Before anyone has a chance to wonder who I am and why I'm here, I thought I'd take the time to post about...well...who I am and why I'm here.
Who are you?
First off, my name is not Ana Bosch. But that's what we'll call me as long as I'm writing m/m fiction. I'm not hiding any deep, dark secrets here, and it'll honestly be pretty easy for anyone to find out my real name. So why the pen name, if it's not a deep, dark secret? Simply because I don't want my work in this genre to get mixed in with my work in other genres.
What do you write?
I write stories that I think are fun. Most tend to be in the fantasy and paranormal genres. As a youngster, I had grand aspirations of writing Literature (with a capital "L"), but I've since realized that I'm nowhere near as serious as you need to be in order to write Literature. Having chosen a career in illustration, writing is now my hobby. And what's the point of a hobby if it's not fun? So I've decided to focus on writing what's fun.
The vast majority of my writing is casual, perhaps a bit eccentric, perhaps a bit campy. My upcoming short story release, The Dragon Tamer, is at the opposite end of my spectrum. It's about as serious as I can go. It's an m/m fantasy romance, to be released in Dreamspinner Press's "Bittersweet Dreams" line.
What writing experience do you have?
I learned everything I know about writing through observation and osmosis. While I took several creative writing classes in college, they were at an art school. So let's face it, they weren't challenging. Fun, certainly. But I can't say that I learned. My last challenging writing class was back in high school, when they had a class that was one step above honors. That was an awesome class.
I read a lot. I write more. I absolutely love typing, so sometimes I write just so I'd have an excuse to type.
What do you read?
I love mysteries, even if they do tend to be a bit formulaic. But my true love is the classics. My favorite books are A Separate Piece, The Catcher in the Rye, The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaardner, and As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann. Oh, and of course the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Clearly, I don't write what I read.
So why m/m fiction?
The long answer:
In real life, I'm just about the least romantic person you'll ever meet. But at the same time, I do enjoy stories of people making real connections with each other. (I think I save up all my romantic notions for the theoretical rather than the practical.) However, I absolutely can't stand the artificial and damaging portrayals of gender roles in most heterosexual romantic stories. My feminist nature usually prevents me from enjoying stories of heterosexual love because the depictions of the women just don't jive with me. I'm more picky and critical of female characters than is probably healthy.
One of the things I enjoy about m/m fiction is that you have the freedom to explore a relationship between two equals, without having to convince half your audience that they are in fact equals. (It's one of the most unfair things in the world, but it's the way I feel.) But of course, that's not the only reason.
I do plan on working on some fiction with powerful and compelling female leads, but chances are there will be little to no romance in those stories. Whether in m/m or heterosexual fiction, whether in romance or other genres, I love characters who don't follow a gender stereotype.
The short answer:
Every time I write a story, the dudes always seem to end up together, through no fault of my own. ;)
With all that being said, I'd add that my stories are more plot-driven than romance-driven.
Do you write porn?
I would have to say no. The way I define porn is if the sexual content of a story overshadows the characters enough to turn them into objects. To me, sex scenes are only interesting if I know and care about the characters and understand what's at stake for them.
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