Thursday, June 16, 2011

Huge NAC Welcome to Guest KA MItchell!

Dalton, here. Have you ever wondered if the Naughty Author Chicks have fave authors? Of course we do! I've yet to meet an author who doesn't read voraciously, and you don't stop being a fan when you get published. And if you're really lucky, sometimes you get to meet your favorite authors and find out they're wonderful people.
Today, I get to share one of my faves with you. Please welcome, KA Mitchell!

To Smut or Not To Smut
by KA Mitchell
www.kamitchell.com

I thought that might not be a bad question over here on Naughty Author Chicks. Thanks for having me, guys.

I'd apologize to the Bard of Avon for appropriating his words like that, but I think he'd understand. After all, Shakespeare was someone who was using his creativity to make money, you know, a commercial fiction writer, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say one of the reasons his initially mercenary endeavors survive is because he let the characters drive the plot.

I can't say enough about letting the characters steer the book. It makes the things that happen more believable and when your plot fails, readers (like me!) will stick with you because we love your characters. This goes for when, how and how often your characters get naughty, which takes me to back to the focus here.

I love letting my characters grow and change and fall in love through sex. They're guys—hey now, is that the stuff up there in the heading on this blog? It looks kind of strange from my world—so they're comfortable with that too. It's been said of sex "Women need a reason, men just need a place." (As a visiting Naughty Author Chick, I'll say women sometimes just need a place too, but we're still talking romance, so I'm going to run with the other version.) My guys aren't always using their downstairs brain when they first lay eyes, hands, lips, tongues and other parts on each other, but—and here's the point—BUT, what they do and when they do it still has to be about who they are, what drives them as people.

I just wrote two books with connected characters, Bad Company, which came out on June 7 and Bad Boyfriend which is coming out December 7. In Bad Boyfriend, it's a matter of an hour from a wink to sex—which includes spanking and some other D/s kink. In Bad Company, it is weeks before the characters get there—like a hundred pages, which may be an all-time record for me (and it's pretty vanilla). The thing is, that's what Nate and Kellan needed. I wanted them doing it earlier—man, did I. I have a reputation and all, but it didn't work for them. And I had to respect that or lose the story, the characters, the romance. On the other hand, Eli and Quinn both needed the kinky sex they had within an hour of seeing each other to start them on their story. Eli and Quinn were strangers to each other, Nate and Kellan had known each other since they were seven. Sometimes history gets in the way.

Regarding the "to smut or not to smut" dilemma (which is much better than contemplating suicide, eh?), in my eleventh book, I seem to have come full circle from my first. Custom Ride, the first thing I sold, opens with, "Ryan didn't do random hook ups. But try telling that to the hand around his dick." In Bad Company, one of the first things Kellan says to Nate is "I need a boyfriend." Kellan wants to fake romance, needs a long time to get ready for the reality of it. No random hook ups, really this time.

As fun as a generalization like "Women need a reason, men just need a place" is, the characters—no matter internal or external genitalia—have an attitude about sex. The more authors, Naughty and Nice alike, let that feeling drive the where, when and how, the better outcome (sorry, I'm a punner) for them, the writer, and the readers. To mess with the Bard again, "thus conscience does make players of us all" whether we're teasing with a will-they/won't-they have sex or fall in love, and that keeps readers turning pages. Which is all any Naughty Author Chick—or guest—could want.

Thanks again for having me.


BAD COMPANY
Copyright © 2011 K.A. Mitchell
All rights reserved — a Samhain Publishing, Ltd. publication

Buy Now






Blurb:

Some things are sweeter than revenge.

“I need a boyfriend.”

Hearing those words from the mouth of his very straight ex-friend is enough to make columnist and editor Nate Gray choke on his Corona. It’s been thirteen years since Kellan Brooks’s father crushed Nate’s family on his climb to wealth and power. Even longer since he entrusted Kellan with the confession that he might be gay—only to have his best friend out and humiliate him to their entire high school. The last thing Nate expects is Kellan begging for his help.

Breaking off his engagement to a senator’s daughter was the last straw for Kellan’s CEO father. Frustrated at being cut off, his father’s stinging words—that he wishes Kellan had never been born—still ringing in his ears, Kellan turns to Nate. In a move worthy of a corporate raider, Kellan plans the ultimate revenge. Come out as the boyfriend of the man his homophobic father betrayed.

Convincing Nate to play along isn’t easy. It’s even harder to figure out why the lie feels so close to the truth.

Product Warnings: Contains old friends, old enemies, a dramatic cat rescue, soft drink references and a lot of teasing before the steamy sex. Readers are cautioned against drinking any beverage while reading to avoid accidental snorting or spraying of said beverages.

