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Interview at Two Lips Reviews
Originally appeared online in August 2007 at Two Lips Reviews Two Lips: Let me start by saying, congratulations! Your latest release, War Torn, is picked as Reviewer's Choice for the month of August by TLR and Under a Confederate Moon has received five kisses from us. You must be pleased? J.M.: Yes I am. (I really don't know what else to say, except thank you!) Two Lips: Can you tell our readers a little about yourself? J.M.: I'm in my early 30's, live in Virginia with two very spoiled cats, and basically just love to write. I graduated from George Mason University in '96 and have been writing since I was about 8 (not in the same genre, of course). When I'm not working on a story, I'm an avid reader and I love video games (particularly The Legend of Zelda). I also love pop music, Broadway musicals, Civil War history, and movies. Two Lips: What made you decide to become a writer? J.M.: I've always loved to write. I remember being a small child with pen and paper in hand, scribbling down the opening lines to what I hoped to be the next Great American Novel. Ever since I was old enough to read, I wanted to create stories of my own. I started writing seriously in high school, finished my first (still unpublished) novel in college, and fell into slash fan fiction a short while after that. The rest, as they say, is history. Two Lips: You began your career with self publishing and writing for e-zines and have now books out with some of the major publishers on the net. How has the journey been and what lessons have you learnt from it? J.M.: I believe that my start in self-publishing really helped me learn the value of marketing, because the sad truth of the matter is that most publishers do not have the resources to market every single title they release. This means that a lot of the dirty work of actually selling a book, e-books included, falls to the author. A new writer with little or no interest in self-promotion may not realize this; I do. Every story I release, I promote relentlessly. That's the only way to get your name out there and build a brand (and a readership) for yourself. Two Lips: Who are your favorite authors, who inspire you the most? J.M.: I don't know if my favorite authors inspire me, as I tend to like to read stories that are completely different from what I write. The reason for this, I think, is that I figure why read it when I can write it myself? So readers may be surprised to learn I don't read a lot of erotica or romance, either hetero or homosexual. Since I don't write horror or much speculative fiction or non-fiction, I like to read Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Jude Watson, J. K. Rowling, Charles Pellegrino, and Jon Krakauer. I also like "literary" writers such as Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut, and Tom Robbins. But my personal style of writing is nothing like any of these authors, so I'm not sure if they inspire me or if they just give me the overall feeling that I can write what I want, too. Two Lips: Have you ever had one of those profound "AH-HA!" moments while you were writing? Would you be willing to share it? J.M.: These happen all the time because I rarely ever think a story through when I sit down and write it out. I start with a very clear picture of the opening of the story and let the characters take it from there. So everything after the first scene pretty much surprises me. Two Lips: What was the most uplifting moment you've experienced during your writing career? J.M.: Hmm, I don't know what you mean by "uplifting" ... though I've been self-publishing since 2002, this past year has really been an explosive one for me. I've met a lot of great authors and editors this year, and have had a lot of unprecedented opportunities open up to me. I'm grateful for every moment I'm given. Two Lips: You write gay romances. What is it about this genre that attracts you? J.M.: I just like gay men. Heterosexual romances bore me, but the added element of homoeroticism elevates the story in a way I find more meaningful and satisfying. There's a certain level of risk in homosexual fiction that is missing in other stories, given the social stigma still associated with being gay. I find the characters more believable, more real -- they have more to lose and, because of this, their lives are more interesting to me. Two Lips: Many of your characters are soldiers. Do you make a conscious decision to write a certain type of character with a certain occupation, or do the characters decide for themselves what they want to be? J.M.: I'm a huge fan of military history. Growing up in Virginia with a father in the Army National Guard, I'd have to be. The story dictates who the characters will be, what they will do, how they will act -- I rarely make that decision a conscious one. The characters' jobs are usually intimately tied up with the story itself; for instance, Under a Confederate Moon (Amber Quill Press, July 2007) would not have worked for me if the men involved weren't on opposing sides of the American Civil War. Their story is that they are soldiers, and that impacts not only their actions but the outcome of the story as well. Two Lips: What in your opinion makes for good chemistry between your leading characters? J.M.: My main characters have to mesh together in a way that makes them incomplete as individuals but together, they form one whole. Sometimes that works by making them polar opposites, sometimes by making them argumentative, sometimes by giving them a love worth fighting for, as in War Torn (Aspen Mountain Press, July 2007). Two Lips: Is there a character from one of your books that resonates deeply with you? J.M.: All of my characters are in some small way a part of me -- I infuse a lot of my own personality into my characters. Not everything in each one, but little bits here and there. Each character rings true to me. But if there's one character whose story I've always wanted to delve further into and haven't yet, it would be Ange from Stepping Up to the Plate (Lulu Press, December 2006). He was a minor character but I really wished I had done more with him. Ah well, maybe one day. Two Lips: Can you tell our readers a little about what you're currently working on? J.M.: Currently I'm nearing the end of a lengthy novel (86,000 words), The Bonds of Love. I'm about to start chapter 25, and anticipate a total of 30 chapters in all when I'm through. The novel is about what I call my "superhero" characters, Vic & Matt, who first appeared in The Powers of Love (Amber Quill Press, June 2007). In that story, Vic begins dating Matt and suddenly finds himself with superhuman powers. The powers come from Matt, though neither really knows why. The novel takes their story a bit further -- Vic and Matt have been together several years now, when an old boyfriend of Matt's shows up and wants the powers back. Two Lips: Is there something special you do to celebrate when one of your books is released? J.M.: Not unless you consider going around to all corners of the web announcing its release special. I tend to celebrate finishing a story more than I do publishing it, particularly a long novel-length book, because several months of my life are wrapped up in telling of the story and I'm just glad when it's all said and done. Two Lips: What is your favorite word for penis? J.M.: I like the word "dick." It's unassuming, something one man would say to another, something a man would think of in relation to his own genitalia. Two Lips: What is your least favorite word for penis? J.M.: "Throbbing lovestick of joy." Yeah it's a nice little piece of flesh but that's just putting on airs, in my opinion. Two Lips: Is there a sex scene you have always wanted to use in a book and never have? Why haven't you? J.M.: No, I tend to write whatever pops into my head. Two Lips: What is your favorite curse word? J.M.: I'm a classic type of girl -- I like the word "fuck." If you need a bit more oomph to it, then "goddammit the fuck" works. Two Lips: What turns you on in a book? J.M.: I don't read books that turn me on. I read books that I would never write myself, so I don't read a lot of erotica or romance. Strange, I know, but hey, that's me. I'm as strange as they come. Two Lips: What TV reality show or game show would you be on? J.M.: I'd like to say American Idol because I watch it religiously, but I would never make it past the first cut. So Jeopardy! then. At least I'd stand a chance of winning. |
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