Ask the Author: Robert Cage
Answered Questions (6)
Robert Cage
I get my inspiration from other writers --- either people in my writing group or the writers that influence me. I get ideas from all different types of media: books, movies, even music.
I will often find solutions to writing/plotting problems in the fiction of many of the great writers. Often as a warm-up to writing, I will read the fiction of one of my heroes, something that really inspires me to achieve the clarity of vision that they possess. I don't often achieve it, but I can definitely see an improvement.
I will often find solutions to writing/plotting problems in the fiction of many of the great writers. Often as a warm-up to writing, I will read the fiction of one of my heroes, something that really inspires me to achieve the clarity of vision that they possess. I don't often achieve it, but I can definitely see an improvement.
Robert Cage
The ability to create a universe of people that you slowly begin to realize you have little or no control over. :-)
They talk... you just transcribe after a while.
They talk... you just transcribe after a while.
Robert Cage
That's not as hard as it seems once you cultivate a few good writer friends or even friends you make on Good Reads.
Ideally these muses should be people who passionately read the genre of fiction in which you write.
I recommend all writers have a group of peers with which they swap and crit. It keeps you writing and gets you out of the occasional rut or corner you may find yourself in.
Ideally these muses should be people who passionately read the genre of fiction in which you write.
I recommend all writers have a group of peers with which they swap and crit. It keeps you writing and gets you out of the occasional rut or corner you may find yourself in.
Robert Cage
I'm currently finishing a prequel to Submit for Redemption called "Just Desserts". It's set in New Orleans and the Bahamas and features two characters from SFR, Finny and Cornelius (Neil) Woolridge. They're in prominent supporting roles to my two protagonists, Pierce Abbott and Bret Pascoe. "Just Desserts" takes place 13 years prior to the beginning of Submit for Redemption/Book One: Submission.
Bret's a gifted chef who's currently underemployed as a waiter in a city club owned by Neil, who is in his early thirties and lovestruck by Bret, in his mid-twenties. As the novel starts, Neil is in the process of sweeping Bret off his feet, and Bret --- incredibly unhappy with his job and current lovelife --- is more than susceptible to Neil's controlling influence and material charms.
Pierce is an SIS agent in his early twenties who's working undercover at Neil's city club for the sole purpose of investigating Neil. Pierce is doing this as a favor to Finny, who's recently inherited the Stratham Dukedom from his deceased father.
As the novel progresses, it becomes plain that Neil has more sinister designs on Bret, and Pierce faces a professional dilemma --- how to want Bret about Neil without blowing his chance at nabbing the banker, who he soon suspects is at the ring of a series of sex crimes/murders in the New Orleans area. To further complicate things, the deeper Bret gets involved with Neil, the more apparent it is to Pierce that he harbors deeper romantic feelings for Bret.
Things come to a head over one steamy weekend on the bayou at Neil's palatial plantation, as Pierce and Bret become more entangled with each other and in Neil's illicit world. Meanwhile Neil and Finny are locked in a mental chess match that will determine Stratham (and Finny's) fate for some time to come.
I'm excited about JD for several reasons.
Firstly, I have it structured in five distinct parts. The first four belong to the four primary characters: Bret, Finny, Pierce, and Neil. The final part brings them all together in a sequence thematically structured around a traditional English country house dinner. I wanted this book to have a larger thematic reach beyond romance, sex, and BDSM, though --- I wanted it to be a snapshot of a series of events over a compressed time period that changes the lives of the four men at the center forever.
Secondly, I wanted to give a fuller backstory to Finny, who in SFR comes off as a somewhat sinister, dark character. In JD, he's still troubled, but far from being a professional torturer. In fact, in the earlier book he's struggling with how to give away his family fortune fast enough in order to be done with his father's evil legacy. How and why did Finny get from "A" to "Z" in such a short time period? Just Desserts will explain this and also dovetails nicely into Book Two of SFR, which is already written and should be released this year (hopefully).
