Claire Thompson, male/male erotic romance author, chats with readers about her personal spin on the genre. This article was orginally published over at ManLove Books.
Stacia Helpman: How does a writer – especially a female writer – get into writing in this genre? I enjoy reading it but have a difficult time writing it.
Claire: My editor at Ellora’s Cave first put the idea into my head. She said it was the latest craze among female readers of erotic romance. I was ready to try something new. I had no idea it would be love at first sight! I think creating the characters as people, rather than gay or straight, but using the male/male spark as a backdrop, has given me a new way to explore the vulnerability and sensuality of strong, loving men. As Nicole Harvey observed: I am new to gay books, but damn do I love them with a passion. The ones that draw me in are the ones where they trust each other enough to give over control, but in a loving way.
Catherine Stang: What I like about your stories are your characters. I fall in love with them. I love the element of experiencing new things with them. Also, getting a window into world that I know very little about. Have your readers followed you into this genre?
Claire: To my delight, my readers seem to be as fascinated with my male/male stories as with any genre I’ve attempted to date. I am inundated with positive emails each time I have a new male/male release. The response is so encouraging! In fact, it was the readers who demanded I do a sequel to Golden Boy so they could find out what happened next between Johnny and Eric.
Sandra: Many times I’ve wondered how some women discover M/M or like myself, Yaoi. Are they like me, having grown unsatisfied with most mainstream romances and want something completely different? Has it become impossible to lose themselves in a story where the heroine, although having problems, is perfect in face and form, leaving the reader with ugly duckling syndrome?
Claire: You make some excellent observations. Two sexy, hunky guys making love is, be definition, completely outside our personal realm of experience as women. By the same token, while we can relate to the protagonists, we needn’t compare ourselves directly, and possibly come up short. Even if the male lovers face similar issues that hetero couples face, the stories have a new, sexy spin for those of us raised on mainstream fare.
Catherine Stang: Do you have someone you talk to in order to understand the gay community? How do the men feel about you writing this? Have you picked up male readers?
Claire: I do have one faithful gay reader who has graciously agreed to critique all my male/male erotic romance novels while they are in process. He keeps me on the gay and narrow (sorry!) regarding the sex scenes. I know I’m doing something right when he demands, “Hurry! Send the next chapter!” As to how men feel and if I’ve picked up gay readers, I don’t think I have many gay readers (my critique partner notwithstanding). I would love to have more gay readers, and have joined a site called manloveromance.com in an effort to reach the gay market. It’s a group of male/male erotic and romance writers pooling our resources to advertise in gay markets. As I’m fairly new to the genre, I hope to get more gay readers as time goes by. I’m told they don’t write as many emails as women do, so I may have some out there I don’t know about!
LindseyAnn: What makes the dynamics between two masculine, alpha men who find themselves attracted different than the attraction between a man and a woman? The male posturing has to come in somewhere.
Claire: I think men tend to be more careful about showing their feelings and vulnerability, especially at first. As you suggest, they’re less likely to tip their emotional hand than women. I’ve used this idea in several of my novels to create dramatic tension (one of the men is hopelessly, secretly in love with the other, but too proud to admit it because he thinks he has no chance). The intensity of their emotional involvement when they do finally find the courage to admit their vulnerability and desires burns bright and hot as a result. To put it more simply, as Veronica says: I love your male/male erotic stories. I like them because it is nice to see big strong men fall in love with each other and the sex is hot.
LindseyAnn: What makes male/male erotic romance easier or harder to write realistically than traditional erotic romance?
Claire: While at the moment male/male erotic romance is my consuming passion, I don’t find it easier or harder to write than any other genre. What compels me in a story are the characters and how they handle situations. I want to create real people, whether straight or gay or somewhere in the middle! Sexual orientation colors and shapes the plot and the characters, of course, but in the end it’s about writing something that rings true and, hopefully, resonates with the reader.
Terez: In most of the m/m books I’ve read, it seemed like the sex scenes were repetitive and there was something missing (not sure what).Also, as soon as the guys had sex that is what seemed to dominate the whole book.
Claire: It’s tricky writing erotic romance, because sometimes the sex can take over the story (publishers are selling a particular product and we as authors must conform to a degree). I strive to keep the story balanced, with the plot paramount, and sex scenes there for a reason. While hopefully hot, they should also show the development of the relationship between the characters. It is a real challenge to keep sex scenes fresh and not the “same old same old”. With gay sex, since I haven’t experienced it firsthand, obviously, I have to use a lot of imagination (as well as research) to make the scenes ring true.
Tanya Neal: I love Male/Male erotic romances. It’s the sense of voyeurism that I get when I read one. It turns me on because of the forbidden thrill.
Claire: I think you hit the nail on the head. Think back to traditional romance novel—sex scenes were broadly painted, with the real action only hinted at. More modern romance novels get a lot hotter, and with the move to erotic romance the sex has become explicit. The move to male/male erotic romance is a new frontier for most women readers. We get to watch as strong, sensual men tumble together in combustible passion. As Meryl observed, “We as women may like to read male/male books possibly because it is still considered taboo in some cultures. I love the idea that two men can be as sensual as two heterosexual people. For instance I fell in love with the sensitivity of Johnny and Eric’s relationship (Golden Boy) and never really saw it as two men but two lovers who loved one another as two heterosexual people would.”
Kat Wood: In a room/area full of supposed heteros, how do two like-minded males make a private connection?
Claire: A look, a touch, an innocent remark laced with innuendo… I think when people are attracted to one another, they show it in any number of ways. If the other person feels the same, they are receptive to the cues and will respond. It’s not easy though, especially in environments where everyone is assumed to be straight. This can be used as an effective plot device, as the gay man still in the closet doesn’t dare to show his secret love for a guy he thinks is straight. Crossed wires and misunderstandings can lead to exciting reading filled with dramatic tension. And since, in the end, it’s romance, we know the sexy alpha guys will eventually find their way into each other’s arms…
CJ Black: As a writer and reader who recently started delving into erotic fiction, one of the things I’m having difficulties with is writing the characters so they don’t fall into sometimes stereotypical roles. What ideas and/or research have you done to portray each character so one does not totally dominate the other (unless the situation calls for it) and how do you make it so each character has both dominate and submissive personality traits no matter what role they’re cast in?
Claire: I think this strikes at the heart of good storytelling. If we start writing “types”—the submissive, passive, effeminate sub boy and his burly, aggressive, controlling Dom, for example—we create cardboard characters with no life breathed into them. I don’t do research, except in so far as living life and having read voraciously all my life is research. With my BDSM writing, including my male/male BDSM works, each man is a real person. No Dom is all tough guy, and no sub is all obedient and submissive. They are real people with real issues. The core of their relationship is about being in love. The D/s interplay between them is just the backdrop for discovering and nurturing that love.
Claire would love to hear from you! You can contact her at claire at* clairethompson dot* net. All emails answered.