Excerpt:
Chapter One
Kellan licked dry lips before tugging open the door to J.J.’s bar. Stepping into the cool darkness after a long walk under Baltimore’s late-spring sun had him blinking rapidly to keep from crashing into anything. Not that there was much to crash into. The bar was almost deserted.

He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. He’d never been in a gay bar before, and from the way they looked on TV and in the movies, he’d expected to be tripping over guys grinding away on each other. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, but Kellan hoped he’d have time to work up to shirtless guy-on-guy grinding.

In addition to the absence of grinding, Kellan also noticed the lack of a disco ball and a thumping soundtrack. J.J.’s could have been any Baltimore bar at five thirty on a Monday afternoon, right down to ESPN playing on the set hanging over the bottles arranged behind the bartender.

The barstools weren’t completely empty. As his eyes adjusted completely, Kellan saw what he’d come here for.

Kellan hadn’t seen Nate Gray for fifteen years, but even with Nate’s back to him, Kellan could have picked him out of a crowd much larger than the five guys in the bar. Who else would sit up that straight, especially on a barstool? Nate would never change. Kellan pictured the too-serious expression Nate always wore, lips tight like he was afraid to smile too much, dark anxious eyes behind those round Harry Potter glasses—which Nate had worn years before anyone knew who Harry Potter was.

Nate turned like he could feel Kellan’s stare then quickly turned away. Had Nate recognized him? Even if Nate wasn’t happy to see him—and given the way Kellan had acted back in ninth grade, he couldn’t blame him—it didn’t matter. The long walk had given Kellan more than dry lips and sun blindness. It had made him twice as goddamned sure he taught Geoffrey Brooks he couldn’t control his son the way he ran his company.

That determination had Kellan striding down to the end of the bar to jostle Nate’s elbow and blurt out, “Hey, Nate. So, you’re still gay, right?”

Unfortunately, Kellan’s timing sucked. Nate choked, spewing what he’d just drunk from the Corona bottle across Kellan’s left sleeve. Kellan used the excuse of slapping him on the back to wipe off his arm.

Nate shook him off, wiped his own face with the back of his hand and turned. Kellan had been right. Nate didn’t look very happy to see his old friend.

Well, maybe friend was pushing it after the way things had gone back then. But they’d been friends for seven years before that one year when they weren’t. If Nate would let him, Kellan could make it up to him. The sneak attack might not have been the best idea, but it was getting late and unless Kellan wanted to spend the night on a park bench, he needed to get the ball rolling. Besides, once Nate heard the plan, Kellan knew he would go for it. Nate had almost as much reason to want to put the screws to old Geoffrey as Kellan did.

Nate’s eyes, already uncomfortably different without the familiar glasses, were half-lidded and lazy as he took his time looking Kellan up and down, gaze lingering on Kellan’s crotch long enough to make him squirm. “Kellan Brooks. My day from hell is complete. Yes. I’m still gay. And guess what?” Nate leaned in like he had a secret and then said in a loud whisper, “I think this is a gay bar. You might want to cover your ass with both hands as you run for the door. Wouldn’t want to get any queer on you.”

When this brilliant idea first hatched in Kellan’s brain, he had skipped over the explaining-it-to-Nate part to get to picturing the look on the old man’s face when he got the bad news.

Kellan could do this. Nate had always given in before. But it would be easier if he stopped sneering at Kellan as if he were dog s**t stuck to Nate’s shoe.

“Okay,” Nate said, rolling his eyes after a long pause. “Now that we’ve cleared that up, I need another beer.” He pushed the dripping bottle across the bar.

Kellan slid onto the barstool next to Nate. “I need a boyfriend.”

Nate looked like he was going to start choking again, though his beer was empty, then his face went hard and still. “Blow me.”

Kellan put a hand on Nate’s sleeve, and Nate shook him off again. “You don’t understand. I really need a boyfriend.”

“No, you don’t understand. I really need some head, so if you’re not going to blow me, leave me the f**k alone.” Nate shifted on his barstool, leaning forward and back, glancing over his shoulder. “I swear if someone from the paper is punking me—”

“Can I explain this to you?”

The bartender set a fresh beer in front of Nate.

“If you’re paying, I’ll listen.” Nate nodded at the beer.

“I can’t.” Heat hit Kellan’s cheeks, and he dropped his gaze.

“Right. You can’t afford a beer.” Nate slapped a ten on the bar and glanced around like someone would save him from having to deal with Kellan.

“I spent my last twenty on a cab to get to the paper. They said you’d be here, so I walked.”

“A whole five blocks? Alert the media.”

It had been more like fifteen. But with Nate sneering at him, showing the same kind of disgust Kellan’s dad was always quick to dish out, the words died in his throat and the flush got hotter, spreading into his neck. His cheeks felt as lit up as Rudolph’s famous nose. He’d never been able to stop it, but until now, Kellan thought he’d given up being ashamed. Funny that Nate could make him feel worse than the old man could. Even with what he’d thrown at Kellan today. He tried to catch Nate’s gaze. “Will you listen to me?”

