Tag Archives: walter simon

Top Ten Things I Learned Writing My Latest Gay Romance

Posted on by

(c) istockphoto.com, palantir 2006

Here’s what I’ve learned writing TAKE ME HOME (tentatively due out December 2011):

  1. Characters do not always listen to my outline.
  2. The book isn’t done until it’s done. I added some really great stuff in the last week.
  3. Reading a manuscript while walking around the house is dangerous. For my cats. Sorry, little dudes!
  4. In order to really put myself into a scene it’s possible to simulate being freezing cold in a blizzard during 100 degree days using just the power of my mind. And a fan.
  5. Writing a scene set during any other time than the past decade requires a lot of research. Even when it’s a simple journal entry from 1953.
  6. In the process of editing I read faster during the action scenes and forget to actually edit. “Uh, this is YOUR book, Sloan. Pay attention.”
  7. Making my poor characters wait to get off is kinda fun. It makes the sex scene more explosive to write.
  8. I should not have two books “in process” with characters names that start with the same initial. In this case…Kyle and Kevin. I had to tell Kevin to get back to his own damn book way too many times. “Dude, get off Evan and go find Walter!”
  9. I really love the male body and can describe a blowjob for way too many paragraphs (okay, pages) than necessary. More than anyone would want to stick around to read.And the last thing I learned writing my latest m/m romance:
  10. It’s helpful to take a character’s clothes off BEFORE attempting anal sex.

Figured out one of the ways I can write faster & an update

Posted on by

So I have this cat. He’s clingy and smart and determined when he wants something his way. He likes to sit in the same room with me, most of the time on my lap if he can. But he also likes to lay his front legs over my wrist, and it really starts to hurt trying to type that way. I also make more typos. Usually it goes like this…He puts his paws on my arm, I make him move, and he moves right back. Over and over. I hate the idea of locking him out of the room because he just cries and pounds on the door. Plus he’s getting older, and I know that later I’d be sad not having had all this time together. Well, I came up with a solution. I have some extra space on my desk. I pushed the monitor back and made room for his bed. Check it out…

(c) Sloan Parker, 2011

I can pet him. He can sleep. He can stare at me like he likes to do. Most importantly, I can write. We are all happy. Of course once he got himself situated, he was sort of hanging off the end of the desk. I’m a little scared he’s going to fall on the keyboard and erase all my work, then hit save before I can stop him. And now that I’m writing this post, he’s back on my lap. Dude! In other (I’m sure more exciting) news, I finished the first draft of Walter’s story! I’m now in revising/editing mode and will be doing that for a while as I have two novel-length books to finish. Off to edit… Have a great weekend. Sloan

Back to Walter’s story (dang, this book needs a title)

Posted on by

Happy Friday! Hope everyone is doing well. I’ve had the best week. Does that sound like bragging? Really, I’m just feeling good this week and wanted to share. Just before we celebrated Thanksgiving here in the US, I took a week off from writing (which was both necessary for many reasons and incredibly scary since I haven’t done that in a long time). Well, this week I headed back into a more normal writing schedule, and things are moving along nicely.

Here’s where my current projects stand and some other news:

  • Home Again
    I have a tentative title and a first draft for my friends-to-lovers story. For now I’m calling it HOME AGAIN. The draft is pretty rough, but I’m really happy with the story and characters. I can’t wait for everyone to meet Kyle and Evan.
  • Walter Simon
    So now I’m back to working on Walter’s story (this book desperately needs a title, but nothing has come to me yet). It’s a stand-alone story with a secondary character from MORE, Walter Simon. I decided to take a break to get the first draft done on HOME AGAIN, but this week I was able to get back to Walter’s. I’ve kept the poor guy waiting on first base for far too long now.
  • Contest News
    I’m going to be hosting a Happy Holidays contest on the blog this month. It’ll be winner’s choice of one free ebook from my work or any Loose Id title. Check back in the next week or so for details.
  • Blogging News
    I’m going to be guest-blogging at author Tara Lain’s blog next week. I’ll be talking about the differences between writing MORE and BREATHE. If anyone has questions about either book, I’d love for you to stop by and post a comment. I’ll share the link to the blog when it’s live.
  • Banners
    I have a couple of new banners and skyscrapers that I’m using for online advertising. Feel free to grab one for your own website or blog if you’d like. They can all be viewed here.

I’m hoping to do more Friday posts than I have been in the past few weeks. Some of these will be writing updates like this one. For those of you who follow the blog regularly, this might get a bit repetitive. I apologize for that, but I think it’ll be a good way to keep my updates easily accessible for those new to visiting my site as more people become familiar with me and my work.

If anyone has any questions about my books, my current projects, or anything at all, feel free to contact me or add your question in the comments section of this post.

Hope you all have a great weekend!
Sloan

Sloan’s Writing Update

Posted on by

Happy Friday! Boy, this was a long week, but I made some wonderful discoveries on one of my stories so I’m feeling good (even if I’m a bit exhausted as I head into the weekend. It’s a good kind of exhausted.) I thought it was time to post an update on my writing progress:

  1. My new Friends-to-Lovers Story I still don’t have a title for this one. The outline is complete and the rough draft is at 45,000 words. I’m planning (or shall I say hoping) for this one to end up around 70-80,000 words (quite a bit shorter than my other two novels). As it stands now, it’s got a lot of sexual tension, a minor suspense thread (not even sure I’d call it suspense, but I’ll see how it turns out), and is the fastest I’ve written anything so far. I’m really excited with what I’m coming up with that wasn’t even in the original outline.
  2. Walter’s Story This one features Walter Simon from MORE, although it’s a stand-alone story that does not require the reader to have read More. It’s a full-on erotic suspense, and the first draft is currently at 31,000 words. I’ve been taking a short break from it while I flush out the draft for my friends story, then I’ll be back to Walter’s. I had a tentative title, but there is already another Loose Id book with that title, so I’m rethinking it.
  3. Breathe The final edits have been completed for BREATHE. Last I heard, we were still on schedule for a November 16 release at Loose Id. I’ll be posting an excerpt to my site this weekend. When I do, I’ll post a link here on the blog too.
  4. Short Stories  For anyone who may have missed it, I posted a free short story to my website. It’s titled “A Lesson in Truth“. It’s an erotic m/m romance featuring graduate student David and his advisor Michael as they discuss their future during a late night in Michael’s office.I’ve also completed another short titled “The Break In.” I’m either going to post it as a freebie or expand it a bit and submit to some of the epubs that take shorts. I’ll let you know when I decide for sure.
  5. More MORE Books Two additional stories for the guys of MORE are in the planning stages, but I’m not currently working on those.

I’m hoping to have either my friends story or Walter’s ready to go during the first half of 2011, and the other finished later in the year. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Sloan