Author Spotlight - Kevin Klehr
From an early age Kevin had a passion for writing, jotting down stories and plays until it came time to confront puberty. After dealing with pimple creams and facial hair, Kevin didn’t pick up a pen again until he was in his thirties. His handwritten manuscript was being committed to paper when his social circumstances changed, giving him no time to write. Concerned, his partner, Warren, snuck the notebook out to a friend who in turn came back and demanded Kevin finish his novel. It wasn’t long before Kevin’s active imagination was let loose again.
Kevin’s first novel, Drama Queens with Love Scenes, has been relaunched via Wilde City Press along with the sequel, Drama Queens with Adult Themes. Plus his Romance ebook, Nate and the New Yorker is out now.
Website: www.kevinklehr.com
Facebook Author Page: www.facebook.com/DramaQueensWithLoveScenes
Facebook Personal Page: www.facebook.com/kevin.klehr.1
Twitter: www.twitter.com/kevinklehr
Amazon Author page: www.amazon.com/Kevin-Klehr/e/B00D010VPA
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/4298144.Kevin_Klehr
Author Questions
Show All
Hide All
-
Why do you write?
I think there’s something about storytelling that’s addictive, especially in the written form as its mandatory to daydream. Plus sometimes the characters won’t leave me alone. Hold on, maybe that’s the voices in my head. No, it’s definitely the characters.
-
When did you start writing?
I think I came out of the womb with a fountain pen wedged in my chubby little fingers. At school, writing became my favourite activity, and in Grade 5 we were encouraged to write short eight page books for our classmates to read. When we finished a book we’d have to place it on the ledge of the blackboard. My stories were often snapped up straight away so that a fellow student could say (s)he read it first.
I gave away this passion during puberty only to rediscover it in my thirties. -
What genre(s) do you write?
Even if I don’t set out to write Magical Realism, there ends up being a cosmic bent to my work. My drama queen novels take place in Australia and in the Afterlife, both featuring my love of theatre and both featuring an insecure gay angel who has become my readers’ favourite character.
I also have a gay romance novella out that is not your traditional mm story. People don’t realise that it’s a little different until they’re half way through it. -
What does your writing routine consist of?
I record information from real life situations where trains of thought are repeated into my voice recorder. Clever dialogue, actual conversations and out-of-the-blue plot twists are faithfully stored electronically to be added later to whichever project they are best suited for.
When I sit at my laptop, I quickly scribe these thoughts to various documents before opening the manuscript I am currently working on. Then I read aloud the last chapter I wrote, as if I’m addressing an audience. I know this sounds grandiose, but it helps me hear how the writing sounds and gives me my first edit as I fix any typos or sentences that sound as if Yoda said them. -
What do you feel are your strengths as a writer? How have you developed these qualities?
When I was writing my first book, Drama Queens with Love Scenes, I had three separate drafts assessed. Through this process I was told that my strength was dialogue.
Later, when I worked with an editor on this book, she made me delete much of the ‘business’ that was happening around the dialogue. She pointed out that if the words the characters were using to communicate moved the story along, don’t busy it up with sentences that explain their feelings when their own words already give you a sense of their emotions. That was great advice.
One other strength that several reviewers say is that my characters become their friends. One mentioned that when time restricted her from getting back to my first novel, she was missing the eccentric cast. Another is already missing the personalities in my novella, Nate and the New Yorker, after finishing it a couple of weeks ago. -
Where do you find your inspiration? Do you put yourself in your stories?
Real life inspires me, but in my books real life is heavily disguised. In my first novel the characters were loosely based on real people, or people merged together, but they took their own form as the story developed.
There are also many elements of my own relationship in my first book, although sometimes reversed, turned upside down and reinterpreted.
In my mm novella, Nate and the New Yorker, my partner saw elements of our lives in it, which is surprising as the characters are so different from us. -
Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?
I’m very much an outliner. It’s how I work best, although by the time I get two-thirds of the way into a novel, I’ve sped up the story and added some improvised twists.
In my second novel, Drama Queens and Adult Themes, I stuck to my guns with the outline as there are four first-person voices telling the story. As two characters live in Sydney and the other two are wizards in the Afterlife who have cast the spell of lust on the city dwellers, staying on track was my only chance to make sure I didn’t lose momentum or confuse the reader.
In a way, I’m a slow writer. After a draft is completed, I will go back and make any changes I have come up with thanks to observations or ideas that have been jotted down from life observation, then let that manuscript sit for three months while I go back to another project or start a new one.
