Jo’s note: details of the giveaway at the end of the post 
A male author once asked how I, a straight female, could write gay romance. I told him the same way he writes about nymphomaniacs and serial killers and other authors build a parallel universe or write tales of werewolves, shifters and creepy fantasy critters that go bump in the night—you don’t need firsthand experience to write a book all you need is a vivid imagination. Check out a few pics of really buff guys, pick your two faves, add a tiny pinch of real life plus a healthy helping or three of what if?, stir well and who knows where the journey will take you? If you’re lucky, to the moon baby. To the moon and if you’re really adventurous maybe even beyond the moon to something a little darker, a little edgier, something that makes your heart beat faster, until you’re on the edge of your seat, biting your nails and wishing like crazy you were there and he was— I’ll leave you to fill in the blanks here, or not.
So why do I write about men making love to other men? The truth? I adore men. I love that little boy who lives within all of them, the shy pride in a race well run or a fight well fought, and their fierce defense of those they love. And I love a nicely toned male body complete with a tight butt and all the trimmings, it’s a major turn-on. Okay, I know, this type of perfection has more to do with fantasy than reality, but that’s okay, we’re allowed to dream and so I write about that, not real life.
I write erotic romance, mostly stories that end hea (happily ever after). Once in a while, as in Missing, Presumed Dead http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/MissingPresumedDead.html, at the end of the story, Greg, my hero is still searching for The One. But I promise, in Greg’s case, The One is out there, just waiting in the wings for the right moment to step into Greg’s life and for me to write their story.
There’s a question that’s been bothering me for a while, and this seems like the perfect opportunity to find out if a reader or two would be willing to satisfy my curiosity: Does the setting/location of a book affect your decision to purchase, or is it the blurb that makes you buy? The reason I ask is because I’ve noticed contemporary stories set in foreign locations often don’t do as well as those set in North America.
For example, Blues In The Night – http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/BluesInNight.html, is set in the South of France yet it didn’t seem to appeal to readers in the same way as I think it may have if it had been set somewhere here like maybe New York or L.A..
I mostly write contemporary m/m—usually guys in their thirties with real life problems, along with a few m/m/f adventures, the odd paranormal, and a couple of time travels. My favorite theme though is “reunions”—reuniting characters who for whatever reason missed connecting the first time around and have been given a second chance.
This is the basis for my latest release ANYTHING YOU CAN DO –
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/AnythingYouCanDo.html
Blurb:
As teenagers, Devon and Julian denied their feelings for one another and avoided scandal by becoming fierce competitors and sworn enemies, even engaging in physical fights on occasion. After finishing school, Devon went to live and work in New York. Julian took his dreams of becoming a movie star to California and disappeared from view.
Now, years later, they’re both back home in Bayview and those old feelings are still very much alive and well. But Devon needs to focus all his efforts on bringing his family’s beach resort back to life. Julian has to decide what to do with his late grandfather’s house. Should he turn it into a B&B, or should he sell the property and move on?
It wasn’t the right time for them when they were in high school, and now, with problems to solve and decisions to make, the timing seems no better…
Excerpt:
“You were right when you said it wasn’t our time when we were in high school. We were smart to keep our mouths shut and our dicks in our pants. If we hadn’t, we both know the world as we knew it would have rained on our parade big time. They’d have turned what was fragile and beautiful into something dark and ugly. Well, I’ve got a newsflash for you, babe. Now isn’t our time either.
“You’re at a crossroads, trying to decide whether to turn left, right or continue straight on. I understand all that. For me, my main focus has to be the resort, at least for now. If I don’t generate enough cash to turn things around over this next year, I’ll be in the same boat as you. I’ll be wondering whether to sell and move on to something else, or hang in and hope for better days ahead.”
“God, Dev, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
My anger had run its course, leaving me feeling flat and depressed. “I’m glad you did. I’ve always wondered and now I know.”
He took a step closer. “Doesn’t do either of us much good, though, does it?”
I forced a smile. “I wouldn’t say that. If we take out the hope factor, then we’ll have to stop dreaming and get real. Right?”
“You really think so?”
“No.” I felt ten times more miserable than I had two seconds ago. “If I thought it would help, I’d say let’s find someplace private and get it on. But we both know, with the way things are right now, it would only make it worse. Your life is too unsettled. You have decisions to make, the kind that don’t happen overnight. A few weeks from now, depending on what you decide, you could be miles away. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I won’t settle for scraps or ask for promises you’re not able to give. I want it all, babe. The two of us together forever. If I can’t have that, then forget it.”
Before I could stop him, Julian moved in even closer. He took my hand and pressed it against his cock. He was every bit as aroused as I was, and I wondered why he was doing this. Showing me what I was missing? Trying to convince me to grab what we wanted while we could?
The next thing I knew, his arms were around me, holding me tight. His velvety soft lips touched mine, and a shiver ran through my body. Emotion tightened my throat. I smelled his scent; I felt the thud of his heartbeat and the wetness of our tears against my cheek. Suddenly, I understood. Maybe one day we’d get lucky and have it all. Maybe all we’d ever have was this one special moment—a simple declaration of love that needed no words.
