, I'm happy to bring you the first Ask An Author post of 2014, compiled by Dark! Enjoy! Ask an Author #12 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #11, we had questions for authors Adam Thomas, Ieshwar, Krista, and MethodWriter. In AtA #12, we hear from authors Cia, Riley Jericho, and Thomas Nealy. 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. Today’s first author is Hosted Author Cia! An amazing cook, redhead, and mother (as well as published author), it’s hard to find something around GA that Cia’s not involved in. She’s a moderator and on the Writer’s Support Team, the team behind the GA Blog, and she runs the CSR Club. Journey on over to Cia's Stories to help support one of our own. To Cia: What is your favourite part of writing for GA? Community. Finding the site gave me new friends and a creative outlet I didn't have at a time when I desperately needed both. GA doesn't always have the numbers of reads and reviews I can get elsewhere but this site is, and hopefully always will be, my writing home. I enjoy putting my stories here for other readers to enjoy, no matter how much, or little, feedback I get. This is where I can talk about my writing, other's writing, writing in general, without having to worry that my subject matter might not be acceptable. For the most part, I've always been given support and encouragement and I try to share that. By writing, I'm also giving back and contributing to the site. I like that. Today’s next author is Riley Jericho. This brit joined GA in 2010 and has been working on his opus ever since, the infamous and currently unpublished story, An English Teen, Circumcised in the USA. Originally to be posted elsewhere, there was some argument regarding the story’s title, but Riley stood by his choice, and so he came to be here. Why don’t you check it out? You’ll soon see why this is one of the most favorited stories here on GA. To Riley Jericho: What was your inspiration for writing English Teen? Hehe - well I had to grin at that! I wonder if the question - from whatever source it came - actually means 'So, tell us Riley. Are you circumcised?' That aside, ET is about what most fiction comes down to: 'who am I, and where do I fit?' The idea of crossing cultures has always interested me and I wanted to see how an English kid would fare in the States. Above all that, inspiration - if it can be called that - for me comes from personal experiences. To write it well, I have to have been there; my characters live because I literally live, breathe and eat the scene with them. It's rewarding but can be painful at times - honestly, you won't believe how many buckets I wept at the end of 'In Safe Hands'! So, was I ever in Luke Summers shoes? Now that would be telling, wouldn't it! Today’s final author is Thomas Nealy. Although he’s been with GA for a few years, Thomas has taken a break or two in order to deal with real life. He’s also known as the guy who posted a cliffhanger that didn’t answered for months and months! Of course, this is way back when and we know he’s not going to do that again … right? In any case, during his time with us, Thomas has posted two stories, both complete. One is a short Harry Potter fan-fiction, and the other is original. Both are worth a read and we eagerly await the next! To Thomas Nealy: What was your inspiration for Lives and Trials of Jupiter? Well to be honest it was a dream. I kept having this reacuring dream every night about a man with an adopted family living in this high tech house, it got to the point that I was thinking about it during the day as well. I knew I was in truble when I started to give names to the people in my head. After weeks of this going on I started to write it all out just to get it out of my head. As the story came along more of my personality started to show it self in alot of the characters as well which made them seems all the more real to me. Personaly I have all ways been a fan of High tech every thing and Mythology as well. So both of those had a part in the world builing. Lives and Trials of Jupiter was my first story I atempted to write out and will probly all ways be my favorit because of that, even if I see alot of issues two years latter. 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: Q!, Layla, and Nephylim. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark).
  12. Wow! This year has gone by so fast. This will be the last Wacky Wednesday post I do for this year as we have something different planned for December 25th. Now, I'm not going to give away any spoilers except to say that I'm looking forward to next Wednesday's post! For this week, and the last Wacky Wednesday of 2013, Myiege did an interview with Promising Author: Stellar. Stellar was promoted back in September and is the author of Hidden Sunlight and Veil of Shadow. Also, Stellar has agreed to do a blog chat here on the GA News Blog to answer those questions that aren't covered in the interview! Stellar will be available Thursday 4pm - 5pm (New Zealand Time) which, IF I figured the time difference right, will be Wednesday 10 pm - 11 pm EST. Unable to participate during that time? No worries! Feel free to leave your question in a comment and it will still be answered. Now, onto the interview! Interview with Stellar Interviewer: Myiege First things first! Tell a little about yourself. What made you want to write in the first place? Well, my bio is included in my author profile so I won't rehash it here. Suffice to say I was a child who spent more time wanting to live in the library and read books in class than pay attention to schoolwork. Also, due to my autistic streak, books let my extremely active imagination explore all kinds of places and did not require any interaction with people. That naturally transitioned into a desire to write as much as read, though that desire wasn't allowed any space to take flight until after I left highschool. Your recently completed novel, Hidden Sunlight, what inspired you to write it? A quite unexpected and random idea, which was the initial concept for Shay Andersen's sickness and stasis, and for the character of Mira. There was nothing more to it at that early stage. It didn't come from anywhere in particular, it just arrived as a rather undefined adventurous concept, like a phantom in the night. The only things for certain were that it was going to be a) a love story with two boys, b] science fiction and c) not set on Earth. I wrote the basics of the idea down and then shelved it, at the time. How long had this idea been floating around before you put it to paper? I don't remember exactly. Months, I think. The only point of reference I have is Windows telling me I created the Hidden Sunlight folder on my PC in December 2011. It was March 2012 before I posted the first chapter, so that gives you some idea. What are you currently working on? When can we expect to see it? I am currently working on the sequel to Hidden Sunlight, which will remain nameless until I add it to GA. Nothing else at this point, because my creative energy is best served when it's directed at one thing and not split into a bunch of projects. Nothing gets done! Tell us a bit about your writing process. How long does it take to get from conception to page? How long do you think this as of yet nameless project will take before it reaches completion? The writing process is quite an organic thing for me. It involves various note-taking and brainstorming to straighten out all the details of what I am creating and to build up some kind of a frame before I begin. This is particular to science fiction for me; were I writing another genre I would not be as fastidious about preparation. The average time between chapters can vary wildly, because the substance of some requires actual research into what I am describing so I can be faithful to the imagery I wish to bring to the audience. Also, as the best laid plans sometimes don't work too well in action, the plot might naturally change of its own accord, so that can hold things up while I reorder how I am going to proceed. I really don't like giving estimates on when anything will be written, because I learned my lesson after the first book. My muse is a whimsical unpredictable thing! If Hidden Sunlight is any indication, it may take around a year to complete, perhaps longer. Your characters from Hidden Sunlight are very distinctive and well-rounded. How much can you, personally, relate to these characters? How much of Stellar are we seeing when we read about these characters? Thank you! I treat them as if they were real flesh-and-blood human beings and not just words on a page. Of course it depends character to character, but there is a little bit of my personality in all of them -- including even the villainous ones. Though the most 'powerful' parts of who I am have gone into the protagonists. Any that knew me personally might even be able to pick which parts. What inspires you? Inspiration takes many forms. I don't think I can narrow it down very easily. When you aren’t writing, what are some of your other hobbies? Gaming (on the PC, consoles don't much interest me.) I have an extensive collection of games that are practically clogging up my HDD, that I have hardly any time to play. I love movies, but between work and writing and gaming these days it seems like I can't find the spare time to go to a cinema. What advice would you give authors before they delve into the wide world of science fiction for the first time? Know where you want to go and what you want to do with your story. Know the science your science fiction will need. Research it and integrate it into your fiction as truthfully as you can. Above all, don't forget that you still need human characters (or aliens even, if that's what you're swinging for) with personalities and emotions to drive your story, so make sure they are believable. Well, that's it for our interview with Stellar! Have a question that you want to know but wasn't answered? Either leave it as a comment or come back and ask Stellar at 10 pm EST! We hope you can join us! Also, if you're interested in interviewing someone for the blog, PM me! As always... Read, Write, REVIEW!!!!
