Welcome to the wide crazy world of TJ Klune

As you can see, this is a blog (a blog, you say? You're like the only person in the world that has one!). Here are my promises to you: I promise to up date this as much as I can. I promise that at some point, you will most likely be offended. I promise you may suffer from the affliction the Klunatics know as Wookie Cry Face. I also promise to make this some place where you can see how my mind works.



You've been warned.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Pre-Release Thoughts on The Queen & the Homo Jock King





            I hate fake/pretend relationships. Honestly, in books, in movies, anytime the focal point of the plot is a pretend relationship between the main characters, it’s usually a turn off. And the reason for the fakeness is typically ludicrous, and I tend to roll my eyes at it.
            I hate enemies to lovers stories too, because of that first word enemies. I don’t like reading books where the MC’s and love interests are mean to each other. There’s a line between snark and vitriol, and I tend to not gravitate toward the actual meanness. I like it when people actually like each other, you know?
            I hate miscommunication in books. Sure, if done well, it can add a layer to the plot, but most of the time, I just want to punch the characters in the face and demand that they talk to each other like adults and to cut that shit out. They are adults, right?
            I don’t care if a book has detailed sex scenes or not. If it did, I tend to skip over the sex scene because it’s something I’ve read before. Sex is sex is sex. I’ve had it. I know how it works. Given that I’m asexual, I’m not titillated by erotica, nor do I really even care for it. Sex scenes aren’t important to me. Great, it shows one man can put his dick in another man’s  butt, but come on. Show me the connection in other ways.
            Why am I telling you all this?
            Because I am a fucking tangle of contradictions.
            The sequel to Tell Me It’s Real comes out on February 29th, 2016. It’s called The Queen & the Homo Jock King.
            It’s also a book that’s about enemies who enter into a pretend relationship for ludicrous reasons whose attraction to each other is hampered by miscommunication until they eventually become lovers and have the raunchiest sex out of any book I’d ever written.
            *Sigh*
            I know, I know.
            Tj, you’re saying. Oh, Tj. You’re just a big ol’ mess, aren’t you?
            Mostly. But that’s okay.
            Let’s be honest here. Tell Me It’s Real was never going to be high literature. I never intended it to be. The reason TMIR existed at all was because I was tired of the shirtless torso covered books where everyone had a fucking ten inch dick and could come buckets in assholes and with their manpain and their gay for you, blah blah blah.
            I wanted to write about normal people. People who might not be the smartest or the coolest or the most attractive. Where were the overweight dudes and why didn’t they get the jocks? Where were the drag queens and why didn’t they get Twu Wuv?
            That’s the big reason for TMIR. To have gay people who could be real fall in love with each other.
            That’s not meant to be an admonition against anyone or any other author. That is also not me thinking I’m better than any other author out there. I’m not. By far. But TMIR was born out of frustration that maybe gay dudes were getting lost in the romantic fantasy.
            And so TMIR came out. And blew up, both with the good and the bad. It sold a lot. Thanks. It brought up a lot of discussion. Thanks for that too. I liked that book quite a bit. Still do, in fact. I might even love it, a little.
            Which is partly why it took so long to write the sequel, even though one was practically handed to me on a silver platter because of Sandy and Darren. Even though they only had a few scenes together, they just sparked for me, and I knew there was a story there, about why they hated each other like they did. But when one book is a success like TMIR is, it can be intimidating to write a follow up. What if it’s not as good? What if people don’t like it as much? What if they hate it and it lessens their enjoyment of the first book?
            If you think about it, and it may seem surprising, I’ve only ever published two sequels. And it’s for the same series, the Bear, Otter and the Kid books.
            And it was while in the third book, The Art of Breathing, that Kori/Corey appeared, and suddenly we were in Tucson and Paul and Vince and Sandy and Darren were there and I was overjoyed, because that wasn’t planned. At least not initially. But I thought Kori/Corey would fit in with the Tucson crew, and wouldn’t that just be neat?
            And I knew then, what they story would be, once I finished Breathing. But then life went to hell for a long time, and when I got back to writing again, I wrote new stuff instead of focusing on the told. And honestly, that’s really the reason BOATK4 hasn’t been finished yet, because I’ve wanted to expand my horizons, test the limits of my capabilities.
            Until I sat down one day and thought, I’m ready to write about some motherfucking drag queens.
            And then proceeded to write in tropes that I usually avoid like the plague. Why? Because it was fucking fun. God, I had so much fun writing this book. First and foremost, just being back with Paul and Sandy was one of the greatest joys I’ve had writing. Their friendship is what I think a perfect friendship should be: they give each other shit, they love each other fiercely, and they are always there to scratch someone’s eyes for the other if need be. So while the book is the romance between Sandy and Darren, Paul and Sandy’s friendship is a major part of it too. And Vince, of course, sweet and lovable Vince who I want to put in my pocket and keep safe forever. And then there’s the added dynamic of Corey/Kori, the bi-gendered queer who was like a missing piece in the puzzle of the dynamic between these people. Seriously, Kori/Corey fit so well that even I was surprised. I didn’t have to make any real changes to the character seen in Breathing, even if that book had a much angstier setting.
            So I faked the relationship between these enemies to lovers. I had them misunderstand each other, because are they really the enemies they think they are? (Hint: no, they’re not.)
            That just left the sex.
            Sandy is an experienced gay man. Darren is an experienced gay man.
            They both like to fuck.
            So I wrote the longest, most involved sex scene I’ve ever written, because I thought it felt right for the characters. I won’t do this for every book. I may never do it again for another book. The only reason this one is as explicit as it is, is because it adds to the dynamic of who these two are. It’s meant to progress the story forward, to show them finally coming together after all this time. And there is a scene in here in which they don’t have sex that I consider to be the most erotic thing I’ve ever written. You’ll know it when you get to it.
            And, as you probably can tell, I love drag queens. I love them for their spirit, their originality, their fierce determination, their drive to get up in front of crowds and perform their fucking hearts out. Some of the greatest people I know are queens, and you’ll see in the dedication that this book is for two very specials queens in my life.
             Typical questions:
            Is there Wookie Cry Face?
            Maybe. If there is, it won’t be as much as any of my other books.
            What level of crack is this?
            More than Normal Person, less than Lightning Struck Heart. About the same as TMIR.
            How long is it?
            160K words, a bit longer than TMIR.
            Do Tyson or Bear or anyone from BOATK make an appearance?
            By name only. I had a small scene with the Kid but it was cut during edits, because it didn’t do anything for the book, and ended up being more fan service than anything. I might release it later on as a freebie.
            Is there going to be another book in the series?
            Yes. Kori/Corey will be the lead character, which, having a transgendered main character in a romantic comedy is something I am so excited to be writing about.
            TJ KLUNE. WHERE IS BOATK4 AND BURN2, OMFG!!!
            2017.
            I’m sorry it’s taken this long to get here. I know three years can be a long time to wait between books. I don’t plan on it taking that long again, but things happen. There are times books just can’t wait to be written (100K words on Lightning 2, WTF), and other times I’m just not ready. If I haven’t written a follow up yet it’s because I’m not ready. I would rather wait until I am ready rather than force out a shitty book and publish it. You deserve me giving you the best to my ability. Will you always like it? No, of course not. That’s not possible. But I thank you for reading it anyway.
            I can’t wait for you to read about a Queen finally getting her King.