I have no idea how long we stood there, locked in each other’s arms. And I have no idea what made us finally step apart. I only know whoever said it was better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, must have been where I was at this exact moment at least once in his life.
If this was goodbye, and I had a feeling it was, I’d just have to put him out of my mind and move on.
***
Cool mysteries and hot romance – http://www.chrisgrover.ca
Latest Release: ANYTHING YOU CAN DO – http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure
http://twitter.com/chrisgrover2
www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Grover/1479706280
***
Chris has generously offered a choice of ebooks from her backlist to one lucky commenter. The draw will be made on Monday 30th July, 9 am GMT, so get commenting to be in with a chance!
I go by blurp, but if I can find something set in Europe or Australia, so much better
I too go by the blurb, but I enjoy books set in other locations. Although I’ll be honest, if a book is set in Canada, I’ll read it with that little devil sitting on my shoulder waiting to see if the author got it “wrong”. LOL Especially my city. Sigh. Still, I love to see my own country represented and to me reading is a way to travel without the cost, well, much less cost.
I know though there are readers who want the tried and true and only home. I don’t understand them, but they don’t like it when they come across a word or phrase they don’t understand or is unfamiliar. I’m not the kind who reads with a dictionary at my side. I figure it out by context, but you do hear complaints from others about unfamiliarity and I think it’s a shame because they are missing out on so much color in favour of not having to think so hard. But hey, whatever works for you.
My only concern is about language. Now if one of the characters if from an English speaking country, I usually assume the foreign love interest speaks English (as far fewer native English speakers speak a foreign language than the reverse). However I read a book recently set in Finland and the one guy was definitely Finnish, one American, one Russian (who apparently didn’t speak much English) and then a family who I assumed were Finnish but they spoke to the Russian all the time, whom I assume did not speak Finnish, and I kept getting distracted thinking “What are they speaking?” I know Finns are fluent in many languages but it distracted me from the story. So I guess that can be a pitfall for me personally, but I still think it was very cool there was an m/m set in Finland.
You’re someone after my own heart, Tam, when it comes to location. I’ve read several books where it was clear the author knew nothing about the country, the city, the people, or anything else. If I haven’t been there, I can’t write about it
Hi Chris
Liked your tear jerker teaser there!
I am UK based so used to getting stories based in a foreign country (the US) so no, country doesn’t bother me. (i quite often look up terms or references) I read in my own accent so even if I’m reading a french character speaking english, its my accent I hear (the only exception being a canadian eh, as I have canadian cousins so can hear it!)
The blurb, story premise and reading interviews and reviews are more important to me
Google earth is a wonderful tool though. In my short for the Lashings of Sauce, my Canadian is lost in London. I’ve been to London but I was able to add specific details by using the Google maps street view. When I say there is a grocery store on the corner (but it was closed at 3AM), there is one on that corner. There was a tiny fence dividing the beauty parlour from the funeral parlour and there is a dance store on Drury Lane with tutus in the window.
Of course maybe they’ve all gone out of business since Google drove by, but it is so much easier not to have to “wing it” these days thanks to technology. It doesn’t give you a feel though, but at least no one will yell at your for saying there is a restaurant on X street when it’s a hospital. 
Sigh. That was a reply to Christiane, but due to forgetting the password it screwed me up.
But hey, it no longer deletes your comment when you forget the password. Yay.
Hi Tam, The Google thingy sounds okay, but I wouldn’t trust it 100% because, as you say, thinks change in the bling of an eye. That’s why it never pays to be too specific or let your research show in your writing. I remember one book where the author had the local working class drinking expensive wines that probably retail for $30 or more here in Canada. And there are all kinds of little things that “authenticize” (is that a word?) a story. Unless you’ve experienced it firsthand, you can’t relay the late night hoot of an owl, or the call of a cuckoo floating across the fields on a misty early morning, or the smell of cow parsley at the side of the road, or what downtown Marseille smells like at lunchtime, or even what it feels like to stand across from the Horseshoe Falls and listen to the thunder of the water. And no way can you convey the grandeur of the redwoods unless you’ve actually been to Northern California. And who but someone who lives in my city knows how the engineering dept. at the local university starts their new semester?
I go by blurb. If a blurb catches my eye I’m sold – so to speak LOL. If it’s in a foreign country – all the better, I enjoy reading about an exotic location every now and then 😀
Thanks for an interesting and thought-provoking post, Christiane!
Like Tam, I love to travel in my fiction, so am extremely happy to read about locales across the globe – I only ask that the author has either extensive first hand knowledge of that place or has done a serious amount of research to make it come to life convincingly.
