I’m a big fan of Brigid Kemmerer’s Elemental Series so I’m
thrilled that she agreed to stop by At Random
for Banned Books Week. So without
further ado I’ll hand it over to her…
Banned Books Week:
Adding a gay character to a cast of alpha males
Hi, guys! I’m going to be honest right out of the gate: I
have no idea what to say here. Bear with me and I’ll see if I can make it
interesting.
If you have no idea who I am (and if you’re still reading),
my name is Brigid Kemmerer, and I write The Elemental Series for Kensington
Books. My series follows a family of four brothers who control the elements of
Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Their parents are dead, and the head of the
household is twenty-three-year-old Michael Merrick (Earth), who took over his
parents landscaping business. He’s rough and gruff and has a heart of gold
under all his anger and impatience. After Michael come seventeen-year-old twins
Gabriel (Fire) and Nicholas (Air). Gabriel is full of piss and vinegar and is
the type of guy to punch first and ask questions later. Nicholas is bookish and
kind, and balances his brother’s aggression. Finishing up the family is
sixteen-year-old Chris (Water), who’s thoughtful and brooding and trying to
figure out how he fits in with his brothers.
The Merrick brothers are marked for death because of their
abilities. They’re bullied at school, they fight with each other as much as
they get along, and because they’ve been raised by a brother not much older
than they are, they’re rough cut and moody. I try very hard to balance the
supernatural elements in my story with a realistic portrayal of what it’s like
to be a middle class teenager, so they’re struggling with school and
girlfriends right along with figuring out how to control their powers. Each
book follows a different brother, so the reader gets to see all sides of a
character: from his own internal thoughts to those of each person around him.
It’s been a lot of fun to write, and the characters have been very clear in my
head since day one.
So basically, I knew Nick Merrick was gay when I first
started writing the books.
His brothers have no idea.
When I wrote the first book (which featured Chris), I was
pretty sure Nick was gay, but I felt limited in two ways: One, I hadn’t sold a
novel yet, and I was afraid to take too much of a risk. I already had swearing
and date rape in Storm, so adding a
gay character felt like another hurdle I’d have to overcome just to sell my
book to a publisher. This was almost five years ago, and if you think about it,
the world has changed a lot in the last five years. Two, I wasn’t sure I could
pull it off. I was already struggling with writing from a male point of view,
and to add homosexuality to the mix? I wasn’t sure I could do it right. I didn’t want to be clichéd.
Besides, I had a house full of these testosterone-filled alpha males. How would
readers react to a gay character? I wasn’t sure.
Then Storm sold as
the first book in a three-book series, and as each book came out, I felt more
and more strongly that Nick was gay, and I needed to take a chance to give him
his story. I wasn’t brave enough (yet) to give him a full book, but as I was
writing promo novellas to help bridge the gap between books, it felt a little
safer. When the time came to write a novella about Nick, I decided to take a
chance.
I wrote
Breathless,
in which Nick first starts to confront his attraction to guys. I didn’t want
any shred of double standard, so when I wrote the scene of his first kiss, I
didn’t hold anything back: I made it every bit as descriptive as the first
kisses between my heterosexual couples. Here, see for yourself:
“You’re going to have one hell of a bruise,” Adam said.
“Yeah, well.”
Adam touched his face, and Nick froze. His fingers were warm, gentle,
and Nick wanted to freeze time.
Then Adam said, “I’m an idiot. I should have gotten you some ice.”
And his fingers were gone, and Nick was sitting there practically breathless
with wanting him back.
One touch, and he was going to pieces. He wanted to slam his forehead
on this table.
Adam came back with ice wrapped in a towel, and Nick was so scattered
that he almost said that water was Chris’s thing, and it would probably help
more to just leave it uncovered.
But then the towel was against his bruised cheek, and Adam’s other hand
was on his neck to stabilize it, and even though Nick knew he should be taking
over the holding of the ice bag, he didn’t want to move for fear of disrupting
this moment.
