Indie or Traditionally published? - Tell us how this works for you...
Indie, I love that self-publishing lets me have full creative control over my books. It allows me to write a variety of characters that don’t typically get the spotlight in traditionally published books
Plot or Pants? Do you pre-plot your books, use an outline, fly by the seat of your pants or some combination of things? How do you keep track of characters in a series? Do you keep a journal of your characters’ statistics, such as hair and eye color, relatives, hometown, etc.
I am more of a pantser. I usually start with an idea of the characters, the ending and the major plot and relationship arcs and see where that takes me. I tend to outline four or five chapters ahead of where I’m at so that I have an idea of what is going to happen, but I still get to discover the details along with my characters.
I keep a tracking and reference document with all the character and plot details when I’m writing in a series, just so that it’s easy to look everything up in one place.
Tell us about your first… published M/M fiction/romance
My first published fiction is my Psions of SPIRE series. Technically, the prequel novella Shelter came out first, but my first novel is Bright Spark. It’s a best friends to lovers second chance romance with a poly relationship that includes the couple from Shelter. The series follows an elite team of psions and their psychically linked partners who all work for a government agency in charge of regulating psions. There’s a strong emphasis on found family and psions fighting for their civil rights.
and then your most recent one..
My most recent book is Rising Storm. It’s part of a multi-author gay superhero series, Super U. I had so much fun writing Gerald and Iggy’s super-powered antics. Their love story is a best friends to lovers slow burn romance and they are very sweet with supporting each other through some major life changes with going off to super hero school. And of course there are some supervillains up to no good that only Iggy and Gerald can stop.
As a trans person, I love to include trans heroes in my stories, so of course I couldn’t pass up the chance to write about a trans superhero. As it turns out, Gerald is trans and Iggy is non-binary and it was fun to write about two trans people falling in love.
If you could invite 4 people (real or fictional, living or dead) to a dinner party, who would you invite and what would you serve?
Oh gosh, well, I’m super socially anxious, so I would probably just invite some friends from the US who I haven’t seen in years with all the pandemic travel restrictions. As to what I’d serve, we used to have a yearly tradition with my university friends that we called “the baconing” where we made a giant all day feast of every breakfast food we could name and serve it with an excessive amount of bacon and coffee, so it would be fun to bring that tradition back.
Something people would be surprised to know about you
I can juggle. It surprises people because I’m not great at spatial awareness in general and will walk right into a phone pole without even being distracted.
Dan and Chad from Hauntastic Haunts. I’m not done with those two, they’ve got more mysteries to solve. I have several ideas for more hauntings for my ghost hunters to investigate, more toys to add to their bedroom repertoire, and more ways for their relationship to continue to grow and mature.
Where do you write? Do you have a routine?
All over the place. I do most of my writing on my phone with a bluetooth keyboard. Pre-pandemic I liked to set up at a local cafe, these days I write at home or at the park. My routine is to get words in whenever and wherever I can.
What are your writing goals for the next year? The future?
I’ve got plans to finish Table Topped, my LGBT+ contemporary romance series about a group of gamers, early next year. There is at least one novella in addition to Pia’s story.
I’ve also got the rest of my Summer of Adventures series planned. The second book, Knotty Boy, is up for pre-order and comes out November 1st. That one is about a daddy who is skilled with ropes and a boy who likes spankings.
And last but not least, Hauntastic Haunts has more stories for Dan and Chad to tell. I’ve got one in the works and plans for at least one more beyond that.
What’s the hardest part about writing M/M romance or erotica?
Not having infinite time to tell every story that I might want to write. I have so many ideas I’d love to work on if I had the time to do them all justice, but there are only so many hours in the day.
What is the funniest scene you’ve written?
I think one of the funniest books I’ve written so far is Dungeon Master. I had so much fun with Bob and Martin talking past each other and misunderstanding which type of DM the other was referring to since one is into kink and the other is into D&D. I do like to include humor and banter in all my books, but that one is the one that leans into the laughs the most. I am particularly partial to the scene where Bobby realizes that Martin meant he is a BDSM DM, not a D&D DM.
What made you decide M/M romance was the genre you wanted to write? Do you write other genres?
I chose M/M romance because it’s what I’ve been reading the most these days. I figure I spent the first thirty years of my life reading about cis straight protagonists, so the next thirty can be dedicated to LGBT+ content ;)
When I initially realized I was trans I wasn’t out to a lot of people, and I spent a long time not believing I could be myself and be happy. The M/M romance community and books about people like me finding love and being the protagonists gave me hope that I could be true to myself and have a happy ending of my own.
So when I decided to start publishing, it was important to me to continue to spread that message. That love is love, and LGBT+ folks can be the heroes and get our HEAs.
I do write outside of M/M romance. A lot of my characters are trans, including various non-binary identities that don’t quite fall under M/M heading and I have a few polycules as well as one F/F romance out currently. I also write across multiple subgenres of romance including contemporary, kinky, paranormal, superhero, and urban fantasy, so far. But all of them are about LGBT+ characters and contain a strong romance arc, loving found families, and they all have a happy ending.
How can we connect with you?
You can join my newsletter (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/i2w6l7) or my Facebook group where I try to post weekly snippets of my works in progress (https://www.facebook.com/groups/alexsalcove) or follow me on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Alex-Silver/e/B07NPBW615) and Bookbub (https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alex-silver)
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