  13. Ask an Author #11 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #10, we had questions for authors Iarwain, James Savik, and Mark92. In AtA #11, we hear from authors Adam Thomas, Ieshwar, Krista, and forum fiend methodwriter85. 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. Today’s first author is Adam Thomas, but he chooses to be known on the site as an Editor first and author second. From the eastern side of the U.S., Adam leads a busy life, but still finds time to follow soccer and politics, and to poke around the forums here on GA. You can check out his gallery for pics of the mountains where he lives, and stop by his story, And the Rain Falls, to leave him some feedback. Let’s help him get unstuck with a little encouragement! To Adam Thomas: Are there any specific themes or personality types in your work? What are they? Is this on purpose or something you recognized after you started posting? In most of my wrok i've noticed that I tend to portray a sense of loss. I write a lot of stories around loss because it's something i've experienced a lot of within my life and because of that I try to take the emotions that I go through and portray them in the lives of my characters. I wouldn't say that I do this on purpose, only that it is what is easiest to write. It flows from me much more naturally than other emotions and topics. Today’s next author is Ieshwar. (and btw, that’s an “i” at the beginning -- I wonder how it’s pronounced?) 2013 will mark Ieshwar’s 7th year with GA and in all this time he’s finished high school and gone on to college, traveled to new and exciting places, and learned how to use his gaydar. He has also posted almost two dozen stories and poems across a variety of genres, such as the creepy horror story Hunter and the sweet 2009 anthology story Alkier. To Ieshwar: What is your favorite genre and why? As a writer and as a reader, I avoid restricting myself to one genre in particular but many times, I do find myself drawn to the romance genre. I started with romance stories and I still write romance stories. I guess it's because as a closeted gay guy, I get to live the life I would never be able to live in broad daylight through these stories. I can be whoever I want to be, I can be with whoever I want, I can be wherever I want. I live my fantasies, the life I would never have through these stories. Or maybe it's just the toll of the endless romance novels and Bollywood movies I have been through. Today’s final author is Hosted Author Krista. As “the Mean One,” Krista is one of the mods who has helped keep GA running the last few years; however, in 2013, Krista made a New Year’s resolution to write more and officially stepped down from many of her duties. I suppose I’m not the only one who will miss Krista smacking me around a little. With luck, it will all be worth it when she starts churning out more great stories! In truth, that’s not the only reason Krista backed off a bit, as she and her hubby have some new real-life responsibilities. They are learning to be parents with their brand new twins. Congratulations! Alas, there are no pictures yet, so you’ll have to haunt Krista’s blog for updates. Encouragement on the writing front should be directed to Standing in Shadows, where Krista has been keeping us readers dangling for nearly 3 years. C’mon, Krista, quit kissing those babies and write! To Krista: Do reviews or readers' comments (or lack of) affect your writing/story or your writing habits? The short answer would be, no. There are constructive critiques of my writing that I will always take into consideration. Some of it has helped me develop and some have been road blocks for me as well. Early on readers' comments and feedback was important to me, they are what fueled me or when lacking, had me questioning the story. In the beginning my writing was more for readers and less for me. Now I do most of my writing for myself when I'm feeling creative. Comments and feedback are always welcomed and appreciated, they just don't affect or hinder my motivation or change my stories from where they seem to be going. Some readers worry about that, whether or not their comments will completely unravel a story or author. A story should never deviate from where the author wants it to go based on what readers are saying. I live by that in my writing now. As a special feature in today’s post, say hello to MethodWriter. If you are active in the forums, chances are you’ve met him before. He’s also from the eastern coast of the U.S. where he enjoys the beach (isn’t it cold up there?). He’s also a big sports fan, as evident by the thread he posted for Funny Sport Reactions. Although not a “writer” per se, MethodWriter is a “manic poster” in the forums. He lurks and he posts and he keeps us all entertained. To MethodWriter: So, we know you don't wear the "author" label, nor do you post short stories or novels; however, GA readers have noticed frequent (some say nonstop day and night) posting from you on a variety of topics. Will you tell us about that? For example, how does your real life support your GA life? I've been an internet discussion board junkie since I was about 13, so there's that. I've also been online friends with Mark Arbour since he started writing the CAP Saga, as I became part of his beta reader team. Mark started calling me his "muse", of sorts, and he encouraged me to throw ideas at him to see what might be good enough to use. Things went from there. I have a lot of ideas and interests, and I enjoy sharing them. 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: Cia, Riley Jericho, and Thomas Nealy. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  14. I know some of your favorite things we feature in the blogs are interviews with our many authors here at GA! Today, we’re bringing you an interview Myiege did with Promising Author: Mann Ramblings. Mann joined GA in September of 2012 and since then has posted 8 stories with a total of 470 reviews and over a quarter of a million words! I’d like to thank both Myiege and Mann for taking the time to provide us with this wonderful interview! On top of that, Mann Ramblings has agreed to go one step further. At the end of this interview, we are opening up the interview to the members of Gay Authors! Members will be able to post their own questions to Mann in the comments and he will answer. Further, while you can post your questions at any point during the day, Mann has agreed to personally be available between the hours of 7pm and 8 pm EST to participate in a blog chat. What this means is during that hour, you will get much quicker responses to your questions! We hope to see lots of member participation. Please keep in mind all the regular forum rules regarding content will still apply. What does Mann Ramblings have to say about the Blog