Sunday, July 10, 2011

From the Muses Mouth - Michael Mandrake


Greetings fans of Goddess Fish. Thanks so much for joining me today and the others for our exclusive release party. I’m very honored to be here since I have 2 releases this month.

Before I get to those, I just want to give a little background on who I am.

The head’s earlier post talks about the Triad of characters that write for Sharita Lira. (See first post, intro to Sharita Lira aka Michel Mandrake) I would be the first muse, the gay male in the Triad who writes the more confusing and complex storylines. I’m also the busiest one since currently out of the WIP’s we have going, I have 6 of them. What can I say? I’m quite prolific and since gay fiction with some romance and a touch of erotic is what we like, that’s where we are as of now.

Currently, I write for 3 publishers. Sizzler Editions, XOXO, and STARbooks.

My latest novella story, Binding Justice is in the Bound for Romance anthology from Sizzler Intoxications while my 2nd sole author book, A Second Chance will be released this week from XOXO.

I’ve been very lucky in the acceptance department, getting stories in ebook and print but the most fulfilling part about being Michael Mandrake is creating the characters that make for the awesome stories.

In Binding Justice, my main characters are an older man that seeks love after his wife dies and a young male who looks for love and guidance when his parents don’t accept that he’s gay. In my post about Trust and love, I’ll go deeper into it but one common thread is followed with all my characters.

Flaws.

I don’t accept perfection for the men in my stories. Their looks might be but on the inside these men have demons, insecurities, jealousy, depression, and despair. Very rarely do I have a happy go lucky character as Rawiya or even BL would have at times. The reason? Their problems and conflicts make for a great plot!

For Bindng, Sire Jacobs is fighting the loneliness as well as learning to cope with the loss without replacing his spouse. In A Second Chance, both characters, Farris and Daniel are dealing with the loss but they also are concerned with their careers. More so Daniel because he has a lot more to lose.


What about my past characters? In Only When I Lose Myself, Matthew has AHAD and the seemingly perfect Adrian has demons of his own. Self centeredness, jealousy, and his past love who happens to be someone close to Matthew. In Vertigo, my Doctor Hayden Curry is dealing with the loss of a lover as well but he is very insecure in his dealings with the outside world, and in a sense has lost his marbles per say because he seeks something more in life than just the usual.

So, as you can see all my characters follow a pattern. They all have flaws and imperfections and those are woven into the central idea of my stories no matter if contemporary, paranormal, or the next spy thriller.

I hope that as I continue to grow as a writer, you’ll be entertained and intrigued and in some instances get goose bumps from the eroticism in the stories. Make sure to visit my blog, http://tabooindeed.blogspot.com for all the latest.

Thanks for listening!

4 comments:

Julie Lynn Hayes said...

Great post! You make some very valid points about having imperfections in your characters. Nobody wants to read about a Gary Stu or Mary Sue, they're not only boring, but they're damned annoying. And who can relate to the perfect person? Flaws give room for growth and development, for being human, and being imperfect, as we all are.

Your characters sound great, can't wait to meet them!

Michael said...

Thanks Julie!

I love my characters. in talking to my editor yesterday he said he did;t know what they could be, meaning they were a mixture of several traits. LOL That made me feel great. It means my writing is unpredictable which is good.

Thx for stopping by!

Margie Church said...

Michael, I, too, appreciate flaws in characters. I can't identify with perfection - and probably couldn't conceive a character like that. Best wishes on your new releases and keep in touch.

Michael said...

Thanks Margie!

:D

No one is perfect especially on the inside. We all have our own demons. Mine come up in my characters and depends on my mood.

Thx for the well wishes!