Ask the Author: S.A. Collins
Answered Questions (6)
S.A. Collins
I don't know that I ever have had writer's block. The creative process is iterative for me, in that I am always processing scenes and dialog and plot constantly in my head. I may not put anything down on paper for a couple of days but when I do it is well between 10K to 20K words in a single sitting. My works grow by leaps and bounds whenever I do sit down to write. With close to 10 proposed works (outlined) already laid out for me, I am not sure I will experience writers block for sometime yet. I guess I'll save this one and come back to it when/if I do.
S.A. Collins
That you get to be a literary god. But that's also the worst part of it, as well. Being a god can be a bit grueling. I love it, but it is taxing. For me, I have to know the most intimate detail of every character before they ever appear on the digital page. It's part of my years in professional theater (under a different name). I have to know character sub-text to nearly the nth degree. It's just how it works for me. So the creation process for me is rather daunting. But, having said that, Angels of Mercy sprung up, very nearly formed as it is today, from the span of one highway exit to the next - a total of about 5 minutes. I started writing it as soon as I got back in the house. So the muse can strike whenever and wherever it can. You have to be ready to pick up the mantle when it does.
S.A. Collins
Be fearless and unrelenting in your strive to be the best in your craft that you can be. Take no umbrage with nay-sayers and haters, for they'll be there. Don't do it for just the money alone, but for the craft of becoming the best you can be at it. Add your voice to the collection of works out there and take pride in all that you accomplish. Never give up on it. As for me, my one regret I know I'll have when I take my last breath on this earth will be - "Oh, damn, they'll never know how that ended now..."
S.A. Collins
It comes in all forms. Usually it is a theme that is playing around in my head. Or something I've seen that didn't quite work for me as a viewer/audience member. Something I want to play with and see what I can do with a premise.
I am doing this in another proposed series that involves Fae but not of the celtic sort - mine are further back in history to their Norse forebears - The Feigr. That one is gonna be a doozy.
I am doing this in another proposed series that involves Fae but not of the celtic sort - mine are further back in history to their Norse forebears - The Feigr. That one is gonna be a doozy.
S.A. Collins
I am working on my BIG epic (and slightly deceptive) work: Angels of Mercy. This series is my real pride and joy. It is about an out high school gay boy in his senior year (Elliot Donahey) who has kept to the shadows of his entire school life just so he can survive another hellish day. He goes out of his way not to be noticed. Eating alone, secluded from others. He has only one friend on campus and he doesn't get to interact with him as much as he'd like.
Enter Marco Sforza, the start quarterback of their high school - The Mercy High Avenging Angels. Marco is the local god on campus. He's heartbreakingly beautiful in that way that certain boys are. He's got that whole Jon Snow/GOT look going on but with a decidedly Italian flare. Every girl is gunning for him. Only Marco's got a secret. He's been secretly pining over all things Elliot.
What this series does is it tells how these two boys from opposing worlds come together and through their blossoming relationship, try to navigate the final months of high school so they can begin their lives together. It poses the question of what would happen when the shy, but out gay kid on campus finds himself squarely in the arms of the most high profile jock on campus? How would he fair? What would be the fallout from Marco's teammates who've assumed up to this point (only because Marco never said/did otherwise) that he was the total ladies man on campus and now find him hovering around this quiet shy boy that everyone makes fun of?
The story starts in volume 1 from Elliot's perspective, you find him at the end of his summer vacation heading into his senior year when Marco finally makes his move after watching Elliot for 2 years. The boys grow very close very quickly. A heady and steamy romance ensues; all the while a threaded danger lurks in the background stalking the boys. The story ends on a violent climax that leaves you wondering what will happen to them next.
Volume 2 picks up from Marco's POV where you get to go back those 2 years as he falls desperately in love with Elliot but from a distance. The pressures he finds himself to "stick with the script" all jocks go by. The unspoken rules that he has to deal with when all he wants is Elliot, front and center and in his arms. This book leads you through the same sequence of events but explains some of the mysterious happenings from Elliot's book through the violent event that nearly breaks them to a reemergence from that dark terrible night.
