Author Spotlight - Ryan Field
Blog: http://ryan-field.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rfieldj
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2741549.Ryan_Field
Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Ryan-Field/e/B005HZO8HE
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanfield
Riverdale Avenue Books: http://riverdaleavebooks.com/Books?Filters.SelectedAuthorId=26
Author Questions
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Why do you write?
In a very general sense, I write LGBTQ fiction. I often focus on gay erotic romance with a happy ending. And, I’ve also written a few parodies of heteronormative stories like “And Officer and HIS Gentleman,” and “Pretty Man.” But I don’t like to limit myself to one genre in particular. I’m a career writer and I believe it to be true that career writers should be able to write on any topic.
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When did you start writing?
I’ve been writing all my life, but I started getting published in college, where I majored in English, with LGBT publications like Alyson Books and Cleis Press...back when there were only a handful of LGBTQ presses.
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What genre(s) do you write?
For the last few years I’ve been focused on erotic m/m romance...or erotic gay romance...but I have a mystery romance series titled, “The Rainbow Detective Agency,” and I’ve also written heteronormative stories like “A Young Widow’s Promise,” which is a historical set during the Civil War period. I’ve also written some New Adult fiction with pen names.
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What does your writing routine consist of?
I typically work seven days a week either writing, editing, or dealing with social media. My personal goal is to produce at least 2,000 words a day on whatever new project I’m dealing with at the time.
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What do you feel are your strengths as a writer? How have you developed these qualities?
I’m actually still learning something new every single day. I think what got me published and noticed with LGBTQ publishers and editors in the beginning were the erotic scenes I would write. I’m a gay man and a lot of it is based on my own personal experience, with embellishment. But I also believe it’s important to have the erotic/sex scenes move the story forward. In order to prove this I once released two versions of the same novel, one with sex and one without. This is the second book in my “Chase of a Lifetime” series, titled, “Chase of a Dream.” I wanted to show that it could be done, and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. In other words, any novel or story I write would work with or without the sex scenes.
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Where do you find your inspiration? Do you put yourself in your stories?
I find inspiration all over the place, but mostly through social media whenever I see something that catches my eye, so to speak. I have had one constant inspiration...or muse...over the years and I’d rather not mention his name. But he’s fairly well known on social media and he never fails to secretly inspire me. I never put myself in a story. I do put my personal experiences in stories, but when I write any story or novel I’m thinking like the reader might think. I want to be entertained while I’m writing and it has to be larger than life.
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Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?
I’ve done both but I prefer to improvise. I’ve had to outline for publishers in order to present books to them before they went under contract. I find, though, that I rarely stick to an outline because once the characters take over they find their own way in the story. I can write fast if I have to. I was once contracted to write a hetero PG rated romance for The Home Shopping Network titled, “Loving Daylight.” They gave me three weeks to write a 60,000 word novel. I did it. I met the deadline. However, it’s not something I would like to do all the time.
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Tell us about your latest book.
The latest book published is the last one in “The Rainbow Detective Agency,” titled, “Rancho Mirage.” I may write more someday, however, for now this is the last one. It’s been a fun series to write and I like the characters, but it’s time to move on.
(See featured books below for the link) -
Indie publishing or traditional publishing - and why?
I’ve done both and each has an advantage and a disadvantage. I like the control I get from indie publishing, and I love the collaboration I get from working with a publisher. I think I work better with publishers than I do indie publishing. However, I started indie publishing because I didn’t have a choice. Big publishers aren’t looking for LGBTQ material in large quantities. Small presses are shuttering all the time and authors are left without homes for their books. So my reasons for getting into indie publishing were purely pragmatic. I didn’t have a choice.
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Any other projects in the pipeline?
I’m re-releasing several books again this year that were originally published with a small press. I’ve been lucky enough to have the rights reverted back to me without any questions and I always remain on good terms with the publisher.
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What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?
I have many goals, but I think the one main goal with my LGBTQ fiction has always been to give readers what I wanted to read for so long but never could find on bookshelves. Although there’s nothing wrong with dark, realistic LGBTQ stories about coming out and all the harsh lessons we learn, and deal with, I wanted to give readers happy endings for a change. Life is hard for all of us. We need to escape sometimes, and books are one of the best ways to do this. I’m a traditionalist in that sense. I don’t want to read a “romance” without a happy ending. For me, that’s a different genre.
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What is the best piece of writing advice you've ever been given?
