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Tag: mm romance

Should a M/M Romance writer pretend to be another gender?

Christie Gordon 13 Comments

Male or Female AuthorWow, this is a tough topic these days. I just found out about AJ Llewellyn being a woman. Yes, a woman, not the gay man she pretended to be.

We both started out at eXtasy Books writing M/M Romance, though I prefer to write more of the Yaoi variety:) I’ve had plenty of banter back and forth with AJ about writing, the M/M genre and the like and I must say I feel a bit… shocked. I know that women have taken male pen names in times past in order to get published and all that. And I know that some female M/M Romance authors have male pen names currently and keep hush about their true identity. I suppose it is no one’s business but their own. Or is it?

Here’s the deal. If I read a M/M Romance book by a particular author with a male pen name, I assume certain things. The first being, that they have first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to be a gay man and maybe I’ll learn a few things. Of course, that’s the author in me. And if and when I encounter this author in a chat or on some social media site, I speak to them as if they’re the gender of their pen name. I take into account their opinions on writing and other topics based on what I think their gender is, right or wrong. I can’t help it. We’ve all been programmed to think a certain way based on our upbringing as a particular gender and have preconceived notions about the opposite gender. I hope that makes sense:)

As far as author gender and writing M/M Romance or even Yaoi for that matter, my question is this: Should authors be straight up about their genders? I mean, we’re writing about gay men for a predominantly straight female audience. M/M Romance is not the same (at least in my eyes) as gay romance – presumably written by gay men with a target audience of gay men. So it seems to me that author gender might matter. Women in general put more emotion into their romances, especially if we’re targeting a female audience. Again, my freakin’ opinion;) But women are emotional creatures. Emotion is what we crave, right?

I’m also wondering if the female authors writing under a male pen name are doing the rest of us authors a disservice. It’s hard to go about telling people who aren’t familiar with this genre that you’re a straight woman writing gay romance. I’ve blogged about my follies with that a few times. You need a thick skin and a hardy sense of humor. Maybe if more of these women writing gay romance for other women were more up front about it, it would normalize the situation a bit more and make it easier for all of us. Stand proud that you’re a straight woman writing about gay men, damn it:)

So now that I’ve said my piece – chime in here. What do you all think?

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Should a Published Author let on about Their Fanfiction?

Christie Gordon 2 Comments

Harry Potter YaoiI’ve always been a bit bothered by another M/M Romance author’s bit of advice that given to me during a chat. The advice was basically this: Don’t tell anyone you wrote fanfiction.

Now, as an M/M Romance author who got started in this business by writing Fullmetal Alchemist  fanfiction and has used this fact as much as possible to let my fanfiction readers know that – hey, I have some original published stories, too, and  they’re a lot better than the fanfiction stories – I can’t let myself really believe this is good advice. It seems to me if someone likes your fanfiction stories, then they’d probably like your original published stories, which are quite often a hell of a lot more polished and professionally edited. For me, I look at the fanfiction as fun free reads. And I loved writing them. I got to have fun with someone else’s characters and quite frankly, the whole episode taught me a ton about how to write and what readers wanted to read.

And to tell you the truth? I’m proud of my fanfiction stories. Sure, there was a lot of head hopping, typos and the like. But people expect that sort of thing in fanfiction. Sometimes, I almost feel as if there’s a lot more freedom in fanfiction. I can test a few things out and see if I’m wacked for writing something like that or maybe it’s the best idea ever. (I’m liking that term, best XXX ever lately, LOL).

We as published writers need to promote about as much as we need to write good stories and to think we shouldn’t use that avenue of ourselves to promote our work just seems… wrong. I know I’ve read some pretty damn good fiction on fanfiction.net and adultfanfiction.net. So to think that all that literature out there on those sites is bad writing, well, I don’t subscribe to that view. And if you’re a published author and want to write a bit of it for fun, why not? And why not promote it as yours?

What do you think? How do you other authors feel about this issue? And yep, if you look to the right there in my links, you’ll find my fanfiction.net site and can read all my fanfiction stories if you’re so inclined:)

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Writing the Perfect M/M Romance Hero – Can It Be Done?

Christie Gordon 2 Comments

Perfect Hero for M/M RomanceHot guys come in all flavors and sizes. So as a writer of M/M romance books, I’m always striving to make the perfect hero. Of course, this means the perfect hero as I see the perfect hero, because, after all, I only have my own perception to rely on. And what is the perfect hero in my view? Usually a hero that’s not so perfect, if that makes any sense:)

To me, the perfect hero is a dichotomy – a man that’s strong and protective and yet flawed, sensitive and vulnerable. Yep, I said all those things in one sentence. It seems I’m always drawn to heroes I see in anime – Vincent Law of Ergo Proxy (do I talk enough about this dude, or what?), Kira Yamato in Gundam Seed, Cashhern in Casshern Sins. These guys are the best when it comes to fighting, killing, maiming, what have you. Hell, they aren’t even human, LOL. But they all possess a sort of humility about themselves and their abilities, a deep remorse from their wrong-doings or perceived wrong-doings and the ability to love deeply and give of themselves completely. Note I’m talking about Kira Yamato here and not Athrun Zala – get my drift?

And so as a writer of M/M romance, I draw upon what I see appealing in these characters in order to morph certain traits into my own, perfect-yet-flawed heroes. I strive to make a character that I find approachable, but not the type of guy you’d think was approachable if you met him in person. You know, the lonely guy in the corner of the bar who might look like he’s all that, but deep down he’s just the average Joe in his own mind.

I think women (and gay men) in general do dream of guys like this and so like to read about them in their M/M romances. At least I hope so since that’s what I try to write;) On the other hand, it’s a hard job. I’m always asking myself – is this guy too tough? Is he being too sensitive for this scene? Can I get the humanity out of this character and onto the page while he’s being a real asshole? Or the classic – did I just turn this dude into a lady? LOL

Yes, all of these things cross my mind and in the end, I find I just have to be true to myself and the story I’m writing. You can’t write a story everyone will like or a perfect hero everyone finds perfect, because he’s a moving target in the perception of everyone’s mind. Did that make sense? I hope so. Tell me, what is your perfect hero and why? And fellow authors, how the heck do you get that onto the written page?

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