JAN 13: Mind the Gap...

[clarelondon]

Good morning to the fabulous author erastes, writer of quality, best-selling homoerotic fiction, Director of the Erotic Authors' Association and Blogger Extraordinaire on Speak Its name, The Macaronis and Unusual Historicals, amongst many other appearances.

Erastes' website is HERE

Comments

[clarelondon]

I identify with so much of this, having come from fanfiction myself. It was true for me also, that fanfiction was a blast of fresh, stimulating, exciting air that provoked me (i) to start writing again after some time away, and (ii) to expose it online

[erastes]

One thing that I loved about fanfic was not having to waste too much time introducing a character. After all - I only need to write "Lucius Malfoy swept in," and that's it. Whereas if in an original book, i write "Robert Allwood marched in," you pretty much have your reader thinking "oh, yeah?"

And of course using another person's world made it easier to create plot without having to world-build.

Yes - the rejections and so forth are hard to deal with in original-land - but hopefully the small network one builds around one (thanks god for the interwebz because it would be horrible to write a book without blogging) will be a great support base. And is, in my case, definitely.

[mylodon]

Lovely post.

Erastes, you know I identify with so much of what you say. Different fandom, but very similar experiences. (Although you as a Mary Sue? Gaaarn!)

I still dabble in fanfic partly because it gives me freedom to do daft things, to experiment with settings or styles. Partly because it's just such fun.

[erastes]

With me I think it was too much of an addiction--I fear that if I went back to it I'd not come out again, and also JKR deliberately closed a lot of the fanfic outlets, killing off characters - I didn't have the heart to write heart broken Lucius over and over again.

Yes, Violetta her name was. She even had violet eyes. Long auburn hair in corkscrew type curls. She was the heir of Slytherin. oh the shame...

[chrissymunder]

The description of your journey is quite interesting. Congratulations on making the transition so successfully.

[erastes]

Thank you! It's been a fun ride!

[dontkickmycane]

This is a very interesting post, Erastes. Thanks for sharing your journey. I suspect it's similar for more than a few of us. I know it strikes a chord with me, too. It's always nice to see established authors encouraging newer writers. Ours is a small genre, but a growing one, and more talented writers can only be a good thing. Congrats on the I Do anthology. The message is long overdue, IMO, and the cause a great one to support.

[erastes]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks regarding the I DO antho, too!

[jenre]

I've come at this the wrong way round, I think. I started reading m/m and have recently discovered slash!

Great post though. It's interesting to see just how many m/m authors came from a background of fanfic.

[erastes]

What I should have said was that I didn't even know of the existence of gay erotica - or rather, that I might enjoy it, and believe me, I had NOTHING like a sheltered upbringing.

I think I can safely say that most of the m/m writers came from fanfic and even some non m/m ones such as Naomi Novik too.

Thank you - i'm glad you liked it!