Man, Oh Man, Writing M/M for Kinks & Ca$h

NOT THAT THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT


Bobby Michaels: I love writing male/male romance. I have been a social activist almost all my life. My novels have dealt with such social issues as discrimination, “coming out”, gay marriage, gay adoption, testicular cancer, internalized homophobia and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Through my stories and novels, I try to make my readers think about these issues and look at them on a personal level through my characters.
Author of The Veteran, Jock Dorm: Dar and Gregg, etc.

What this book is not about: Although there’s a clear link between slash fan fiction and the rise of original Man on Man fiction — as well as a direct correlation between the Internet and e-publishing, and the mainstreaming of M/M fiction — the intention here is not to trace the history of M/M writing as a commercial enterprise. Nor is this an effort to analyze or justify M/M writing. It is not an attempt to figure out what M/M literature means for gay letters in general.

Although, in the course of interviews and discussions, all those topics were brushed on, this is not a scholarly work or a philosophical treatise.

This book is a writing tool, plain and simple. It’s designed to help those who wish to write for the M/M market figure out the best way to do that — and, ideally, help those already working in this genre hone their skills.

While I hope this book will be useful to writers of slash fan fiction, fan fiction is its own art form, and many of the concerns of professional writers are not shared by fan fiction authors. Obviously many of the techniques and processes discussed here will be useful to writing M/M fiction in any application, but fan fiction has unique and specific requirements which are not addressed — at least in this edition.

What this book is also not, is all me, all the time. Yes, you’re going to get plenty of my thoughts based on my own writing — and reading — experience. But the opinions expressed within do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management, and I’ve included plenty of management. You’ll hear from publishers, editors, reviewers, readers, and other writers. Mostly other writers; in fact, unless otherwise indicated, quotes are from other writers — many with whom I’m guessing you’re already familiar.

While each section of this book builds on the previous section, you’ll find that we’re often doubling back or leaping ahead to other facets of the M/M story. That’s because, in writing, it all works together. No single element stands on its own. Characterization intersects with plot, plot dovetails with theme, theme often leads back to characterization, which leads to point of view… .

The majority of excerpts I use to illustrate my points are taken from my own work — published or soon to be published. This isn’t just to appease my fans or because I’m an egomaniac; it’s a practical consideration as well. How do you know you want to take my advice if you have no idea what kind of writer I am? These excerpts serve as my credentials. If you don’t like my style or the techniques I use in any given writing component, then you know what to ignore — the deliberate choices you make, the conscious decisions — of how you will tell your stories is all part of honing your craft. The best writing is usually not a product of happy accident.

I’m not trying to give you one definitive answer to any single question, so don’t look for that. That’s not the reality of writing or publishing. I wouldn’t have included all these quotes from other learned folks if I wanted you to sit unquestioningly at my feet while I bounce pearls of wisdom off your noggin.

By the time you finish this book you should have an understanding of the steps involved in getting published — and the different options open to you. You’ll almost certainly have a better, more realistic understanding of how this business — and it is a business — works.

Equally important, you should have a refined appreciation for what constitutes good M/M writing — yep, as I define it. We’re going to examine the elements necessary to any work of fiction, but our focus will be how these elements apply specifically to M/M writing. There are plenty of wonderful, useful writing books out there (and I’ll be sure to recommend some of my favorites), but the M/M genre has its own requirements, and those are the gist of this book.

I hope that no matter where you are in your publishing career, you’ll take away a few tips and tricks to improve your own work. I admit that this is a self-serving motive. Like most fiction writers, I’m first and foremost a lover of stories, and the more wonderful M/M books there are to read, the happier I’ll be.