Chat? Lets see... Now, onto the interview! Interview with Mann Ramblings Interviewer: Myiege When and why did you start writing? When did it become more than just a ‘hobby’? What is Mann Ramblings’s ‘origin’ story? I wanted to write and draw my own graphic novels when I was younger. In college I majored for a while with art and creative writing and started a few stories but never finished anything. A few years ago (A long time later) I found the Nifty archive and from there found Literotica and found the niche I wanted to write inside of. I just decided to give it a shot. Your story, Little Man, was the first story you posted on GA, right? Where did you get the inspiration for it? Why did you want to write it? Was it hard to actually hit that ‘submit story’ button? Little Man was that first M/M story I wrote period. I just wanted to write something. It started as something else entirely and when I decided to create the backstory is somehow morphed into what it is now. I used my own college experiences to help shape the characters and the story just sort of happened. I took a while before I felt comfortable enough to post. I finally got the push from another M/M author, NightTempest to make the plunge. She directed me to GA as a more nurturing atmosphere for a fledgling writer. I was incredibly nervous, but the results were better than I ever expected. You write in a lot of different genres; sci-fi, contemporary, and a little bit of modern fantasy! What would you say is your favorite genre to write in? I find the genre to make for a great setting but I try not to let it drive the story. Sci-fi has been really fun because you get to form your own world within the confines of plausible (perhaps) reality. I'm not particular for any genre other than M/M. Hopefully I get to try them all. What goes into your writing process and how do you find ‘the zone’? I jot down lots of random notes (typically at work, LOL) and eventually write an outline of the entire story so I have a specific direction. I'm not great with writing spontaneously and letting the story take you where it will. Oh no. I need more control over it then that. I envy the authors who can work that way. Then I just try to carve out a niche in time to do the work when I can. Your boys in Ship Logs of the Santa Claus series are all very…distinct. Rough and tumble guys who all happen to shun the…erm, fairer sex. What inspired you to write the crew in this way? The crew of the Santa Claus are basically various aspects of the kind of men I want to read about. I sometimes feel there aren't enough stories with masculine men in them that aren't just porn. I always dreamed of visiting places where there weren't anyone there except gay men who could enjoy each other's company, so I made the crew to reflect that. And only Captain Danverse shuns women, the rest go along because he's in charge. I may expand on his background in a future story. How would you say your writing has evolved since coming onto GA and sharing your tales with the rest of us internet fiends? I'd say I'm feeling more confident if nothing else. The idea of writing a novel length story is a lot less scarier than it used to be. And I can finish what I started! I keep getting reviews that tell me how my writing keeps getting better. That's such a nice feeling. What inspires you? Anything and everything. Inspirations often come in flashes for me and I rarely remember where they came from. So Little Magic Left started from one of Comicfan's Friday writing prompts and has turned into something huge! After So Little Magic Left, do you have any plan for future works? Could you maybe tell us a bit? I'm working on my December anthology piece which is in beta-reading/edit mode as of this moment. Then I plan on finishing the last chapters of SLML so I can open my time up to start planning the next installment of the Santa Claus crew. Last words? Advice? A confession? “You kids get off my lawn!”? I don't have much advice because I still often feel like an amateur no matter what anyone says. But outside of that, I would say if you have something in your head, write it. There are a number of people on GA who would be happy to help you iron out the bugs. Accept constructive criticism the way it's intended, to help make the story better. That's it for the interview portion of today's Wacky Wednesday. Don't forget to post your questions to Mann, and don't forget, he'll be available on the blog from 7pm-8pm EST to answer your questions as you ask them!
  15. You might know Totallyy from chat or *coughs* his very colorful gallery pictures, but today's blog is all about his author side! Read on to learn what Ashi found out motivates one of GA's newer authors. Interview with Totallyy Interviewer: Ashi Totallyy is one of my favorite authors on GA. His writing is concise, and each of his word delivers a lot of punch than its initial impression. Some use of words are very poetic, and may require some deeper work on readers' part, but a couple read-throughs will pay off. I certainly feel I could connect with his writing. I hope you guys will, too. So here are some of the questions I asked of my favorite author. What inspired you to write? I started writing because I didn't like how ugly my feelings were and I wanted to make them into something beautiful. Hmmm.... Interesting. Ugly feelings.... Could you elaborate on that? I struggled with a lot of my emotions when I was a teen. I was sad a lot, and I didn't like that it always manifested so negatively. Writing helped me focus on something else other than how horrible I felt about myself. Feelings I Don't Know How to Say Otherwise, when you wrote that, what was on your mind? Basically, the title expresses the pieces exactly. I was listening to someone talking and it suddenly hit me: this overwhelming wave of emotional fluctuations. Writing has been my coping mechanism for a real long time, so I channeled those feelings into words. So the piece is just that, me, coping. As a reader, I find your writing style very lyrical and raw on emotion. Hahaha. That's the way I usually am. What/who was your inspiration of that style, if there is any? Honestly, people tell me my style is descriptive but that's just the way my emotions translate most wholly. A lot of fiction like to describe things, and places and people and those are really important. But I personally enjoy describing feelings more, the noise inside your body, instead of of the details outside. I find [them] more interesting, more universal. Interesting. On that vein, would you consider yourself more of an introspective person or do you seek experience outside of yourself? I'm usually introspective. I often dwell inside my mind. Totallyy's works can be found on GA. Please check his works out! Thank you Ashi and Totallyy for coming on today's blog!!
