Writer Wednesday: Why This Book?

Welcome to the first in a series of posts about Taking the Gardener, my first work-in-progress! As promised, I'll use this regular Wednesday slot to talk about the writing process itself. Here you'll get some insights not only into the creative process, but also the mechanics and practicalities of writing, from characterisation to organising my writing day.So let's start at the very beginning. Why this book? I guess, like so many people, I've always known that I had a book inside me. But more than that, I was convinced that I had a writer inside me, one who had a whole range of books to write, in a variety of genre, all rattling around in the old grey matter. I've long wanted to write a full length gay novel, and I knew that it would have to meld a BDSM story with a genuine romantic tale.For me, a good book must tell a real story. No matter what the genre, if the story is not believable then the book fails. And before you shoot me down, yes, I do believe that SciFi and Fantasy stories can be real too! After the story, the next consideration must be the characters. It's always been my view that much erotic fiction suffers from a lack of real characters. One reason for this is that many modern erotic story tellers have been inspired by erotic (porn) visuals, either of the video variety or glossy magazines. In the visual media, costs are paramount, so the only characters (actors/models) are the ones who will look sexy and produce the all-important money shot. You can see this manifesting itself in erotic writing too. Aside from the main characters, all others are considered superfluous, and so are non-existant or so paper thin that they may as well not exist!In my writing, all the characters matter to the story just as they would do in real life. For that reason they must all be well-formed and appear real. Even the most minor character has a role to play and a voice to be heard. I look forward to writing in future blog posts about how I create my characters and how they develop.I'm also a very visual writer. I see the settings, I see the people and I see the story play out in my mind. In essence, I write about what I see, and so what I write is very personal. Many of the characters will have been real people and the settings will be real places. That is not to say that the style is simply 'reported' text. Far from it! It's my profound hope that you will read my words, create your own pictures and add your own faces to the characters. For me, that is at the heart of the relationship between the writer and the reader. I SEE my story. I WRITE what I see. You READ my story. You CREATE your own pictures to bring the words to life. See how it works?I welcome your comments on anything I post here. If you want to follow me, just click on the RSS button or the Twitter button to follow me @tjmasters