Good evening Scott & Scott, and welcome to Fallen Angel Reviews. I always begin my interviews with a quick warm up exercise that helps us tap into what motivates you. I’ve come to enjoy the answers authors give me to these questions, so here we go… I prefer… an exotic location or a house full of family, a comedy or action movie, The Super Bowl or The Olympic Games?

We'd have to say we prefer an exotic location, a comedy and the Super Bowl.

We just returned from St. Martin for our ninth anniversary. There is something so luxurious and romantic about the tropics. You will find tropical getaways in both Hot Sauce and E-male (available from Palari Books). And Surf 'n' Turf is located in a gay resort town.

A good comedy has such broad appeal and such witty writing. Action movies rely a lot more on special effects and tend to present romantic relationships very superficially.

Since Scott Pomfret has played and coached football and Scott Whittier is in advertising, the Super Bowl is the perfect combination for us.

Please tell us about yourselves.

We're just your average gay couple, living in Boston together. We've been together nine years. By day, Scott Pomfret is a lawyer and Scott Whittier is a writer at an advertising agency. We enjoy traveling, skiing, hiking and kayaking. We spend time with our families at a lake in Maine and the ocean in Rhode Island. And we have a definite weakness for good food and wine.

I had the pleasure of reading Hot Sauce. Brad and Troy are both delicious, and there is a fair amount of drama within this story. What brought about Hot Sauce?

Hot Sauce is a twist on the classic rags-to-riches story. Brad grew up poor and worked his way up to being a celebrity chef. Troy was born into money, but exceeded all expectations by becoming a famous fashion designer. They are both successful, self-made men; however, their lives are incomplete when their love lives fall apart.

There were a lot of inspirations for Hot Sauce. It's set in Boston, and if you know our local celebrities, it's like Louis Boston meets Todd English (even though Louis Boston is the store, not the man, and both men were/are actually straight--you get the gist). Scott Whittier also loves to cook; so we used that as inspiration to make food a sensual, romantic part of the story. There are meddling mothers and ex-lovers and a whole cast of complications.

There were points where I found myself talking to the characters in this story, which is quite sad since they couldn’t hear sound advice. While writing, do you find yourselves talking to your characters or your muse?

Well, if we want to talk to our characters, we are lucky enough to be able to write it straight into the story. No matter how silly, misguided or love-struck our main characters may be acting, we often have other characters who are there to give them sound advice. Just as in real life, friends, relatives and the more experienced among us can serve as the voices of reason when we are blinded by love. Of course, that doesn't mean the characters listen!

As for our muse, it is often the other Scott. As coauthors, we are fortunate to be able to draw inspiration, get advice and talk things through together.

What inspired you to write the Romentic stories?

The idea for Romentics gay romance novels was inspired by Scott W’s mother and grandmother who used to receive boxes of Harlequin Romances monthly by mail order. They would write their initials and comments—“good story,” “romantic”—on the inside covers to pass amongst themselves and keep from rereading the same book. And Scott W thought, Why don’t gay men have this reliable promise of happily ever after? Together, both Scotts decided to pursue this idea, and we launched Romentics in November of 2003—right before the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in favor of gay marriage here in Massachusetts.

Scott & Scott, I had the pleasure of reading Surf ‘N’ Turf, a Romentic story. How did you come up with the concept behind Surf ‘N’ Turf?

Surf 'N' Turf is a fun take on the classic Romeo and Juliet story (like West Side Story or even Grease). However, we took this tale to an even crazier and campier place by locating it in a gay resort town inspired by Provincetown, Massachusetts. Seaside is our wild locale where Robert and Blakely spend their fateful summer. The Queenies and the Meanies are our flamboyant and hardcore "gay gangs." Imagine bondage gear and drag queens at the masquerade ball.

Robert and Blakely seems an unlikely couple mostly because of circumstance. I love their tenacity and they make a wonderful couple.

Unlikely couples are often the best for romance novels. They present the most interesting obstacles and stories on their way to "happily ever after." If they were perfect for each other from page one, with nothing standing in their way, the novel would end on page two!

Robert and Blakely are both at very difficult places in their lives, and neither is looking for love. It's the powerful force that draws them together, despite their differences, that makes their relationship so compelling and throws the entire town into turmoil.

How do you come up with characters for your books?