It was nothing short of a miracle that the heat off his face wasn’t
instantly melting all the ice.
Adam’s thumb tapped against his neck. “Your heart is racing.”
No kidding.
Nick turned his head away and took the ice bag. He set it on the table
and had to look into his coffee mug again.
“Sorry,” said Adam. “I know there’s no point in pushing your buttons.
You’re just adorable when you blush like that.” Then he was grinning. “Or like
that.”
“Yeah, this is fantastic.” Even his voice was gravelly and uncertain.
Adam picked up the towel and held it out. “I’ll stop. You hold the—”
Nick shifted forward and kissed him.
He hadn’t given it a moment’s consideration—and if he had, he probably
wouldn’t have done it at all. But now he couldn’t imagine stopping.
Kissing a girl was nothing like this. The basic mechanics, sure. But
kissing Adam, there was a strength behind it, a raw masculinity despite his
lyrical movement and gentle fingers. Nick was distantly aware of the bag of ice
hitting the floor.
Then Adam was kissing him back, drawing at Nick’s tongue with his own.
He had a hand behind Nick’s neck, stroking the hair there, and Nick wished he
could freeze this exact moment.
Oh, and the next moment, when Adam bit at Nick’s lip.
And the moment after that, when Nick stroked a hand up Adam’s neck,
finding the first start of stubble across his jaw.
It was like every thought he’d ever blocked, every fantasy he’d ever
refused to acknowledge, was blasting through his brain all at once with the
force of a hurricane. Everything he knew was with a girl. Like reciting a
learned lesson, something he could do because he had to.
This—this was new. And exciting. And primal and raw and right.
And insanely hot. He wished there weren’t so many damn clothes in the
way.
They were going to be on the floor in a minute.
“Easy. Easy,” said Adam.
Nick felt like he was coming up for air.
Hell, he was practically panting.
He looked into Adam’s brown eyes, which were just now searching his.
“Well,” said Adam, a slight smile on his lips. “That was unexpected.”
My agent and editor had no idea. I hadn’t discussed it with
them, and when I clicked Send on the
email, I knew I was taking a risk.
Luckily, they loved it. My editor loved it so much that I
sold more books in the series, and Nick’s full length novel, Secret, comes out in January.
Readers, however, had mixed reactions to Nick’s
homosexuality.
Don’t get me wrong: many of the reviews were overwhelmingly
positive.
Unfortunately, some were not. Some readers said that
homosexuality didn’t belong in YA because teens aren’t ready to face those
kinds of “choices.” (As if it’s a choice!) Some readers said I was pushing an
agenda. (I’m not. My characters are always true to themselves. When I try to
force them in another direction, it doesn’t work.) I received an email from a
young man who said he didn’t like Nick being gay because he wasn’t relatable
anymore. (As if sexuality is what makes us relatable.) I read reviews where
readers said they were done with the series entirely.
Did these reviews and emails hurt? Sure.
Would I go back and write Nick Merrick as a straight teen?
Absolutely not.
After that negativity, I got an email from a reader that
made all the difference in the world:
Along
with many, many others, I got Breathless yesterday, devoured it, and loved it. I
just wanted to message you and say congratulations on the success of the
series, and also to say thank you. I read that you had received some negative
feedback regarding Nick's storyline with Adam, and I just wanted to say that
having recently accepted my sexuality, Nick's storyline in Breathless means a
lot to me.
And that—THAT—makes it all worth it.
Brigid Kemmerer is the
author of Storm, Spark
, and Spirit,
the first three books of The
Elemental Series
, available now wherever
books are sold. Nick Merrick’s novella, Breathless,
is available now, and his full length novel, Secret,
will be released in January 2014. Visit
Brigid at her website at www.brigidkemmerer.com, or follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/brigidkemmerer.
- - -
Brigid, thank you again for stopping by and talking to us about the wonderful Merrick brothers, especially Nick.
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