  16. Not only is it November and National Novel Writing Month, but it's also the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's time for our monthly edition of Ask An Author, provided to us by Dark! While we do still have a few more editions waiting in the wings for the upcoming months, I have learned that Dark is running low on content and needs YOUR help! Both Dark and the blog staff want to keep the "Ask An Author" feature going, but to do that, we need you to send Dark your questions for your favorite authors! Now, without further ado, lets get to this months "Ask An Author" feature! Ask An Author Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #9, we had questions for authors DKstories (dkstories), FleetingRainbows, and Layla. In AtA #10, we hear from authors Mark92, James Savik, and Iarwain. 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. Today’s first author is Mark92, aka “Marky.” He’s been on GA since he was 18 and has been cultivating a loving relationship with another GA member for almost that same period of time. He got snapped up quick, boys! Marky’s been self-sufficient for several years on a farm he owns and runs single-handedly in the north of England. Still he finds time to write (and skype his boyfriend). Lately, Mark’s been posting a blog, but you may also want to check out Mark's Poem Archive. This is a wonderful collection of 14 different poems, everything from sweet nothings to the Stuby to prompts to words and images that wouldn’t let go until they were written. To Mark92: In the m/m romance genre, there are a lot of stories where one of the characters ends up either falling in love, or having sex with more than one person. Do you think that it is possible to love (and I mean genuinely love) more than one person at a time, or is it merely fiction? There are a mutitude of ways to 'love'. But, genuinly, romantically? For me, there can only be one. I fancy, desire, and fantasise over different people and personalities all the time. Stuby knows about these and I am sure he has his own. It doesn't mean I feel less for him or vice versa. That's lust not love. I think true, lasting, romantic love is totally different. My 'heart' as it were does not have the capability to share that sort of love with another. Today’s next author is James Savik. He’s a long-time member (been around since 2005!) and is frequently seen about the forums. He’s a bit of a science geek and, being from Mississippi, laughs at all the rest of us when we complain about the weather. Although a professed cynic, James often finds time to greet and encourage new GA members. His latest writing project is Operation Hammerhead, a rich sci-fi tale about protecting civilization from an invader. To James Savik: How have your life experiences affected your writing? Which one of your stories do you feel most strongly reflect yourself? We are all a product of our times and culture. It's just an inescapable truth. Growing up gay, and OUT, in the heart of the bible belt during the seventies was bound to leave a few marks. In some of my writings there's violence and drugs. Not that I was trying to glorify it. There was violence and drugs before I ever showed up. The story Broken hosted at Awesomedude.com is a fictionalized autobiography of my teens. The names were changed to protect the guilty and I haven't finished it. In fact, I kinda hate the story. It reminds me a lot of me being a dumb, immature punk and a lot of people that I loved that no longer with us. I may or may NOT finish it. I'm no longer writing to make a damned statement. I'm just writing to have fun and that story isn't fun anymore. Today’s final author is Aussie Iarwain, who joined GA in 2009. You should ask him to tell you of the spiders inhabiting his little piece of the countryside. Or the bees. Or the other 50,000 creatures that could kill you. Or, you could read about the slightly less dangerous country through his stories, like Take the Track, the first story he posted to GA. In this story, two young men go camping and discover they share a few more things than first thought. Beyond the characters, Iarwain describes a wild, lonely country that is nevertheless breathtakingly beautiful. To Iarwain: Regarding your story "Attunga," what inspired the idea of AI's working so closely with humans and dolphins? The ideas of Ron Kurzweil's Singularity, and the inevitable development of Artificial Intelligence, greatly intrigue me and as an intellectual exercise I constructed my own version of a scenario for human existence over the next two to three hundred years which might reasonably follow from those ideas. As I worked on it the scenario took on so much life that I felt compelled to express it in story form and the characters were born. The AIs had to be in the story as they are a fundamental part of the Singularity idea but there was no conscious decision making about whether they would be friendly or inimical. It's almost an article of faith with me that since AIs will be both logical and intelligent they will prefer co-operation over conflict, and that's the way they came out. I had an encounter with a dolphin named Puck at Monkey Mia in Western Australia and these amazing creatures with their links, true or not, to alternative intelligence were a very fitting addition to the Singularity idea of enhancement - and how could dolphins be anything other than good guys? 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: Adam Thomas, Ieshwar, Krista, and forum fiend MethodWriter. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  17. Recently I put out a call for people to do interviews for the blog. We have featured many interviews throughout the life of the blog, ranging from the staff here at GA, to the authors. Todays interview isn't with one of the many authors here at Gay Authors, she is actually one of the prolific reviewers on site who also carries the title of Editor. Please enjoy this interview with Lisa and thank you Percy for conducting the interview! Interview with Lisa Interviewer: Percy GA was started to connect authors with readers. Readers can often be the silent members of the Gay Authors community, but I figured it was high time we heard from one of them here in the GA News blog. At over 1,960 reviews, Lisa is one of the most interactive readers on GA and happily for the authors, she’s far from silent. She also serves as an editor for several authors. I was thrilled when she agreed to answer my questions about what inspires her to read and review. Have you always been such a prolific reader? I'm pretty sure I was born with a book in my hand. In high school, I used to bring my paperbacks to school and read them in between classes. One day in Geography, the teacher called on me but I didn't hear him because I was reading my book! I had the book in between the Geography book. He gave me detention for a week. I was so friggen HAPPY! For one hour extra per day, for five days, I had to go to detention and, you guessed it, READ to my heart's content!!!!! So yes, I was always a voracious reader. How did you first make your way to GA? I've been at GA for three years now. September was my three-year anniversary. "Desert Dropping" by Dom Luka was the first story I ever read on GA. I was in another site [that] recommended this story and the link was the story link at GA. What prompted you to start editing here? I am a little fuzzy on the details, but I think Sid (Sidlove), was responsible for that. He was writing on another site and he wrote a few Nuke stories. (Luke and Noah from "As the World Turns"). I used to watch that show just for the Nuke storyline so I started reading his stories. When I got to GA, he suggested I write down that I was an editor (I was currently editing a bunch of stories on another site), and that way he could use me as his editor. What’s the hook that gets you to read a story? Is it the description written by the author? The genre? The tags they choose? Other reviews people have left? For some odd reason, I love reading high school or college-aged stories. So if 'teen' or 'college' is in the story tag, I would definitely want to check it out. I'm boring and just like normal stories. Last year when KC posted his "Shepherd's Crook" story, he didn't put 'ghost' in the story tag until at least a couple of weeks into the story. By that time it was too late for me and I had to finish the story anyway. Lol. But if I had seen that first, I would have never read it. And of course I would have missed out, so now maybe I should re-think my prejudices. It's not only teen stories I read. It also depends on the author's description of the story. There are many others I read such as "Dust & Ash" which doesn't revolve around school. What inspires you to leave a comment? I know authors work very hard at their stories and they love hearing what people think of them. I know that when I leave a really good comment, I'm anxious to find out what the author thought of it, so I can imagine how I would feel if I were an author and waiting for readers to comment on my story. I also like commenting if I can relate to what's happening with a character. There was a story on GA about a year ago (maybe a little longer than a year), about a high school boy whose mom had a pretty bad case of OCD. I always loved reading the updates because I could relate to that so much. My ex had OCD for many, many years and drove me absolutely insane. I could relate so much to the kid in the story. The author never finished the story, which was too bad. Do you ever try to influence the direction a story takes with your comments? I would think that would be tempting if you know the author is still writing as the chapters are being posted! It's so funny you ask this. Over on the site where I started, there have been reviews I've left where I said something like, "Wouldn't it be great if so and so happened...?" and then in the next chapter, that very same thing I said was written. But who knows? The author may have planned that all along. I never try purposely to influence an author's direction. Any advice for offering up constructive criticism when leaving feedback or even figuring out if an author is receptive to that sort of comment? If the grammar is poor and there are typos, etc. I will comment on that. Most of the time it's because the author isn't a native English speaker. There have been a few times where I just would stop reading because I couldn't get through a sentence without grimacing. In other cases, the storyline was so good that I just had to grin and bear it. I will point out a problem to the author once, even though I may see continuous errors in later chapters. I don't want to be known as the pain-in-the-ass reviewer who only finds faults with the writing. I do find that there aren't that many readers who will call an author out on poor writing. My feeling is if you are an author and you want people reading and LIKING your story, it better be good. You just can't throw up any old thing online and call it 'writing.’ The way a story is written is a reflection on the author and if it's not as perfect as the author can get it (with other people looking at it if necessary), then don't put it up there!!!!! I do read for enjoyment, but if I'm cringing at every other word, I'm going to give up. Any advice for authors posting here on GA? Just re-read, re-read, re-read your chapters! Don't post anything until it has been re-read to death! Don't take all comments about your story personally; if you rile someone up, that might be a good thing because you got some reaction out of him. Oh, if a reader fails to review a new chapter posting, it is probably because they're really busy and they will get to the story as soon as they can. I keep a running list of stories I need to catch up on and when I have a few minutes, I start reading them. Lots of good advice in here for both readers and writers. Many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed, Lisa! If you would like to do an interview for the blog, please let me know via PM! Thank you and don't forget to follow in Lisa's footsteps and REVIEW!!!!
