Pride Publishing talks to the authors featured in the Gay Rom Lit anthology this year, Unconventional in San Diego.
Three of my favorite desserts:
When I'm in a nostalgic mood, I love pumpkin pie with real whipped cream. Mom always made it from scratch every holiday, and I've kept up the tradition. She still makes sure to bake one when I visit, even if it's summertime.
Before we go in depth on Burning Up the Ice, what was the inspiration behind the International Men of Sports series?
T.A.: We were sitting around our hotel room in Albuquerque for GRL (the GayRomLit retreat) and got talking about different countries and the sports that are considered national sports for them. We came up with six to start with, and during the almost two years since, we’ve chosen many more.
Devon: Both of us love sports in general, and writing athletic guys is a lot of fun. They tend to have characteristics that really lend themselves towards being ‘heroes’—dedication, focus, drive…and of course, pretty prime bodies!
How does the dual author process work for you both?
T.A. — We each pick a character to write, then whoever gets an idea of how to start the story can begin it. As we go along, we take turns writing scenes in our character’s point of view. Of course, we each throw in twists or secondary characters that the other has to deal with…
Devon — Sorry about that! I’m probably guiltier than T.A. on that count, but then again, she’s thrown a few challenges out to me too! Seriously, though, we write in a shared online document, so we can each watch the other do real-time additions and changes, or come back online later and see what they’ve accomplished. My favourite part is when we write dialogue together. I’ll type my character’s line, and she’ll respond with her character. The conversation takes some really interesting turns that way, just like in real life!