Writing a new genre - Gay stories

I wrote a gay story – once! It was for an anthology and was rejected. I thought at the time that it was a sign that I wasn’t meant to write gay stories, particularly as it wasn’t a process I had particularly enjoyed as I tend to relate to the heroine more than the hero. And there ain’t no heroines in homosexual stories!! (Unless you are writing an transsexual story, I guess).

HOWEVER, about three months ago I woke up having dreamt a terrific gay story with a fabulous twist. I knew I just had to write it up – I was inspired! And as it was just a short story it didn’t take long. Having said that I was still astonished when Evernight Publishing accepted my story after my previous rejection and so Alien Manhunt was born. (Wow! My first gay story was published!!)

Did I enjoy this more than my previous attempt? Yes, and I am not sure why. Maybe because I was trying to force a story to fit the themes for that particular anthology rather than let the story flow out of me. Somehow it didn’t seem to matter that there was no heroine.

What I did discover were other difficulties, such as if you are saying ‘he’ – which he are you referring to? This is something I had come across before when writing MFM stories but is even more relevant when doing MM – or even MMM as this one became. It is therefore necessary to use their first names more – or, in this case I also referred to them by the planets they were from, eg, ‘the Espoornian’, ‘the Cinattran’, ‘the Human’. I have also found from experience that it helps to give them all a different first initial for their names – hence Greg, Taran and Suva. If you have two heroes beginning with the letter S, for example, then it might take you a moment or two to think about which hero is being talked about and the reader may lose the thread of the story.

Taran stumbled as he whipped around suddenly, straining his neck in the process. The Espoornian was leaning against an Uloa tree, shaded by its wide leaves. Where in all the holy hells did Suva come from?

Another issue was making them sufficiently different in character and looks – it is easier when one is a girl and one a boy but when they are all boys I had work harder to I made Greg the dominant one (despite the fact that he wasn’t the oldest, nor the tallest, nor the most muscular), Taran the submissive one and Suva the one who could switch. It helped that they are all aliens from different planets so Taran is vaguely reptilian, red-skinned, with a tail. Suva is tall and fair with feathers down his back, and Greg is your regular human guy, tall, dark and handsome!

When he first saw this species as a child, he had been astonished by their soft, pink skin, so different from his own red skin with scales down his side. The humans had only hair to cover their delicate skin. No scales at all. And they were tail-less!

Will I do another gay story? Absolutely, in fact I have just submitted Alien Manhunt 2. This is a new departure for me – although I have written series set on the same world or in the location before, I have always started a new book with different main characters (although the main characters from one book may be secondary characters in another, the story is not focused on them). This is the first time I have continued the story of the same characters from one book to another. The reason being that I really liked Greg, Taran and Suva and as it was only a short story (which, of necessity, will only focus on an episode in their relationship rather than their whole journey) there was scope to continue. Interestingly, this was something picked up from reviews on Amazon.

Well written and very enjoyable. It's a light and sexy fast paced book that is hard to put down. There could almost be a sequel if the author chooses to. This is one book that I would recommend to friends.

(Another one said, ‘What happened next?)!

What will happen in Alien Manhunt 2? Ahhh – you will have to wait and see if it is accepted first. If it is then I expect it out in early November. I did decide to set each story on each of their different planets (and, yes, you’ve guessed – there will be an Alien Manhunt 3!). So AM2 is the turn of Taran to be chased and is set on Suva’s planet – Espoornia. And that’s all I’m telling you – but you will need to except another twist!

(PS - just after this post went to print I got the email from Evernight Publishing to say they had accepted Alien Manhunt 2!)

In the meantime if you want to read AM1 then it is available from these outlets.

Evernight Publishing

Bookstrand

Amazon US

Amazon UK

All Romance ebooks

And here is a longer excerpt:

It had been a hard run to get to this small town, so it was a good thing he worked out in the gym. Running a nervous hand through his dark hair, Greg hoped none of the hunters was following him. He glanced around, looking for someone who could help, hoping they would protect him from those chasing. There didn’t appear to be anyone around.

