{"id":1065,"date":"2014-11-06T23:23:55","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T07:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/?p=1065"},"modified":"2014-11-07T16:17:45","modified_gmt":"2014-11-08T00:17:45","slug":"running-with-the-pack-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1065","title":{"rendered":"Running with the Pack – Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Running with the Pack – Part 3<\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"nanowrimo_calendar_wallpaper_by_moonfreak-d301g6e[1]\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another Badge Achieved!<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"25Knanowrimo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

25,009 words! <– That’s HUGE!<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’ve broken the 50% mark in the story. Three chapters in and I am half way to my goal.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

So where are things now? Well, Steve Grand is still in the soundtrack rotation and things seem to clip along quite nicely when his songs come on. My boys seem to respond to him. Don’t know why that is again, but I’m just letting Steve take the muse role and just roll right along with it. I get into a groove when that happens. I almost disappear into the story itself and I just channel what Hank, Riley, Tanner and the others all have to say about my little lust filled horror story of gay were’s in Sparrow’s Holler, WVA.<\/p>\n

Some interesting developments happened – ya see, when I am driving to my Clark Kent day job, I have a solid twenty minutes a day to ponder my tales – and yeah, I am usually listening to Steve there as well. I think it’s Riley (the Alpha of the story who responds to him most – I seem to work out kinks in his backstory in my head when Steve’s on the iPod in the car). So yeah, Riley and Hank are getting sorted and coupling up nicely. Hank is still leery cause he don’t know why any of it is happening – the boys who have taunted him off and on have suddenly flipped a switch and now they are all about Hank. They can’t get enough of being around him.<\/p>\n

And of course this presents drama… duh, duh, duuuuuhhhh! \u00a0<– that was supposed be that high radio drama music there where someone is bitin’ their knuckle like Carol Burnett did on her TV show back in the 70’s – just sayin’…<\/p>\n

Anywho, back in Sparrow’s – Hank and Riley are gettin’ closer and all the while Hank questions what it means (cause hey, it’s 1956 people and there was no internet nor did people even TALK about gay stuff back then – or so the hubby tells me). So while Riley and Hank have their intimate moments and Hank is left bewildered on why he’s all cuddlin’ up to the hottest boy on campus, he is also left bewildered on why Riley’s boys are all into them as well.<\/p>\n

As Hank says quite clearly on what he has bitten off –<\/p>\n

“I thought I had me a boyfriend – now it looks like I got me eight. Mama’s just gonna shit…”<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, and she ain’t the only one neither, Hank.<\/p>\n

The story seems to have this wolf mentality threading through it nicely. No real were<\/em> moment yet, but it’s coming. I am actually introducing the novel baddie right now in the story. So yeah, I hope I nail it like I got it in my head.<\/p>\n

So here’s the dealio with my writings: I write Gay Lit Fic. I make no bones about it. BUT what that means is that while my stories have a strong romantic element (cause hey, that’s always a good thing – it brings out the gentle humanity in us all, I think) – it is NOT M\/M romance fare. While it has strong sexual situations, it is NOT erotica. I just don’t write to a given formula. Those elements are present but when I use love it is a means to an end. It serves a purpose other than romance for the sake of romance. And I NEVER pull punches in the sex department, either. I refuse to water it down. Sex happens, people. It’s what makes our lives enriching and exciting. Passion is a VERY good thing in my books. But it’s also a character device that I use to move the characters forward. It’s meant to propel the story in some manner.<\/p>\n

The sex in my books are not a “one handed read” as one of my erotica author buddies so eloquently puts it. I mean, if someone thinks they’re sort of hot, well yippee ki-yay for you! That’s not the intent of their being there from my perspective.<\/p>\n

Take Hank for example:<\/p>\n

\"Inspiration<\/a>

Inspiration for Hank O’Malley in my story<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hank is a really attractive guy but is one of those boys who doesn’t have the first clue that he is. He thinks he’s rather average. That there’s nothing special to him. He’s just a country bumpkin eking out a life in a small town in West Virginia.<\/p>\n

It happens.<\/p>\n

But Hank is anything BUT average. He’s wildly beyond average – and he’s about to find out what that means. And here’s the odd thing about Hank, the thing that makes him very fascinating to me – he doesn’t want any of it. When he discovers what he truly is and what it all means, he tries to deny it – to push it, and the boys further away from him. The boys go through a lot of pain and torment because of it. Hank is basically refusing pack life. Why? Because he hasn’t turned yet. So to him its spook and legend.<\/p>\n

But the threat that visits them just before Hank’s first night of turning – in his own family store, no less, does give him something to consider. A reason to hear the boys out about what is truly going on in Sparrow’s Holler, what the pack means to the town, and how wonder of all wonders, how Hank’s own missing father has played a huge part in it all that Hank was never told about.<\/p>\n

Hank’s got quite a bit on his mind and several balls to juggle – it’s no wonder when he looks in the mirror he can’t see what everyone else sees.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a>

Another of my Hank O’Malley – tough luck lookin’ like that, huh?<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Basically put, Hank’s a hunk but he’s a fairly clueless hunk until his boys are threatened. Then there’ll be no stoppin’ him. Hank is a dark horse. A very, VERY, dark horse (or wolf, I should say) in this tale. He doesn’t want the mantle, he doesn’t want the notoriety or attention.<\/p>\n

