{"id":1877,"date":"2016-03-06T14:18:05","date_gmt":"2016-03-06T22:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sacollins.com\/blog\/?p=1877"},"modified":"2016-03-06T15:19:17","modified_gmt":"2016-03-06T23:19:17","slug":"when-worlds-collide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1877","title":{"rendered":"When Worlds Collide"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\">When Worlds Collide<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Writing is a funny business. And by funny, I mean peculiar.<\/p>\n<p>The reason I say this is that what any given writer writes about has to come from a place of either economics (wanting to survive by your writings), passion (a story that just won&#8217;t let its author go), or as a means of vindication (having your opinion heard on a given topic &#8211; a reasoning and establishing your point of view in a debate).<\/p>\n<p>But therein is where it gets peculiar (at least to my way of thinking). I am solidly in the middle camp. I write from passion. I don&#8217;t give a fuck if it&#8217;s embraced. I&#8217;d like it to be, but it is\u00a0<strong>not<\/strong> a requirement. I&#8217;ve said this before. I am a successful writer because I complete a project. I see it through. It may not find its audience until I am well and truly gone. But it&#8217;s out there &#8211; my voice among the collective. For all time, as they say, because nothing in the internet really goes away (save a cataclysmic alien invasion that wipes out our tech in favor of their own). Right?<\/p>\n<p>I recently had such an experience come to light with my works. I am writing to explore the institutionalized forms of homophobia in competitive sports &#8211; in the case of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/works\/stories\/aomindex.html\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Angels of Mercy<\/strong><\/a>, American high school football. It&#8217;s done fairly well, given I don&#8217;t expect it to be the next <em>Friday Night Lights<\/em> or something of that sort. For one, I don&#8217;t concentrate on the hetero-centrist bullshit that permeates nearly all of literature and media out there. Jesus, how our straight counterparts are so weak that they have to have so many stories written about them. True, there is a burgeoning interest in our stories, but let&#8217;s be honest, it&#8217;s still small by comparison. Given the latest study on the GLBT impression in media &#8211; we are still in the single digits by way of exposure in the mainstream.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1848\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/AoM_Phoenix_FINAL_2016_500px.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1848\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1848\" data-attachment-id=\"1848\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?attachment_id=1848\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/AoM_Phoenix_FINAL_2016_500px.jpg?fit=500%2C750&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"500,750\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"AoM_Phoenix_FINAL_2016_500px\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/AoM_Phoenix_FINAL_2016_500px.jpg?fit=400%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-1848 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/AoM_Phoenix_FINAL_2016_500px-200x300.jpg?resize=200%2C300\" alt=\"AoM_Phoenix_FINAL_2016_500px\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/AoM_Phoenix_FINAL_2016_500px.jpg?resize=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/AoM_Phoenix_FINAL_2016_500px.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1848\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angels of Mercy &#8211; Phoenix In The Fire<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Part of that I lay fully at the feet of my own queer community. A large swath of queer men don&#8217;t partake of books, TV or movies that focus on our lives to really make their financial impact heard in the mainstream. And when we do have something that speaks to us, about our lives as we live them (*cough* <em>LOOKING<\/em> *cough*), it is bashed by its own community for not being representational of the whole.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1298\" style=\"width: 181px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/looking.jpeg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1298\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1298\" data-attachment-id=\"1298\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?attachment_id=1298\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/looking.jpeg?fit=171%2C253&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"171,253\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"looking\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;The Cast of HBO&amp;#8217;s LOOKING (currently running season 2)&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/looking.jpeg?fit=171%2C253&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-1298 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/looking.jpeg?resize=171%2C253\" alt=\"The Cast of HBO's LOOKING (currently running season 2)\" width=\"171\" height=\"253\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1298\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cast of HBO&#8217;s <em>LOOKING<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><span style=\"color: #993366;\">&#8220;We don&#8217;t live like that. Not everyone is in the bushes looking for a hook-up.