We often start with people we know and develop the characters from there. However, the wild situations and stories always evolve the characters until they're completely unrecognizable from the original person. We actually have a friend named Blakely, whom we promised we'd use as a character. But aside from being southern and a strawberry blonde (what hair the real-life Blakely has left), they have nothing in common. And Dan the mechanic in Spare Parts is nothing like our construction work friend who inspired the character. For many characters, we can't even remember who sparked the concept for their identities because they took on lives of their own.

While writing your stories, how do you rank the use of humor and drama? There is usually a fair share of drama in your stories. And while Surf ‘N’ Turf is no exception, the humor truly had me in stitches.

We like to think we have good senses of humor. So humor naturally creeps into our stories. However, romance novels also demand an extreme focus on the drama of love. We believe that in romance novels, as in life, a good dose of humor keeps things fresh and realistic. We don't want to write overly dramatic "cheesy" romances all about longings and burning loins and despair. The drama needs to be tempered by humor to make it fun, believable and human.

I have some questions about your approach to writing. Do you write on a schedule or as inspiration hits?

Like many writers, it is tempting for us to wait for inspiration. However, if we're writing toward a deadline or we're serious about completing a novel, we have to write on a schedule to make that happen. With practice, inspiration can conform to a schedule. Just write and keep writing, and it will come eventually. You can always edit later.

Has your muse ever left you stranded in the middle of a novel? What do you do to get back into your creative flow?

If inspiration abandons us in the middle of a novel or chapter or paragraph, our best advice is to skip to a different place. We usually have several concrete ideas that we know we want to incorporate somewhere in the novel. So if you're stuck writing about the second date, skip ahead and write the big fight scene you know is coming in chapter five. Piecing the scenes together and editing them later is easier than forcing your way through a section you're unsure about. Of course, as coauthors, we can always hand the novel off to the other writer if we get stuck.

That said, sometimes you can feel an entire novel fizzling out with nowhere to go. Both Razor Burn and E-male were put aside years before they were picked up again. In fact, Razor Burn was originally a straight love story years ago! If this happens, start afresh from page one after you've had plenty of time to rethink the entire story (and probably after you've written something else in between). That's what we did with the above novels, and they turned out to be two of our favorites.

What do you feel is the most important part of a novel?

The middle. Of course, the beginning and the ending are the most exciting. It's fun to introduce the characters and set up the story. And it's always thrilling to write a great conclusion that brings it all together dramatically. However, it's the middle that keeps readers turning the pages. And in a romance novel, the middle is the all-important majority of the story that develops the relationship and overcomes the obstacles that are keeping the heroes apart.

I visited your Romentics site because I wanted to know more about the duo. I’ll admit the simple version of how you met is sweet and does attribute to your romantic nature. Did you ever think for one moment on that fateful night that things would build to this point?

Yes. But of course, we're lying. That's the beauty of romance--you never see it coming. Just like romance novels, the excitement of a relationship is when two people meet and have no idea where their story will take them.

What is the biggest misconception about being authors and co-authors?

That we're rich and don't have day jobs. Writing is time-consuming hard work, but marketing your writing and making money from it are even harder. That's why you need to find something you're passionate about, so it can be rewarding in different ways.

How difficult is it to mesh your ideas for a story?

We talk a lot about the plots before we start writing. So we both have a good understanding of where we're going. Scott W is a big fan of outlining the basic arc of the story to stay on track. That said, that doesn't make the editing process any easier! There will always be differences of opinions, but we hope the compromises make the novels even better.

When you begin writing new stories, what method best works for you? Do you share the process from the first word, or do you each work on different tasks to complete the story?

As we said above, we talk through the plots and characters beforehand. Then we take turns writing, editing, writing, editing--so that the novel is edited, rewritten and expanded as we pass it back and forth.

If you could give an aspiring author a single important piece of advice, what would it be?


You've all heard it before, write every day. It's like exercise, you have to keep doing it if you want to get better.

What do you consider your favorite or comfort food?

Cheese. It goes with everything, especially wine for a romantic snack.

Would you share your blog, website, myspace, or Facebook, twitter, with us please?

www.romentics.com
www.myspace.com/romentics
www.facebook.com/romentics

Thank you Scott & Scott I have enjoyed spending this time getting a glimpse of the men behind the Romentics novels. You are delightful writers and your personality shines through in your wonderful novels.


Interviewed by: NeNe