Writing Process Blog Hop Tour

Last week, I asked the lovely – if eternally self-deprecating and geographically-challenged – Charlie Powell to tag me into this literary blog-hop business. It felt like a great idea at the time, and like most things that fall into that category it gradually unravelled over the following few days, as I realised that I have pretty much nothing of interest to say about the process of writing. To wit:

What am I working on?

Absolutely bugger-all. For starters, I don’t really ‘work on’ things. It’s why despite the fact that I’m sure I have several novels in me, none of them are likely to find their way out; I lack the discipline to pull together the various strands of a longer, more complex piece of work, so I content myself with churning out blog-posts and short stories, as and when the mood takes me.

Right now I have a couple of ideas in my head , but they’re liable to find themselves on the back burner at any given moment, as there’s every chance I’ll find myself standing in the middle of the street tonight, or tomorrow lunchtime, overcome by the need to bash out 800 words on, say, the etiquette of checking out another guy’s dick in the showers at the gym. Seriously, it could happen.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

That’s a hard question to answer without sounding like a bit of a wanker. Ah, ok, so a good friend recently said this about my work: “you’re writing has a direct, gritty male edge to it, but it lacks the cock-swinging vibe.” It was so lovely a compliment that I even forgave her the superfluous apostrophe, and while I can certainly swing my cock with the best of them, I’d agree that I at least aim for a harder, more pared-down style than a lot of other writers. It can work in my favour, but it also sits alongside my chronic lack of focus as a barrier to writing longer pieces of fiction; I’m not all that interested in dealing with back story, expository dialogue, or fully fleshed-out characters. I tend to zero in on the sex, especially if I’m writing ‘pure’ erotica.

When it comes to blogging, I write in large part to explain and understand various elements of my own sexuality and body image. That tends to result in pieces that reveal a lot about my past, as well as some of what other people might consider my more intimate thoughts and feelings about myself. However, in that respect I’m not sure I’m really that different to various other bloggers who write about sex.

Why do I write what I do?

I misunderstood Charlie’s tweet about taking part in the bloghop, and replied to it with what could probably serve as my full answer to this question: ‘everyone needs a hobby’. I’m not a professional writer, nor have I been bitten by the bug to the extent that I can’t imagine a life without writing. Right now, I write because I enjoy it. I feel like it’s a good way of keeping my brain busy, and I get a kick out of trying to create something that other people will find arousing or thought-provoking. I write about sex specifically because that’s what feels most natural and compelling when I sit down at my laptop.

A lot of the stuff I write – the fiction, in particular – revolves around M/M sex, male submission, and threesomes. Set against that is the fact that in my own sex life, I identify as a switch, who would rate as, at best, a 1.5 on the Kinsey Scale, and has very little experience with group sex. My writing skews one way because most of my personal experiences skew the other: with the majority of my sexual partners, I’ve been cast in a very clearly dominant role, and my same-sex encounters could be totted up on one hand, with digits to spare. Writing helps me to explore – and to some extent satisfy – the desires I have that otherwise go largely unfulfilled.

How does my writing process work?

I’ve probably answered this question in bits and pieces already, but I’ll try to distil those into a quick summary.

At some point, I get an idea in my head, or I’m asked by someone to write about a particular topic. Occasionally I’ll sit down there and then, and tap away at the keyboard till I’ve poured all my thoughts out onto the screen. More typically though, I’ll wait for the evening to come, then set up at the table in my living room with a glass bottle of wine. If the words come easily, I’ll almost always finish what I’m writing in one session, but I know myself well enough by now to stop and do something else if it’s just not flowing, rather than stay in front of my laptop getting ever more frustrated.

When I finish a story, I sometimes ask for feedback from someone whose input I value, but even if it’s just a short piece that I want to whack up on my blog, I’ll always at least check for spelling, grammar, clumsy or repetitive vocab, and obvious errors. I may not take this very seriously overall, but I have enough pride in my work not to send it out into the world looking shabby and dog-eared.

I recently submitted a couple of pieces to Alison Tyler for her Kink anthology, and putting those together did make me reconsider certain aspects of the writing process. If either gets published, perhaps it’ll be a sign that a more structured approach is worth persevering with.

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Like Charlie, I haven’t got as far as finding three bloggers to pass this onto. If you would like me to tag you, or are willing to accept a hefty bribe in order to make me look like less of a Billy No-Mates, please drop me an email.