&#8221;<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>True on both counts. Yet, it was bashed so harshly by those of us in the queer community that now it&#8217;s gone. Now we&#8217;re relegated to tongue-in-cheek facades of Ryan Murphy&#8217;s worlds (<em>Glee<\/em> took a major leap off the cliff after the third season, <em>American Horror Story<\/em>, while great, is definitely over the top, and if <em>AHS<\/em> was out there, then\u00a0<em>Scream Queens<\/em> left the planet for queer representation years before it aired). Yet with <em>Looking<\/em> gone, another of our voices became stamped out. And we did it to ourselves. Rather than engage the producers and creatives behind that show (a show I happened to have loved) it was torn apart at the seams.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">What is HBO or Showtimes take away?<\/span> <strong>Queer storytelling that focuses on the queer characters don&#8217;t sell<\/strong>. <strong>Even to our own community.<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>(Read that last part again, in case you missed just how cutting that is to our own stories.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s beyond pathetic. It&#8217;s self-annihilation, or a fucked up internalized homophobia to the nth degree, if you ask me. Self-inflicted. How fucked up is that?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/weekend_movie_poster-tom_cullen-chris_new-andrew_haigh.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1907\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1907\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?attachment_id=1907\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/weekend_movie_poster-tom_cullen-chris_new-andrew_haigh.jpg?fit=500%2C713&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"500,713\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"weekend_movie_poster-tom_cullen-chris_new-andrew_haigh\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/weekend_movie_poster-tom_cullen-chris_new-andrew_haigh.jpg?fit=400%2C570&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1907\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/weekend_movie_poster-tom_cullen-chris_new-andrew_haigh-210x300.jpg?resize=210%2C300\" alt=\"weekend_movie_poster-tom_cullen-chris_new-andrew_haigh\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/weekend_movie_poster-tom_cullen-chris_new-andrew_haigh.jpg?resize=210%2C300&amp;ssl=1 210w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/weekend_movie_poster-tom_cullen-chris_new-andrew_haigh.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I just recently watched, with my husband, Andrew Haigh&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt1714210\/?ref_=nv_sr_2\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Weekend<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>[embedplusvideo height=&#8221;255&#8243; width=&#8221;400&#8243; editlink=&#8221;http:\/\/bit.ly\/24Kpe71&#8243; standard=&#8221;http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/2IFbcWG1F9o?fs=1&amp;vq=hd720&#8243; vars=&#8221;ytid=2IFbcWG1F9o&amp;width=400&amp;height=255&amp;start=&amp;stop=&amp;rs=w&amp;hd=1&amp;autoplay=0&amp;react=1&amp;chapters=&amp;notes=&#8221; id=&#8221;ep7765&#8243; \/]<\/p>\n<p>It was a brilliant and intense queer story. It opened up so many reasons why I loved <em>Looking<\/em> as I did. It did <strong>NOT<\/strong> have a happy ending. It just ended \u2013 leaving you to ponder what happened next. Did the boy left behind pursue his lover to the US? Or did he just simply give up? I LOVED that. I loved the not knowing. Allowing me to decide for myself how it all ended.<\/p>\n<p>[embedplusvideo height=&#8221;255&#8243; width=&#8221;400&#8243; editlink=&#8221;http:\/\/bit.ly\/24KphiU&#8221; standard=&#8221;http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/KeInPhXR4Gk?fs=1&amp;vq=hd720&#8243; vars=&#8221;ytid=KeInPhXR4Gk&amp;width=400&amp;height=255&amp;start=&amp;stop=&amp;rs=w&amp;hd=1&amp;autoplay=0&amp;react=1&amp;chapters=&amp;notes=&#8221; id=&#8221;ep6882&#8243; \/]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I also want to see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt2560102\/?ref_=nv_sr_1\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Lilting<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/lilting-poster01.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1908\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1908\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?attachment_id=1908\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/lilting-poster01.jpg?fit=2000%2C1487&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2000,1487\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"lilting-poster01\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/lilting-poster01.jpg?fit=400%2C297&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1908\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/lilting-poster01-300x223.jpg?resize=300%2C223\" alt=\"lilting-poster01\" width=\"300\" height=\"223\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/lilting-poster01.jpg?resize=300%2C223&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/lilting-poster01.jpg?resize=768%2C571&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/lilting-poster01.jpg?resize=1024%2C761&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/lilting-poster01.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/lilting-poster01.