“Can you give me one single f**king reason why I should?”

With a desperate hope that Nate’s memories went back a lot further than that year where things had gotten weird, Kellan shoved up his sleeve to show the scar on his forearm, knowing Nate had one to match, a gift from a spike on a cemetery fence to two seven-year-old boys who had snuck off late one night because Kellan had wanted to introduce his brother to his new friend. When they fell bleeding onto the ground outside the cemetery, Nate had suggested that they become brothers the way some kids had done in a book he read. Nate understanding how much Kellan missed having a big brother had been worth his mother’s freakout and the terrifying tetanus shot when their adventure became public knowledge.

“That still count for anything?” Kellan pulled his sleeve back down.

“Didn’t count for much as I remember.” Nate’s eyes narrowed, but there was nothing lazy about the look this time. “Cash, grass or ass, man.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing’s free. You won’t blow me, you won’t buy me a beer, and for damn sure I don’t owe you any favors.”

Kellan shrugged, trying for an ease he didn’t feel. “Maybe you’ve got me confused with my dad, man, because I never did anything to you or your family.”

“So that wasn’t you laughing while your asshole friends showed the little faggot what a swirly was on the first day of high school?”

There wasn’t anything Kellan could say to fix that. Couldn’t explain why instead of sticking up for Nate the way he’d always done, this time Kellan had gone along, promising himself he was there to make sure things didn’t get too carried away and that Nate didn’t get hurt. Kellan knew that didn’t count for much.

Nate slammed his beer onto the bar and stepped off the stool. “Well, this has been a f**ked-up end to a long day. Good luck with that boyfriend thing. Play safe and remember to use lots of lube.”

“Dude, wait.”


Dude, man, Nate was sure there was a bro waiting somewhere behind lips that were a shade too full to go with the rest of Kellan’s sharp features. Maybe the asshole really thought he could dump the blame on his dad then pretend it was just like the old days. Nate kept right on walking out of the bar.

He pulled his scooter off the sidewalk, strapped on his helmet and turned the key. Kellan grabbed the handlebars.

Nate probably could have managed to take off without dragging seventy-five inches of Kellan Brooks across the sidewalk, but he snapped, “What?”

“I don’t have anywhere to go.”

What Nate meant to say was Why the f**k is that my problem? but what came out was “What do you mean?”

“My dad threw me out—cut me off—and…”

“What about your friends? Your fiancée?” Nate wanted to bite the words back and ended up biting his tongue. Now Kellan would know Nate had bothered reading up on the dickhead’s life on the gossip sites, watched clips of him in that reality show he was on. In Nate’s defense, he worked for a newspaper. There might have been a reason other than that he still gave a s**t about the big idiot.

“We broke up,” Kellan said flatly.

“Again? What was she, fiancée number five?” Damn, like that wasn’t obviously bitter.

“Three.” Kellan licked his lips.

Nate knew damn well Kellan wasn’t flirting, sudden inexplicable quest for a boyfriend or not. But Nate didn’t have a boyfriend, hadn’t even had a hookup in over a month, and his eyes moved from the pink tongue on Kellan’s lips to his green eyes and sun-streaked dirty-blond hair before Nate could remind himself that was a bad idea.

With a mental shake of his head, Nate said, “You’ve got to have some other friends. Because whatever I am, I’m not that anymore.”

“I owe most of them money.”

“Well, if you came looking for cash, you came to the wrong place.”

The scooter between Nate’s legs had suffered greatly in its previous existence as a vehicle of Chinese takeout. Despite the amount of non-wok oil and grease Nate had used to get it running again, the smell still hovered, unpleasant enough to cure him of a life-long craving for Kung Pao chicken.

Kellan still clung to the handlebars.

“Why did your dad throw you out?”

If Kellan said it was because he really had come out, Nate supposed he could find some sympathy in the midst of a big pile of serves-you-f**king-right. But the spark of sympathy drowned in a sudden stream of porn featuring Kellan’s wide mouth panting and bruised from hard kisses sliding down Nate’s c**k, making him shift uncomfortably on the thin seat.

“Can I— Can we go someplace so I can explain it to you?”

Kellan didn’t have the kind of big round eyes that should be necessary to pull off that wounded-puppy look. But it wouldn’t be the first time that appeal had suckered Nate in. And his tendency to take in strays had convinced his parents Nate was destined to be a veterinarian.

He nodded.

Kellan let go of the handlebars.

“Are you going to hop on or jog alongside?” That sounded a lot more confident than the situation warranted. Nate wasn’t exactly sure the scooter would make it ten blocks with Kellan’s added weight.