When I return for the next draft, I print the manuscript out in a font I’ve never seen it in and sit down with my red pen to edit. By then I have more ideas to add to the book and decide if they will work. I’ll also see ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’ or ‘his’ instead of ‘he’s’, and I’ll find sentences that can be expressed more eloquently.
Then I make the changes and add the new scenes before leaving it alone for another three months. Usually draft three or four I’m happy with, so that’s when I’ll submit the work. -
Tell us about your latest book.
My mm novella is my calling card. It’s a way for people to get to know my work at a low cost that will lead them onto one of my more substantial novels.
It’s called Nate and the New Yorker and is about a backpacking Australian who meets a rich American while on holiday in Prague. Well, that’s the traditional romance version of what it’s about. It is really a tale of loss and emotional distance that needs to be reconciled. About a realist and a dreamer. About trying not to take advantage.
Oh, did I mention it was a comedy and that there’s a cross-dressing butler?
(See featured books below for the link) -
Indie publishing or traditional publishing - and why?
I like being traditionally published. I love being assigned an editor and a cover designer, but there is a long time between when you sign the contract and the book comes out.
I was speaking to mm author Nic Starr who told me she mixes her traditionally published work and her indie stuff, just to keep her readers constantly engaged. I like this idea, but as it takes a long time for me to complete a book, I wouldn’t be able to achieve the constant output.
I would like to indie publish something. I have a couple of projects that could suit being out there sooner than later. I just have to pick which one. -
Any other projects in the pipeline?
I’m putting the finishing touches on my first (and probably only) erotic comedy. It’s a tale of tops who decide they’d like to bottom. I found the sex scenes challenging to write and am about to revisit this novella for its second draft.
I have also finished the first draft of the Nate and the New Yorker sequel, Nate’s Last Tango. Although it will be a couple more months until I revisit it, there are already changes and extra scenes I’d like to add.
My next Afterlife novel, Drama Queens and Devilish Schemes, is slowly coming about. It’s been in the works for a very long time, but there are some new scenes I’d like to add that talk about fate and, curiously, another scene that features one of the characters from Nate and the New Yorker.
And I have a passion project that’s not a gay novel. It’s a dystopian tale that looks at where social media will lead us in the future. It’s not suited to my current publisher so I’m currently pimping it around. -
What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?
I want to have a body of work behind me that’s good. I think that’s why I’m very particular about getting each book perfect. And I want to widen my audience, making readers discover that I play with genre.
But mostly, I just want to be an established storyteller, getting better in my craft with each new book. -
What is the best piece of writing advice you've ever been given?
At a workshop run by an author I was told that once you finish a draft, put it away for at least three months and work on something else. I mentioned this earlier, but it really is the only way you can see what’s wrong with your novel, especially the first draft. Send it off to publishers before you do this and you will keep getting rejected, and for good reason.
The other piece of advice that’s important is one that’s drummed into us – show don’t tell. I can’t overemphasise this. I read a book recently where I was told how beautiful a eulogy was and how it moved a certain character, while all along I wanted to hear the words that were spoken, not simply be told about it. Telling and not showing make the reader feel secondary.
Featured Books
|
Cameron has it all. He’s rich, lives in Manhattan, and even has a cross-dressing butler. But then he meets Nate, an Australian who’s bitter about love. Cameron is determined to turn this realist into a dreamer by sharing his world of classy restaurants, Broadway shows and fabulous parties. And while Nate’s friends see the makings of a fantasy romance, it’s Nate who has to learn that in order to open his heart, he has to face a painful secret.
Click here to view an excerpt See more about this title on: Amazon Wilde City Press |
|
Close friends Allan and Warwick are dead. They’re not crazy about the idea so to help them deal with this dilemma are Samantha, a blond bombshell from the 1950s, and Guy, an insecure angel.
Allan also has a secret. He has a romantic crush on his friend, Warwick, but shortly after confiding in his new angel pal, his love interest falls for the cock-sure playwright, Pedro. Not only does Allan have to win the heart of his companion, he also has to grapple with the faded memory of how he actually died. Click here to view an excerpt See more about this title on: Amazon Wilde City Press |
|
Adam’s about to discover how much drama a mid-life crisis can be. He’s obsessed with Mannix, the nude model in his art class. But Adam has been married to Wade for nearly two decades, and they don’t have an open relationship.
Little do they know that Fabien, a warlock from the Afterlife, has secretly cast a spell of lust on Adam and his potential toy-boy. As things begin to heat up, Adam’s guardian angel, Guy, steps in. But what’s the best way to save the relationship? Should Guy subdue Adam’s wandering passions or instigate a steamy threesome? Click here to view an excerpt See more about this title on: Amazon Wilde City Press |
Bonus short story from Kevin:
