Thursday, July 19, 2012

Eye Candy


I like men. This shouldn't come to any surprise to anyone who's been to my web site, read any of my books, followed me on Facebook, or had much of any other interaction with me. I'm as happy to share pictures of attractive men as pretty much anything else.

So imagine my surprise when the inspiration I drew from my week in P-town last week came not from the cute boys (and they were cute boys!) in the cast of Naked Boys Singing, but from the perfectly average Bears walking around town. Yes, I was surprised as you are. I’ve always tended toward the sleek bodies with my men, even when they’re scruffy. (Why yes, I fell in love with Aragorn ten years ago.) You won’t find muscle-bound men in my books. They’re strong enough to do what needs to be done, but they don’t spend hours in the gym trying to see how bulked up they can get. I don’t mind a light dusting of chest hair, but no pelts, thank you, and definitely no potbellies.

So why, you’re probably wondering, was I so inspired by the Bears rather than the beautiful boys on stage? Because the Bears were walking around town holding hands and acting like men in love, and if there’s one thing that inspires me more than anything else, it’s seeing the ultimate goal of all of my books played out in real life. Derek and Sambit, Beau and Jacob, Shane and Jean-Mathias, Brett and Gerald, and all the others might not look like Bears during the points in their lives when I was writing about them. They may never look like Bears, but I wrote about them as they were striving to find and to hold onto exactly what those men in P-town were living with smiles and laughter and gracious generosity. (That’s the topic for another post. I’ve never been treated so well as I was by the many wonderful gentlemen we encountered while we traveled.) They were striving to find love.

And if that isn’t inspiring, I don’t know what is. So I have a new definition of eye candy after my trip last week: couples in love. Be sure I’ll share pictures as I find them. The men may not always be beautiful, but the love between them will be.



8 comments:

  1. It's true... seeing men (and any other couple) holding hands and looking very much in love-- that really is sexy!

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    1. Yes, it really, really is. I didn't have a camera with me when Anne and I were walking down the street behind these two men who were the epitome of Bears. I wouldn't have given either of them much of a second look individually, but they were wearing wedding rings and holding hands and when they stopped to look at a store window and we walked around them, I got a glimpse of their expressions as they looked at each other and then back at the display. I went home and wrote a love scene inspired by the looks on their faces. The guys might not have looked anything like those men, but the emotions were theirs.

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    1. Thank you! It really was heartfelt. I'm not sure why Bear Week had the effect when all my years of Pride Festivals didn't, but it was really quite stunning, this moment of the lightbulb going on.

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  3. I agree with Amy. :) And I love the two photos you shared. :)

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    1. Thank you! I wish I could take credit for the photos, but I found them online. They're perfect examples of what I saw in P-town, though. The individuals aren't anything special, but the feelings they have for each other transform them into something incredibly beautiful.

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  4. Oh, definitely!
    As you know, I have more male gay friends than male straight acquaintances and very few of them can be considered drool-worthy, but there are a few couples in there and although I don't get to see all that much PDA, one look is often enough for me. I go all warm inside to see one look at his S.O of 18 years and see him return that look with so much love it makes me green with envy (Not in a bad way. I'm just a single girl with nobody who looks at me that way.) All of a sudden they become so beautiful, it doesn't matter that they're nowhere near my type (of course, they don't need to be. LOL!)
    And yes, they're inspirational when they show me their love for each other, although I could never write them.

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    1. Yeah, I think I would have a hard time writing about someone I actually knew, but seeing them together, being inspired by their love, would be a wonderful thing.

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