  18. OCTOBER!!! Not only is it officially pumpkin-spice everything month, we also get the most recent edition of the GayAuthors.org feature Ask An Author. Thank you as always to creator and implementor, Dark, for his work on this feature - one of our most popular. Enjoy! Ask an Author #9 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #8, we had questions for authors JWolf, K.C., and Mann Ramblings. In AtA #9, we hear from authors dkstories, FleetingRainbows, and Layla. 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. dkstories is the writing name for GA Hosted Author dkstories. A new generation of GA members have been able to discover the joys of a dkstories story this year as Dan returned to us after a lengthy absence. He admits that the homefront is a little easier now since his return, but that’s not to say his life has slowed down any! Dan likes politics and sci-fi, two things you find plenty of in his stories, but his realistic portrayal of his characters gets you hooked no matter what the genre. Which one is your favorite? To dkstories: Do you find yourself being influenced by readers' comments? If you are, are you willing to change important things like certain character features, the plot etc. or do you refuse to do this in principle? Reviews might have an impact on future stories, but not on the story being written. Most stories posted by me are fully written by the time the first chapter posts. When I see something reviewers like a lot, or things that a lot of people are critical about, I try to incorporate that feedback into future stories. I believe it makes those stories far better as a result. Seeing so many reviews on a story helps motivate me to spend more time on a new story. Today’s next author is FleetingRainbows. This lovely lady loves computers! But she also makes beautiful rugs. Check out her gallery to see for yourself. In January of this year, FleetingRainbow passed the two-year mark here on GA. In that time she’s posted 7 stories and one collection of poetry. The world would be a better place if we all had someone who thinks we’re special, just like the beautiful poem In his Eyes. To FleetingRainbows: How did you first start writing male/male stories? I started writing Male/Male romance more then ten years ago. It was 2001 as I recall, and my friends and I were roleplaying. I was a big fan of VC Andrews (everything up to Landry for those who know the author) and we hd a roleplaying group complete with characters and made up ones too. One day while on vacation I decided there needed to be a gay character. I was a part of my GSA at school and I thought there just needed to be more literature out there, so I created my first gay character, a closeted college graduate who was trying his hardest to make his father happy. I've been creating stories and characters ever since The last author today is newcomer Layla. She’s a Midwestern girl who you don’t want to mess with in a dark alley (she has a black belt in Tae Kwan Do!). Besides taking care of her family, writing, and winning acclaim for her photography and jelly, Layla is also going to school for animation. If you don’t think that’s quite enough yet, Layla made a list for her New Year’s Resolutions, like camping and hiking and hunting and gardening and music and …. And don’t forget to check out Guitars and Crossdressers, a story about figuring out what’s important in life -- and let’s not forget the endearingly flawed characters. To Layla: Which of your stories/books are you most proud of? The story I'm most proud of right now is Guitars and Crossdressers. At chapter 10 I'd put this story away, unsure if i would complete it. I second guessed myself so many times through the writing of it, afraid the direction might make readers quit reading, and yet, in the end, I guess i found a way to get over that fear. Where Desolation Angel had it's moments of drama, I didn't feel the emotional connection with it on the same level I've felt in Guitars and Crossdressers. The biggest thrill has been in reading the feedback from the readers and seeing that they've connected with it to. 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: Mark92, James Savik, and Iarwain. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  19. New month, new set of author interviews. Thanks go to the efforts of Dark for his GayAuthors.org News Blog series - Ask An Author. Enjoy! Ask an Author #8 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #7, we had questions for authors JWolf, K.C., and Mann Ramblings. In AtA #8, we hear from authors andy021278, Nephylim, and podga. 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. Today’s first author is andy021278. Aside from being English-challenged, this Brit works behind the scenes here at GA. You’ve probably seen his name on the blog a few times, but that’s not all! No indeed, for Andy’s story A Friend in Need was nominated for Best Anthology of 2012. He also likes to cook (but sadly not clean), reads horror and sci-fi, and is celebrating 15 happy years with his man Brett. Congrats for an amazing year, Andy! Is 2013 treating you well? To andy021278: Tell us about your first-ever story. (How old were you, name, plot, etc.) The first story I ever wrote is one I'm actually rewriting at the moment (45k words and still going), which Wayne (Comicfan) and Rob (Yettie One) are beta reading for me and I should start posting sometime in the summer. It was never actually given a title, nor was it ever properly finished; it was only ever given the working title "The Vampire Murders" and I've never changed it. I started writing it when I was twelve, primarily out of my love of writing but also to see if I could write a story, instead of just essays; I stopped for numerous reasons when I was about fourteen and 30k words in, then I lost the floppy disc with it on and only found it again last year. There are two basic elements to the plot; the first is that there have been a series of murders in London, which on the surface appear vampiric in nature, and the second is an eighth grade class trip to London. The story revolves around the class, the trip, and how four of the eighth graders get dragged into the "supernatural" world of the story. Although I've rewritten large chunks of it, cut bits out, and added new scenes to it, much of the original has survived. I've always thought that it was well written for a twelve year old, but reading back over it some of it really had come from a childish over-active imagination who had seen one too many horror B-movies (hence the need for the rewrites). Since I'm going to be posting it here, I won't give any more away (just in case one or two peeps decide they want to read it). Today’s next author is Hosted Author and fallen angel Nephylim. She is another GA alum who has made forays into the realm of the published author. These days she spends a lot of her time publicizing her work and putting herself out there through weekly flash fiction on her website. Lucky for us, she’s also posting her flash fiction here on GA and the first of those is In the Arms of an Angel, a charming story about what might happen if you -- quite accidentally -- run over an angel? Of course it was an accident! Don’t be silly. To Nephylim: Imagine your life without Silver, your larger than life character from Enigma. What would it be like? A life without Silver? No way! From the moment he was born he's dominated me. He's inspired me to write four books which I've never done before, and to take up painting again. He's inspired others to paint and draw him and he's even got his own twitter identity (@SilverandRiver). Silver is so very real to me and I'm so totally in love with him I can't imagine not having him with me, in my heart. Life without Silver would be empty. Today’s final author, podga, comes to us all the way from Greece. You should know never to play Monopoly with this fella. Podga has read romance stories from his youth. As he grew older, however, he started to realize that there weren’t many stories about guys his own age, so he wrote some! His story All that Matters. has been featured in the blog and with good reason! Try it for a little dose of love at first sight. To podga: The narrators in your stories often seem to have a lot of insecurities and lack of confidence - catharsis or coincidence? Is it catharsis? Yes, in the sense that I try to write about guys and situations that readers can feel a certain familiarity and connection towards, that I hope they find the emotions born between ordinary men during mostly mundane moments absolutely convincing and that, in the end, they come away believing that falling head over heels isn't only reserved for the young (or the ancient of vampiric persuasion). That being said, I don't see my characters as particularly insecure or lacking confidence. They hold down responsible jobs, have friends (if not always the time to spend with them), and are generally content with their lives. Still, they are in their forties. Have they accomplished everything they set out to? If not, is there time to do so? Can they still afford to make mistakes or take wrong turns? Were past decisions necessary compromises or taking the easy way out and settling for less than they could have had? And where the hell have their abs gone? These aren't issues they agonize over day in, day out, but when they, or their friends, experience a disruption or significant event in their lives, questions can, and often do, surface, even if it's only to reaffirm that they've done everything right (I guess that could happen! ) So not coincidence so much as how I think a guy in his mid- to late 40s would react to the disruption of romance and love suddenly entering his life. 