\"Werewolves-werewolves-8012482-675-445\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And in due course he gets\u00a0plenty<\/em> of attention… from his boys and the girls in town. It’s all too confusing. Part of the time Hank just longs for the simplicity of everything that was before any of this happened. But once you turn, you can never go back.<\/p>\n

So the first book is spent on trying to get Hank to become the hero he is destined to be.<\/p>\n

It won’t be an easy road. But then again, if it were – what would be the point of tellin’ it?<\/p>\n

So a small acknowledgement to my project muse – Steve Grand<\/a> has released a few new tunes on iTunes as well as a few other places. Please check out his site and buy his songs, dammit! This man deserves our continued support! He’s breathing life into my boys and that’s helping me reach my goal of 50K in 30 days. So far, so good.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[embedplusvideo height=”255″ width=”400″ editlink=”http:\/\/bit.ly\/1tjO5Il” standard=”http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/3ArcGsUkUdw?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=3ArcGsUkUdw&width=400&height=255&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=0&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep4131″ \/]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Think I’ll spin up another and get back to it…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"SteveGrandred1\"<\/a>

The red goes so well with my wolves…<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thanks Mr. G for givin’ my boys something to run with\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>… were Riley and the boys here for real – I am sure they’d say thank you too!<\/p>\n

Peace – OUT!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running with the Pack – Part 3     Another Badge Achieved!     25,009 words! <– That’s HUGE!   I’ve broken the 50% mark in the story. Three chapters in and I am half way to my goal.   So where are things now? Well, Steve Grand is still in the soundtrack rotation and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[377,94,365,270,261,48,229,216,234,5,4,199,7,198,22,476,3,108,169,445,396,145,18,325],"tags":[475,473,461,456,452,463,464,457,467,469,163,442,474,465],"class_list":["post-1065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors-voices","category-characters-reimagined","category-fanboy-moments","category-gay-community","category-geeking-out","category-giving-back","category-imitation-as-flattery","category-journey","category-language","category-mm-lovefest","category-homoerotica","category-male-feelings","category-my-what-the-fuck-on-the-media","category-men","category-music-that-inspires","category-musical-muses","category-novel-writing","category-novels-vs-media","category-social-issues","category-supernatural","category-the-craft","category-words-have-power","category-writing","category-young-adult-realities","tag-50kin30days","tag-gay-were","tag-gay-werewolves","tag-hank-omalley","tag-homo","tag-nanowrimo","tag-nanowrimo2014","tag-riley-raintree","tag-sparrows-holler","tag-steve-grand","tag-storytelling","tag-west-virginia","tag-writing-challenge","tag-writing-contest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75tPU-hb","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1037,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1037","url_meta":{"origin":1065,"position":0},"title":"Runnin’ with the Pack – Part 1","author":"S A Collins","date":"November 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Runnin' with the Pack\u00a0- Part 1 \u00a0 So my first day of writing in the NaNoWriMo contest is coming to a close. I do have other things to do and write, ya know. I think I've knocked this one out of the park though. It's a solid first effort. \u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Authors Voices"","block_context":{"text":"Authors Voices","link":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=377"},"img":{"alt_text":"Werewolves-werewolves-8012482-675-445","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Werewolves-werewolves-8012482-675-445.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Werewolves-werewolves-8012482-675-445.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Werewolves-werewolves-8012482-675-445.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1011,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1011","url_meta":{"origin":1065,"position":1},"title":"Running with Wolves…","author":"S A Collins","date":"October 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Running with Wolves... \u00a0 So the NaNoWritMo event is coming up. I have to admit this is the first time I've heard of it. I guess I had my head down on my own shit I was writing to think about any sort of writing event outside of my carefully\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Abuse and Neglect"","block_context":{"text":"Abuse and Neglect","link":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=333"},"img":{"alt_text":"Participant-2014-Web-Banner","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Participant-2014-Web-Banner-300x111.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Participant-2014-Web-Banner-300x111.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Participant-2014-Web-Banner-300x111.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1088,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1088","url_meta":{"origin":1065,"position":2},"title":"Our Dirty Little Secrets – Part 2","author":"S A Collins","date":"November 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Our Dirty Little Secrets - Part 2 \u00a0 \u00a0 My on-going conversation with Savannah Smythe\/Jayne Lockwood on the craft of writing, how gay authors are under represented in our own literary house, and my forthcoming novel - Angels of Mercy. Check them out over at the following locations - Savannah\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Authors Voices"","block_context":{"text":"Authors Voices","link":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=377"},"img":{"alt_text":"Author pal - Jayne Lockwood\/Savannah Smythe","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/jayneicon_orig.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1771,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1771","url_meta":{"origin":1065,"position":3},"title":"Words and Errata – The Vocal Edition Ep 002","author":"S A Collins","date":"May 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Words and Errata - The Vocal Edition Ep 002 \u00a0 \u00a0 So episode two of the Words and Errata blog (the audio edition) are up on SoundCloud now. \u00a0 https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/sacollins\/words-and-errata-ep-002 \u00a0 And it's rather an interesting thing to post these. 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Not just the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Authors Voices"","block_context":{"text":"Authors Voices","link":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=377"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/65.jpg?fit=394%2C464&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1762,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1762","url_meta":{"origin":1065,"position":5},"title":"Words and Errata – The Vocal Edition – Ep 001","author":"S A Collins","date":"May 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Words and Errata - The Vocal Edition - Ep 001 \u00a0 So our first show is in the can and has been getting quite a few listens (not in the hundreds or thousands yet, but it'll get there. Of that I have no doubt). 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