Faolan Kurayami's Casting Couch Interview

Faolan Kurayami has always enjoyed writing. She has been encouraged by her mother and sister to follow her dreams to get published. It’s always been a dream of hers to see her books enjoyed by readers. She lives with her sister, a crazy rabbit and a cranky old ankle biter. In her free time she enjoys reading, writing and anything to do with anime. Currently she is a college student in the Game Design Program. Faolan enjoys reading a lot and it varies on the genre. She’s always battling plot bunnies so there is no telling what you’ll see from her next.

 
How did you get started in writing? What made you decide to submit your first story and what was your experience with that? Who was the first person you told when you got your first contract and what was their reaction?

I got started in writing as a kid. I read a lot and wanted to created something that people could enjoy. I wanted be published for years but never had the ideas how, I didn't even know M/M was published unless it was anime or manga until I joined a yahoo group of writers. They pointed me in the right direction. I went to DreamSpinnerPress and saw their submission calls page. I went with Cross Bones in hopes I get accepted because the idea prompt inspired me. I was denied. But I was able to turn around and resubmit it as a normal book and was accepted. It was actually my sister who told me I was published, she'd checked my email for me and was bouncing up and down. I then called my mom and she was really excited.




Where does your inspiration come from for your books?

I get inspiration from many places. Just the other day I was looking at pictures of fantasy and I got several ideas. I listen to music a lot of the times while I'm writing and that is actually a great help in setting the mood for that scene I'm writing. I also get ideas and inspiration from other books, movies, anime/manga, nature, and so on.

How do you make the important choices when it comes to writing your stories? Point of View? Voice? Theme? Genre? Title?

I don't have any issues choosing Point of View because I prefer to read in third person so I write in third person. I sometimes read first person but not often. I write in many themes. I like Holiday stories and Paranormal. I write in several genres as well but all of them, either m/m or m/f, have romance. I like writing suspense, paranormal, romance, adventure, fantasy, and I'm looking into Steampunk. I choose titles from songs I listen to a lot that fits with the story I'm trying to tell.



Are your characters purely fictional, or do you sample from people you’ve met in real life? Which one of your characters is most like you? How so?

No, My characters aren't purely fictional. I use traits from people I meet or know sometimes to make a character personality but I haven't really created a character after anyone. Although I won't say it isn't a possibility. I don't have a character that's really like me in my book. I hope that I am portrayed in someway through my writings though.



What do you consider your greatest accomplishment as a writer?

I consider my greatest accomplishment as a writer to be the day my first book was approved for publication.



If you could co-author a book with any other writer, who would it be?

That's a tough question but RJ Scott, Kendall McKenna, Augusta Li, SE Jakes or any of my Facebook friends. But for a m/f story it's still a chard choice, I think I'd like to co-author with Cherry Adair, Nora Roberts, Christine Feehan, Angela Knight, Laurrel K. Hamilton or Sherilyn Kenyon. It's hard to pick really because there are a lot of great writers out there. I would really like to co-author with my sister and three closest friends.



What is the one book that you think that very few people have read but everyone should read? What are you reading right now? 

That could go for many m/m books. I don't think they get enough recognition. I can't choose a book off the top of my head but one style more people should read of any age would be Young Adult. There are many great books in that section out there and they don't get seen or read often enough because people overlook them so easily and they don't get enough advertisement.

I currently reading Fatal Affair by Marie Force. It's a great story filled with suspense, mystery, romance and the need to prove one's self. It's a great book so far. Oh! I did think of a book. It's Desert Rose by Laura Taylor. It's an amazing book and should be read by everyone.



What do you find the most difficult part of the writing process?

The most difficult part of writing for me is writing the end. I hate to end a story because those characters are a part of me and it's like goodbye to a friend you won't see again for a long long time. It's a little easier with series but those end at some point too.



What is a typical working day like for you? Where do you write? Do you wait for inspiration? Do you set certain writing goals? Are there any specific tools you use to help you write?

