Brandon Shire

Author of Contemporary Gay Romance

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Brandon's Musings

Music in the Writing Process

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music, fiction, writing tips, writing processIt’s always been my practice to have music playing while I write, but then again, there is always music playing in my home so that shouldn’t seem odd. For me, the written word, like a musical score, has a certain syncopation to it, a vibratory tone that underscores what you read as you read it.

Often my writing is described as lyrical, and this is something I (unknowingly) have striven for over the years as I put words down. The writing always had to not only sound right, but feel right too, and that feeling wasn’t just from word choice but from sentence & paragraph structure which lent itself to a vibratory undertone. [Read more…] about Music in the Writing Process

Assumption and prejudice – from beta readers

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Reading (© Jenny Rollo)
Reading (© Jenny Rollo)

Consider this.

My book, Afflicted came out in September. It is an HEA M/M novel that deals with a blind man and male prostitute who was thrown from the house as a young boy because he was gay. When I passed it on to my beta readers they loved the story, its eroticism, and its passion, but some of the comments I got back dismayed me:

Gay kid thrown from the house and becomes a hustler is a bit passe. 

500,000 homeless gay kids on the street right now, more than a few of them selling their bodies for $10 for a warm bed (for one night) and the concept is passe? Is this where we have come to? That we can scream about a chicken sandwich but step over a 15 yr old kid whose parents didn’t think him worthy of being called human? What does that say about how homophobia has really affected us when we can, as a community, accept homeless kids as normal or passe? Even in a fictional story the idea insults my heart. [Read more…] about Assumption and prejudice – from beta readers

What does writing LGBTQ literature mean to me?

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Rain Book reviews Blog Hop

Welcome Blog Hoppers

This is actually a tougher question than it seems.  When I first signed on for this blog-hop I said, Oh that’s easy! I know why I do it. But the question wasn’t Why? It was what does writing LGBTQ lit mean to you?  I spent many, many days tossing this around because writing has been such an intricate part of my life for so long that it has never really had a singular meaning. [Read more…] about What does writing LGBTQ literature mean to me?

The Psychopath Test – Do Writers Fail?

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writingI’m pretty sure most of you are familiar with the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). I actually have a copy on my shelf as a reference book.

The DSM comes in quite handy for writing (as well as for figuring out WTF is really wrong with your relatives.) As a writer, you already know that all your family members characters are listed in there somewhere. It is simply one of those must-have reference books you can’t be without.

But as a writer, the DSM is also a bit of a Pandora’s box. Really, I kid you not. Who else but a writer can get away with telling everyone they hear voices, and then spend months cooped up in a small room piled high with crumpled papers, cigarette smoke curling around your head?

Neatness hinders creativity you tell yourself, and this is a writer’s cave. Anything goes here. There are no rules except the sanctity of solitude, the smell of hot ink, and that goddamned two-foot high DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door, which must be obeyed. [Read more…] about The Psychopath Test – Do Writers Fail?

The Value of Rain – Year One

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gay fictionWho would have thought we’d be sitting here one year later? Not me that’s for sure.  As most of my regular readers know I was prodded into publishing by some of my few, but very close, friends. J.S., who you met on my social sites while I was away, simply chuckles at this because he was one of those people.  He’s the one that dug through manuscripts saying What about this one?  Or Do you remember that one you wrote about…?

I specifically recall the conversation we had about dipping my toe into this publishing pond. How adamant I was about my own privacy, the lack of time I had to devote to it, and a million other excuses; anything I could think of that would take this ridiculous idea from his head. I know I told him that I had never allowed him to read my writing for this.  And of course his question was Why did you then?  I was stumped, my tongue a rogue little knot that could not find an excuse. Damned thing. [Read more…] about The Value of Rain – Year One