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Emmi Lawrence

~ MM Fantasy Romance Writer

Emmi  Lawrence

Tag Archives: mm romance

Coffee & Conversation: What is the most romantic way to propose?

15 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

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FAQ, Fiction, gay romance, mm romance, question, reading, Romance, story, world-building, Writing

What is the most romantic way to propose?

Proposals don’t happen often in my books, or if they do, they aren’t exactly typical proposals in the same way we think of them in the Western world. Though they would be some variation of asking to spend the rest of one’s life with a person.

Because most of my stories take place in secondary world settings where culture might be slightly different, the definition of romantic might change as well. Now, most of the time, I lean toward familiarity because there’s such thing as a strangeness budget, which just means there’s only so much strange a reader can take before they frustrated. If I’m going to demanding a reader learn about a new world with new rules and different fantastical, magical elements, I might not push too hard on cultural differences. But I’d try to do small changes.

this means that what might be the most romantic way to prose in one story might not equate to the most romantic way in another.

Another element that needs to be addressed is the personality differences in characters. This is more basic and familiar because not everyone likes the same things even in our modern world; so while one person might think a proposal in Paris at the Eiffel Tower or in a gondola in Venice is the most romantic, another might think the summit of a hike or during sunset at the beach might be the most romantic.

This means for these types of questions, if indeed, a story deals with this moment, I have to consider the character and the culture and the world. Not to mention the circumstances (i.e., characters are about to die and thus one proposes in case they don’t make it or to give incentive to survive).

My favorite thing to do is to make the setting and situation meaningful to the characters. Whatever might evoke the most emotion in them, the most connection—and in doing so, hopefully the reader.

~Emmi

Canvas Blues – LIV: Yesteryears

03 Wednesday Feb 2021

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Contemporary, Fantasy, M/M, Serial

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Canvas Blues, Fantasy, fantasy romance, Fiction, Flash, gay romance, LGBT, long-reads, Love, M/M, mm romance, Mystery, Novel, prose, reading, Romance, Short Fiction, Writing

CANVAS BLUES
Vignettes Regarding the Artwork of Brendon Kotes

LIV: Yesteryears

Aunt Laurel hired him during August to help with renovating a bedroom. Spackle and dust, paint and stain and a broken window screen later, they’d—his dad helped too—managed to fix the water-damaged wall, put in a new window and redo the closet. Place was a mess for weeks though. Weeks filled with new school jitters chomping up Brendon’s spine.

She had him help paint the window jamb—so he learned flowers the way she wanted them—sage and tulips and periwinkles and Queen Anne’s lace and daffodils and tall sunflowers. No roses; she wasn’t a fan of such an abused flower.

And all the while, he picked her brain the same way he picked beads out of the soles of his sneakers in the car on the way home.

“New beginnings, hmm.” She sucked a lip between her teeth, then hummed a melody under her breath. “New beginnings. Starting something fresh. Bright eyes. Brand-new perspective.”

“I keep thinking butterflies batting at my ribcage.”

“Hmm, yes. The nerves. But beginnings have hope too. A lot of hope. Can’t forget that part.”

“How would I draw that though? Hope?” Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: Where do you like to set first dates?

01 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

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action adventure, answer, Fantasy, FAQ, Fiction, gay romance, mm romance, Novel, question, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Fiction

Where do you like to set first dates?

First dates in novels don’t generally operate under the same rules as in real life.

There should still be the nerves, the anticipation, the tension during, but because in normal, everyday life two strangers aren’t usually that invested in one another immediately, there’s often precious little in the way of emotional stakes. This means that a novel has to work extra hard because there already needs to be stakes at hand (emotional or otherwise). In real life, a bad first date merely means there isn’t a second one. [Except in more extreme cases of stalking, rape, etc., but let’s say for sake of explanation that people are by and large not shitty.] In a novel, a bad first date needs to have more going on.

Which means that first dates in romance novels don’t tend to be right at the very beginning of the book. Some will have the characters slowly falling in love first through either random or arranged encounters. Some will have the first date as the first scene that operates to show a completely different set of stakes rather than romantic or emotional ones (i.e, guy keeps getting calls from boss and could lose his job if he doesn’t answer leading to a horrible first date—the reader is invested in the guy becoming a better person/getting a better, less-awful job, but not yet fully invested in the character’s romance). Some will have a secondary stake that is associated with the date (i.e., the characters are vying for the same goal, are roommates, or discover that they are connected in some fashion that may put them at odds, etc.) Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: What are your 2021 Resolutions?

28 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Announcement, Coffee & Conversation, Personal

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adventure fantasy, COVID, Erotica, Fantasy, Fiction, gay romance, mm romance, Novel, resolutions, Serial, Short Story

This past year has been intense and shocking for most of the world. 2020 is one for the history books, to be sure. Yet, despite the awfulness, the insanities, the exhaustion, the economic downturns, and the snowball effect all these things have had on most people’s lives, I think I managed to get more done than in the two years prior.

In my own writing, this past year I have: Finished Lost Isle and most of the promo work involved; began serializing Canvas Blues on my blog; wrote and published Rise of the Snowmen; wrote a few other short stories that I can publish on my site at a later point; and put a bunch of words into other projects.