A typical work day for me is a bit crazy at times. I have college going on so writing has to wait until that work is done. I write anywhere I can take my computer. I don't even have to have internet, although it's easier when I do in case I need to search for something or look something up. I don't set goals. I can't use an outline, drives me crazy. I don't wait for inspiration since usually I'm able to go on with whatever I was writing previously. If I get stuck I work on a different scene or a different book.



What is your greatest guilty pleasure (literary or otherwise)?

My greatest guilty pleasure...hmmm....That would have to be candy, video games and anime/manga. I love all kinds of candy as long as it doesn't have solid nuts (excludes peanutbutter) or coconut. I am open to trying different kinds as long as they don't have the previously mentioned. I am a huge fan of anime/manga. Naruto, InuYasha, Sailor Moon, Blue Seed, Kekkaishi, FullMetal Alchemist, Persona, Ghost Hunt etc. I really enjoy anything paranormal be it werewolves (or others), vampires or ghosts. Video games are great inspiration! I enjoy RPGs, fighting and shooter.



And…last but not least: What are you working on now and what can we expect to see from you in the coming year?
 
I am working on the next book in the series with Be My Bad Boy. Also a long fantasy novel that has been bugging me to write the last few years. It's a fantasy/romance/adventure. The title is loosely called Magical Kingdom but will be changed or added to at a later date.

A short synopsis for Magical Kingdom is Three Magical Kingdoms must unite to defeat an evil Wizard King. The rulers sent out three sons and three guards to battle. One son is a neko, one is a kitsune and the final is a fallen. Each guard was bound by magic to protect their charge. The fallen son was sent out by his mother in hopes that he would die in battle. Slowly along their travels the princes and their guards fall in love.

Find her at Dreamspinner Press, or Facebook 

Zahra Owen's Casting Couch Interview

Zahra Owens is a multilingual globetrotter who loves big cities but also has a weak spot for the wide-open spaces that are so rare where she lives.

She likes her men every which way they come and never tries to change them. Men who are tough on the outside but have a huge soft center get extra credit, though, as do the strong, silent types who think they hide their damage well… but don’t. She makes it her personal goal to find them their happily-ever-after, even if the road toward this leads via hospital beds, villas with gorgeous vistas, or ranges full of horses.

Zahra is a proud member of the Rainbow Romance Writers, a special interest chapter of the Romance Writers of America, and won’t quit until M/M romances are treated like every other romance story. RWA allowed her into its Professional Authors Network, but she hasn’t quit her day job yet since it allows her to work in a man’s world. And what girl can resist that?

If Zahra had her wish, a day would have at least thirty-six hours, because how else would she find the time to finish all the novels still inside her head?

How did you get started in writing? What made you decide to submit your first story and what was your experience with that? Who was the first person you told when you got your first contract? What was their reaction?

I’ve always had an overactive imagination. I think I wrote my first story in first grade (something about a princess, I’m sure). I didn’t get serious about it until I discovered fanfiction, in the early 90’s. We wrote X-Files stories and posted them on the official boards. It was a very exciting time!

Years later I was writing Lord Of The Rings fanfiction and the stories almost always ended up novel length so I knew I could do it. A few of my fellow authors were submitting stories and they told me I should try as well. The story got accepted and it became my first novel. The first person I told was actually a group: my fellow fanficcers. The result was mixed at best. The positive ones are still my friends. The negative ones disappeared (I wonder how that happened?).  I didn’t tell my mother until I could show her an actual paperback copy. Her reaction was: “Now is you next book going to be straight romance?” I answered “No” and never looked back. She knows I mean it.

Where does your inspiration come from for your books?

Inspiration is everywhere.  Sometimes it’s a song, sometimes a newspaper article, sometimes an actor I like (still a fanficcer at heart). I’ve been known to invent stories about people I see on the street.

My charity story You Can Choose Your Friends was inspired by the It Gets Better Project and that’s why I donate my royalties to them. 

