My guest today is D P Denman, self confessed coffee addict and hockey fan who lives in one of the few places in the world greener and damper than Wales.
Welcome DP, so glad you could join me.
Thank you so much for having me, Elin. It’s great to be here…and you’re not kidding! This chair is comfy. *bounce, bounce*
Can you tell me a little about yourself? For instance, do you have to have a day job as well as being a writer?
Yes. Like most people in publishing, I have a full-time job that pays the bills so I can pursue the glamourous life of a fledgling author.
In that crucial inspiration stage of a new story which comes first? Plot, situation or character?
Always the character. They creep out of the shadows usually trailing a scene or sometimes only a few minutes of a scene. From there it’s a game of trying to figure out how they fit in that scene and how the rest of the story looks.
Do your characters arrive fully fledged and ready to fly or do they develop as you work with them? Do you have a crisp mental picture of them or are they more a thought and a feeling than an image?
Sometimes they spring to life with a definite story and a strong personality. Blue from my latest book, Naked Truth, was like that. He stomped into my head demanding a story and has been pestering me to put him in print since book one of the series.
Others aren’t so easy to pin down. Sometimes I try to put them in stories that obviously don’t fit their personality so I start over with basic questions about what environment is best suited for the character.
Villains are incredibly important in fiction since they challenge the main protagonists and give them something to contend with beyond the tension of a developing relationship. The cruel sea. The serial killer. The society itself. Your hero’s inner demons. What sort of villains do you prize?
I love the villains that challenge me as a reader. The kind that start out obviously “bad” in some way, but by the end of the book you see so much of the humanity in them that your view of the black and white definition of them as a villain is muddied. They’re bad and you’re supposed to hate them, but you can deny there is something likable under the surface.
Put together your ideal team of men/women – drawing from all and any walks of life, fictional or non-fictional – who you would want to come to your rescue if menaced by muggers/alligators/fundamentalists?
Maya Angelou because she was so inspiringly eloquent and had a long history of putting fundamentalists in their place. Stephen Hawking because it never hurts to have a genius around…and one with a wicked sense of humor is even better. Last, Indiana Jones because he’s good with catastrophe of all kinds.
What are you working on at the moment? Can you discuss it or do you prefer to keep it a secret until it’s finished.
I’m working on book four of the Saving Liam Series. It will probably be the end of the central plot but not necessarily the end of the series.
Could we please have an excerpt of something?
Of course!
NAKED TRUTH, book three of the Saving Liam Series
The next night Liam plodded up the stairs at the club. He trudged into the combined locker room and employee lounge to eat his lunch in a space that smelled of sweat, feet, and five kinds of body spray. Like everyone else, he spent at least half his break downstairs where the customers could paw him, tip him, and maybe ask him for a private dance. It paid better than sitting on his ass.
He opened his locker, grabbed his sandwich and a clean pair of socks, and collapsed into one of the folding metal chairs. He sat for a moment enjoying the feel of the cold frame against his skin. Alex was in a chair at the other side of the room playing on his phone. He’d almost forgotten about the promise to discuss his mystery topic yesterday. Their lunch breaks hadn’t lined up right and he’d only seen Alex long enough to pass him on the stairs.
“How’s it going tonight?” Alex got up and moved to a closer chair.
“About average.” Liam took off his shoe and peeled off the sweaty sock. Several folded bills plopped to the floor and he picked them up. “How about you?” He asked as he carried them to his locker to stuff them in his gym bag.
“Same. You think they’ll be safe in there?” Alex jerked his chin toward the locker.
“As long as I remember to lock it. Why? Where do you keep yours?”
“In my jock.”
“All night?”
“Yeah. Before we start each set I wrap a new layer around my dick.”
Liam clunked back to his chair with one shoe off and one shoe on. “Why the hell do you do that?”
“Because I like my Johnson to smell like cash.” Alex shrugged, followed by a grin. “I’m kidding. I wrap them around my dick because nobody’s going to steal it that way and it gives me a little something extra to shake at the ladies if you get my drift.”
“Until you end up with a paper cut.”
“Hasn’t happened yet.”
An unidentified pickpocket had taught them all a lesson a few months ago about not keeping bills in their pockets.
Alex sat back in the chair. “I wanted to ask you something.”
“Okay.” Liam tugged on a clean sock.
“Some of the guys say you have a brother in porn.”
It was funny how fast a person could go from perfectly calm to freaking out. Actually, it wasn’t funny at all. He tried to hold onto his calm facade as his heart sprinted a fifty-yard dash in his chest and his stomach squeezed into a knot. That topic had emerged months ago and he’d silenced it with a lie. A lie that Angel’s life was someone else’s nightmare, someone who looked remarkably like him, someone he admitted he knew, but that was close as he could come to telling the truth.
~~~
The Naked Truth
Blurb:
Buried lies never die.
Liam has a new career, a new condo, a newfound sense of control and none of it is quite right. Shadows drift behind the bright sparkle of his life; things he’s determined to ignore until a shocking revelation makes it impossible. With the help of Justin and a new friend, Liam must face the life he’s buried.
Book 3 of the Saving Liam series
Release date: October 2014
Publisher: North Shore Publishing dba North Shore Press
ISBN: 9780989612364
Word count: 63,000
Award winning author DP Denman writes character-driven contemporary romance about gay men. Her stories are real and intense but always resolve in the type of ending that makes readers want to start the book all over again. She is from the Pacific Northwest and bases all of her stories in Vancouver, British Columbia.
In her spare time she is a dedicated LGBTQIA rights activist fighting for those who have been marginalized and abused. To that end, 25% of the royalties from every book go to support LGBT charities.
Author links:
Website: http://www.dpdenman.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dpdenman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dp.denman
Blog: http://dpdenmanauthor.blogspot.com
Read Full Post »
Looking For Jesse
I live in Leigh on Sea, a small seaside town just outside London on the coast of Essex, about ten minutes from Southend, which boasts the longest pier in the world. I live with my husband and two ever-growing children, who I let think are the boss of me; along with two dogs who actually are.
Chris Ethan is a book whore. He enjoys selling his feelings for money and other pleasures and is blatantly unashamed to do so for as long as he breathes. Chris Ethan is also a persona for Rhys Christopher Ethan, author of fantasy and sci-fi. He uses Chris Ethan to share stories of adult queer romance with those who need it. Before you delve into his books however, be warned. He likes putting his characters through shitstorms and hates anything conventional. But then there’s that darned happy-ever-after. Also, he likes swearing. Deal with it!
Sheep’s Clothing
Raising the Rent
Fans of “Dole” (Derek and Cole) are also very vocal. While most readers like and connect with the character of Cole, some like him with Derek and others don’t. Many fans want Derek to stay with his wife Joyelle. Finally, I was really taken aback by people’s reactions to Justin, who only appeared on the BOYSTOWN landscape at the end of “Season One.” Readers really found him appealing and interesting – and wanted to know everything about him: his sexuality, his motives, his plan. Those fans will be happy to know that Justin is a central character in “Season Two.”
A Taste of Honey – edited by B.G. Thomas
Elin Gregory 