Today we have Varian Krylov, author of Dangerously Happy and the recently published and highly-acclaimed Bad Things
Howdy Varian and welcome to my blog!
Why don't you describe yourself as a writer in ten words or less.
Intuitive, selfish, indulgent, seeking, probing, hopeful, despairing, provocative, problematic, improving.
Why do you write?
I've always written, because I've always felt the urge to write. Well, I shouldn't exaggerate—I started when I was five or six. There always seems to be a seed of a story sprouting in my head, and once I feel it tickling my brain, writing it down is like scratching an itch.
I also love playing with language. There were a few years where I wrote nothing but poetry, and those notebooks fill up two copy paper boxes in my storage unit.
But I also write my novels because I enjoy exploring my ideas about relationships and sexuality through the characters I dream up. More and more, I realize that in some ways I'm two people, sexually, and there's a side of my sexual psyche that can only be satisfied through fiction. That side of me absolutely thrives on dynamics and practices that I don't really enjoy in my personal life. And even though it's infinitely more laborious, I enjoy writing these kinds of stories more than reading them.
Have you ever hated one of your characters?
Not any of my main characters, but there are a few secondary characters—especially in After—that I'd like to put in an iron maiden.
Any thoughts about the occasional and surprising vitriol when there’s a little F inserted into M/M?
Haha, it's a perplexing phenomenon. When I wrote my first three novels, I was always anxious readers were going to stone me for spicing up a primarily hetero romance with a side serving of manlove, but I never heard a word of complaint. I confess I was startled when I got schooled in the dangers of letting a lady in on the action in a gay romance. It's not so surprising to me that a gay man wouldn't want to read that, but what caught me off guard was how many female readers of m/m are adamant about not wanting any sex scenes to include women. Personally, I'm very drawn to menage stories, and I find a three way dynamic not only exciting, but in many ways it feels like the ideal balance, at least in fiction. And I write a lot of M/M/F menage. But as sexual beings and as readers, we all have things that repel us, emotionally and erotically, and I've come to understand better that for a lot of readers of M/M, the appearance of a vagina destroys the fantasy they're immersed in.
What made you go indie instead of going through a traditional publishing model?
I had a brief brush with a publisher, who approached me years ago, before self-publishing was so accessible, about publishing Abduction. But during the negotiation of the contract, I came to feel that I was being left with too much of the risk, for how much share in the reward I was handing over to the publisher, so ultimately I declined their offer.
Nowadays, it seems to me that if you're willing to do a bit of tedious work, like formatting your manuscript and hiring an editor and someone to do a decent cover design, you're better off self-publishing and keeping all your royalties. Because publishers seem to do very little, considering what a huge percentage of your royalties you're giving up.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers on how to cope with bad reviews?
Be professional. Event the best writers in the world have critics, and no book is going to be universally liked. Let it sting for a second, then think about it calmly, and see if there's anything in the review that can help you be a better writer.
My first novel, Abduction, is one I still get long and heartfelt notes about; something about that story really struck some people. But a couple reviewers were pretty brutal in criticizing it as being wordy, redundant, and way too long. I was so in love with my story that for years I shrugged off those critiques. But recently I went back and read it, and had to admit they were dead right. So I edited the hell out of it, and I think it's a much better book, now.
Since this is for National M/M month, what do you feel you bring to the genre?
Enthusiasm! Haha.
I'd say a distinguishing characteristic of all my novels is that the central characters confront and overcome their fears through sex. I think I'm a bit notorious for how extensive and explicit the sexual encounters are in my writing, and they're always twined up with the characters coming to terms with something that's holding them back from fulfillment and happiness. My novels are all dark, to different degrees and in different ways; they express my perspective that in life, on both the individual and societal level, fear is omnipresent and corrosive. So I thrive on exploring people struggling through their fear, taking terrible, beautiful risks, and clawing their way to joy.
What are you working on now?
I have a massive three-novel work in progress: these three new novels will be set in the same world—a fictional, present-day region in the chaos of civil war. So, it's a dangerous, complex story world, with high-stakes conflict that will go far beyond the perilous dance of eroticism and romance.
Thank you, Varian!