Lastly, as you can guess by the title, JD revolves around food and conspicuous consumption, in general. I had a good time with all the metaphors and descriptions of debauchery that I usually enjoy writing about.
Look for Just Desserts soon and I'll be Tweeting developments as they occur @robertcage2.
Bret's a gifted chef who's currently underemployed as a waiter in a city club owned by Neil, who is in his early thirties and lovestruck by Bret, in his mid-twenties. As the novel starts, Neil is in the process of sweeping Bret off his feet, and Bret --- incredibly unhappy with his job and current lovelife --- is more than susceptible to Neil's controlling influence and material charms.
Pierce is an SIS agent in his early twenties who's working undercover at Neil's city club for the sole purpose of investigating Neil. Pierce is doing this as a favor to Finny, who's recently inherited the Stratham Dukedom from his deceased father.
As the novel progresses, it becomes plain that Neil has more sinister designs on Bret, and Pierce faces a professional dilemma --- how to want Bret about Neil without blowing his chance at nabbing the banker, who he soon suspects is at the ring of a series of sex crimes/murders in the New Orleans area. To further complicate things, the deeper Bret gets involved with Neil, the more apparent it is to Pierce that he harbors deeper romantic feelings for Bret.
Things come to a head over one steamy weekend on the bayou at Neil's palatial plantation, as Pierce and Bret become more entangled with each other and in Neil's illicit world. Meanwhile Neil and Finny are locked in a mental chess match that will determine Stratham (and Finny's) fate for some time to come.
I'm excited about JD for several reasons.
Firstly, I have it structured in five distinct parts. The first four belong to the four primary characters: Bret, Finny, Pierce, and Neil. The final part brings them all together in a sequence thematically structured around a traditional English country house dinner. I wanted this book to have a larger thematic reach beyond romance, sex, and BDSM, though --- I wanted it to be a snapshot of a series of events over a compressed time period that changes the lives of the four men at the center forever.
Secondly, I wanted to give a fuller backstory to Finny, who in SFR comes off as a somewhat sinister, dark character. In JD, he's still troubled, but far from being a professional torturer. In fact, in the earlier book he's struggling with how to give away his family fortune fast enough in order to be done with his father's evil legacy. How and why did Finny get from "A" to "Z" in such a short time period? Just Desserts will explain this and also dovetails nicely into Book Two of SFR, which is already written and should be released this year (hopefully).
Lastly, as you can guess by the title, JD revolves around food and conspicuous consumption, in general. I had a good time with all the metaphors and descriptions of debauchery that I usually enjoy writing about.
Look for Just Desserts soon and I'll be Tweeting developments as they occur @robertcage2.
Robert Cage
Read, read, read --- find an author whose work inspires you, who makes *you* want to write. Read through their entire catalog. Read essays and critical analyses of their work, read biographies and interviews.... find out how *they* get inspired. I firmly believe that you can't be a good writer without first being a passionate reader.
Then get your feet wet. Fan fiction is an ideal place to start and there are a jillion sites that will let you post for free as long as you adhere to their guidelines. Don't worry about your prose being perfect and don't criticize yourself too much. Learning to write is not something you can do after reading a how-to article or even after taking one or two writing courses. Trust that your writing will evolve in sophistication over time.
Join a writing group, ideally one that offers face to face meetings. Feedback from other writers is essential to your success, especially in sizing up your target audience and what they want and expect from your fiction. Successful writers are able to strike a balance between their internal vision and what their readers desire... it just takes time to hone that balance successfully. Online critique groups can work well, too, but the chance to share your ideas, struggles, etc. with other writers is not only invaluable, but it's incredibly fun and inspiring too!