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: DKstories, FleetingRainbows, and Layla. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  20. We are deeply grateful for the time and work put in by Dark for these great Ask An Author articles. Here is August's edition - we hope you enjoy it! Ask an Author #7 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #6, we had questions for authors Luc Rosen, Libby Drew, and Mark Arbour. In AtA #7, we hear from authors JWolf, K.C., and Mann Ramblings. 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. Promising Author JWolf is today’s first author. Just two years ago, Jwolf took GA by storm with his popular story The List. It was no surprise when he became a Promising Author a few short months later. His latest story, The English Year, has garnered 119 reviews; reader Lisa had this to say: ‘"He's one skittle away from completing the rainbow." has to be one of the funniest lines I've ever read! You are such a comedian Jon!’ To JWolf: What inspired you to begin writing? I started writing when I was a kid, probably eight or nine years old. And the reason I started writing things down is because I would tell myself these outlandish stories while I was trying to fall asleep. And the next day, I'd try to keep going where I left off, but I'd forget. So without even thinking, I started jotting down the plot points in my sketch journal that I used to sketch clothes in. Eventually, I'd take these plot points and turn them into stories. They were AWFUL at first. Third rate versions of my favorite movie or TV show at the time. TERRIBLE. But they got me writing. And the got me thinking. And they got me creating. And they got better. And they got me to access a place in my mind that I hadn't been able to archive before. So in short, I started writing to help myself fall asleep, and I haven't really been able to ever since. Today’s next author is the semi-obnoxious but loveable K.C.. Did you know he’s a twin? Just ask him sometime about his secret name! Although 2012 started out rough for K.C., it ended on a good note when JMS Books published KC Grim’s first book, “Love is in the Cards.” This is another story that started its life here on GA and so lucky were we to experience it first! Nowadays, we can enjoy the sexy vampire Garrett McQuinn in Chasing the Shadows. To K.C.: You have had some unique ideas as the basis for your stories, making your readers wonder where they come from. Is there anything in particular that motivated you to do something like that? As a kid, I always had a very active imagination and was completely enthralled with science-fiction and mythological creatures. My home-life was very difficult and as a result, I found myself wishing that I could live in another world. I started writing my own stories as an escape, it was a place that I created and I could control what happened to my characters, unlike my real life. Most of my stories have an element of some kind of supernatural, because the possibilities are so deliciously endless. Today’s final author is yet another Michigan Man, Mann Ramblings. New to GA as of Sept 2012, Mann has already posted 3 stories, and with plenty of variety. Mann’s latest offering is The Luxorian Fugitive, a rousing sci-fi story with space ships, travel, and santa claus! Now how could you pass that up? Of course, Mann has a wicked sense of humor (and a quiet love affair with chardonnay). Give him a chat sometime; you won’t regret it. To Mann Ramblings: What are your primary sci-fi influences and how did they inspire you in writing your current story? I've always been a fan of Ridley Scott's "Alien" and "Star Trek" when it comes to the first thing I think of when I hear the words, "Sci-Fi." I always like the human story being dominant with the sci-fi providing the setting. I loved "Alien" for it's harsh realism and I wanted a lighter version of that for "The Luxorian Fugitive." Living in space doing blue collar work would never be a luxury, but didn't have to be a death trap either. I also wanted the light military/family interactiveness that I always recognized between crew members in the Star Trek franchise. Even with those influences, I wanted the characters to drive the story, not the environment. 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: andy021278, podga, and Nephylim. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  21. One regular feature of this GayAuthor.org News Blog that I personally enjoy is "Ask An Author" - a piece developed and produced by Dark. Though normally posted the first Wednesday of each month, Dark was gracious enough to let us delay July's so that we could bring you last week's post about the Editor/Beta Ballroom. So - after a slight delay, here is Ask An Author number 6 - take it away Dark! Ask an Author #6 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #5, we had questions for authors wrathofmagneto, Naptowngirl, and C James. In AtA #6, we hear from authors Luc Rosen, Libby Drew, and Mark Arbour. 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. Today’s first author is Luc Rosen (the author formerly known as FishWings). This author has been with GA since 2007 and would love to meet someone faithful and loyal. Poor Rover would, too, but … but … but …! I can’t believe you left us hanging like that. Want to know what this is about? Check out Luc Rosen's story, I'm Not From Earth. To Luc Rosen: If you could become famous (or infamous) for one story you've written, what would that story be about? One that I have in mind is currently in progress, a science fiction work set in a hypothetical city some twenty years into the future. A mysterious disease has swept across the nation, and a secret agency is doing everything in their power to curb its presence to the ever-watchful eye of the public. The story follows a young high school boy who is chased and captured by that agency and focuses on his forced integration into the staff. There will be a primordial emphasis on ethics and nerdy scientific concepts, with secondary focus on romance…. And gore! I think I’d rather this story gain publicity than the stories that I have already published on this site because it’s one that really reflects my passions and opinions of prevalent global issues. Today’s next author is Hosted (and published) Author Libby Drew. She has also been with GA since 2007 and has over the last 2 years started publishing her stories, stories that began their lives here. I confess I first ran into her after purchasing and loving Great Restorations. Carina Press has Libby’s latest novel, 40 Souls to Keep, and I’m told that another original-GA story will be published through them. I’m hoping it’s the one about the model railroad! To Libby Drew: Which story have you written are you most proud of? Why? I’m always proudest of the last story I’ve written. Writing is not about going halfway or giving a certain percentage. Every time I sit down to write, I try to do it better. Every finished project is the apple of my eye… until I start the next one. That said, there will always be a special place in my heart for Running Far Afield. Capturing and retelling the truth accurately is a huge burden. It’s nothing like invention and supposition. I’m proud of Running Far Afield because I gave immortality to the boys who inspired the fictional Chris and Aaron. Their bravery deserved it. Every young person facing hatred and intolerance deserves it. The final author of the day needs no introduction, but I’m going to give him one anyway. Mark Arbour is another founding member of GA. He’s