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Author page/Catalog of available titles: http://excessica.com/store/catalog/index.php?manufacturers_id=56&osCsid=8a21a383e69701219767b6533b0bf219
Experimenting in Writing
Being innately curious once I became a published author I felt a compulsion to experiment in order to expand my horizons and add new dimensions to my work. My earliest experiments dealt with Point of View (POV) and tense. I tried omniscient narrator in both past and present tense (I’ve not attempted future yet) as well as first person participant in both time frames. I discovered a problem with setting a story in the present. Inevitable I’d lapse into past tense. This is the case whether writing in the first or third person.
A very unsuccessful experiment – at least according to the bar charts provided for reader comments by some distributors – was alternating characters narrating the story [Missing Aaron]. The work was divided into sections with first Dirk relating events from his perspective then Zeke picking up the tale. The final product often covered the same time period from two different angles. I liked the result but, as I said, readers didn’t.
Another experiment involved writing in an historical setting. The entire Frontier Brothers series is set around the American Civil War period and involved a family of characters. My initial challenge to myself was to write an erotic gay story without using the words “cock” and “balls.” I gravitated to an historical setting which facilitated achieving that goal. The first story (Soaring with a Hawk) introduced several characters who took over my brain and forced me to write three sequels (Missing Aaron, Seeking Zeke and Starting Over).
Real boons to experimentation are the eXcessica anthologies. Each year I select one of the themes dreamed up by our founder, Selena Kitt, and stretch myself to provide a story for the volume. In that vein I’ve done science fiction with erotic gay characters (Universal Relations in Stuck on You); a satanic seduction for all sexes – male, female, shemale and demonic (Samhain in Four Seasons: Autumn 2009); and a gay fantasy tale (Dragonflies) to be in an anthology (Strange Love) due in October next year.
A recent story (Irish Punk) released two days ago on November 5, 2010 does not reflect an experiment but is a perfect example of how I write a story. The main character Tim is based on a young man in front of me in line at a sub shop at lunch break. I was taken by how his red hair, pug nose and belligerent attitude conflicted with the bank teller uniform he wore. All the way back to the office my mind went into overdrive devising how to meet the kid and what happens after we meet. Other characters popped into my mind - his older State Trooper brother and his colleagues. Somehow I focused on the suppressed hostility between the brothers and let it play out sadistically. It is one of the easiest stories to write that I’ve published – almost writing itself.
Other areas I might explore include a story from the female POV, a longer work set in the Middle Ages which has been percolating in my mind for decades, and a purely cerebral work in which the protagonists imagine sex with each other but never consummate the act. I enjoy writing and expect to be experimenting and fantasizing for years to come.
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**Kenn has a free read available at ARE, HAPPY NEW YEAR that you can go check out.
****CONTEST****
This week there will be two winners. In your comment to Kenn please let me know whether you would rather win Meet the Baumgartners by Selena Kitt or Slave to Shadows by Gavin Atlas
at the end of the week I will draw two names, one for each title, from everyone who leaves comments :)
click on the titles to read the blurb
Please don't forget to leave an email addy so you can be contacted if you are a winner
click on the titles to read the blurb
Please don't forget to leave an email addy so you can be contacted if you are a winner