Lily Byrne is the author of a number of fine novels written under her pen name Lily Byrne, and her real name Catherine Chisnall. This post is about her latest, and why she wrote it. It's a sequel to "Ragnar the Murderer", which is set in 10th century Britain. I like her writing. I think you'll enjoy her post.
“Why I wrote an M/M romance”
I am just an ordinary married mum of one—why would a respectable type like me write about two hot guys getting it on? Many people have asked me that…
The main reason is that I like going out of my comfort zone. I like writing about subjects that—for me—are unexpected or make people about things they haven’t before. I’ve written about a relationship between a teacher and a student; people thrown together by a death; lovers from different cultures, in this case Saxon and Viking. Subjects that readers wouldn’t expect me to write about.
My Saxon/Viking romance, ‘Ragnar the Murderer’, led to sequels following the characters, and I developed the idea to write an M/M romance set in 10th century Britain. The Norsemen had settled in Britain but were in conflict with the natives, it was an unsettled time full of dangers and risks. The Norse culture was extremely homophobic, unlike some other cultures of the time, so it was very interesting to research how gay Norsemen would be treated and what would happen to them. I didn’t intend any of my characters to be gay, but I just noticed one of them was. Various ways he behaved—constant bitchy comments, accusing everyone but himself of being gay, obsessive womanising—all added up. What would happen if I wrote in a boyfriend for him? The ‘what if’ was too tempting to ignore. So I followed it.
Another reason is obvious, I’m afraid. I like men, and as my friend and fellow author, Sessha Batto, says ‘one man is good, two is better.’ I had already written M/F romances, so I wanted to try M/M and see if I could do it, like a challenge to myself. Besides, I like my characters and want them to be happy—after a series of events testing them of course—so if the hero didn’t want a woman, I’d give him a man.
I enjoyed writing my first M/M romance. I’ll leave that to readers to decide if the story—and the romance—are convincing. My book will be published in October.
This is my blog (where my books are for sale): http://blog.catherinechisnall.co.uk/ Really must get a better name :/
Here are my books: http://www.amazon.com/Lily-Byrne/e/B005D4JBI0/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1347572356&sr=8-2-ent
Taylor Street: http://www.taylorstreetbooks.com/lily-byrne.html
