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Maxime Jaz
I write books about men falling in love in various settings and times.
I write books about men falling in love in various settings and times.
I gave first my brother my book to read because he matters the most to me and I know for a fact he would be honest. We don't hide the truth from each other and are always brutally honest in telling each other the truth. He is also not a guy who would typically pick up an LGBTQ novel, as he is cis straight.
As he progressed with the reading, he made small comments on how the characters spoke to him, small things he mentioned about the story, the plot. All positive and encouraging. Then, this morning, he sent me a screenshot of the last page. An emotional moment so I rang him (he lives far and we can't see each other much). I can't give back here his words, it was a 2-hours conversation, but he was floored by the book and had fallen in love with it, despite it being a love story between two men, to which he couldn't relate emotionally. This was not an issue though, as the story contains so many other elements, plot twist and drama, that he got sucked into it. To quote him: "Your book is written from the heart, you can tell, it's like the Fibonacci spiral of life. The characters' evolution is amazing and there are so many layers, I want to read it again, just to catch the nuances I might have missed because I wanted to progress with the story." We talked about scenes in the book which gave him emotional blows. Later, he sent me a message: "When I started reading your book, I said to myself I'd read it, because I promised. But it wasn't difficult because it's great and sweeps you away." I do hope to publish it in June at the latest, and I hope it will sweep you away too.
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Vast topic... so, I thought a lot about the genre my writing could fit in, the obvious one being M/M romance but then, having read some of those books, I'm having second thoughts...
My books are love stories between men, so yes, they could fit, except they don't because they don't follow the typical romance arch, as the hurdles my main characters go through can be rough and dark. There is a whole world around them and events happen that would probably not be included in a typical romance book. So, erotica then? There's sex, right? Yes, but...not so much as to call it erotica (hence the expression "laced with erotica"). In my current WIP, there's no sex at all until...I don't even know, I'm not that far yet. Sure, there are flashbacks, allusions to it, but nothing happened yet between the main guys and I'm half-way through. Then, the settings and times. I have several WIP. The finished novel is contemporary, so is the current WIP, but there's also a fantasy one, and one set in Ancient Rome, and a sci-fi brewing. Multi-genre, then? But they are all about guys falling in love and daring to love. Maybe they are just outside the box... To be honest, I haven't thought about putting labels on them until I found out there are labels...and maybe I won't, at all. Lots of disclaimers to come, I can feel it :) Just to make sure the readers pick the right book. Twisted love tales. That might fit... |
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