How do you make the important choices when it comes to writing your stories? Point of View? Voice? Theme? Title?

Most of the time it’s a gut reaction. Some stories cry out to be written in first person. Some people don’t like this, but I can’t go against my characters’ wishes, no matter how hard I try. The first few chapters of The Hand-Me-Down were rewritten more than a few times because I wanted to try and force it into third person so I could at least change POV occasionally, but Jez wouldn’t have it. He’s a bit of an alpha male and didn’t want to let anyone else tell the story. Well, he got what he asked for.

The title often comes quite early in the story as do the character names. If either of those are wrong, the storytelling stops, because the characters will refuse to talk to me.

Are your characters purely fictional, or do you sample from people you've met in real life? Which one of your characters is most like you? How so?

My characters are sort of fictional. I stay very far away from people I’ve met in real life, because I wouldn’t want anyone I know to recognize themselves. (If they do and I didn’t base it on them, I’m fine, but if I did base it on them, I’d be mortified if they discovered it!). I can’t imagine every little bit about them, though. I need references. I love using actors as the basis of my characters, and I basically write parts for them to play, but besides creating a look-and-feel for them in my head, the actual character is all in my imagination. The three characters in The Hand-Me-Down were based on two gay porn stars and an Aussie actor. I had numerous pictures of them in my inspiration folder. The cowboys I’m writing for my fourth cowboy novel are also an Aussie actor (different one) and a British actor. Both will “play” all-American men, though.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment as a writer?

Finishing that book (and I mean that about every one of them I’ve written)! I meet a lot of different people in real life and if they know you’re a published author, there’s always one who tells you he is also writing a book. I’ve met very few who’ve actually finished it. No, strike that. By now I’ve met a lot of people who’ve finished that book, because I meet a lot of people through my writing who are also published like me.

If you could co-author a book with any other writer, who would it be?

That’s a tough question, because I’ve been burned. In my fanfic days I co-authored quite a bit and loved it! A few years ago I wrote a short story with someone and it ruined a great friendship. Don’t know if I’m willing to try my hand at it again. I could throw a few names around, but again, I don’t want to risk the friendship I have with these people (Ariel Tachna, Amy Lane, JP Barnaby, you know who you are!)

What is the one book that you think that very few people have read but everyone should read? What are you reading right now?

I’m sure tons of people have read these books, but I have a hard time recommending ones very few people have read because I’m playing catch-up in my reading. See, I didn’t grow up reading English language books, so I’m always late to the game!

I’d go for MarionZimmer Bradley’s The Catch Trap, Jacqueline Carey’s first Kushiel Trilogy and Patricia Nell Warren’s The Front Runner.  

Right now I’m reading a book about relationships and how bonding as a child has its effects on how you choose a partner (it’s non-fiction and written in Dutch)? I consider it both personal growth and research since I always write rather emotionally ruined characters.

What do you find the most difficult part of the writing process?

Actually sitting down and writing. I, like most people, I’m sure, have too much going on sometimes. I need to make time to write. Add to that the fact I am a very undisciplined person and you can see how time gets away from me. Once I make the time and sit down to write, it usually flows.

What is a typical working day like for you? Where do you write? Do you wait for inspiration? Do you set certain writing goals? Are there any specific tools you use to help you write?

A typical day for me is an actual working day (as in the sort of work that brings home the bacon) where I leave for the office at eight and don’t get home before six. Then it’s eating and winding down. Sometimes I write, sometimes I don’t get around to it. Sometimes I avoid writing to answer people’s questions (LOL!)

I don’t wait for inspiration. Inspiration strikes at the most inopportune moments (Late at night when I’m trying to fall asleep? Check. Sitting in gridlock traffic? Check. Trying to finish a last minute project at work and against a deadline? Double check.)