“Shit.”

Greg darted into one building, opened a few doors, and grimaced. On the one hand, it was good that the town was deserted, as anyone living there might have recaptured him. It had been a calculated risk when he spied this place. On the other hand, there didn’t appear to be any vehicles he could steal or any method of communication, as the buildings appeared to have been stripped bare.

“This was a waste of time.” He bit a nail as he considered his options. “Can’t stay here. I could try hiding out in one of these rooms. Nah, that’s too obvious, if anyone is on my heels. Dammit. How can I get to a big city to get away?”

Running up the street, he tried some random buildings, running through one shop and out the back, cursing when it was just as empty as inside.

Noticing a low shed-like building, he climbed onto the roof to spy out the vicinity. Swiftly clambering onto the flat surface, he trotted over to the edge.

Shit!

Greg dropped to his stomach in a trice, keeping his head down. There were two aliens approaching. He gingerly lifted his head again to suss them out. The one in front was staggeringly tall and extremely beautiful, with golden locks that swung around his shoulders as he ran. He remembered seeing him back at the compound before they were released. The alien’s deep amber eyes had locked onto Greg’s and he’d been sucked in, very nearly laying down then and there, and saying, “Take me.”

Back in the present, Greg’s chest felt tight and he breathed deeply to ease the sensation. “Forget it. You can’t have him. He probably just wants you to be his servant, his slave.”

When he looked at the other alien who was fast catching up with the first, Greg’s whole body tensed in shock. The one following was so muscular and sexy Greg felt his cock throbbing in anticipation of a tussle in bed with him.

With a sigh of frustration, he slithered down the roof, landing heavily on his feet.

“Stop it, you idiot. You can’t be attracted to aliens who want to capture you for God knows what reasons.”

He was still in the dark as to why he had been captured originally. None of the red-skinned aliens talked to him. This setup where they let him go only to chase after him reminded him too much of hunting for animals back home.

Dammit. They probably want to kill me and then eat me.

Greg closed his eyes in horror at the thought, and leaned back against the wall to avoid pissing himself with fear. He focused on his breathing, calming himself. Except it didn’t work. His heart pounded, and sweat trickled down his back as he tried to think through his choices.

“Okay. There are other things they might do, like take me prisoner. Maybe this hunt is a way of showing who is the strongest.”

He laughed harshly. It could be an intergalactic version of a game show with the winner getting him as their prize. It was such a contrast to his normal life. Back on Earth he was the dominant type, the one who chased after others.  One night stands were something he often did in the past, his pick-ups doing exactly what he told them to do.

That made him sit up and think. “Christ, whoever captures me might want to make me into a sex slave!”

Part of him really liked the idea of being subjugated by either of the two hunting him. Better them than some of the other aliens who stared hungrily at him in the compound. There was one who looked like a giant pig in leathers and another with a mouthful of sharp teeth in his crocodile-like body.

Having said that, from the looks of the muscular alien chasing him he appeared to be reptilian, too, but since he hardly wore any clothes Greg could see his scales were limited to the sides of his red-skinned body. Okay, so he also had a tail. However, the rest of him appeared human-like, if somewhat demonic.

The alien looked rather short, probably shorter than he. Greg reckoned, with the creature’s bulging muscles, that once caught, Greg would never get free. He’d be held down, his wrists tightly clasped as the reptilian lowered his wide chest onto his, crushing the breath out of him. He wouldn’t be able to move beneath him.

Does he have fangs? Greg imagined the alien biting his neck, his chest, his nipples, causing delicious torment as he went. In an instant, he’d be flipped over and the demon would start biting his buttocks, moving his hand between Greg’s legs to tightly clasp his hard throbbing cock.

“I’ve got you, at last!”