“You’re female and you’re writing gay fantasy? I can’t read your stuff because you aren’t a guy.”
“How can you as a female write male characters?”
“Why are they gay?”
I am an avid reader. I’ve read a lot of female authors with male MCs and a lot of male authors with female MCs. (Writers read. Kinda works out better that way.)
All of my senses come into play when I’m writing a scene(chapter). Sights, sounds, smells, what things feel like are all apart of the story for me. I have female characters. Double Entendre (and the beginning of the Menagerie Series) has a female MC named Kate. She continues her MC role into Fois Trois, and Battle Lines- where Sarah is introduced.
The Menagerie Series is about a family, so there are many different characters. The antagonists are male and female.
Jaxon became a hard and an easy character to write. In Fois Trois(times 3, all at once), there were two main romances going on-Collin’s, Adam’s, and Sarah’s; and Jaxon, James and Diana. Kate, Jer, and Elijah were having their issues, but well-established.
Jaxon, however, didn’t fit with Diana, even though I’d intended him to be with her. The characters didn’t agree. He ended up with James, mainly, and James is a abusive. He’s the antagonist. It had nothing to do with them being gay or straight, but people. Jaxon became the pawn the gods used- the cheese at the end of the maze- only by the time Raven could save him he wasn’t saveable.
In my mind, people are people. I can write male MCs because my brain is wired that way. I can’t do girly girls. (Pretty, lacy, frilly, heels, makeup everyday) It’s not me. I have a hard time relating to them. But I can talk to you about a Chevy big block V-8 and why I don’t think I’d want a Chevy turbo, even if the car is pretty. I do paint my nails. I like nail art, but haven’t learned how to do that. Unlike my characters, I can’t draw.
Someone pointed out to me that my characters were gender-fluid. Uhm, well, yeah, that’s me. I write what I know, and I write my characters the way they want to be written. Sometimes Raven is with Sonny and sometimes he isn’t. (Currently working on his Bien-aimé.) Hint-hint- it’s Zaffre(Sidebars and Actuals).
Susanna Evans 