Goals work and don’t work for me. NaNoWriMo is about the only goal that actually makes me produce masses of work. My own goals generally don’t.  Like I said, I’m undisciplined and a rebel to the point where it’s detrimental to myself. This year I’m Secretary for The Rainbow Romance Writers (Special Interest Chapter of the Romance Writers of America) and on our Forum we set writing goals for ourselves every month. Doesn’t look like I’ll make it this month. Guess I’m not making the best impression!

I’ve tried all the writing tools other people use (Scrivener, Liquid Binder and a few others) but I always go back to simply writing in Word. None of the writing tools I’ve tried have given me my time’s worth.

What is your greatest guilty pleasure (literary or otherwise)?

My greatest guilty pleasure is still fanfiction. I try to limit myself to reading, though, because reading in itself is enough time-suckage and a perfect escape from my ‘duties’. If I get too involved I’ll want to start writing it again and then it takes away from my actual projects for which I have little enough time as it is.

And…last but not least: What are you working on now and what can we expect to see from you in the coming year?

Right now I’m working on two novels, one of which should have been finished last year. Sorry about that.

One is the fourth novel in the Clouds and Rain series called Moon and Stars and the other is something entirely different about a Crown Prosecutor in London and the cop who is supposed to do his investigating.  Neither of them are ready for excerpts yet, so you’ll have to be patient!

You can find Zahra at http://zahraowens.com.

Or buy her books from Dreamspinner Press here: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_129

  

Andrew Q. Gordon's Casting Couch Interview

After a minor in creative writing in college, Andrew Q. Gordon decided to become old and stodgy and went to law school. At the urging of his partner, he returned to creative writing almost two decades later . Still working as a lawyer, he and his husband of seventeen years and their dogs live in the DC area. In 2011 they welcomed their daughter into their family. Andrew still manages to write after the last diaper is changed and he unwraps himself from his daughter's little finger.

 

How did you get started in writing? What made you decide to submit your first story and what was your experience with that? Who was the first person you told when you got your first contract? What was their reaction?

I started writing in college – I had this story inside my head that took shape during idle time – showers, walking to and from school, riding the train with nothing to read etc. So I used the independent study credits, found an advisor and created a creative writing class for myself.  

‘My’ first story that was submitted, was actually a co-authored story – both ‘firsts’ were actually.  Anyta Sunday and I wrote two stories in 2011. One – Bettor To Lose - we submitted to Gay Authors for their novella contest. That won first place.  The second – (Un)Masked we shopped around to publishers. Dreamspinner was the second publisher we submitted it to. Obviously the first one didn’t accept it.  I did rather little with the submission process, I’d just had a baby and Anyta offered to take the lead and that worked out perfect for me.  So the process was rather painless for me. 

When we got the acceptance, I was at work. It came fairly early in the day as I recall, so I didn’t see it until later.  In fact I didn’t recognize the sender and I didn’t read it at first.  So when I finally read it, I told my husband and quickly got in touch with Anyta to engage in a bit of virtual high fives. 

Where does your inspiration come from for your books?

Depends on the genre.  For romance, I think part of it comes from my past experiences and some of it comes from some ideal I wished I’d done or experienced.  Fantasy/Sci fi – that comes from all over. Sometimes it’s a piece of music that evokes an image. I then try to put word to that image and fill in the story.  For the most part everything comes from a visual I ‘see’ in my mind.  Without that clear image, I don’t think I can write a story.

How do you make the important choices when it comes to writing your stories? Point of View? Voice? Theme? Title?

Point of View is usually third person. It’s what I’m most comfortable using. I remember trying to use 1^st person for the 1^st time and it was a cluster of past/present mistakes.  I’d slip into almost dialogue mode for some of the narrative and . . . . it was a mess.   I’m not a huge fan of multiple voices. I feel getting two MC’s perspectives kills a lot of the tension so I generally stick to just one.  The exception will be in future books of the Champion of the Gods series. There I’ll use a second perspective for a chapter or two so I can fill in plot details. But as a rule, I’m not a fan. 