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jesus, that one looks like it will emotively crush me. I live for those works. I recently watched Ben Whishaw in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/d5CWWaF06uM\" target=\"_blank\">London Spy<\/a><\/em>. That one also rattled me a great deal. It was queer storytelling that was epic in how brilliant it twist and turned on a dime. Ben Whishaw was brilliant in that work as well. I love my queer men and their simple complicated lives. I love talking to other queer men about their lives and loves and losses. They hold me spellbound. They truly do. Their stories are far more potent or powerful because they exist in the face of often monumental adversity. I admire them. They are my romance. Every single one of them. Even when we don&#8217;t agree. I still love and admire them. How could I not? They are from different mothers, but they are my brothers nonetheless.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/London-Spy-poster-season-1-BBC-Two-2015.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1902\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1902\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?attachment_id=1902\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/London-Spy-poster-season-1-BBC-Two-2015.jpg?fit=360%2C480&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"360,480\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"London-Spy-poster-season-1-BBC-Two-2015\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/London-Spy-poster-season-1-BBC-Two-2015.jpg?fit=360%2C480&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1902\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/London-Spy-poster-season-1-BBC-Two-2015-225x300.jpg?resize=225%2C300\" alt=\"London-Spy-poster-season-1-BBC-Two-2015\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/London-Spy-poster-season-1-BBC-Two-2015.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/London-Spy-poster-season-1-BBC-Two-2015.jpg?w=360&amp;ssl=1 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is partially why I rail at romance tropes. Not enough is being done to write about us as we are. It&#8217;s why I can&#8217;t write those things. Not when there is so much more to talk about. I get that it&#8217;s writing to &#8220;hope&#8221; &#8211; well, romance as a genre doesn&#8217;t have the lock on hope. It&#8217;s also why I can&#8217;t get all gushy about Disney fairy tales (though I will say I was pleasantly surprised by Maleficent). Because they&#8217;ve applied solid romantic tropes to stories that had none of that in it. Look at all the works those sweet retellings are based on &#8211; there&#8217;s none of that happy ever after in the original works. Mother Goose and Brothers Grim were outright scare monsters of fictional storytelling. Nothing short of it.<\/p>\n<p>But I&#8217;m a bit off topic here.<\/p>\n<p>What I wanted to get to with this post, is that the crossroads of queer fiction (or as I&#8217;d like to now call it &#8211; just plain literary fiction &#8211; because I am all about the equality) and romance. Somehow the works that take a solid look at our lives as they are get bashed because there is an automatic assumption that anything queer MUST have a HEA. Yes, there are genre and sub-genre works out there, but let&#8217;s be honest, their sales probably would do a helluva lot better if that HEA albatross wasn&#8217;t out there ready to sack any fictional work that has a queer protagonist\/hero doing their damnedest to get to the last page of the story.<\/p>\n<p>This came home to roost with a new reader who found my works and seemed to enjoy what I was writing. Or so I thought. I&#8217;ve since learned that no matter how much you put out there that the work is NOT romance, the prevailing winds are if it is queer then it MUST BE romance. Another reason why I rail at that genre. It&#8217;s poisoning the coffers of other works out there. I don&#8217;t fucking care if it sells. It still should not myopically mar the other stories that need to be told.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1889\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how_to_get_away_with_murder_cast.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1889\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1889\" data-attachment-id=\"1889\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?attachment_id=1889\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how_to_get_away_with_murder_cast.jpg?fit=1296%2C730&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1296,730\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;11&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;ABC&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;IQ250&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER - ABC&#039;s \\&quot;How to Get Away with Murder\\&quot; Charlie Weber as Frank Delfino, Liza Weil as Bonnie Winterbottom, Billy Brown as Nate, Matt McGorry as Asher Millstone, Aja Naomi King as Michaela Pratt, Viola Davis as Professor Annalise Keating, Katie Findlay as Rebecca, Alfred Enoch as Wes Gibbins, Karla Souza as Laurel Castillo and Jack Falahee as Connor Walsh.  (ABC\/Craig Sjodin)&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1405650340&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;\\u00a9 2014 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;50&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;100&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.125&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;CHARLIE WEBER, LIZA WEIL, BILLY BROWN, MATT MCGORRY, AJA NAOMI KING, VIOLA DAVIS, KATIE FINDLAY, ALFRED ENOCH, KARLA SOUZA, JACK FALAHEE&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"CHARLIE WEBER, LIZA WEIL, BILLY BROWN, MATT MCGORRY, AJA NAOMI KING, VIOLA DAVIS, KATIE FINDLAY, ALFRED ENOCH, KARLA SOUZA, JACK FALAHEE\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER &amp;#8211; ABC&amp;#8217;s &amp;#8220;How to Get Away with Murder&amp;#8221; Charlie Weber as Frank Delfino, Liza Weil as Bonnie Winterbottom, Billy Brown as Nate, Matt McGorry as Asher Millstone, Aja Naomi King as Michaela Pratt, Viola Davis as Professor Annalise Keating, Katie Findlay as Rebecca, Alfred Enoch as Wes Gibbins, Karla Souza as Laurel Castillo and Jack Falahee as Connor Walsh.  (ABC\/Craig Sjodin)&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how_to_get_away_with_murder_cast.jpg?fit=400%2C225&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-1889 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how_to_get_away_with_murder_cast-1024x577.jpg?resize=400%2C225\" alt=\"HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER - ABC's &quot;How to Get Away with Murder&quot; Charlie Weber as Frank Delfino, Liza Weil as Bonnie Winterbottom, Billy Brown as Nate, Matt McGorry as Asher Millstone, Aja Naomi King as Michaela Pratt, Viola Davis as Professor Annalise Keating, Katie Findlay as Rebecca, Alfred Enoch as Wes Gibbins, Karla Souza as Laurel Castillo and Jack Falahee as Connor Walsh. (ABC\/Craig Sjodin)\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how_to_get_away_with_murder_cast.jpg?resize=1024%2C577&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how_to_get_away_with_murder_cast.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how_to_get_away_with_murder_cast.jpg?resize=768%2C433&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how_to_get_away_with_murder_cast.jpg?w=1296&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/how_to_get_away_with_murder_cast.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1889\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER (ABC\/Craig Sjodin)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I write what I like to read, and what I like to watch. To give you context, I like heightened drama &#8211; <em>Downton Abbey<\/em>, ANYTHING by Shondaland (<em>How To Get Away With Murder<\/em>, <em>Scandal<\/em>, etc), things of that nature. I like it when characters are pushed to their absolute limits of what they think they can handle. Then we get to see some real character development. Why? Because humans grow from adversity. It&#8217;s built into who we are. Whether we choose to collapse and withdraw (which is a choice) or to fight and press on. We evolve to one end of the human spectrum or another. THAT&#8217;S powerful storytelling. Safe stories with safe endings don&#8217;t provide that. They just provide the candy like feel good moment before it&#8217;s dropped and moved onto the next sweet morsel of storytelling. Police procedurals don&#8217;t interest me. Mostly because they are formulaic to a great degree. I have <em>Sherlock<\/em> (the Cumberbatch edition, if you please) that satisfies that far better than <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">any<\/span>\u00a0<em>NCIS<\/em> or procedural out there. I&#8217;m a solid card carrying <em>Cumberbitch<\/em>, and proud of it!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/sherlocked.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1903\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1903\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?attachment_id=1903\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/sherlocked.jpg?fit=1061%2C1500&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1061,1500\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"sherlocked\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/sherlocked.jpg?fit=400%2C566&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1903\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/sherlocked-212x300.jpg?resize=212%2C300\" alt=\"sherlocked\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/sherlocked.jpg?resize=212%2C300&amp;ssl=1 212w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/sherlocked.jpg?resize=768%2C1086&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/sherlocked.jpg?resize=724%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 724w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/sherlocked.jpg?w=1061&amp;ssl=1 1061w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I also come from the world of professional opera. I write operatic pieces set against the normality of life. I like watching my safe characters who, as its author, I want them to find happiness just as much as the next guy, struggle like hell to get there &#8211; whatever their HEA is (and it definitely doesn&#8217;t have to involve romance or a romantic theme). But in my worlds, as in life, none of it is guaranteed. I&#8217;ve said I am a pantser, in that I have tentpoles up that mark where I want the story to go, but I also let the characters drive the drama. Sometimes they&#8217;ve even surprised me. Actually, they surprise me a helluva lot.<\/p>\n<p>So this new reader seemed to like what I was doing. But I thought, because I was careful to explain in ALL of my blurbs and marketing about the works, that they are NOT romance reads, that I was covered by that simple statement. I&#8217;ve never professed them to be romance in any stretch of the imagination. I don&#8217;t do romance. I can&#8217;t. I want to push my characters into\u00a0<em>very, VERY,\u00a0<\/em>uncomfortable places. I like watching them squirm and rationalize their own fucked up viewpoints, I want them to explore why they are doing what they are doing. I want my readers to see the dangers of their thinking. They are very, very specific works. Not for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>But again, that is my passion. That&#8217;s what I write. Heavily influenced by my years in the opera world telling those types of stories to the masses.