Ask the Author: S.M. Leonard
Answered Questions (4)
S.M. Leonard
Several things: I'm writing the fourth and last installment of the Bonobo World series in anticipation of revising and rewriting the four to be published as a novella. When I started the series I had planned to continue it for a long time but now that I've decided to end it there are subplots that need to be removed or altered so that the entire work flows better. When I began it I had no thoughts of where it was going so the pacing is off: it meanders in the beginning then turns into an action series as it goes along. That needs cleaning up and tightening. I also don't think I need as many characters so I'll boil it down to the essential ones.
I'm also in process of writing the third chapter (fourth installment since chapter one was in two parts) of the free Goddess Stone erotic fantasy series on my website: smleonard.com.
I also have plans to significantly expand my three-story anthology, Beast Beyond the Gate, to an even dozen stories, each about some element of the sex industry and each three typewritten (so to speak) pages long. By placing limitations on the content and length these stories act as a kind of haiku for me: I am forced to abandon verbosity and excess in favor of tightly told erotic fables. If this new version is successful I plan to publish further anthologies every few months. These stories are fun, varied, and helpful to the person who just wants a short read, perfect for our postmodern A.D.D. attention span.
I'm also in process of writing the third chapter (fourth installment since chapter one was in two parts) of the free Goddess Stone erotic fantasy series on my website: smleonard.com.
I also have plans to significantly expand my three-story anthology, Beast Beyond the Gate, to an even dozen stories, each about some element of the sex industry and each three typewritten (so to speak) pages long. By placing limitations on the content and length these stories act as a kind of haiku for me: I am forced to abandon verbosity and excess in favor of tightly told erotic fables. If this new version is successful I plan to publish further anthologies every few months. These stories are fun, varied, and helpful to the person who just wants a short read, perfect for our postmodern A.D.D. attention span.
S.M. Leonard
There are two parts to this answer:
Part 01: From personal experience: After the divorce from my first wife several years ago I found myself drifting. Expectations for my life hadn't worked out as planned. I needed a new plan. As I made changes to my life that allowed me to live in a way more authentic to the self I had become, people came into my life to reflect that shift: artists, writers, poets, dancers, musicians, philosophers, astrologers, occultists, and spiritual explorers of all kinds. I had always been attracted to cutting edge music and fringe culture, and now had the time and money to pursue my interests. My friends included hippies, goths, vamps, punks, rastas, pagans, and other less labeled adventurers. Perhaps because of my interests, and the fact that I lived in a university town, many of my new friends were younger than me.To my surprise, I often found myself to be the object of attention of some very attractive young women, more so than when I had actually been at their age. My life must have been rather sheltered before because opportunities suddenly opened up that I didn't know were available. At least, I didn't know they available to me. It was a strange and exciting time; I never knew what was going to happen. A nineteen-year-old waitress who flagrantly hits on me while I'm out having dinner with friends sticks her leg on a chair next to me and hikes her pant leg up to show off her ankle tattoo. An eighteen year old beauty picks me out of a crowd and takes me skinny-dipping with her. The sexy new girlfriend of my best friend straddles me in front of a small gathering of friends, presses herself into me and asks me if I think her boyfriend would mind her doing this (this is well before we made out in the backyard of a party house while under the influence). A twenty year old college cutie, a complete stranger, falls into my arms while out dancing and knocks us both to the floor. If I sound rather passive in all this it's just that things were happening that I had never imagined or planned for (this is just the PG version). I was constantly bewildered and could barely keep up with the rapidly moving plot that was my life. The crash course I received in navigating relationships across the divide of decades was fraught with mistakes and embarrassments. Although we enjoyed being together we were at very different places in our lives and often talked past each other. The absolute moral certitude with which my young friends made pronouncements about the world grated on my nerves. I felt terribly old whenever I tried to suggest that in real practice there are lots of gray areas, only to be accused of compromising with the lies of the Military-Industrial Complex (or the Patriarchy, or the Forces of Oppression, or the Conservative Conspiracy, or the Government, or the Matrix, or WalMart). In truth I shared may of the same sympathies but as tempered by a few years around the block.We were locked out of each other's worlds by virtue of birthdays in divergent eras. Eventually I settled down and married again, to woman significantly younger than me, and have learned to make a go of a May-December romance. She was literally, by the way, born in May. I was born in December. If that's not Fate laughing in my face I don't know what is. I am fascinated by relationships involving age differences, therefore, and wanted to see if I could write an erotic summer romance involving two people separated by the gulf of generations. If the response is good, I may follow up with the story of their first year as told through the other three seasons. Summer's the easiest time of year. The hard part is what comes after.
