Saturday, March 9, 2013

Yaoi Love and Families, Short Shorts and Bestsellers

I am so sorry for posting so infrequently. I've become involved in a time consuming Facebook page (I'll go into that at the end of the blog. I'm sure my gentle readers here will enjoy it). But mostly, I've been really busy editing for Digital Manga. Last year, my team was doing a title every six weeks. This year looks as busy already. This is not all bad. First, two of our titles made the Amazon.com bestseller list this week. They are Get! Volume One and Get! Volume 2. Second, While it has slowed down my posts on this blog, it has fueled my fantasies about what I want to write about in my fiction and on this site. In other words, my gentle readers here will benefit from my crazy busy schedule. But onto business.

Yaoi Pairs and Families

While ever good Fujoshi enjoys a story of hot headed Seme dragging his uke away to his lair where they bang like bunnies until forced to part. I like reading such stories. I really like writing such scenes. That is why I write such scenes. It isn't easy to place such isolated encounters in novels that tend to be filled with action. I must have those long hours where my young and untried uke is vulnerable and alone in the clutches of his seemingly formidable and unbending Seme. Will all the uke's teasing and stalling lead to force? Or is this where the real seduction begins? Or is it a little of column A and column B? Will the uke ever want to leave? Is it hot in here? At any rate, these kinds of scenes are stables because fans adore them.

However, there are more and more yaoi/BL that are expanding their horizons. Now, couples have to deal with families and co-workers that are parts of their relationships. Heck, there are a couple of stories where that family is the Yakuza. All walks of life are represented now. In A Soldier's Choice, when Colonel Rik Heron realized that he was in love with his volatile subordinate, Vincent Greven, he knew that the beautiful young man was a package deal. He had a younger brother who adored him. Rik was certain that he'd end up with both Grevens in his house though he really wanted to keep Vincent all to himself. He locks his lover away as often as he can. However, despite the reputation of Altered Soldiers being loners, Rik and Vincent find that they are a central part of an ever growing extended family. This is great in some ways, but problematic for finding time alone together for one. Their 'family' likes to be around them – a lot. Snuggling on the sofa is not easy with an audience. But Vincent is more of a Seme than he is a uke. He won't tolerate anyone interfering with skin to skin time with Rik. Beyond that, there is the young squad of Altereds the men trained. Among them, is a Major that has fallen in love with Rik. Viper tries very hard to stay close to Rik by staying close to Vincent's brother, Bobby looking for an opportunity to plead his case. Viper is not used to hearing the word no, so he will become a problem. By and large, however, the family is about too much love. Vincent is flummoxed to find himself and Rik in two wedding parties. He hates that kind of attention. Their bigger problem is how to handle a new squad of unique recruits who have pairs forming within. How can they site military rules against such relationships when they are living together and were once subordinate and superior? This situation provides a lot of fodder for conflict, drama and humor. Pinky swear, I will start posting snippets of the new book here very soon.

Short and Sweet

Speaking of snippets, I have been inspired to write some short works of fiction in the worlds of my books. There are some things I'd love to do with my characters that don't fit in the character arcs I have in mind. I'm going to take a page from the deeply talented Hamlet Machine in her Starfighter Webcomic and have special editions that are stand alones from the main story. In those settings, I can explore some really wild and even dark fantasies while remaining true to what my pairs are about. It is my plan that these stories will be illustrated. And yes, I will be taking some of the story ideas from reader suggestions about what they'd like to see. I hope it will be a case of having ones cake and eating it too. This kind of story also means that I won't have to say goodby to my bishie boys even after their arcs are resolved.

Yaoi a GoGo

I've posted about this Facebook page, Yaoi A GoGo , before, but it has grown into a major bit of work. Since Yaoi-con, I've been building a site for news, trends, reviews and all the fun bits from the fandom. We're approaching 5,000 likes. I'm even posting the first reviews from guest writers this weekend. There is Cosplay Friday and AMV Wednesday for fans to share their stuff in an ever growing range of fandoms within Yaoi/BL. Come on over and join us! Note, the drawing on the right is a different interpretation of Darius and Andreas from Ensnared.