<\/p>\n<p>I was once in the wings about to go on for the final tableau setting of <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/jQuKUMNjQkM?t=1h9m36s\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Cavalleria Rusticana<\/strong><\/a> when one of my opera singing gay buddy besties came along side me. We loved to quietly crack jokes and goad one another backstage before we had to go on and be over the top dramatic. Keeping the balance, ya know? Humor before tragedy and all that rot. So I turned to him and said, just before the ear shattering scream one of our cast members was tasked with when the hero is killed in a duel:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #993300;\">&#8220;Why can&#8217;t we do a happy opera sometime?&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To which he replied:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #993300;\">&#8220;Who&#8217;d come to see it?&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He had a very valid point. His response is what&#8217;s guided my hand while I write what I write. I write opera. I write drama. No automatics in those works. In fact, it&#8217;s expected that shit won&#8217;t work out. That the ending will be cataclysmic and disastrous. If I can pull a rabbit out of my hat and give my characters a happy ending that works, then yay me. But I don&#8217;t do automatics. Hell, sometimes I only vaguely know how it&#8217;s going to end when I start. And even then, that ending is ALWAYS a moving target as I see it finally in my sight at the end of the work.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>*Series Spoiler Alert*<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Well, I asked this new reader to preview the next release &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/works\/stories\/aom\/aompitfch01.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Angels of Mercy: Phoenix in the Fire<\/em><\/a>. He said he&#8217;d love to read it and provide feedback. This book is dark. It&#8217;s not a happy book by any stretch of the imagination. How could it be? It is about being the victim of a very horrific beating by your boyfriend&#8217;s teammates. That is going to do a number on how you see your world, despite which avenue you choose to crawl out from that terrifying hole: to survive and become stronger (the hardest of the two) or to collapse inwardly and withdraw from everyone you know (sadly, the usual tract most take). I wanted to explore the former rather than the latter. It&#8217;s easier to implode from that sort of homophobic beat down. I wanted Elliot to climb out of that hole and find an inner strength to himself. Elliot struggles to accept the love that is freely given to him by many in his life. He thinks he&#8217;s not worth it. Many gay men have this struggle for one reason or another. I wanted to have that as part of his inner monologue.<\/p>\n<p>Well, suffice to say that my new enthusiastic reader wasn&#8217;t very taken with the new book. In fact, when I asked him what he found that didn&#8217;t work (because I truly wanted to explore that) it became very clear to me he was reading it as a romance read. I tried to explain that I wasn&#8217;t writing that. It was too late. Phoenix had soured the work for him. I haven&#8217;t heard anything since my last email that tried to explain what the works truly are. Other betas advised me to leave it &#8211; to distance myself from that situation. But I&#8217;ve toiled with it in my head. It&#8217;s stuck in my craw, so to speak.<\/p>\n<p>But it did point out why my ire at the romance trope exists. It is poisoning other works. The expectation that ALL stories must have romance tropic happy endings is destroying proper storytelling. It is also setting expectations out there for works that are nowhere near that form of writing.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>I don&#8217;t do romance. I probably never will. I write us as we are.<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There. I&#8217;ve stated it once again. Not that anyone is really paying any attention. Those tropic bullshit expectations will still be there. I&#8217;ll still rail against them and flip them the big ol&#8217; bird and purposefully write darker works that put a magnifying glass on our community as we are just to spite those Disneyesque saccharine laden pieces of fiction.<\/p>\n<p>I write drama. Operatic drama. Period. Deal with it, or move on. I&#8217;ll continue to write either way.