Your characters come to life in your books. Do you feel each of your characters lives with you as you write? Do their lives sometimes take over a part of your life? Can you name an example?
My characters arrive in my head and start talking to me. I don’t start writing until I understand what they want me to do with them. And things do surprise me on the way. A couple years ago I was writing the “Forever Yours” series. All three books are set in the Smith Tower office and apartment building. The first two books have a ghost in them and naively I assumed book three would as well. But while I was still writing book 2 one of the minor characters interrupted me and said, “I’m a vampire. When are you going to write my story?” By the time I’d cleaned up the coffee I’d spat on my screen and gotten my breath back he was busy telling me I should have known that already because of his name. So I googled his name and well… the rest is in “Eternity”.
Ready to shine? Tell us the name of your book.
Sunshine Yellow Days (MM) The Paint Store Boys Book 1
Edward Robinson is a failure, nervous, frightened, bullied, and unemployed. Basil King, a flamboyantly gay interior designer, sees the man behind the pain. He has designs on Ed. Basil is one of the owners of The Paint Store, along with Cuthbert, Roland, and Max, and he offers Ed a job there. As Ed settles in and enjoys the work, Basil invites him out to a gay bar for a drink.
Ed has tried so hard to fit in, to be invisible, to be ignored. Someone who looks and dresses as outrageously as Basil, yet without being hated, is an inspiration to him. Not that he could ever look or act like that. But maybe working for Basil and his friends will help him get some self-confidence so he can begin to reclaim his life and his self-respect. When Basil wants to date him he can’t believe anyone would care for a person like him. But he accepts the date anyway.
ADULT EXCERPT
As soon as the band returned to the stage he took Edward out onto the dance floor and held him tightly. Edward was only a few inches shorter than him, and once he took his boots off, likely they’d be the same height. He liked that they were so evenly matched. Everything would line up perfectly in bed.
He gripped Edward’s ass, massaging his tight little butt cheeks as they danced, and deliberately brushed his body over that lovely rigid dick. So many delights soon to be unwrapped. When the music ended he asked, “Is your car just in the parking lot here? Can you follow me to my condo?”
“Yes and yes.”
Basil held Edward’s hand as they walked to his car. “Mine’s the candy-apple red Ford over there,” he said.
“I might have guessed it wouldn’t be white or silver,” said Edward.
Basil laughed. Already Edward was showing his sense of humor and coming out from behind that wall where he hid his personality. “Wait until you see my condo. You’ll love it.”
“I do like our uniform. It’s wild, but—I don’t know, friendly and welcoming perhaps, as well as appropriate.”
Basil hugged him. “I knew you were perfect for me. You see beneath the surface to what is really there. Hurry up and get in your car.”
As soon as he slid into the driver’s seat of his car, Basil unzipped his skin-tight black jeans and released the pressure on his dick. Fuck, he hadn’t been this hard before. His poor shaft was getting strangled in there. He screeched his tires leaving his parking space and drove to the exit. Edward was already there, waiting back a bit so Basil could lead the way. Basil waved at his soon-to-be lover and zipped out of the driveway. He made sure Edward was right behind him before merging with the traffic. He longed to plant his boot hard on the accelerator and race home, but a speeding ticket would spoil the atmosphere of the day. Besides, he didn’t want to lose Edward and he was almost certain the man would refuse to disobey the speed limit. Well, one thing at a time. Bed was first.
He parked where there were two vacant spaces side by side and took the visitor card out of the glove compartment of his car, then locked his car and handed the laminated card to Edward. “Display that on your dashboard.” Edward turned it over in his hand curiously, and did as Basil had said, before following him into the building.
Basil was aching to get Edward into his condo. He was in so much of a hurry it’d been a struggle to zip up his jeans. But he’d take them off again real soon. He tapped his feet while they waited for the elevator, and was relieved it was empty when it finally arrived. “Soon, soon, soon,” he told himself as it rose slowly to the tenth floor.
He almost ran down the hallway to his condo, flinging open the door, urging Edward inside and then slamming him against the wall to claim his lips. Gods the man tasted delicious. Basil leaned his poor aching dick hard against Edward’s cock, and ground his hips as he jammed his tongue into Edward’s mouth. Edward responded by tilting his lips so their noses weren’t mashed together, and lightly moving his own tongue into Basil’s mouth.
Basil kept his dick rammed hard against Edward’s, and fisted the blond’s hair, realigning their mouths to plunge his tongue still deeper into Edward’s mouth. Their chins rubbed together and he felt the faintest rasp of beard against his chin. Edward was so blond even with their faces mashed together Basil could barely see the beginning growth of his beard, but his skin could feel it and he loved the hint of roughness.
“Bedroom, now,” he ordered, grabbing Edward’s hand and practically dragging the man down the hallway to his bedroom. He’d spent a hell of a lot of time and money making this room perfect. It had to express him as he truly was. Not only the flashier outer appearance, but the true depths of his personality in all its many layers. But this wasn’t the time to talk colors and designs. It was time to fuck.