Persevere. Just keep writing and don’t stop.
Featured Books
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At a glance, Anton Pagano looks and sounds just like any other twenty-something. He lives in a mansion in northern New Jersey with his mom and dad, and he's never had to worry about anything other than his wardrobe, his latest new car, and the secret love affair he's been having for years. However, Anton has more than just the love affair to hide: he belongs to a Sicilian vampire mobster clan that migrated to New Jersey in the late 1800s.
When Anton's dad, the head of their clan, decides it's time for Anton and his vampire cousin Digger to get into the “family business,” Anton's not all that excited about it. Until he meets a sweet, young human named Leo on his first night at work. They wind up spending the rest of the night together, but things get even more complicated when they bring Anton's secret vampire lover into the picture a few weeks later. After a bloody battle with werewolves, and the beginning of what Anton predicts will be an all-out war between two vampire mob clans in New Jersey, Anton and his secret vampire lover decide it's time to consider turning Leo into a vampire so all three of them can be together for eternity. But thanks to fate, nothing is as simple as it looks, and they wind up doing the one thing they ever wanted to do to Leo as a last resort. View the Excerpt View on Amazon |
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When world famous swim suit model Proctor Gamble discovers his business manager has embezzled all his money and left him with nothing but a few bad investments, he has to figure out a way to liquidate in order to generate cash.
One business is a private detective agency run by a sexy, smooth-talking hipster named Blair Huntingdon. When Blair discovers Proctor wants to shut him down, he tries to persuade Proctor to reconsider, with his penis and a few good slaps. Although the attraction to Blair is too hard to ignore, Proctor doesn’t let mind-blowing sex change his mind about closing the detective agency. At least not until they stumble across a dead guy with a mysterious ring, and a murderous plot that involves the lost paintings of a famous artist who was persecuted during World War II for being openly gay. Can two completely different men who are both struggling to survive figure out a way to save the lost art and their own lives at the same time? And will they recognize how much they need each other in order to survive? View the Excerpt See Alp's Review on Goodreads View on Amazon |
Click the book cover to check out the rest of the books in this series on Amazon ...
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It's rare in life that anyone gets an opportunity for a do-over, especially when life doesn't turn out as we'd planned. The Second Chance series focuses on the fantasy of second chances and getting the opportunity to do things over again...if that's what someone wants to do. The choice is always there. Whether or not these diverse characters will change the course of their lives and take the second chance remains to be seen.
In the first novella of the Second Chance series, an older gay man who has lived a closeted life for ninety-two years is presented with choices one last time. Who hasn't wondered how things might have turned out if only they'd made one or two different choices in their lives? Who hasn't contemplated what it would be like for the chance to do things all over again a different way, if only that were possible? In the second bonus novella from the "Second Chance" series titled, The Littlest Christmas Tree, an unhappy man trapped in a relationship so bad he isn't even allowed a small Christmas tree is granted a second chance to go back in time and rethink the most pivotal choice he ever made. In doing this, he becomes one of the lucky few who can alter the outcome of his entire life. In the third installment of the Second Chance series by Ryan Field, His Only Choice, Lance has to figure out a way to deal with the fact that his partner, Davis, of twenty years will be traveling extensively in Asia and leaving him alone for long stretches at a time. So Lance plunges into making important changes to the small brick and mortar bookshop he owns in New York's Hudson River Valley to keep it competitive with the rising popularity in e-books. He's also trying to deal with turning forty years old and it's not working out well. In order to fill the lonely hours when he's not working, Lance joins a gym and meets a very young personal trainer named Sergio who makes him feel so young and desirable again he starts lying about his age and telling Sergio he's only thirty-five years old. In the fourth installment of the Second Chance series, The Sweetest Apple, there are no guarantees and Matty could wind up reliving a loveless life and repeating the same mistakes all over again. It could also take a different turn, and this time Matty could alter his course. But will he know enough to take advantage of this before it's too late? View the Excerpt from Second Chance View on Amazon |
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If you believe in Christmas miracles, second chances, and absolute true love, then this remarkable journey of rediscovery will guide you through one selfish man’s quest to recapture everything he thought he’d stopped loving.