a Hosted Author today and continues to spew stories left and right. There’s the family dynasty CAP series, the historical naval orgy of the Bridgemont series, and a handful of others. Posting a new chapter with astounding regularity has made Mark Arbour a bit of a legend around here. I wonder if that’s a side benefit to growing old? To Mark Arbour: In your landmark serial story, The CAP Saga, you are currently transitioning to a new generation of characters. Did you find it difficult to write a new generation, and how do you feel this new generation has affected the way you've writing CAP? Actually, this is my third generation, so I've already done that transition once before. The transition from one generation to another has a few challenges, but the primary obstacle is creating characters that are not too similar. It's easy to create clones of prior characters and just have them live out new scenarios, but that's disingenuous. At the same time, children often have similar traits to their parents. So the mission is to try and create characters that have similarities so readers feel the continuity, but with pronounced differences so the story isn't simply a redux. Moving from the second to third generation has changed the series in two distinct ways. First of all, because the characters are younger, I'm dealing with the under-age issue, and all the things that go with that. I've done that by showing two characters who are similar in age but entirely dissimilar in development. Laws and guidelines on underaged guys are standardized, but guys aren't. A 14 year old who feels like he's 18 physically is going to be a lot different than a 14 year old guy who has the body of a 12 year old. It's been in interesting topic to explore. The second big change is in dealing with parental relationships, primarily father-son relationships. That's been an interesting journey, one that I'll share with you if you're so inclined. 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: JWolf, K.C., and Mann Ramblings. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  22. Ask an Author #5 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #4, we had questions for authors comicfan, Cia, C James, and Comicality. In AtA #5, we hear from authors wrathofmagneto, naptowngirl, and C James. 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. Today’s first author is wrathofmagneto. Sworn enemy of OSU (Go Buckeyes! LOL), Michigan-dweller wrathofmagneto sports a sexy mustache goatee and loves comic books and video games. He’s also lately become something of a journalist, check out his stuff here: examiner.com. For fiction, try his latest, Footsteps of Giants, a sci-fi story about a doctor reminiscent of the classic Sector General stories by James White. To wrathofmagneto: Has writing journalistic articles affected your fiction writing ? Writing journalistic articles has given me a whole new outlook on and appreciation for researching different subjects. When you're reporting on something, you have to make absolutely sure that your information is 100% correct. Journalistic writing is a completely different style of writing than fiction, in that with fiction, if one or two details aren't correct, it doesn't matter as much, but in journalism, one wrong fact and you could lose readers, or even your job/position. I actually haven't noticed all that much of an impact yet, other than the fact that it's been making me want to write more. Like I said, it is a completely different style. But I've noticed that if I start to feel fatigued writing one style, switching to the other seems to help a lot. My writing speed is something I've noticed too. With journalism, Google will only put a news article in their Google news section if the article contains information 48 hours old or less. So it forces you to find the most up to date information, and write it as fast and accurately as possible. I've already noticed that my writing has gotten much faster. (it might not seem like it on here, haha) (I'm doing like fifteen different things, not least of which is trying to get Google Analytics to work correctly so I can track my pageviews on my articles, lol) Today’s next author is Naptowngirl. This beauty is a kind and loyal friend. She loves the forums and can usually be found there replying to the latest random thoughts. Her writing is far from random, however. Naptowngirl’s stories make you re-think the world and the people here with us. Her series Shades of Gray is a true love story with a touch of drama, but it’s not what you might think, as lawyer and main character Chase Montgomery has a lot to learn about love. To Naptowngirl: Do you tell people in RL what you write about? Hahahaha....really great question. We writers discuss this often and the answer for me is a simple Yes and No. I don't hide what I write, I do however fill people out first. My children know that I write M/M stories, LOL even my 10 year old son, believe it or not. It's not a big deal to them. A few friends and co-workers know, oh and the cable guy knows also. My mom knows I write, but she doesn't know what. LOL Last time, Hosted Author and perpetual King of Cliffhangers C James had a brief reproof from the member question regarding his story “For your Love.” C James finished this story in Feb 2011, but still continues to torment us with the 150 chapters-long uber-novel Circumnavigation. Now let’s see what else our dear goat had to say. To C James: What types of things do you do, if any, to get into the mood to write? Hrmm.. Basically, get all my work done, so I have free time. That;s about it. Writing is recreation for me, so it's a bit like getting into the mood to watch TV for most people. (and I almost never watch TV). To C James: In all of your travels, where is the one place you never tire of returning to other than home? That's a tough one!! I don't go anywhere frequently so burnout isn't an issue. Once I feel I've seen enough of a place, I don't go again; there are too many other places to go. I'm going to have to list several. The Falkland Islands, Italy, and the Austrian Alps. I love them all, for very different reasons. (I've only been to the Falklands twice, but I'm itching to go back. I've been to Italy and Austria quite a lot, but love going back.) There are places I went once and didn't want to go back. The time I took a vacation in a war zone comes to mind (if at this point you're wondering if I'm insane, well yes, of course I am...) It was during the fighting in Croatia and Bosnia, and at the time you could still get vacation packages out of the UK to resorts in the region, and due to the fighting, they were cheap. So, I went, but it was not a relaxing trip, and the shelling kept me awake sometimes. (it was distant, but the small arms fire often was closer). I went back ten years later and had a much better time. 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: FishWings, Libby Drew, and Mark Arbour. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  23. Now that April is over, what better way to usher in May than with some answers from our favorite Authors. Dark once again brings us a new installment of Ask an Author. Do you have a question you've been wanting to ask your favorite author and haven't for one reason or another? Let Dark know! Ask an Author #4 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #3, we had questions for authors Luka Fox, Johnathan Colourfield, and Andrew Q Gordon. In AtA #4, we hear from some authors whose GA name starts with ‘C’: comicfan, Cia, C James, and -- bonus! -- Comicality. 