What happens when a minor character in one story becomes the star of another? Sometimes, a great big change. I thoroughly enjoyed giving this guy a major makeover.
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Cover photo by Brian Kyed @brnkd unsplash.com, with thanks.
Three key things about A LITTLE TURN:
It’s a coming-out story set April 2010 - March 2011.
The main characters are Robert Anderson, a sports agent, and Jade Derecha, a stylist.
The major themes are trust and transformation.
Robert Anderson is a character created for my very first novella. In that story, he is little more than a name: the guy Sharon is dating. We get none of his point-of-view. This book opens with Robert at the moment when Sharon is returning the ring he gave her.
That scene, and its potential, were my starting point. I wrote a 34,500-word novella between June 15 and June 21. Almost immediately I thought ‘this is a novel you idiot.’ So I went back to the beginning and began filling up all the empty space in the story. It’s now a bit over 70,000 words.
Jade Derecha is a new character. He works at a West Hollywood salon alongside my recurring character Shaya, who has been little more than a name up to now. She is Patrick’s (ONE ENCHANTED EVENING) longtime stylist and also works with Paula Borodin (FACE THE MUSIC). There were reasons to have Jade work as a stylist, and once I knew that was his profession there were reasons to have him work at the same location as Shaya. For one thing, a small city like West Hollywood does not have that many high-end salons, and I needed a person in the co-worker/friend/confidante position for Jade. Plus it was fun to solidify Shaya as a character.
Robert also needed a co-worker/friend/confidante person. Because he’s going through big changes and some extra support was called for, I actually gave him three. His assistant Emily is one. Another is a talent agent in the same office where Robert works. That person is Parker Wilson, who’s popped up here and there because he is Victor Garcia’s (EXPOSURE) agent. A third is Dr. Liam Byrne, another new character, who grabbed me so strongly that I have already written his book (GIVING IT UP).
Another thing I needed to find was a bonding point for Robert and Jade. That turned out to be baseball. They are both sports nuts, Jade was on his high-school baseball team, and Robert’s willingness to talk about it is one of the things that makes Jade take a chance on him. Why is it a chance? Well, until the night they meet, Robert thinks he’s straight.
This is not a ‘Gay For You’ story. It’s a ‘Wow I’m Gay That Explains a Lot’ story. Once Robert figures it out, all of his past relationship dissatisfactions (and failures) make sense. He still has a lot of processing to do, but it is a relief rather than a trauma. His family disagrees, so it’s a good thing Robert has Jade and his L.A. friends to help him adjust.
Content alerts: homophobia; family rejection.