Brent’s answer to “Is your character in Two-Thousand Pounds Per Square Inch more or less outgoing than you are? In oth…” > Likes and Comments
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Well, that's an interesting point too. Russel was created in 1999, and I (sort of) based him on me as a teen. But the world was also VERY different back then, regarding anything gay-related and also about sex in general. The first four Russel books were written in the early and mid-00s, and I had to deal with very sensitive edtiors (at HarperCollins), and I also knew the books would be heavily scrutinized by the right-wing (and they were, banned REPEATEDLY). So I had to be discreet due to market pressures, the demands of the genre at the time, and, yes, the character's own shyness. With TWO THOUSAND POUNDS, the contrast between Russel and Brent, i think that makes the story more interesting. In the latest two books (where Russel is 23 and 24), I think he's much more comfortable with sex and sexuality.
Russell's naive but eager nature about the act of sex itself in Two Thousand Pounds was pretty spot-on for a teenager, I remember when it was alien and exciting and weird all at the same time.
And I 'm sorry that you had to face so much scrutiny. It's kind of ridiculous that books with straight sex (with fairly explicit material too) can be found on any supermarket or drug store bookshelf and even in the homes of conservative old ladies, but even the suggestion of gay sex in a book written specifically for gay teens is enough to cause a huge stir.
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Well, that's an interesting point too. Russel was created in 1999, and I (sort of) based him on me as a teen. But the world was also VERY different back then, regarding anything gay-related and also about sex in general. The first four Russel books were written in the early and mid-00s, and I had to deal with very sensitive edtiors (at HarperCollins), and I also knew the books would be heavily scrutinized by the right-wing (and they were, banned REPEATEDLY). So I had to be discreet due to market pressures, the demands of the genre at the time, and, yes, the character's own shyness. With TWO THOUSAND POUNDS, the contrast between Russel and Brent, i think that makes the story more interesting. In the latest two books (where Russel is 23 and 24), I think he's much more comfortable with sex and sexuality.
Russell's naive but eager nature about the act of sex itself in Two Thousand Pounds was pretty spot-on for a teenager, I remember when it was alien and exciting and weird all at the same time.And I 'm sorry that you had to face so much scrutiny. It's kind of ridiculous that books with straight sex (with fairly explicit material too) can be found on any supermarket or drug store bookshelf and even in the homes of conservative old ladies, but even the suggestion of gay sex in a book written specifically for gay teens is enough to cause a huge stir.
But since I've always assumed Russell general shyness is an attribute he inherited from his creator, I wondered if maybe there was a dichotomy between fictional Brent and real Brent ;)