Kellan swung a leg over from the back, the careful way he arranged himself a clear indication he was trying to limit his touch to scooter rather than anything made of Nate. That lasted until they lurched away from the curb and into rush-hour traffic. Kellan’s hands landed first on Nate’s shoulders, then on his hips.

As they stopped for a light on Eastern, Kellan leaned close, breath tickling Nate’s ear. “What’s that smell?”

17 comments:

Dalton Diaz said...

Thanks for coming, and wow, can't wait to read these new books.

Seriously, folks, if you've never read a KA Mitchell, get started!

Anonymous said...

OMG! I truly laughed reading your blog because you are just so right on the mark. And the book looks FABULOUS!!!!!!! Glad I had a chance to "meet" you.

Hot Ash Romance Novels said...

Welcome to the NAC blog, KA! We met at a conference. Do you remember me?

Unknown said...

Loved it!!! LOL

Wynter said...

Welcome to the NAC's. I'm all for character-driven stories. Congrats on the release!

Samantha Wayland said...

I love this blog and I love love love your books. I had the release of Bad Company on my calendar so I wouldn't have to wait for a minute longer than necessary. Though, really, I'm still suffering from the burning desire to have children with Tony Gemetti (if all your Naughty Author Chicks and Naughty Author Readers haven't read "Not Knowing Jack", it's another MUST buy!).

But seriously, all gushing aside, great blog. You are true to your characters, and your characters that I always want to know and fall in love with myself. I hope Bad Company is a huge success!

Maggie Nash said...

Great blog KA. So true! If the characters aren't developed, and if they don't behave in character, you lose me, but if you keep to character, I'll follow you forever :-)

Penny Watson said...

This book sounds great! I think the biggest challenge for an erotica writer is to fuse the emotional and sexual components of a story and "make them work" (as Tim Gunn would say!). That is such a good point that the characters will dictate how fast/how emotional/how kinky will work for them. Even if you want to add in a love scene, if it's not right for the characters at that moment in the book, they'll tell you. (Possibly with cuss words!...hee hee!).

Cara McKenna said...

Holy God, how am I so late to this conversation?

I'm sure she doesn't remember it, but I fan-girl sweated all over K.A. at the 2010 New England RWA conference book signing. Then, this year, I randomly sat next to her at lunch and played it so cool even I was impressed with myself…though I was still all sweaty on the inside. No, wait, that sounded sexual. Ew. Or yay? Nevermind. But this year I got to wave at her from my own bookfair table and say "happy birthday!" more times than was strictly dignified.

Since I became a writer, I've found it really hard to get lost in books, especially within my genres. The author has to have a really strong voice and impeccable pacing, or I catch myself trying to mentally "self" edit. It's a side effect of still being a student of the craft, and while I trust it will fade eventually, it's maddening. Yet I never have that problem with Mitchell's work. I get way too sucked in.

I'm fan-girling again. Go buy K.A.'s hot m/m smut! You'll be hooked and sweaty on the inside too, I promise.

Dalton Diaz said...

Cara, exactly!

Jina Bacarr said...

Hi, KA! Really enjoyed your post and excerpt. Spot on with the character development driving the story--and a very, very sexy excerpt as well!

K.A. Mitchell said...

Dalton, Thanks again for the invite and the love.

Hi Desiree! Thanks! It's great to meet you too. I had a lot of fun writing my post.

Hi Ashlyn, I do remember meeting you. Dalton was kind enough to haul me into her posse.

K.A. Mitchell said...

Lianne,

Thanks! I love running off at the mouth (as you can see!)

Hi Wynter, Thanks for the welcome. I loved the chance to stop by, It's always about character. Unless you have an awesome monster. But then it's about awesome characters fighting the monster. ;)

K.A. Mitchell said...

Samantha,

Thank you so much. Bad Company is doing well. I was really excited about sharing it with everyone. I had lots of fun with Eli's book as well.

Hi Maggie,

I'm with you. I'll forgive a lot of stupid plot holes if I love the characters!

K.A. Mitchell said...

Hi Penelope,

Exactly! If the emotions aren't fused with the smut, you're writing a stroke book (not that I don't love stroke fiction!) but it's not erotic romance. If the emotions of the story work without the sex scene, the scene doesn't belong in your romance. Mine need it. That's where the characters are vulnerable. That's where they show their feelings.

K.A. Mitchell said...

Cara,

How could you not get all sweaty when I show you awesome pics on my phone! Aw, thanks for the fangirling! And Tauruses rock. (The zodiac sign, not the car, y'all.) If my Taurus is rockin'...nah.

K.A. Mitchell said...

Hi Jina,

Thanks for leaving a comment. It's always about the characters--even when I need to smack them so much I find myself trying to reach through my monitor!

Bad Company was a fun book to write.