Wealthy Carl Smite, owner of a high-end Antiques store in Greenwich Village, hates Christmas so much he takes the last dollar bill from a sick delivery boy with one leg on Christmas Eve. Carl despises everything that is good and pure about Christmas, including the fact that his employee devotes his time to handing out free dinners at a homeless shelter. But when Carl goes to sleep on Christmas Eve, he never expects to receive a visit from the ghost of his former business partner, Marty Keller. Marty explains that Carl will have a visit from three Christmas Ghosts that night. The solemn Ghost of Christmas Past takes Carl back to a Christmas when he was in love with the most wonderful man in the world. The lighter, beautiful Ghost of Christmas Present shows Carl what happened to the love of his life and introduces him to the son he never knew he had. And the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who is actually the flamboyant ghost of gay icon, Quentin Crisp, shows Carl the horrible things that will happen to him, and all the people he loves, if he doesn’t start loving again. And while Carl is working through a Christmas Eve he’ll never forget, the romance moves toward a joyful climax of enlightenment and transition as he searches for the true meaning of life and hope. By the time Carl wakes up on Christmas Morning, he’s ready to reclaim the one true love of his life, he runs to save his lost son from death, and he is ready to give back everything he’s ever taken from the world. See Alp's Review on Goodreads View on Amazon |
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When a famous child actor, Dexter Moore, leaves Hollywood and moves to Provincetown, MA, with his daughter and his longtime housekeeper, he doesn't expect to find that his new house is haunted. And especially not with the ghost of a strong, virile young sea captain who looks like Hugh Jackman and makes love like no other living man Dexter has known.
But Dexter must deal with more important things than ghosts. He soon discovers that his ex-partner lost all his money in a bad investment and Dexter is forced to go back to work. So he reluctantly agrees to do an intrusive TV show, where he is followed with cameras for three months. If he doesn't, he'll have to sell his magnificent new home and move back to Hollywood. In order to make the TV show more interesting, Dexter's new best friend gets him involved in a heated town dispute. The new president of the chamber of commerce wants to cancel a town tradition and start something new, and half the town is against him. But Dexter doesn't get involved with this for the TV show or ratings. He's only interested in helping people and saving an important fundraiser from being canceled. While all this is happening, Dexter slowly gets to know the ghost of handsome Captain Lang. He's the only one who can see and hear Lang. They make passionate love together, they spend long hours talking about Dexter's strong feelings, and they start working on a series of books about Captain Lang's notorious adventures at sea that will ensure Dexter's financial future. But when the books are finished and the two men finally admit they are in love, how will they reconcile their feelings with reality? View on Amazon |
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Roland Marcus, still not over the fact that his twenty year relationship has ended, accidentally bumps into a hot young guy in a used book store…a strapping male hustler whom he decides to hire for one week to accompany him to charity events while he’s in New York. He offers him five thousand dollars, with no strings attached, to just stand by his side and look pretty.
Josh Holden, a young guy who is helping to support his son and saving money to buy a business with his best friend and ex-wife, is only too happy to escort Roland anywhere he wants to go that week. And he’s not doing it just for the money… Unlike most stories, where the rich and powerful husband dumps the hard working, devoted life partner for someone younger, this one takes a turn in the opposite direction when the rich husband is the one to get dumped. But with young Josh’s help, Roland learns in less than a week’s time that his future can still hold both earth-shattering sex and a love of real substance. View on Amazon |
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When young Noah Richardson sends an e-mail to the producers of the home renovation show "Dream Away," he has no idea that the host of the show, Jonathan Haynes, will be intrigued and touched by his sad story. Noah, his father, and their black lab, Tucker, have recently relocated to San Francisco to start a fresh new life and heal their wounds. And their house is in dire need of renovation.
Jonathan Haynes is desperate to find an interesting house to film for the show. So he gets on a plane and flies to San Francisco the day after he reads Noah's e-mail. But Jonathan soon finds out that Noah's father, Ed, doesn't know about Noah's e-mail and he has to convince him to do the show. The fact that Ed and Jonathan wind up on the living room floor having passionate sex during their first meeting doesn't help. But Ed finally agrees to do the show. By the time construction begins, Ed and Jonathan can't get enough of each other. They start having secret encounters to satisfy their desires, never realizing they are building a solid relationship at the same time. Then a series of events takes control of their lives and changes them all forever. Ed's not sure what to do. He's in love with Jonathan, and he can't get enough of Jonathan's body. But he feels guilty about starting a new relationship with anyone. So he wrestles with the conflict and begs for a sign to help him decide what to do, which leads to a surprise ending that none of them could have predicted. View on Amazon |