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. Today’s first author is comicfan, a New Yorker and self-proclaimed Shakespearean fool and Peanuts fan. A member for 2 years, comicfan has befriended many and worked hard behind the scenes as a beta reader and editor. His own works include fan favorite Accidents Happen and my personal favorite A Cat's Life. With 33 other stories, you’re sure to find something you like, and don’t forget to check out comicfan’s responses to the prompts! To comicfan: Pick any of your characters to go to the Olympics... What sport(s) would they succeed in? In the story Accidents Happen, I have a character named Wade Benjamin. He is the lover of Richard Wagner Junior, and it is stated he was in practice to become an Olympic swimmer. So as far as picking a character of mine who might go and what sport, well that is pretty much a given for me. Today’s next author is Cia. An amazing cook, redhead, and mother (as well as published author), it’s hard to find something around GA that Cia’s not involved in. She’s a moderator and on the Writer’s Support Team. It was her brilliant idea to revive the GA Blog and she is the main instigator behind the CSR Club. She’s also one of the few brave enough to poke the bear. Journey on over to Cia's Stories and enjoy the free excerpt to her recently published novel Pricolci. To Cia: How did your husband respond to your writing not just M/M romance stories, but the sex scenes as well? He asked me once why I felt the need to write sex into stories, specifically sex between two men. I like reading sex scenes when it fits with a romance story and I'm one of the lucky few that thinks two people coming together, regardless of gender, is appealing. So while I don't want to be a guy (and I'm really not a man, no matter what some readers think) I don't have any problems writing mm sex. I try to make it as authentic as I possible so maybe I think about it a little too much though, lol. In the end we just made an agreement; if I write it in and he reads the story, I tell him what parts to skip. Everyone knows of or has heard of “The Goat,” our dear, beloved King of Cliffhangers, C James. Having been around GA long enough to have had a finger in many things, these days C James restricts himself to being merely a Hosted Author and Moderator. Writer of the neverending story, Circumnavigation, C James can most often be found pleading for someone else to win the yearly cliffhanger trophy or devoutly protesting that his latest chapter absolutely positively does not end in a cliffhanger! The first question sent to C James: What are your plans after finishing “For your Love?” I'll answere you questions anytime, but I really can't answer the first one; what I'll do after For the Love. That was five novels ago. The next one was "Let the Music Play". Oops!! That was a really long time ago, wasn’t it? Gosh, just how old is C James? The next question sent to C James: Haha, you’ll have to wait until next time to find out! As a bonus this time, we have a fourth author’s insights to share. This author is one of GA’s founding members: Comicality. Legend says that Myr was a big fan and dragged Comicality kicking and screaming to the fledgling teen fiction website. Truthfully, GA would not be what it is today without the support and fabulous writing of Comicality. If you have a premium account, go check out Comsie’s latest, the horror/sci-fi story Empty Corners. If you don’t have a premium account, well, you’re missing out. To Comicality: What’s been a motivation for you when writing stories? I actually find writing to be very therapeutic for me. It helps me organize so many awkward and random thoughts and feelings that go buzzing around in my head at all times. I think I would be quite insane if it weren't for me having the ability to use my writing as an outlet for everything that I'm feeling, past, present, and future. Also, just one email from someone who really connects and can relate to something that I wrote...it not only makes me feel good, but it lets me know that I'm not alone. None of us are. And there's no greater comfort than that. I think that keeps me motivated the most. 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: wrathofmagneto, Naptowngirl, and C James (redux). Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark
  24. How GA Changed My Life Compiled By Renee Stevens I don't remember what really brought me to GA in the first place, but that's not important. What is important is what I found here at GA. I no longer get asked why I write what I write. Instead, I have found acceptance of my writing that I haven't really found anywhere else. I was made a part of this community and I have met so many wonderful people who I am honored to call my friends. Those friends have been instrumental in so many aspects of my writing, but even more than that, they have helped me through some extremely tough times, especially lately, and I don't know what I would do without them. They are always there to encourage me and many of them I talk to on a daily basis. I talk to them about everything from story plots to what is going on in life. I can only hope that I am there for them as much as they are there for me. With the way GA has helped me, I decided to ask GA Members to PM me with how GA has changed their own lives. I got a couple replies and if you feel like sharing something else, please feel free to do so via the comments!
  25. ANNOUNCEMENT: Don't forget that April is Team Recognition Month, so don't forget to thank your teams! Author's know better than anyone how valuable editors, beta readers and the like really help to mold and tighten their stories, to make them a better finished product. Now is your chance to recognize those who help you I love the features that some members have come up with on their own. Dark's "Ask An Author" series is one of them - a great look at our favorite authors and some additional insight on who they are. Dark came up with the idea and does all of the work on it - and as such, is a fantastic contribution to not only this GayAuthors.org News Blog, but to the entire site. So, with much thanks, here is the latest in his series: Ask an Author #3 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #2, we had questions for authors Graeme, Andrew Todd, and Joann414. In AtA #3, we hear from Luka Fox, Johnathan Colourfield, and Andrew Q Gordon. 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. Today’s first author is another Aussie, young newcomer Luka Fox. Since joining GA in October of 2012, this young woman has been posting a delightful coming of age story called Domino. Domino’s main character Jacob gets dealt a lot in that first chapter, but Luka Fox keeps him loveable and engaging. To Luka Fox: Do you have any writing rituals? Nothing that I do consciously. But I have noticed that I sit in front of my computer for a good few hours before I can actually start. I don't even think about the story in particular, but it's like I just can't start writing straight away and I need to give myself some time to settle down or whatever. Oh and also music, I can't write without music, but nothing intrusive or anything. I like to listen to stuff like The Lumineers, or Imagine Dragons where the beat is enough to distract me when I can't think, and perfect for encouraging fast typing for when I can. The next author today is Brit Johnathan Colourfield. He’s an actor! as well as a writer, with plans to teach in the future. Now, JC hasn’t quite been around forever, but he has been here since 2008, so that’s plenty long enough. With 27 different stories over the years, there’s a little something for everyone. His latest completed story is The Woman's Game, but don’t let the name throw you. There’s some sci-fi, some vampires, and 60k worth of words to enjoy. To Johnathan Colourfield: What is your favorite character in a GA story you didn't write? Why? My favourite character in a story would be 'Silver' in Enigma by Nephylim. She really has created a sublime character which is almost as complicated as the author herself. It was an excellent well penned character - and also character revelation and i look forward to hearing more from the character in future tales. Newly-published and Premium Content (and Hosted) Author Andrew Q Gordon is today's last author. If you’ve been around GA for the last couple years, you may remember Andrew by his pseudonym: Quonus10. Of course, we all called him Q and you still see his namesake in Andrew’s profile pic. It’s lucky Andrew started down the road to being published, because otherwise we’d have never seen pictures of the Mysterious Mike! Or the darling Lil’Q. Wander on by Andrew’s website (http://andrewqgordon.com/) to gawk and say hi, and don’t forget to check out the stories! To Andrew Q Gordon: Have you and Mike made your final plans and will it be a big or small intimate wedding? We have not finalized plans for many reasons, most completely lame. But the issue of big or small is one of the sticking points. He doesn't want anything other than a small ceremony. I want some kind of after wedding party - and I don't mean a big sit down dinner with a band and stuff. I think we'll end up a reception at the house - maybe get a tent for the back yard in case of rain. That way we can invite friends and family and not have it be a huge deal. So we're discussing weekends when it makes the most sense. 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: comicfan, Cia, and C James. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark)! Until next time! Dark
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Our Privacy Policy can be found here: Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue..