Short to Long ~ EM Lynley

EM Lynley is my guest today. EM has taken a rather different route than Remmy's and Shannon's.

How did you make the transition from short stories to longer works?
I’ve actually taken the opposite path. My first published work was actually novel length and since that time I’ve had several shorter pieces published. I did have a short story in a Christmas anthology last year, but it was an excerpt from another novel. It’s only since I began writing professionally that I discovered the market for shorter pieces. I wrote two novels before SEX, LIES & WEDDING BELLS but I haven’t revised them yet to submit to a publisher. I’ve learned so much about writing since then and I see a lot of ways to improve them before sending them out. Stay tuned though!
I usually come up with an idea for a story first, generally there’s a conflict that stems from their jobs or positions that brings them into conflict and I do my best to get them together. I’d never really thought much about the length of the piece until I began submitting work to publishers. I discovered novella lengths and specific lengths in publishers’ calls for submissions, and I decided to try my hand at those.

How do you deal with the challenges of writing different lengths:

I discovered I pretty much suck at fitting my stories into a predetermined length. The two novellas I wrote felt rushed and flat, and I knew they needed more space to tell the stories properly. I had a short story released recently: Venus Envy from Cobblestone that began its life as a 7000 word story bound for an anthology. It ended up twice that length before I really liked it and felt it was finished. I’ve therefore decided to go back to my original method of telling the story and once it’s finished I’ll figure out where it belongs.

What length do you enjoy writing most?
My stories tend to end up around 40-50K. It seems to take that amount of space to layer in enough characterization as well as wrap up the story.

I noticed in your bio that you lived in England and Japan. What were you doing?
I’ve always had a huge interest in other countries. I minored in Japanese political economy and my senior year of college I lived in a dorm which was half foreign students, so I knew eventually I’d travel and hopefully live abroad. My background is in financial economics and I did my Masters degree in London, at the London School of Economics. I spent two years there and loved every minute of it. Later I spent five years in Japan working for international banks.

Have you used any of your travels in your writing?
I’m currently finishing up a novel that’s set in Thailand, and I’ve drawn heavily on my experiences there. I spent a couple of months in total in Thailand and I was thrilled to be able to use it in one of my stories. I’m hoping to set one in Japan soon, though I’ve got so many projects on my list, I’m not sure when that might happen.

I hear you just edited your first anthology. What did you get from the experience?

Yes, I just finished working on a m/m fairy tales anthology for Ravenous, called BEDKNOBS & BEANSTALKS. It should be out in a couple of weeks. It was really eye opening to see everything from the opposite perspective. I learned a lot about writing from working on other authors’ work, and I definitely discovered how to best get an editor’s interest (or how not to lose it) which should help me in future submissions! It was a fantastic experience and will be working on a few more anthologies in the near future. Honestly, the hardest part was choosing which stories to include. I had to leave out some good stories that didn’t quite fit in terms of length and theme.

Tell us about publishing your first novel, SEX, LIES & WEDDING BELLS.

I have to admit I’m still walking on air about it! It’s sort of a gay version of "Runaway Bride" though beyond the basic premise it’s quite different. It started out as a story I wrote in about three weeks and then posted online. I got hundreds of really positive comments on it, so it seemed the right time to take a shot at sending it to a publisher. I got a contract offer the day after I sent it off! I was thrilled. It’s been a top seller at my publisher, Ravenous Romance, and they sold the print rights to Alyson Books, which is the oldest GLBT publisher in the US. It’s been great to find that the mainstream GLBT publishing world found it good enough to publish.

What’s coming out next?

I have a novella coming out from Dreamspinner Press near the end of the month. DISGUISES is friends-to-lovers story that takes place during and after a costume party where some very unexpected things happen. This is a theme I really enjoy writing, and most of my stories are about couples getting together rather than about men in established relationships. Readers enjoy series with the same characters but I find getting the guys to realize they belong together is so much fun, I haven’t found any couple that cried out for a sequel, at least not yet.

I'd like to thank EM for joining me today. I love the variety in EM's writing and look forward to the upcoming release of DISGUISES.
You can find EM on the web:
http://www.emlynley.com
http://emlynley.livejournal.com
http://facebook.com/emlynley

Sell link to Sex, Lies & Wedding Bells:
http://www.ravenousromance.com/panamour/sex-lies-and-wedding-bells.php

Sell link to Venus Envy
http://cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/venusenvy.htm

Disguises will be out Oct 28th but it has a page up already:
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1574

Guest Blogger - Alan Chin

The Sweet Flag welcomes Alan Chin, author of Island Song to share some tidbits of his life and writing with us.
Thank you so much for being here today, Alan. Here is the blurb for Island Song from your website:
"According to the tenets of Buddhism, life is suffering, and suffering arises inexorably from desire. In my meditative novel, Island Song, the interplay between craving and pain creates the thematic backbone of this story in one man's journey from desire, to anguish, to a metamorphoses. Like most South-Sea romance stories, Island Song envelops all that is unique to Hawaii, the distinctive people, the fertile land, the mythical history. Yet it stands alone by the way it reveals a rare and dignified portrait of a gay couple struggling to satisfy love within an environment that rages against them."
Jeanne: When and where did your interest in Zen philosophy begin? What was it about Zen that called to you?
Alan: I became interested in Zen back in the ‘80s while living in San Francisco and hanging out with drug-happy people who were searching for spiritual meaning in their lives. I didn’t take it too seriously until the early ‘90s, when I gave up the drugs and began to study and practice Zen philosophy in earnest.
What attracts me to Zen is that it’s not about worshiping any kind of “God” or following a list of “thou shalt nots”. It’s about living a pain-free life. The Buddha didn’t profess to believe in a God, or even a spiritual world after death, and he didn’t consider himself a deity. The Buddha’s first law was that life is painful. The rest of his “laws” and his path is devoted to bringing a person to a place where they can live life without the pain that spawns from greed, envy, hatred and a host of other human emotions. It’s about being in balance with nature, with yourself, with the universe. And of all the different forms of Buddhism, Zen seems, to me anyway, to be the most straightforward approach.

Jeanne: In reading your website biography, you wrote that you wanted to incorporate poetry into your stories. I'm curious about this aspect of your writing. Could you elaborate a bit and perhaps share an instance of this? And, also along these lines, do you write poetry?
Alan: I’ve always admired poets, how they coin a world of meaning, imagery and beauty in a few simple lines. I try to do that with my prose, but it usually comes across as florid description, sometimes pretty good description, but I confess it falls short of being categorized as poetry. I wrote poetry a dozen years ago, but not since I started writing novels. Truth be told, I’m a pretty poor excuse for a poet (that’s not false modesty. If you read my poetry you would agree). I will spare you by not including any examples here.

Jeanne: I am envious of anyone who can travel freely. Of the places you've visited what place was the most exotic; the most fun; the one you've returned to the most often?
Alan: The most exotic was Bhutan, a rather small Himalayan country sandwiched between Tibet and Nepal. It is the last Kingdom where the Government is run by Buddhist priests. In an attempt to hold on to their traditions, they only let 2,500 visitors into the country per year. Each tourist pays $200 dollars per day just to be there above the cost of hotel and food. The country has one airport, and only two planes fly in and out of it. There were no paved roads until 1995. It is like stepping back in time a thousand years. It’s how I think Tibet was before being invaded, first by the Chinese and then by tourism. The landscape is spectacular mountains surrounding golden wheat fields in deep valleys. The people are simple, devout, and loving.
The most fun was going on safari in East Africa. Going out over the African landscape to study the million different animals in their habitat was thrilling. I’ve been so close to a male lion I could have reached up and grabbed his ear. And I got close enough to a Black Rhino that I did touch his horn. I was in a tree house when a giraffe walked up, stuck its foot-long tongue out at me, and then butted my head, knocking me down. I had no idea why he didn’t like me. Maybe he simply didn’t like writers?
The place I’ve returned to most often is Thailand. I love it there. In fact, I just got back from a four and a half month trip to SE Asia, and three of those months were spent in Thailand. I love the hill country in the north around Chang Mai and the Golden Triangle, the beaches on the islands in the south, and also the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. Thailand has everything: great spicy food, warm people, hot sunny beaches, and it’s dirt cheap. My husband and I can stay at a three star hotel for $25.00 per day and eat for less than $10.00 per day. You can’t beat that.

Jeanne: You mention that you're working on a "gays-in-professional-sports story about a gay coach and a straight teenager trying to make it on the straight dominated professional tennis tour." Can you share a bit more about this story? I think the character mix is exceptionally interesting.
Alan: The back story is two tennis professionals who were drummed out of the professional men’s tour because they were lovers and were outed. Years later they are both still lovers and living in San Francisco; one works as a tennis pro at a posh golf and tennis country club, the other is an alcoholic that give private tennis lessons to gay men. They’re both a bit miserable because they can no longer compete with the big boys. Then one of them is approached by a teenaged tennis prodigy and his overbearing, homophobic father. The teenager has a great game but is too mentally fragile to be able to make it on the men’s tour. But what will happen when an openly gay coach decides to buck the homophobic, straight-male dominated sport of professional tennis a second time to teach this boy how to compete? It will surprise you, and hopefully make you examine your own life, your goals, and what you’re willing to do to achieve those goals.

Jeanne: You've been with your partner for over twelve years -- longer than many "straight" relationships. When I interviewed Dorien Grey, one of his wishes was "that more writers...especially straight writers...[would] incorporate stable, monogamous gay relationships into their books." Do you think having such a stable relationship has enhanced your writing? And, for this hopeless romantic, could you share how the two of you met?
Alan: We’ve been together nearly sixteen wonderful years. Durning that time, Herman has been my foundation. I write, and he takes care of everything else in my life. I could not have finished even one novel without his support. Writing for me is hard, it takes all my energy. He takes care of all those little mundane hurdles that life keeps tossing at us, so that I have the time and space to devote myself to my writing. I often feel that both our names should appear on the covers of my books.
How we met? We had the same series at the San Francisco Opera, every Tuesday night. The first opera of the 1994 season I saw him from across the crowded room, and couldn’t breathe for a moment, to the point I became dizzy. He noticed me staring, hell everyone in the room noticed me staring… We didn’t speak that night, or the next week or the next. We just kept staring at each other. You see, he was always in the company of two other men and I assumed he was in a relationship with one of them. It was during the last opera of the ’94 season, the last intermission, our last chance to make contact, and I saw him marching across the room directly to me. I held my breath as he walked up, handed me his card and said, “If you’d like to have coffee sometime, give me a call.” I called the next day. We had dinner two nights later.

Jeanne: Last question. What one thing would your readers be surprised to know about you?
Alan: I’m a romantic softy. The day after gay marriage became legal in California, we marched down to the Civic Center and became the first male/male couple to be married in Marin County, California. I’m very proud of that. Not so much proud of being the first couple, but of being in the front ranks of that movement, and being able to make that social statement about our relationship. And I can tell you that even after living with Herman for over fifteen years, I got choked up while repeating the vows. It was a very emotional experience.
The other thing I’d like to share is that people can find out more about my writing at my website http://AlanChin.net and my writer’s blog http://AlanChinWriter.blogspot.com You can also read about Herman and my travels at http://HermanAndAlan.blogspot.com
Thank you for the opportunity to share with you and the people who visit your blog.
Thank you, Alan. I loved having you visit. Next time, please bring the photo album. :~D

Guest Blogger - Dorien Grey

"The Man Behind the Curtain"
I read your blog. I read reviews, excerpts, your books, poetry and finally, I said to heck with it and threw away all my formal list of questions (when did you decide to become a writer; when was your first book published; where do you get your ideas ) and just toss out what came to my mind as I was exploring the world of the "Man Behind the Curtain".
Jeanne: Of all the poetry you've written across the years, what are three of your favorites and why?

Dorien: Books and poems are the children of the writer's mind, and I love allof mine. But I can pick two which reflect the very core of my being."Playmates", which is dedicated to my now-long-dead partner Ray Lopez, who the passage of time, which blunts the sharp edges of reality, now tells me was the love of my life. "The Boy With the Poppyseed Buns", which addresses my deep sense of irony. A third I especially like is "Dreams of a Calico Mouse" which points to the fact that there are two sides to every coin. All are in my chapbook of poems, "The Poems of Dorien Grey" available as a download from GLB Publishers (www.glbpubs.com). Dreams of a Calico Mouse can be found at the end of Dorien's interview.

Jeanne: You wrote: "Nostalgia requires distance." Your non-fiction Navy memoir, A World Ago is slated for release later this year and in reading your blog, you often turn to your life in the Navy. Could you share just a few moments that, in retrospect, impacted on your writing? Dorien:Ah, I wish it were possible to do so, but it isn't...not for me, anyway. Life and Time are the same river, constantly moving toward the sea, and I cannot take a knife and cut it into specific pieces or point to a specific spot and say "here is an example of what made me who I am." I write because I have to write, and every experience I have ever had has contributed to it. I have any number of memorable moments, but to say they influenced me more than, say, a half-remembered dream or someone memorable I encountered briefly on a bus is really impossible.

Jeanne: Okay, I had to ask a book related question because The Angel Singers, your latest Dick Hardesty mystery (an even dozen!) centers on the world of music, a subject near and dear to my heart. (Well, okay, the question isn't quite book related, but music related.) What music inspires your writing? When you were writing The Angel Singers, besides "I Am What I Am", are there any songs that you find particularly meaningful?
Dorien: As an unabashed romanticist, I find that I react to some songs like a tuning fork reacts to being struck with a small mallet, and the effect on me is the same. Anything that moves me deeply, be it a song or a book or a movie or a personal experience, resonates long after the experience has ended. In "The Angel Singers" I very carefully and deliberately chose the songs for the program Jonathan and the chorus perform. Every one of them is, in its own way, an anthem of pride and hope, and those two words sum up my entire view of life.
Songs from the concert include: "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret,"You're a Grand Old Flag," "God Bless America", "I Hear Singing" from Call Me Madam, "Somewhere" from West Side Story, "Oklahoma", "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line, "Battle Hymn of the Republic," "Consider Yourself" from Oliver, and "This is My Country." Again, all songs of power, empowerment, and hope for the gay community.

Jeanne: Well, here's another "book related" question. Here you are writing wonderful mysteries with a well-beloved cast of characters, and then "Calico" appears. What prompted his appearance?

Dorien:Truth be told (and I think I'm telling this particular truth here for the first time), "Calico" was the first book I ever had published. I was working for a publishing house in L.A. that needed westerns. I always hated westerns, but the saving grace in them was that they were not quite so blatantly heterosexual as other genres. (The cowboy often rode off alone on his horse, which he seemed to prefer to the heroine.) So I wrote an on-the-surface "straight" western which I called "Calico" (the publisher for some unfathomable reason changed the title to "Stagecoach to Nowhere" which had absolutely nothing to do with anything in the book). That it had a barely-concealed gay sub-theme seemed to elude the editors. After the copyright expired and reverted to me, I rewrote it the way I wish I could have originally done it...as a gay love story.

Jeanne: One more book question. I mean, after all, you "are" an author. Seems that your devoted fans will be seeing number thirteen in the Dick Hardesty series with The Secret Keeper. Can you share a snippet or a brief blurb?

Dorien: Delighted to. Jonathan is hired by an elderly millionaire to help with the old man's garden. When the man is found dead, apparently a suicide, Jonathan...and the man's gay grandson...refuse to believe it, sending Dick off in search of the truth and who, among the man's greedy and dysfunctional family, may have resorted to murder.

Jeanne: Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa and now Vermont have all passed same sex marriage laws. Do you think more writers will incorporate this into their story lines? Would Dick and Jonathan marry if they had that right?

Dorien: I certainly hope that more writers...and especially straight writers...will incorporate stable, monogamous gay relationships into their books. As to Jonathan and Dick's taking advantage of the right to marry, I'm not sure. Probably, if Jonathan insisted on it, and also probably if by doing so Dick could share legal custody of Joshua. But as Dick says, "A piece of paper doesn't make a very strong glue."

Jeanne: And last do you have any questions you'd always wanted to ask your readers?

Dorien: I'm endlessly fascinated by my readers' reactions to each and every book, to the characters in them and to both the issues the books address and the way in which they address them. There is nothing I (or any writer that I know of) loves more than to hear from a reader.
Jeanne: Thanks so much, Dorien.

Dorien: And thank you, Jeanne, for the opportunity to talk to your readers. I truly appreciate it.
* * * *
Dreams of a Calico Mouse

In a quaint little cottage, a calico cat

naps by the hearth on a calico mat.

Contented and warm in the heart of the house,

it purrs in sweet dreams of a calico mouse.

In a garbage-strewn alley, where scrap-paper ghosts

dance in the wind ’round graffiti-scrawled posts,

in a box by a trash bin, a calico cat

trembles in dreams of a calico rat.
* * * *

Dorien's Links:
http://www.doriengrey.com/

e-mail:doriengrey@gmail.com

http://www.doriengreyandme.com/

http://www.doriengrey.blogspot.com/