Some titles come easy – they even ‘write’ the book, others are impossible to find. Purpose will be my third published book and will come out in June or so.  There, I had the title before I had the entire story.  The Last Grand Master has had four three working titles before Dreamspinner and I decided on the current one.

Are your characters purely fictional, or do you sample from people you’ve met in real life? Which one of your characters is most like you? How so?

All my characters are fictional. There is very little of me in them. There might be elements – like – one might enjoy baseball or play soccer or drink coffee or like punk rock. But none are modeled on me or other people I know.  I don’t think I’ve ever written a character that I could say I’m most like. I might like to be one or two of my characters – Farrell from The Last Grand Master is an amazingly powerful wizard – so yeah, I could see me wanting to be him.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment as a writer? 

Nothing yet – I don’t feel I’ve really accomplished anything exceptional yet.  If I can get to the point where I’m successful enough that I can take a flier on quitting my day job, then I’ll say I’ve accomplished something of note.

If you could co-author a book with any other writer, who would it be?

I’ve already co-authored two books with Anyta Sunday and I’d do as many more together as we could. She is – in my mind an amazingly gifted writer and so easy to work with. It was maybe the most fun I’ve had writing something. Does that count?

What is the one book that you think that very few people have read but everyone should read? What are you reading right now?

Not many is relative term I suppose.  Very little gay fiction is ‘widely’ read along the lines of a best seller. I’d say What Binds Us by Larry Benjamin.  I thought it was extremely good. 

Right now I’m reading Brute by Kim Fielding. Also quite good. 

What do you find the most difficult part of the writing process? 

Finishing?  Sorry, just kidding. I know it sounds silly but writing is the hardest part – trying to get down into words the entire story AND having it all make sense and work, that is – to me at least the hardest part. Other parts might be tedious, but not not as difficult as getting the entire story out.

What is a typical working day like for you? Where do you write? Do you wait for inspiration? Do you set certain writing goals? Are there any specific tools you use to help you write?

Haha typical?  Well, work days, I get up get ready for work, wake the baby, change her, give her some milk, sit with her for a few minutes then put her back to sleep and go to work.  Work days varies. If I have trials, they’re hectic, getting witnesses, police officers, evidence and case files together in time, then coordinating everything doesn’t really follow any set pattern.  If not, well they can be pretty calm.

Inspiration isn’t something I wait for.  I’ve so much bouncing around in my head I doubt I have enough days left in my life to get them all out. I don’t really set goals. To me artificial goals are meaningless because if you struggle to get to that goal the finished product might not be worth the effort. 

What is your greatest guilty pleasure (literary or otherwise)?

Does Ice cream count? A day off with nothing to do is about as good as it gets some days.

And…last but not least: What are you working on now and what can we expect to see from you in the coming year?

 

In addition to The Last Grand Master, that came out on Feb, 1. Purpose – Should be out in June. Purpose is a darker story than normal for me. It follows the human host of a spirit of vengeance as he struggles to regain his lost humanity with the help of someone he saved from being killed. Beyond those two, I’m not sure if anything else will come out in 2013. 

Right now I’m working on book two of the Champion of the Gods, Series - which is tentatively going to be called The Arm and the Eye. There are several other projects in various stages – One I’ve titled Archangel, which is tangentially about angels. I’ve got a college age story in the works, but I’m not sure where that is going. And I’ve got another series I’d like to do that I’m tentatively calling Dlgen. In that there are five orders of Dlgen – which are lords of the sword or god touched warriors. It will follow the young adopted child of the only living fifth Order Dlgen as he tries to keep alive an arrogant prince who might be the only person who can keep an ancient enemy from reclaiming their world.  But it’s just a concept right now.

In the end, I’ll probably only finish The Arm and the Eye and maybe a sequel to Purpose that I said I’d never write. In other words, I have no idea beyond Book two of Champions.

Thanks for the chance to sit on your couch.

AQG

Thanks!

Visit Andrew at Dreamspinner Press or on his website