7, 13, 17!
7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose youâve written and explain why youâre proud of it.
From try not to hate the light:
âFuck you,â David says. Once, Michael might have taken him seriously, but he knows better now. Thatâs not irritation in his voice; itâs relief. This is his territory. Itâs where heâs most comfortable.
âFuck you,â Mike says. âWhat are you hanging around here for, anyway? Maybe you see something you like.â Itâs a new kind of adrenaline rush, a different sort of danger. Like taking his hands off the handlebars of his bike and seeing how far he can go before falling. Maybe he wonât like the answer when he finds it, maybe heâs too chicken to just come out and ask â but itâs better than wondering in silence.
David snaps at him, like an angry dog. Funny, Michael thinks, because Davidâs always reminded him of a cat â aloof, preening, always aware thatâs heâs performing for an audience. If David fell, Mike is sure, heâd pick himself up and pretend he meant to do it all along. Maybe he did. He snaps, and he rushes, suddenly inches away from Mikeâs face. His breath is hot and heaving, his teeth snapping again, eyes narrowed â but still blue, still human. Forever human. Vulnerable.
Mike looks him straight in the eyes. âBite me,â he says.
Antgonistic sexual tension is not my strong suit, and neither is m/m, so this fic was a challenge in more ways than one. Just the fact that I pulled it off is something I will treasure forever.
13. Whatâs the best writing advice youâve ever come across?
That âwrite what you knowâ doesnât mean âwrite things that directly parallel your own experiencesâ but âwrite familiar emotions.â Have I ever been in a nineteenth-century insane asylum or come to terms with my sexuality at the age of fourty or been a single mom in the 1960s whoâs also in love with my friend? No. But I can extrapolate those general feelings of fear and love and self-discovery and apply it to my characters.Â
17. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?
Almost always start to finish. Usually Iâll go over scenes to be written in my head before I fall asleep, and just keep doing that until theyâre embedded in my brain and writing them comes easily.