Part 02: To Solve a Puzzle: The original idea for Summer Shadows popped into my brain whole and entire as a what-if question. It went like this: what if a broken, defeated middle-aged man, returning to his home town for a vacation with his childhood best friend, gets seduced by the friend's sexy daughter while half-asleep, his deprivation, need and semi-conscious state overwhelming his better judgment and ethics. It happens, they have sex, and then full consciousness returns. He realizes what he has done. What next? The story of Summer Shadows emerged as I attempted to tease out the history and motivations of the major players without making anyone a bad guy/girl but without letting anyone off the hook either.
Part 01: From personal experience: After the divorce from my first wife several years ago I found myself drifting. Expectations for my life hadn't worked out as planned. I needed a new plan. As I made changes to my life that allowed me to live in a way more authentic to the self I had become, people came into my life to reflect that shift: artists, writers, poets, dancers, musicians, philosophers, astrologers, occultists, and spiritual explorers of all kinds. I had always been attracted to cutting edge music and fringe culture, and now had the time and money to pursue my interests. My friends included hippies, goths, vamps, punks, rastas, pagans, and other less labeled adventurers. Perhaps because of my interests, and the fact that I lived in a university town, many of my new friends were younger than me.To my surprise, I often found myself to be the object of attention of some very attractive young women, more so than when I had actually been at their age. My life must have been rather sheltered before because opportunities suddenly opened up that I didn't know were available. At least, I didn't know they available to me. It was a strange and exciting time; I never knew what was going to happen. A nineteen-year-old waitress who flagrantly hits on me while I'm out having dinner with friends sticks her leg on a chair next to me and hikes her pant leg up to show off her ankle tattoo. An eighteen year old beauty picks me out of a crowd and takes me skinny-dipping with her. The sexy new girlfriend of my best friend straddles me in front of a small gathering of friends, presses herself into me and asks me if I think her boyfriend would mind her doing this (this is well before we made out in the backyard of a party house while under the influence). A twenty year old college cutie, a complete stranger, falls into my arms while out dancing and knocks us both to the floor. If I sound rather passive in all this it's just that things were happening that I had never imagined or planned for (this is just the PG version). I was constantly bewildered and could barely keep up with the rapidly moving plot that was my life. The crash course I received in navigating relationships across the divide of decades was fraught with mistakes and embarrassments. Although we enjoyed being together we were at very different places in our lives and often talked past each other. The absolute moral certitude with which my young friends made pronouncements about the world grated on my nerves. I felt terribly old whenever I tried to suggest that in real practice there are lots of gray areas, only to be accused of compromising with the lies of the Military-Industrial Complex (or the Patriarchy, or the Forces of Oppression, or the Conservative Conspiracy, or the Government, or the Matrix, or WalMart). In truth I shared may of the same sympathies but as tempered by a few years around the block.We were locked out of each other's worlds by virtue of birthdays in divergent eras. Eventually I settled down and married again, to woman significantly younger than me, and have learned to make a go of a May-December romance. She was literally, by the way, born in May. I was born in December. If that's not Fate laughing in my face I don't know what is. I am fascinated by relationships involving age differences, therefore, and wanted to see if I could write an erotic summer romance involving two people separated by the gulf of generations. If the response is good, I may follow up with the story of their first year as told through the other three seasons. Summer's the easiest time of year. The hard part is what comes after.
Part 02: To Solve a Puzzle: The original idea for Summer Shadows popped into my brain whole and entire as a what-if question. It went like this: what if a broken, defeated middle-aged man, returning to his home town for a vacation with his childhood best friend, gets seduced by the friend's sexy daughter while half-asleep, his deprivation, need and semi-conscious state overwhelming his better judgment and ethics. It happens, they have sex, and then full consciousness returns. He realizes what he has done. What next? The story of Summer Shadows emerged as I attempted to tease out the history and motivations of the major players without making anyone a bad guy/girl but without letting anyone off the hook either.
S.M. Leonard
By preparing myself to be open to the erotic in whatever form it appears. A sexy moment, a crazy idea, a vivid image from film or television, a what-if question that piques my curiosity. I actively look for appearances of the erotic as if watching for birds. I listen as if expecting a song. If it seems elusive then I travel to places where I hope to find it. This area where I live is still fairly new to me so I am learning every day new places to explore. For me, the erotic is intimately tied to the terrain of a place, and to the way it impresses itself upon my brain and my senses.
S.M. Leonard
If I have a weapon handy I shoot it. The headache is terrible but it relieves the pressure and lets me write again, assuming I don't die. That's annoying. Writer's block for me usually results from being overly tired and underly inspired. It's kind of like being sick. You treat it with lots of bed rest and plenty of fluids. Bombay Sapphire gin works the best. I also need to do things that are fun and sexy, things that re-fire the coals of desire. Music, dancing, writhing in small clubs against sweaty bodies: these are the things that make life worth living. Swimming, communing with nature - these help, too, by taking me out of my mind and into my body. That's where the inspiration lives.
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