Lastly, commit to writing something each day even if it's only a journal entry. Don't be afraid to draw on your own experiences and create characters from composites of yourself and other people you've met. Draw on your sense memories and experiences and relay as much detail as possible when writing. It helps me to "cast" my characters as actors you are familiar with... it brings them to life. Then, let your imagination go and don't censor yourself. Play out scenes in your head and attempt to transcribe everything about them. Don't just focus on the dialogue --- this is a big problem many beginning writers have. Go deep with your characters and their motivations. Keep asking yourself WHY they say and do the things they do. Rich and memorable characters drive good fiction. They can even give it a life of its own!
At this point with the Submit for Redemption series, I can pretty much tell someone instantly what a character of my creation would do or say in a particular situation... they become a part of you, a part of your personality. The connection is that intimate.
Then get your feet wet. Fan fiction is an ideal place to start and there are a jillion sites that will let you post for free as long as you adhere to their guidelines. Don't worry about your prose being perfect and don't criticize yourself too much. Learning to write is not something you can do after reading a how-to article or even after taking one or two writing courses. Trust that your writing will evolve in sophistication over time.
Join a writing group, ideally one that offers face to face meetings. Feedback from other writers is essential to your success, especially in sizing up your target audience and what they want and expect from your fiction. Successful writers are able to strike a balance between their internal vision and what their readers desire... it just takes time to hone that balance successfully. Online critique groups can work well, too, but the chance to share your ideas, struggles, etc. with other writers is not only invaluable, but it's incredibly fun and inspiring too!
Lastly, commit to writing something each day even if it's only a journal entry. Don't be afraid to draw on your own experiences and create characters from composites of yourself and other people you've met. Draw on your sense memories and experiences and relay as much detail as possible when writing. It helps me to "cast" my characters as actors you are familiar with... it brings them to life. Then, let your imagination go and don't censor yourself. Play out scenes in your head and attempt to transcribe everything about them. Don't just focus on the dialogue --- this is a big problem many beginning writers have. Go deep with your characters and their motivations. Keep asking yourself WHY they say and do the things they do. Rich and memorable characters drive good fiction. They can even give it a life of its own!
At this point with the Submit for Redemption series, I can pretty much tell someone instantly what a character of my creation would do or say in a particular situation... they become a part of you, a part of your personality. The connection is that intimate.
Robert Cage
The Submit for Redemption series, and Submission in particular, was very much a co-effort between Kathryn and myself. She invented Everett, the tormented, masochistic super-sub and I concocted Finny, as his super-dom foil and love interest. The two characters play off each other's differences and similarities well. Both are passionate about BDSM and each other but both carry deep psychic and emotional scars from less than idyllic childhoods.
It was fascinating to examine how the sexual thrills of a subculture can both enhance and hurt, depending on the amount of love, emotional care, and selflessness involved. On the surface, it seems that Finny teaches Ev about the subculture, but in fact it's really the opposite --- by awakening Finny's long-dormant inner caretaker, Ev shows Finny that BDSM and its practices can enhance and reinforce a romantic connection, when consent and mutual respect are allowed to dominate, rather than selfishness and aggression. It was also a tremendous challenge as a writer to attempt to redeem Finny, a character who starts the series as the embodiment of self-interest. Hopefully readers will not see this book as an attempt to excuse such abhorrent, sometimes downright evil behavior. Instead, I hope it outlines the truth that goodness can be unlocked in anyone, as long as love (for others as well as self) is employed as the key.
It was fascinating to examine how the sexual thrills of a subculture can both enhance and hurt, depending on the amount of love, emotional care, and selflessness involved. On the surface, it seems that Finny teaches Ev about the subculture, but in fact it's really the opposite --- by awakening Finny's long-dormant inner caretaker, Ev shows Finny that BDSM and its practices can enhance and reinforce a romantic connection, when consent and mutual respect are allowed to dominate, rather than selfishness and aggression. It was also a tremendous challenge as a writer to attempt to redeem Finny, a character who starts the series as the embodiment of self-interest. Hopefully readers will not see this book as an attempt to excuse such abhorrent, sometimes downright evil behavior. Instead, I hope it outlines the truth that goodness can be unlocked in anyone, as long as love (for others as well as self) is employed as the key.
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