Literary Inspirations in Sinders and Ash
Hi everyone--
I'm delighted to be blogging at AQP today and i'm happy to say that my recent release, Sinders and Ash, has been really well received by readers and reviewers alike. In fact, it was the number two bestselling book at Amber Allure in April. Thank you all so much!
Today, I thought I’d talk about using an older
literary work as some inspiration for a new romance novel (and if you've read Sinders and Ash, you know why i chose this topic). I’ve done this twice
so far. The first time was for my LGBT beach romance, Fire Balls. I knew I
wanted it to be a romance between a flamboyant artist and a more conservative
firefighter. That was a fun premise but I wanted more complexity. I knew my
artist was tiny and it occurred to me that maybe he didn’t think of himself as
the type to appeal to the firefighter who he loves. What flashed into my mind
was the classic story of Cyrano de Bergerac who has the big nose and helps his
friend Christian woo the woman whom Cyrano loves. That gave me a wonderful
twist to my story as I made my artist help his friend the surfer hook up with
the firefighter. Plus, since Cyrano was a great swordsman, I made my artist a
black belt in karate. Presto. Just enough patterning but not so much it was a
take-off or satire.
And then i did it again! We all love Cinderella romances!
And most authors have thought of writing a book based on Cinderella. I wanted
to do something a little different. Far from a satire, I wanted to write a
serious, contemporary LGBT romance based on the pattern of the Cinderella
story. The result is Sinders and Ash. A poor young man,
Mark Sintorella, who wants to be a fashion designer, earns money working in the
housekeeping department of a luxury resort in upstate New York. There he meets
a wild little man who convinces him to dress like a woman in order to show off
his designs to some guest fashionistas. And Mark falls in love with the son of
the fifth richest family in America--Ashton Armitage--who has to marry in order
to receive his inheritance. Writing the book was terrifically fun because I got
to ask the question, “What if Cinderella was real?” I got to imagine how the
story might play out in today’s world. As
you read the book you’ll see that the story stands alone but at the same time
it’s kind of fun to notice the parallels to the Cinderella tale. Cinderella is an old, old trope stretching back to the Greeks and Chinese. I'm happy to get to be a part of its history. Enjoy!
Here is an excerpt from Sinders and Ash to give you a nibble. And thank you so much for dropping by!
Excerpt:
Sinders
and Ash by Tara Lain; MM Contemporary Fantasy
Work hard, stay anonymous and don’t expect much. That’s
resort housekeeper Mark Sintorella’s philosophy of life. After being kicked out
of his family home at sixteen for being gay, Mark knows what it takes to
survive. But how is he going to stay anonymous when he wants to be recognized
as a great fashion designer? And how can he control his expectations when he’s
desperately attracted to Ashton Armitage, the son of the fifth richest man in
America? If Ash doesn’t find a woman to marry he’s going to lose his
inheritance, but he can’t seem to resist the beautiful kid who cleans
fireplaces while hiding behind a black cap and heavy glasses. And then this
crazy elf of a man, Carstairs Pennymaker, has Mark running around looking like
a fashion model wearing gorgeous women’s clothes. The clock strikes twelve and
the wedding follows the ball. Two beautiful princesses line up for attention. But
one isn’t interested and one isn’t a woman. Who will be the bride? Will the
shoe fit? Only his fairy godmother knows for sure.
Pennymaker
turned and looked at Mark. “What are you working on?”
“Excuse me? I, uh, have to clean
some fireplaces this morning. You know they keep the rooms cool just so they
can use them? Makes work for me.”
“That’s not what I mean, of course.”
He turned back to the rack, pushed some jeans aside. “Aha!” His hand shot
through the garments to the dress form. He made an opening in the clothes and
stepped through to stand beside the red dress. “Perfect. Just beautiful. What a
talent.”
“Excuse me?”
The little man beamed at him. “You
have exceptional design skills.”
God, it was hard to not be
flattered. “Thank you, sir.” But how had the man known to look for the dress?
Who told him?
