Genetic Attraction is my first novel (although I’ve been writing nonfiction for many years). I decided to write it when I discovered erotic romance and loved the genre so much, I thought “I could write one of these books.” But Genetic Attraction didn’t start out to be a ménage a trois. When I first conceived the plot, I expected it to be an older woman/younger man romance, but then one day I ordered a book by Jet Mykles called Heaven. It was my first male/male romance and I was hooked! I had to add another man to my book. Fortunately, ignorance is bliss. I didn’t know that writing a ménage is hard, so I just plunged in. Since this first novel, I’ve written three other books and two of them are ménages – one is m/m/f and one is m/m/m/. I guess I really like this dynamic. Here’s what I’m learning:
- · Love between three people can be just as sweet and intense and passionate as between two – at least in romance novels! The real-life dynamics of a ménage are probably very tricky, but virtually everyone has harbored in their heart at sometime the thought that maybe, just maybe, they could love two people. Menage stories play into this fantasy.
- · Menages make interesting plots. Simple, you have three people to play with, to make interact with each other, to provide richness and detail to your story. In Genetic Attraction, two of my lead characters are scientists and one is a supermodel. As readers, we get to see scenes played out in their different worlds –in the lab, at photo shoots, at a faculty party.
- · Pronouns can be killers! Writing male/male stories is a unique challenge since both characters are called “he”, so you have to find ways to differentiate them without using their names constantly, and without being confusing. Now, add another man to the mix as I’m doing in my current work-in-progress, a m/m/m ménage. Yikes. It takes some creativity and very deep point-of-view for each character.
- · Sex between three people needs careful thought. The reader needs to know where each character is and what they’re doing. No one can be left out, so we need to see reactions from each character as well as actions.
· But, oh, it’s soooo much fun. A ménage is fun to read and it’s fun to write. So many yummy things can be done simultaneously when you have three people. Just use your imagination. That’s what I did. : )
I want to give huge hugs to all the readers who have been sending me messages on e-mail and Twitter and in blog posts saying how much they enjoy the book and the excerpts. It makes me cry, guys. So tell me, what kind of romantic pairings or multiples do you most enjoy? I’m listening. : )