Volumes 1 and 2 will be released simultaneously and Volume 3 will be told by yet another boy who has been present all along but the reader may not have picked up had a very big role in it all along. Volume 3 will be released by the end of the year (fingers crossed).
It is a character study that begins with a heady romance but devolves and descends into a hellish turn of events that presses Marco and Elliot to dig down deep and commit to what their love really means for each other to come out the other side stronger for it. It is also a tale of revenge and of murder. But there is a brilliant and lasting light at the end.
I hope I've intrigued you enough to visit my site at http://www.sacollins.com/works/storie... to read more about Elliot and Marco and the great ensemble of characters I've put together in this small Northern California Coastal town near Big Sur. It is my greatest work to date yet. I hope you'll be enticed enough to check it out when volumes 1 and 2 are released at the end of the first quarter this year (2015).
Enter Marco Sforza, the start quarterback of their high school - The Mercy High Avenging Angels. Marco is the local god on campus. He's heartbreakingly beautiful in that way that certain boys are. He's got that whole Jon Snow/GOT look going on but with a decidedly Italian flare. Every girl is gunning for him. Only Marco's got a secret. He's been secretly pining over all things Elliot.
What this series does is it tells how these two boys from opposing worlds come together and through their blossoming relationship, try to navigate the final months of high school so they can begin their lives together. It poses the question of what would happen when the shy, but out gay kid on campus finds himself squarely in the arms of the most high profile jock on campus? How would he fair? What would be the fallout from Marco's teammates who've assumed up to this point (only because Marco never said/did otherwise) that he was the total ladies man on campus and now find him hovering around this quiet shy boy that everyone makes fun of?
The story starts in volume 1 from Elliot's perspective, you find him at the end of his summer vacation heading into his senior year when Marco finally makes his move after watching Elliot for 2 years. The boys grow very close very quickly. A heady and steamy romance ensues; all the while a threaded danger lurks in the background stalking the boys. The story ends on a violent climax that leaves you wondering what will happen to them next.
Volume 2 picks up from Marco's POV where you get to go back those 2 years as he falls desperately in love with Elliot but from a distance. The pressures he finds himself to "stick with the script" all jocks go by. The unspoken rules that he has to deal with when all he wants is Elliot, front and center and in his arms. This book leads you through the same sequence of events but explains some of the mysterious happenings from Elliot's book through the violent event that nearly breaks them to a reemergence from that dark terrible night.
Volumes 1 and 2 will be released simultaneously and Volume 3 will be told by yet another boy who has been present all along but the reader may not have picked up had a very big role in it all along. Volume 3 will be released by the end of the year (fingers crossed).
It is a character study that begins with a heady romance but devolves and descends into a hellish turn of events that presses Marco and Elliot to dig down deep and commit to what their love really means for each other to come out the other side stronger for it. It is also a tale of revenge and of murder. But there is a brilliant and lasting light at the end.
I hope I've intrigued you enough to visit my site at http://www.sacollins.com/works/storie... to read more about Elliot and Marco and the great ensemble of characters I've put together in this small Northern California Coastal town near Big Sur. It is my greatest work to date yet. I hope you'll be enticed enough to check it out when volumes 1 and 2 are released at the end of the first quarter this year (2015).
S.A. Collins
It was born out of something I wanted to do for the first fan I ever had. He is a big fan of werewolves. So I wanted to write something for him in that genre. Typically, I don't write to a specific genre but in this case I wanted to make an exception. I also thought it would be a really great idea to harken back to those good ol' movie going days during the 1940's and 50's when they used to run those short serial movies before the main feature. So HO'M,O is a decidedly gay take on that. It's spooky fluff stuff. It's meant to be a slightly scary homage to those silver screen shorts of yesteryear but with a gay and slightly erotic edge to it. I also decided to play with the idea that witches were involved in this world somehow. Since my husband hails from Wheeling, West Virginia I wanted to set it there – my little nod to him, as well. He helped me with keeping Hank O'Malley's voice truer to the W VA dialect within the piece. However, for clarity sake I made a conscious decision to scale back the dialect within the narrative (when Hank is telling you the story from his perspective); I did leave the Appalachian dialect intact for the spoken dialog. I think it comes off as a fairly easy read despite the strong dialect I've put in there.
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