In my journeys of becoming an author I’ve found that writing
male characters is easier for me. My very first book, Murder Stalks, focus on
Tony, a cop in south Texas who has bad stuff happen to him and oh yeah, I threw
in a wife. The only gay stories I ever read were sad stories about suicide and
death where the guys never got together in the end. They were just unhappy, and
depressed, dying a horrible lonely death. I didn’t want to write a depressing
story. I mean even my darkest thrillers still have a happy ending of some sort.
Then I found a story that was fun, sexy and full of
happiness for the two guys. Just the type of story I wanted to write. I stopped
writing on my paranormal and scifi stories and began my first male/male novel. The
first M/M story was Selling It, a suspense story based on teen prostitution
focusing on one tough cop. Then I stopped on Selling It for a few months. The
age thing bugged me because a few of the characters in Selling It are underage
and having sex. Then I wrote Surprise Sleepover and Working It Out.
I’ve had people ask how I could write stories with two men
getting it on. I’ve always found it easier to write men. Doing research is
paramount in writing. I love doing research. I’ve dressed up in full SWAT gear,
climbed a fire ladder, shot guns and other fun activities all in the name of
research, but I will never feel what it’s like to be a cop or to plan a murder.
But I write some fairly good cop dramas and murders.
In doing research for Male/Male stories I asked questions,
read a lot, read some more, asked more questions and did research. Researching gay
life is so much more fun than researching how to kill, trust me on this. I’ve
learned so much, though I know there’s always more to learn.
The set of stories I’m writing now are based in Texas. Three
novels all set north of Houston in a small town. Writing about cowboys was a
natural progression since I grew up on a cattle ranch. Cows, horses and
cowboys, what more could you ask for? They are sexy and hell bent on getting into
trouble.