Pennymaker walked over to the chair
and sat. Creak. Hopefully the tiny
man wouldn’t strain the old wood too much. “I would like to show that dress to
some people.”
“Uh, who?”
“Let’s say some potential
investors.”
No. He couldn’t get excited. “Uh,
really, sir? You’re in the clothing business?”
“I’m in many businesses, my boy.”
Okay,
try not to be suspicious. “How did you know I was a clothing designer?”
The little man waved a hand. “That lovely T-shirt,
of course.”
“No
one told you?”
“Who
would tell me?”
Had
him there.
Pennymaker
stepped back and surveyed the dress. “Now, who is your model?”
What? Mark cocked his head.
“Who did you set the dress form to?”
“Oh, uh, myself. I, uh, don’t have
anyone else. I’m pretty slim so it works.”
“Perfect. Perfect. When do you have
to be at work?”
This conversation was crazy. “In
about an hour. This is my morning off. Unless they need me, of course.”
“Good. Put on the dress.”
“What?! Why?”
“We’re going for a little walk
through the hotel. You’ll be my…niece. Go on, go on.” He made a shooing gesture
with his hands.
Mark shook his head. “Sir, I know I
fit the dress to me but that’s because I don’t have anyone else. I’m not a
transvestite.”
“Never said you were, dear boy. But
these people I want to have see the dress will be much more amenable to taking
your designs seriously if they think of the idea themselves rather than my
telling them. That’s how we all are, now isn’t it? So I want them to see the
clothes. We don’t have another model and we don’t want anyone else in on our
secret.”
Secret? “What if someone recognizes
me?”
Pennymaker cocked his head. “That is
very unlikely. You do a good job making yourself plain and unmemorable with
your cap and glasses.”
Mark felt the blush. Shoot. The man
had him dead to rights.
“Besides, people see what they
expect and they certainly don’t expect to see Mark Sintorella in a dress. Now,
put it on.”
Mark stepped behind the rack of
clothing. He stripped to his boxer briefs and stopped. What the hell was he
doing? He could jeopardize his job for this crazy-assed little guy with his
hair-brained scheme.
The
voice came from the other side of the clothes. “Do you have it on?”
“Sir, I don’t mean to be rude, but are
you sure about this? I really need the money I get from working here.”
“Tut tut, my boy. Hurry. I want to
make one tour around the lobby and public rooms before you start your
shift. Times a’wastin’. ”
Mark pulled the dress over his head
and let it fall into place. The skirt was just full enough to swing when he
walked so no one would notice his cock under it. “Uh, I don’t have any boobs.”
“Let me see.”
“See
what? What I haven’t got?” He stepped out.
Pennymaker
looked at him studiously. “Gorgeous. You don’t have breasts but then neither do
some women to speak of. I’m more concerned about the hairy legs. Go shave,
quickly.”
“What?
Sir, I don’t think so…”
“This
won’t be your only modeling assignment I suspect so think of it as a long-term
investment. Consider that brilliant young model who walks the catwalks in both
male and female shows. You’re at least his equal in beauty.”
“But…”
“No
buts. This is your future. Now go!”
E-mail:
tara@taralain.com
Website: http://www.taralain.com
Author blog: http://taralain.blogspot.com
Book blog: http://beautifulboysbooks.blogspot.com
Savvy Authors: http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/member.php?2398-Tara-Lain
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/taralain
Labels: Amber Allure, Cinderella, Cyrano, erotic romance, fairy tale romance, gay romance, LGBT romance, MM romance, Sinders and Ash, Tara Lain
posted by Tara Lain at 9:30 PM
1 Comments:
It took forever for this to come up! It was only when I went out of everything and back to my icon screen that there it was.
Every writer finds what works for them. It's great fun to see how you took these ideas and made them work for you. I'm not sure I could use this technique myself. In my WIP, I decided to tie it in to a previous fantasy Amber Quill had published for me. It began with a feeling for me... Once I knew this, I suddenly "saw" the mother of my prince seated on horseback saying, "It's time to be king."
His grandfather is dying, and the shapeshifter prince isn't ready to leave his happy human life to be king of the golden dragons.
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