Special Guest Author: Sloan Parker!!!

I have enjoyed interviewing all different types of romance authors and am very pleased that it seems that there is sub-genre of romance for everyone. I am pleased to welcome Sloan Parker. Sloan writes erotic gay romance.

Sloan: Thanks for having me, Brooklyn! I’m thrilled to be featured on your blog today.

1.)What made you stand up one day and say, “I’m going to write a romance novel.”?

What a great question. I don’t think it was an overnight decision for me. When I first started writing novels, I attempted to write suspense, but it never worked out all that well until I threw the characters into bed and watched them fall in love with each other. And that was about the same time I started writing stories featuring gay characters. I found that I was more passionate and excited about my work. Blending erotic romance and other genres like suspense and paranormal just made things click for me. I finally finished writing a novel (a gay vampire story which still needs some serious edits before I can do anything with it, but at least I had finished it!). The next full novel I wrote was More, an m/m/m erotic suspense and my first release.

2.)What made you decide to write gay romance?

As I said, I had been writing for years, but hadn’t found my voice, hadn’t found a story that compelled me to actually finish a manuscript, edit it, and submit it to anyone. Then I started reading gay romances, and I was hooked. I like the idea of writing about LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender) characters falling in love for many reasons, but mostly I liked the idea of contributing (in some small way) to positive stories of LGBT characters in the romance genre. These are the stories in my head; these are the ones that have moved me to spend hours at my computer every day. And for now, these are the ones I plan to continue writing.

3.)I’ve seen that your latest novel is a m/m romance. As a woman, what challenges do you face “getting into the heads” of gay male characters?

I think the challenges are the same for any character I write. They aren’t me. They don’t have the same experiences or personality that I have. So I have to use a blend of imagination, general observations, and my own personal experiences with a variety of people to develop who the characters are and how they think and feel. I probably pull a lot from the men I’ve known in my own life too (how they act, speak, etc.). For all my characters, I do a character sketch (their bio, personality, and life experiences) and try to keep those details in mind with every action or dialogue I write for them. With each character (male or female), I’m not trying to write him/her as a real-life person, but as a fictional character living in the world I’ve created with the conflicts I’ve constructed. I hope to add nuances that feel real, but no one character will match any one real person.

4.)What is some memorable feedback that you’ve received from your fans?

I love getting feedback from individual readers. It means so much to me when someone takes the time to let me know what he/she thought of my work. It’s one of the best things I’ve experienced since my book first released. One of my favorite responses wasn’t related to my book, though. It was an email I received after I posted a guest blog about my first crush and the regrets I had about it (he died in a car accident before I had a chance to kiss him or tell him how I felt about him) and how that story related to my writing. The woman who emailed thanked me for the post. It seems my story inspired her to go for her own dream and start writing again. I loved that something I wrote helped inspire someone else.

5.)Have you gotten any trouble from bigots?

In real life, unfortunately I have to say yes. As a writer of gay romance, so far I’ve been fortunate to avoid any issues. Mostly people have been curious about me and my work. I don’t mind answering questions, and everyone who’s asked about what I write has been polite and interested. I’m sure I’ll get some hateful comments at some point. Negativity can really mess with my writing mojo, so I hope that I’m able to shrug off any homophobic comments. I think it’ll just spur me on. Inspire me to write about more loving, passionate LGBT relationships.

6.)Tell us a little about your next project.

I am currently finishing a gay romantic suspense titled Breathe. It’s about two men who are stuck in a world of misery (one can’t forgive himself for a mistake and the other can’t forget the loss of his wife). They can’t go back and they can’t move forward. Once they meet, they begin learning how to live again, to move beyond the past, but the world around them doesn’t want them to move on. Guilt, anger, and threats surround them until neither man can imagine a future where they can ever be together. Too bad they’re already in love.

I’m also hoping to write more books with the characters from my first release, More, and someday I’d like to do some serious edits to my gay vampire novel and submit that as well.

Thanks so much for coming today, Sloan!
You can purchase a copy of MORE here:

Thanks again, Brooklyn. These were great questions that really got me thinking and were a lot of fun to answer.
You can purchase a copy of MORE here: http://www.loose-id.com/More.aspx



Whoah, that cover is hot.