He pushed Edward onto the bed and kneeled over him, hastily unbuttoning his shirt, and unzipping his dress pants. Helpfully Edward kicked his shoes off, and wiggled his ass so the dress pants slid smoothly down his legs. Basil tugged them off and then stripped his own clothing off as fast as he could finally clambering up on top of Edward and taking possession of his mouth again. This time they kissed more slowly, but it was even more erotic with them skin to skin and their cocks pressing together.
He held Edward’s face in his hands and looked deeply into his pale blue eyes. “First we’ll take the edge off, and then we’ll fuck slowly, carefully, and thoroughly. You okay with the plan?”
“Hell, yes.”
Basil sat up and pulled Edward up until Edward was almost on his knee, their cocks together again. He wrapped both his hands around both cocks and began fisting them together. Edward just stared at him and gasped.
“Hot eh?”
“Fuck yes. Let me help.”
The moment Edward’s cool hands reached his dick, Basil almost came. Edward’s touch was light and gentle, almost teasing, but fiercely erotic as well. Just the fact that his dick was rubbing against Edward’s was enough to keep him on edge, but they were both in too much need to waste time. One after the other they fisted their joined dicks until they were both breathing heavily.
“I can’t. I’m going—”
“Let go, lover. Come now,” Basil ordered, giving the cocks an extra twist with his hands. Cum poured from Edward’s dick and Basil relaxed, spurting stream after stream of seed himself, the two lots of cum blending together over their joined hands, cocks, and bellies. Fuck, that was an erotic sight to see.
Once again he kissed Edward, pushing him flat on the bed and climbing over him, their mouths still joined. When they parted to breathe, Basil grinned at him. “That feels better. Now we can fuck properly.”
Buy link:
http://www.bookstrand.com/sunshine-yellow-days
Are you working on anything right now, and can you tell us a teaser about these projects?
“Kissing His Man” the first book in The Bath House Boys series, released 25 October.
Frank Ashman’s lover left him seven months, three weeks, four days, two hours and twenty-eight minutes ago. At Pinky’s gay bar the server shows him a brochure featuring the facilities of a new gay bath house that’s just opened in town. There he meets Ralph Sellars. They explore the delights of the bath house together. There are the rainforest showers, the hot tubs, the sauna, the swimming pool, and the restaurant, not to mention the freedom brought by the lack of clothing on the members there. Oh yes, and the bedrooms upstairs, each one complete with a drawer full of toys.
But both Ralph and Frank are burdened with baggage from the past. Can they move on and make a new future together? Or is their relationship doomed to be just sex in the bath house instead of a genuine future together outside in the world?
There are three more pairs of men in “The Bath House Boys” and the books release at two week intervals. In each case at least one of the heroes has appeared in a previous book. Sometimes both of them have.
Tell us an important lesson, on the business side of publishing that you've learned on your journey.
Never act unprofessionally. Writing is a career and throwing a temper tantrum on the internet is not a good look. Fortunately I’d seen other authors torpedo their own careers, so when a publishing house I had some books with failed a few years ago I was able to remain silent on the internet, and save my screaming for the privacy of my own home. Since then, another company I write for has also experienced difficulties so once again I’m staying silent about life’s ups and downs.
What would you say is a true hero?
A true hero loves his man (or woman) no matter what. Everyone has bad days and better days, but that doesn’t change a real hero’s love for his man/woman.
How would you best describe your writing style?
I’m a very linear writer. I start at the beginning of a book and keep going until I reach the end. I can’t write scenes in advance of the story and I can’t write several books simultaneously. I begin writing knowing my characters, the beginning, the end, and a few points I need to hit along the journey. How we get from one to the next I never know until it happens.
If you could travel through time to visit a special time period or famous person, what or who would it be and why?
I love the medieval period. All those castles, wars, men with long swords…YUM! Throughout history women have had very few rights and in medieval times this was the same. But sometimes a smart and determined woman has managed to arrange her life in a way that suits her and that’s where there are stories to be told. However, I wouldn’t want to stay there too long. Chocolate hadn’t been invented yet. Nor had the internet or antibiotics.
What has been the biggest challenge of your career?
Keeping going through the ups and downs. I’ve had a handful of bestsellers, and I’ve had other books that are still selling slowly and steadily years later. I’ve had a publisher close while I still had one book I hadn’t managed to retrieve from them when it went down. But when someone says they read my book and liked it, that makes everything worthwhile.
Tell us where we can find you on the internet.
Blog:
http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com.au/
Website:
http://berengariabrown.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/berengaria.brown?v=info
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BerengariaBrown
Bookstrand:
http://www.bookstrand.com/berengaria-brown
Do you write every day?
I try to but like most authors I have a day job and a life outside of my computer so it doesn’t always happen. I travel quite a bit with the day job and sometimes end up places where there’s no internet or in situations where I can’t write. But mostly, I do write at least something every day.
Berengaria Brown Bio:
Berengaria is an award-winning, best-selling, multi-published author of erotic romance with over one hundred published digital, print and audio books. She writes contemporary, paranormal (magic, ghosts, vampires, fairies, dragons, and werewolves), futuristic, medieval, and Regency-set historical. She loves to read all different kinds of romance so that is what she writes: MMF, MFM, FMMM, FFM, MM, FF, and MF. Whatever the characters need for their very hot happily-ever-after, Berengaria makes sure they get it.
