Larry Benjamin. Wordsmith. Writer. Author.

This week on my blog, we’re trying something different. I have invited several writers, WS Long , Andrew Q. Gordon and Hans Hirschi , all of whom write gay fiction, to join me a virtual roundtable discussion on the topic of sex in gay fiction. Deb McGowan , author, editor and publisher graciously agreed to act as our moderator. This discussion is divided into two parts. Part 1 is below. Part 2 will be posted here on Thursday, April 3, so be sure to check back then to read Part 2. In addition, we have arranged a giveaway of eBooks and a $30 gift card. Just click the Rafflecopter link at the bottom of this page for details and to enter the drawing. You have until 12:00 a.m. April 8, 2014, to enter and winners will be drawn on April 9, 2014. Winners will be notified by email. Meet Our Roundtable Authors Deb McGowan is an author and publisher. She writes character-driven fiction, going wherever the story leads, covering life, love, relationships - the whole shazam. A working cl

In this blog post, I attempt to provide some insight into the creative process that is writing for me, as part of the “My Writing Process” blog hop. Thanks to my fellow writer, the creative and fun Lise Horton   for “tagging” me and allowing me to participate in this fun blog tour.   Feel free to comment in my writing process or ask me a question using the comments section at the end of this post. What am I working on? I don’t move from one project to another. That is, I don’t write for the sake of writing, writing the next book, writing to support myself. After I finish each book, I’m convinced I’ll never write again, sure that I’ve said everything I have to say, sure I have no words left. But I’ve found this isn’t true. I’ve learned that after each book, I simply need to take time to settle , to lay fallow, while the next book takes root in my soul and grows and matures enough to produce fruit, which I pick and which becomes the next book. That said, I recently started

Welcome to Wednesday Briefs ―a blog hop where authors post 500-1000 words of free flash fiction every week.   This week's story is part of my next book, as yet untitled. In today's post I revisit the setting from What Binds Us . In the two years since What Binds Us was published, many readers have asked what happened to Matthew and Thomas-Edward after the book ended. This is not meant to be a sequel but it does provide a glimpse into their lives after their original story ended.   Return to Aurora: Micah's Story I was late, the last to arrive, I knew, but I had to make sure the animals were fed and walked and settled before closing up the shelter for the night. It was my birthday weekend, and the start of the summer season. I saw my dads in the distance strolling down the beach hand-in-hand, passing a bottle of champagne between them. They always seemed complete within themselves, yet they had opened their circle of love to encompass us, their three adopted ch

Today, I’m chatting with m/m romance author, Dev Bentham . Dev and I first met two years ago as new authors when Carina Press   released our debut m/m romances, Moving in Rhythm and What Binds Us on the same day in 2012. Since then we’ve become friends, though we’ve never met. In honor of the second anniversary of debuts on March 19, I thought I’d catch up with Dev and see she’s been up to. LB: Hi Dev! It’s so great to sit down and catch up. DB: Wonderful to see you Larry. Thanks for inviting me. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since being published? DB: I feel like I'm learning all the time. This spring I'll be re-releasing the book that came out right after our release ¾ Learning from Isaac . As I'm editing that book, I'm realizing how much I've learned about writing romance in the past couple of years. While the story won't be essentially different, of course, there are a few things I'll add and at least one scene I'll

As a writer, I tell stories but because for me words are the most important part of telling a story—how it sounds, its rhythms and pacing all, to me, enhance the story. Perhaps because for me, words, you see are the thing . With my stories, with my words, I try to create characters and worlds and invite my readers into those worlds and introduce them to the inhabitants of those worlds, my characters.   With three books under my belt, I have also come to understand the value of good editing.   All of these combine to make me happy to have Nikolas Baron from Grammarly as my guest blogger. Grammarly is an online editing tool that can help writers ensure they are using grammar and punctuation correctly. In this blog post Nikolas talks about travel writing but I believe his advice has broader application because we as writers are inviting readers to take a trip with us, to meet new people, travel to new places. Nikolas Baron How to Entice a Homebody to Travel So You’ve Got Y

THE HAT PARTY!: INTERVIEW: Larry Benjamin : Today we are talking to the delightfully fascinating Larry Benjamin who gets bonus points for sending a delightful picture of himself and h...

Welcome to Wednesday Briefs―a blog hop where authors post 500-1000 words of free flash fiction every week.       I found the graphic on the bottom right on the intranet the other day. It resonated with me because the idea that gay youth aren’t broken is the central theme of my semi-autobiographical, coming of age/romance novel, Unbroken . That prompted me to post a n excerpt from Unbroken as this week’s flash fiction. In it, 15 year old Lincoln, bullied at home and at school, is rescued by a teacher who insists he isn’t broken. Silence I spoke late and when I eventually discovered words, I spoke to my parents of little things, childish things. Distracted, they paid no attention to my words but they noticed my hands. Stop it with the hands, they said. They flutter like little birds, they said. Boys’ hands don’t flutter like little birds, they said. They made me sit on my hands when I spoke. If I was standing, I had to clasp my hands behind my back. My hands stille