Guest Author: Charlie Cochrane

Writing about a different sort of romantic hero

I guess when most of us think of a romantic hero, we go for something along the “Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice” lines. Tall, handsome, dashing, with a bit of attitude. (Or, in the case of one of my childhood pin ups, Dr Kildare, mean, moody and medicinal.) And he always gets the girl in the end, even if it seems at one point in the story arc like he’s burned his bridges or she thinks he’s a pain in the elbow.

So, what if your hero doesn’t want to sweep a Jane Eyre or Elizabeth Bennett off her feet? What if he’d prefer Rochester or Darcy? And what if, just to complicate things, he’s not physically perfect himself?

I write gay romance. If you want to know why, and that’s an entirely valid question to ask, it’s because they’re the stories which come into my head. They’re stories I like to read, too – assuming (as I assume for any book I buy) they’re well written and the characters are engaging. It’s a burgeoning market, with plenty of genres of story available and it’s proving popular among both men and women readers, even though (as with other parts of the romance market) the quality can be a bit variable. It’s the highlight of my day to get an e-mail from a gay man saying that he didn’t realise there were any books telling “his” story and how delighted he’d been to find some.

Having said all that, writing gay romance restricts your number of potential customers as not everyone wants to read a same sex story, no matter how good the plot or characterisation. I have a degree of sympathy (my stories are pretty innocent, but some readers can get turned off by too much anatomical detail!) However, I’d defy anyone to find anything offensive in beautifully crafted books such as Mary Renault’s “The Charioteer”.

And then when you go and restrict things further by having a disabled leading man, you run the risk of turning off even more of your potential readers.  Still, when I got inspired to write a story set around London 2012, I knew I had to write about a Paralympic competitor, not least because there are some stunningly “hot” Paralympic athletes. Anyone for Oscar Pistorius or David Weir? We Cochranes love the whole “family” atmosphere that surrounds disability sport. When you’ve been to the Paralympic World Cup and ended up among the swimmers’ families, it’s an experience you can never forget. Even if that manifests as writing a story about an S9 swimmer. 

My leading man, Ben, is funny, talented and very hot, even if he’s got mild Cerebral Palsy that tends to make the left side of his body go a bit odd at the most crucial of occasions. I’m pleased he’s gone down well with readers, even though it’s always a worry that people won’t read this particular story because the hero is less than perfect. I’ve never attempted that before – had some of my characters get wounded in war and have to suffer the consequences but not one who was born with a disability.

All this has got me thinking. There are plenty of stories about heroes who end up being hurt and are loved despite - or because - of it (back to Rochester again) but fewer cases of leading men (in books or on the silver screen) who start off less than physically wonderful. Is this because we want escapist stories? (Not criticising that for one moment—books are a great place to escape to.) Or are we looking for something in our leading characters which is somehow more than we have? Great looks, great bodies, great romance?

Is there anything physical (a medical condition maybe?) about a leading man which would put you off trying a romance in which he starred? Do share your thoughts.  

Guest Author & Giveaway: Karenna Colcroft

Writing What I Want

Many authors choose a particular genre, subgenre, gender pairing, etc. to write about. In some ways that’s expected; an author wants to build a brand, and part of that brand might include having books that are related in some way. And some readers become annoyed when, for example, an M/M romance author they enjoy reading turns out to also write heterosexual romance.

Personally, I’ve found that I can’t limit myself that way. When I started writing romance, I wrote exclusively heterosexual, mostly contemporary, stories. But that wasn’t all I wanted to write. I wanted to do some paranormal books. I also wanted to do some M/M romance, though I didn’t know as much about that at the time. And I wanted to do some BDSM romance.

When some authors cross boundaries within the romance genre, they choose different pen names for each different thing they write. Partly that’s a matter of keeping things separate, and partly it’s to avoid confusing or annoying readers. I couldn’t do it that way. When I wrote my first M/M romance story, the short story “With this Flower,” which appears in the Dreamspinner Press anthology Wishing on a Blue Star, I was already juggling two pen names. I had Karenna Colcroft for romance, and a different name for the young adult fiction I also write. I didn’t want to add another pen name to the mix; I was confused enough as it was.

I chose to write that story because, as I said, I’d been wanting to write M/M romance anyway, and the anthology was honoring author Patric Michael, with whom I’d become friendly on a Yahoo loop. I couldn’t imagine not participating. So I took the chance.

That wasn’t the only M/M story I’ve written. In 2010, a conversation with some friends led to my writing a thousand-word scene to explain how a werewolf could be vegan. That scene grew into my M/M paranormal romance novel Salad on the Side, which was published in June 2011 and is now the first novel in my series Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat, from MLR Press.

I’ve continued writing heterosexual romance, and now I also write M/M romance. Both under the name Karenna Colcroft. I haven’t gotten around to the BDSM romance yet, but I have one in the planning stages. I don’t sit down and say, “Oh, I need an M/M story, what can I write” or anything like that; I get an idea, and the characters tell me what their sexuality is and how many of them there are. (I have one heterosexual ménage novel—two men and a woman, no contact between the men, and am planning a gay male ménage.)

I write what I want and what the characters seem to want from me. And I enjoy every minute of it.

What are your thoughts on authors who don’t stick to one type of book? Leave a comment to be entered for a chance to win an e-book from my backlist. You can find out more about me and my books on my website, www.karennacolcroft.com.