Thanks to Louise Lyons for tagging me in her blog. Louise is a new author in the m/m genre with her debut book, Conflicted, due for publication in the autumn this year. You can check out her website here:
http://louiselyonsauthor.wordpress.com/
Prior participants in the blog hop have answered the same four questions, so here are my answers:
1) What am I working on right now?
At the time of drafting this blog post, I’m just over 10k into a new story that I’m expecting to end up as a novella. It’s about two guys who are training for a race together. I don’t like to say too much about my WIPs while I’m writing them though, I’m afraid of jinxing it!
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
That’s a hard question. I’m sure my work has similarities to that of many other authors in my genre, so I can’t think of anything that makes it truly unique. But some of the things that I would say characterise my books so far are:
- They are contemporary m/m romance, set in the UK
- They are usually character driven more than plot driven and are relationship focused
- They tend to be mostly ‘feelgood’ books and are fairly light on the angst/conflict/drama
But maybe you disagree? If you’d like to comment on what you think is unique about my work I’d love to hear your thoughts.
3) Why do I write what I do?
Common advice to writers is to write the book you’d love to read, and that’s what I try to do. I write m/m romance because I love the genre. It’s what I love to read, and I can’t imagine writing anything else. Similarly, I write mostly happy stories that are low on angst and high on sweetness, because that’s what I enjoy reading. Reading is an escape for me and I like to read things that make me smile rather than things that make me cry.
4) How does my writing process work?
It’s funny you should ask, because the other day I saw this hilarious gif post on Tumblr that sums it up pretty much perfectly and made me laugh out loud. Seriously though, it really is a lot like that. Particularly this part:
My Writing Process
Just ask my friends and family 😉
I usually try and do a fair bit of planning and let the characters talk in my head for a while before I start drafting a new project. Then once I bite the bullet and actually begin to put words on a page, I try and write almost every day until it’s drafted. I find it difficult to come back to a story even after a few days off, so when I’m in drafting mode I set myself daily word goals and do my best to stick to them. At the moment I’m trying to write 2k per day Monday to Friday, and am using the weekends for re-reading/tweaking/planning ahead.
I’m self-employed and my non-writing work doesn’t take up too many hours a week, so when I’m in drafting mode I have no excuses for not meeting my word goals. But as my husband is a teacher and I have two school age kids, I usually try to keep my story drafting to term time so that I can take time off from writing in the school holidays.
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I’m tagging Sam Evans and Annabelle Jacobs to answer the blog hop questions. Please check out their blogs too:
Sam Evans
My name is Sam.
I’m a girl.
I grew up in a coal mining town in the North West of England surrounded by rugby players and well even more rugby players.
I’ve always written but it became very clear after reading about some werewolves that I worked better with men than women.
My first short will be published in the Summer by Dreamspinner Press and I am currently working on two projects to submit later this year. Any other stories currently floating around in my head will just need to get lost for a while.
Annabelle Jacobs
Annabelle is a wife, mother, and owner of two troublesome cats. She writes male/male romance, usually in a supernatural or fantasy setting. Her mind is always full of plots and twists, and she tries to incorporate these into her stories.