<\/p>\n<p>Until Next Time &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em>SA C<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Worlds Collide Writing is a funny business. And by funny, I mean peculiar. The reason I say this is that what any given writer writes about has to come from a place of either economics (wanting to survive by your writings), passion (a story that just won&#8217;t let its author go), or as a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1298,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[377,551,94,270,580,216,234,584,5,4,199,7,198,3,108,169,396,145,18,325],"tags":[68,776,780,67,782,781,608,778,777,775,758,163,779,783],"class_list":["post-1877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authors-voices","category-book-release","category-characters-reimagined","category-gay-community","category-gays-in-sports","category-journey","category-language","category-literature-vs-shit","category-mm-lovefest","category-homoerotica","category-male-feelings","category-my-what-the-fuck-on-the-media","category-men","category-novel-writing","category-novels-vs-media","category-social-issues","category-the-craft","category-words-have-power","category-writing","category-young-adult-realities","tag-angels-of-mercy","tag-as-we-are","tag-cavalleria-rusticana","tag-elliot-donahey","tag-lilting","tag-london-spy","tag-looking","tag-opera-as-storytelling","tag-operatic-works","tag-queer-community","tag-queer-romance","tag-storytelling","tag-theatre","tag-weekend"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/looking.jpeg?fit=171%2C253&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75tPU-uh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2265,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=2265","url_meta":{"origin":1877,"position":0},"title":"Queer Storytelling At Its Finest &#8211; Call Me By Your Name and The World of Normal Boys","author":"S A Collins","date":"December 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Queer Storytelling At Its Finest - Call Me By Your Name and The World of Normal Boys Two works that tackle the same subject matter - the world of \"normal\" boys finding themselves in queer relationships. \u00a0 I'll discuss both from a literary stance (where they share common ground because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Authors Voices&quot;","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\/2017\/12\/The-world-of-normal-boys-book.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1866,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1866","url_meta":{"origin":1877,"position":1},"title":"Embracing Equality Means &#8230;","author":"S A Collins","date":"February 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Embracing Equality Means ... \u00a0 \u00a0 Something has changed. A fundamental shift in what I am doing. You see, I've been writing my own life story as a series over at the Violet Quill Redux and that has made me question how I see my own works. Not just the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Authors Voices&quot;","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":2273,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=2273","url_meta":{"origin":1877,"position":2},"title":"The True Meaning of Queer &#8230;","author":"S A Collins","date":"December 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The True Meaning of Queer ... \u00a0 \u00a0 Humans love to classify things. We love order amongst the chaos. It's just how we're wired to short cut how we see the world. It gives us order and cohesion that is comforting to us. It makes the world easier to navigate.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Authors Voices&quot;","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\/2017\/12\/canstockphoto23187775.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/canstockphoto23187775.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/canstockphoto23187775.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/canstockphoto23187775.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/canstockphoto23187775.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2087,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=2087","url_meta":{"origin":1877,"position":3},"title":"Social Media in a Trump-enabled Age","author":"S A Collins","date":"January 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Social Media in a Trump-enabled Age \u00a0 New Year's didn't go so well for me. A few hours before the chiming of the new year I succumbed to a 101.9 degree fever and came to the quick realization I was down for several days ahead with the flu that I'd\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Authors Voices&quot;","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\/2017\/01\/no-social-media.jpg?fit=866%2C578&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/no-social-media.jpg?fit=866%2C578&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/no-social-media.jpg?fit=866%2C578&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/no-social-media.jpg?fit=866%2C578&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1088,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1088","url_meta":{"origin":1877,"position":4},"title":"Our Dirty Little Secrets &#8211; 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 &quot;Authors Voices&quot;","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":1762,"url":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?p=1762","url_meta":{"origin":1877,"position":5},"title":"Words and Errata &#8211; The Vocal Edition &#8211; 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). If you haven't listened to it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Authors Voices&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Authors Voices","link":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/?cat=377"},"img":{"alt_text":"SA Collins - Words and Errata - The Vocal Edition","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biz141.inmotionhosting.com\/~akweko6\/sacollins.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/PodcastIcon_SC1400_100pxsac-1024x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1877"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1909,"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions\/1909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sacollins.com\/blog-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}