For 2021, I have a few certainties and a few hopes:

CERTAINTIES

1) Lost Isle published in March

2) Canvas Blues continued to be serialized

HOPES

1) Republish Shatter by Glass

2) Work on Scorched Isle for a projected 2022 release

3) Christmas is Cancelled published in the autumn

For the first time since I started writing, I’ve sat down and created (with help) a project manager outline for all my goals and projected out when I must have certain pieces of each project completed to meet each final deadline. When I started this blog years ago, it was just meant to be fun, a place to play and publish stories when I had them finished without much thought to long-term viability. It started as a safe-zone and it still is to some extent. However, I would like to see what I can accomplish if I push myself.

This week is ground zero. Wish me luck!

~Emmi

 

Rise of the Snowmen: Chapter One Excerpt

27 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Excerpt, Fantasy, M/M

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action adventure, adventure fantasy, bisexual, Christmas, Contemporary, contemporary fantasy, dark holiday, deadly holidays, erotic, Fantasy, fantasy fiction, fantasy-erotica, Fiction, gay, gay romance, Holiday, mm romance, Novel, Teaser

RISE OF THE SNOWMEN

Enjoy this excerpt from my upcoming novel!

This is a sequel to Those Bloody Christmas Elves, which you can read about here. The excerpt below will give spoilers to Those Bloody Christmas Elves, however, it is not a requirement to read the first story in order to understand or enjoy Rise of the Snowmen :)

CHAPTER ONE

Where the angels creep and the snowmen feed…none survive.

Twas the season, once again, of blissful ignorance and peppermint. Of flashing rainbow lights and warm apple cider. Of spruce and spiders inside homes and sugary delights that ended most often with stomachaches. Not to mention too many presents, off-key carols, and trash. Oh, so much trash.

Too cynical by half.

Taylor frowned into his burnt coffee and shoved his other hand deeper into his jeans pocket. That’s what Greg had said at the start of the drawn-out holiday season, long before turkey had been carved or costumes put to good use. Too cynical by half.

As if the man couldn’t remember how he’d almost lost his little girl last year to an elvish kidnapping and thought the world seemed greener now that days had dulled the terror. As if she had never been in danger of being dragged off to the North Pole in the clutches of the cruelest lie parents told their children.

In fact, that was her laugh now, Mandy Westmill tugging her mother along in her wake as she filled a bag of reindeer food, spilling oatmeal and glitter across the gymnasium floor.

Even with her black hair braided over the crown of her head, Mandy held a hint of her father in her manner. That stubborn set of her jaw. Those dark eyebrows. The way her lips twisted slightly when she grinned. And, of course, that single dimple that popped inward and seemed stuck there in her contagious happiness.

Truly her father’s daughter in so many ways.

Taylor caught her winking at him from across the gymnasium, her finger to her lips in a hush sign and her shoulders hunched forward in a cute attempt at subterfuge. Taylor smiled at her from behind his coffee and returned the wink before casually turning in case Mandy’s mother, Katie, might send a glance his way.

She might not recognize him. After all, they’d only met the few times when Taylor had lingered at Greg’s house during a drop-off or pickup between the two, but Greg wanted to avoid a confrontation. Reason enough why Greg sat safely out in the parking lot of Reynald Elementary school while Taylor cased the place, searching for signs of elvish infiltration.

In years before, elves had nabbed kids right out of the parking lot or snatched them during solo bathroom breaks. Once, during a warmer December, they’d even joined a game of hide and seek out on the playground. Yet Taylor had been there each year, thwarting their efforts and rescuing children from elvish clutches, normally all without parental involvement, or even knowledge.

But last year the elves had struck early and strong, using laced sugar sprinkled on top of the cookies. Mandy hadn’t been the only child nabbed, but she’d been the one Taylor had noticed. And with Mandy had come her father and Greg Westmill wasn’t like any of the other parents Taylor had ever stumbled into dealing with. That man’s stubbornness, his absolute refusal to leave Taylor’s side, not even to go to the police, had spawned a whirlwind of emotions, some of which Taylor still wasn’t sure he understood. Continue reading →

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CANVAS BLUES
Vignettes Regarding the Artwork of Brendon Kotes

A serialized novel begun Jan 29th 2020. Here you can find links to the beginning and the most recent additions.

I: Prologue
II: Present
III: Yesteryears
IV: Yesteryears
V: Present

……….

L: Present
LI: Yesteryears
LII: Yesteryears
LIII: Present
LIV: Yesteryears

New chapters published every Wednesday!
Next up: Feb 10th 2020

FREE SHORT STORIES

THE BAYWATER & THE HURRICANE
(fantasy M/M)

WHAT SECRETS MIGHT REMAIN
(fantasy M/M)

TALL, DARK & HANDSOME
(contemporary M/M)

THE IMMORTAL LOVER OF LAKE PHANTA
(fantasy M/M)

ACROSS THAT OCEAN OF SAND
(fantasy M/M)

MY LIFE, HIS BREATH
(contemporary M/M)

POET’S BANE
(fantasy M/M)

What’s Up!

  • Edwin’s Interview (Lost Isle Launch T-17 Days)
  • Canvas Blues – LVIII: Yesteryears
  • Coffee & Conversation: Is there anything you absolutely refuse to write?
  • A Madman’s Journal (Lost Isle Launch T-24 Days)
  • Canvas Blues – LVII: Yesteryears
  • Coffee & Conversation: What’s the quickest way to make you crazy in a romance?

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