They’re Watching You: How the story began

They’re Watching You is a gay romance about two musicians, Ed and Aleck. Ed is out, and Aleck—who is much more successful—isn’t. This story is about the dynamics in their budding relationship, and also about some external issues they face.

Like a lot of my stories, They’re Watching You started with a real person. I saw an interview with a musician, and something about his character appealed to me. He was shy and didn’t like talking about himself—or anything really—and I found it so endearing that I ‘cast’ him into a story idea.

Or should I say, I had an idea for a story based loosely on my impressions of him. That story begins with the initial meeting between Ed and Aleck, and I knew that the story was primarily about how they met and whether they ended up together.

The character in the book is not the real person or even meant to be a portrayal of that person (which is why I’m not going to say who it is.) Instead, I sort of see it like they’re an actor I used in this story.

I can’t even remember where the idea for the starting point of the story—their first meeting—came from, but once that part was written, the next few chapters almost wrote themselves. The first chapter created the dynamic that drove the next three or four chapters; it was like I’d pushed a ball to the top of a hill, and now I was just watching it roll down.

Unfortunately, once I’d gotten them together, I didn’t know what happened next. Did Ed and Aleck stay together, or did it all fall apart?

For several months I left the story alone, and for much of that time, I thought that the ending would be Ed and Aleck would break up because Aleck didn’t want to be out. The final conclusion—I thought—would be that months later Aleck would be revealed to be in a relationship with another man, leaving Ed to wonder why it hadn’t worked out for them (how could Aleck decide to come out for this other guy, but not for Ed?)

I really didn’t like that ending, even though that was the one I had come up with in my outline, and I think because I didn’t like it I just sat on it. I didn’t want to write that ending.

And then I had an idea for a subplot, and by adding that subplot, I also had an explanation for why Ed and Aleck’s initial meeting had gone so badly wrong. It’s neat when you find something that not only provides an ending, but also fills in a piece of the story that you hadn’t finished.

Once I had those two parts—the beginning, and the subplot—the rest of the story pretty much seemed to just write itself.

Amazon: They're Watching You