When did two become three?
Writing|With my first ménage out, I had reason to consider the matter. Well, actually, in a sense “Virgin Special” isn’t my first ménage. The Comet Trilogy largely turned into a m/m/m ménage, although that was never my intention. There simply came a point in the story where I realised these three guys loved each other. More than that, they trusted each other, depended on and needed each other to survive physically and emotionally. They came from a culture where such a union wasn’t frowned upon. The initial outcome I envisioned had no bearing on the people that my characters became as they struggled against adversity. They didn’t care what I wanted. They practically dictated their own story. Or rather, Ryanac did, and any of you who have read the books know that Ryanac manipulates, dominates, and always gets his way! If Ryanac sweeps you away in the reading, you have no idea what he did to me during the writing.
However, “Virgin Special” is my first published ménage with two guys and one woman. I have another m/m/f book “Cosmic” coming out later this year with Loose-Id that I wrote first. In fact, I wrote it a long time ago but I can talk about the progression of that novel another day. The question remains why write ménage and why does it sell so well?
For me the story dictated. I simply had two great ideas, although each was born separately from very different inspiration. One might speculate that it’s down to the electronic publishing industry. Are such publishers in fact producing work only for niche markets? If they are, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Niche markets can be huge. None of that answers why there’s a niche market, why readers are looking for something out of the ordinary. Is it escapism? Reality can look so bleak that fiction has always offered the reader an entertaining distraction. Still, I don’t think it’s that simple. While it’s true that epublishers have striven to offer something ‘different’ to entice readers more used to reading a paper format, gay and ménage influences aren’t restricted to electronic books. Some writers who started out offering paranormal stories containing a more traditional romance have in some cases branched out, gradually offering something a little more risqué.
Are we perhaps becoming more accepting of so-called alternative lifestyles? If this is the case, I know there will be people out there who will scream that the authors pandering to such beliefs are hellspawn. They’ll say that we’re encouraging a fad, a phase, people to act immorally. Miraculously, many people seem so easily to forget that such relationships have always existed. Homosexuality isn’t new and it’s not going to go away. It’s not something people choose. It’s how they are born. I think that applies to any sexual predilection and no one deserves punishment for the way nature made them. We’re simply more open about such things now, more aware of it publicly and probably several centuries too late to face the reality. Hate comes from fear and fear from ignorance. Yet the idea of a ménage relationship will likely produce more of a backlash than a gay one.
I’ve heard indirectly of a couple such relationships that work well for those involved. While they may indeed be happy, I don’t envy them. It must be difficult. If coming out of the closet is difficult, how do you take your two wives or two husbands home to your family? And no, I’m not being facetious. I’m thinking of the old adage: a man is a stud and a woman is a slut. A guy with two women, oh I can see the reactions, the slaps on the back from other men and cries of ‘lucky so and so’. A woman living with two men? Well there we’d have a cacophony of whispering. It can’t be easy; it can’t be a simple choice.
Do I approve? The easy answer is it’s none of my business. It’s not for me, but that’s where my opinion draws to a close. I don’t have the right to dictate what another person should do. I always believe consenting adults who aren’t hurting others have the right to make their own choices. I wrote a story because the plot dictated. I don’t foresee that I’ll write many more ménages but then I never expected to write gay romance. Never say never I guess is the key when it comes to writing. I write the ideas as they come to me.
As to why these books sell especially well, you’re going to have ask authors with more experience of writing them, or better yet those that love to read.