I am always keen to read UK based stories, though. I love our slang and our sense of humour, and will read just for that sometimes. Also, I one hundred percent refuse to write stories set in the US just because there’s a perception they sell better. Look at Harper Fox’s Scrap Metal, that’s been an Amazon bestseller for months now – being set in the UK clearly hasn’t hurt that book.
Writing m/m because you adore men is the BEST reason, I think. And while my book choices are mostly influenced by whether the characters appeal to me, an interesting setting never hurts.
Thanks, Jo. I haven’t been to the UK for a while, but I love both Brit humor and slang. And I do enjoy reading a book where it’s clear the author is really familiar with the setting. In my current read, the author mentions leaving Gare St. Charles in Marseille and walking down the Boulevard d’Athenes, and just the way he wrote it I was right there with him seeing it again through his eyes. It was so well done I wanted to catch the next flight over and order my faves–moules farci and soupe aux poissons:)
I’m in the planning stage of an m/m set in the UK but it won’t be out until late 2013.
Thanks for the comments, Trix. I usually write about men in their 30’s, but in GETTING REAL, the book I’m currently working on they’re in their 20’s– TJ needs to get real by growing up and getting a job, and Cole needs to get real by living his own life instead of worrying about his family’s fear that by being gay he’ll embarrass them.
Thanks so much for the post! Reunions are a fun theme in M/M. I love that added drama! I loved the excerpt. Hope I win!
OceanAkers @ aol.com
Thanks, Juliana. The thing I like best about the reunion theme is that if it was meant to be it will be, the second time around.
Hello Christiane & Jo,
WOW two Fantastic Authors on one Blog, thank you so much Jo for hosting Christiane France on your Blog today. Thank you also to Christiane for taking time out of her busy day to spend with her Fans in a Great Guest Post, ‘Why I write m/m’, sharing about her writing & her latest release, “ANYTHING YOU CAN DO”.
I know as a Big Fan of yours, I’m sooo glad that you adore men & write about men making love to other men. 😉 I LOVE the Fantasy World of Gay Erotic Romance that you bring Us into, keeping Us there until the last page is turned! Mmmm yessss those nicely toned male bodies & tight butt with all the “trimmings”….& Ohhhhhh how we LOVE those “trimmings”!!! 😉
For your question Christiane, Does the setting/location of a book affect my decision to purchase, or is it the blurb that makes me buy?
The Book’s Blurb & Cover Art is what catches my attention. I really like the Blurb to grab me, make me want MORE that I HAVE to buy that Book. I’m also a Cover Art Fanatic, so I LOVE an Eye-Catching Droolicious 😉 Captivating Cover that really seals it for me, that I know I’m going to buy that Book!
I think that some Contemporary Stories set in Foreign Locations don’t do as well as those set in North America because the settings may tend not to be quite accurate. As an Avid Reader, we are also educated Readers & although we what to be taken away into an Ultimate Fantasy World, if we are familar with the location, it kinda ruins the Book for me if the Author obviously did absolutly no research on the Books settting/location. For instance, I live just outside of Philadelphia, where the Books setting was throughout….& many scenes where on the Philadelphia Ocean/Beach Areas. HELLO??????? How about a MAP????? Or Basic Geography!!!!! We have the Delaware River, which I wouldn’t swim in, definitely NOT the Atlantic Ocean….although we are only about an hour Atlantic City. But if that’s where the Author wanted the Book to take place, then that would have been Great, but there is NO Ocean in Historic Philadelphia, that is what we are known for. Okkkkkkk, I’m off my soap box!!!!! ROFL
I would very much appreciate the opportunity to be considered in your very generous giveaway of a choice of eBooks from Christiane’s Backlist. Thank You.
Take Care Christiane and Jo & Stay Naughty,
PaParanormalFan (Renee’ S.)
paranormalromancefan at yahoo dot com
Hey, Renee. Thanks for your comments. I think you could be right about the reason why readers tend to be a little gun shy of foreign settings. IMHO research will only take an author so far. It’s good to confirm details if you’ve been there, but even the most meticulous research will not give the author the flavor of the locale or firsthand knowledge of local customs and traditions. Nor will it give them any of those little details which jump right out if the reader has been there .
When it comes to book covers, we all love something that’s droolworthy. And I actually have two–they’re the covers for a couple of my print collections SATISFACTION GUARANTEED and AMOROUS INTENTIONS http://www.amberquill.com The one for AMOROUS INTENTIONS was chosen by the media out of the thousands of covers available at the RT Convention in Pittsburgh back in, I think, 2008.
I think I’m more likely to read stories not set in the US unless the author or plot really appeals to me.
Thanks for the comment, Stevie. BTW, I love your kitty pic. He/she is gorgeous.
Great post! Location usually doesn’t matter to me – I focus more on the blurb. Being in a fun or different location might play a role in helping me decide to buy a book but it’s never dissuaded me from buying.
smaccall AT comcast.net
Thanks for the comment, Sarah.
The setting is not what attracts me it’s the blurb and the cover of the book. I am also a fan of M/M, so that helps.
Yvette
yratpatrol@aol.com