            Tj

PRE-ORDER LINKS:
B&N! 
           
           
           
           

15 comments:

  1. I love these posts. It is interesting to see the thoughts behind the books. Looking forward to Monday!

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  2. I love these posts. It is interesting to see the thoughts behind the books. Looking forward to Monday!

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  3. Hey, TJ!!!
    Thanks for yours books and the characters that you bring to life. They are perfectly imperfect, neurotic, complex, funny , distrustful, loyal , insecure, fucking crazy , they are human, like the real people.
    Kisses

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  4. OK, since you're giving tidbits, I will: a snippet from my Prism review that seemed relevant to your very funny thoughts: "There is not a great deal of actual sex in the book, but an enormous amount of sex-related talk, often involving both Sandy and Darren’s friends and family. The sex-talk is hilarious, and the climactic sex scene is shattering." I tend to skim sex scenes, too, because sex that means something is meaningful. Sex for sex's sake is zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

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  5. Man, I'm really looking forward to this. I don't even need to re-read "Tell Me It's Real" first, to refresh my memory, because I've already read and re-read that one so often that I practically have it memorized.

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  6. A few days ago I went to Amazon (not just a river in South America) looking for BOATK4 because let's do this already. I followed the link here and saw the post about this new book. Looks good, I thought, but it's a sequel. So I bought TMIR. Finished it yesterday and now I'm itching for Queen! So glad I read TMIR now and not when it first came out. Waiting sucks. (Side note:I'd much rather wait for you to be ready to write a book than for you to try writing one you aren't ready for.)

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  7. As much as i loved TMIR, The Queen and the Homo Jock was amazing. I laughed in so many places. Thank you for this story. I hope to be able to read Kori/Cory's story in the future.

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  8. Totally off topic.
    I just finished reading TLSH, and am still listening to it in audio. Just wow! I love you so much. I love reading your books (well not the darker ones, they aren't my style). You make me laugh, cry, and smile, usually at the same time. Every time I read your "crack" books, my kids usually ask me if I'm ok since they can hear me laughing like a loon. The audio books they say are worse, because it is freaky to have their mom start laughing all of a sudden.
    Congratulations to you and the narrator for TLSH. He is wonderful, and gave the characters the life they deserve.
    Thank you for another great read, and giving me a wonderful escape full of laughter, smiles, and feelings.
    Now its on to Queen and Homo Jock King.

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  9. Dude. TMIR is my happy place. I am SO EXCITED to see how your contradictions pan out, your approach to these hated tropes. Be still my heart.

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  10. Just bought it and am waiting for my wine to chill - squee!🍾🍷 I hope an audio book will follow.

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  11. Loved your books. Can't wait till BOATK 4. They were the most emotionally pulling books I've read in awhile. I laughed and laughed and cried. I had to read the Winnie the pooh part to my husband,because I was laughing so hard I was crying. Thank you.

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  12. Will you publish the book translated into Spanish?
    I'm who did the only review on Amazon for your book Dime que es real (Spanish edition), also I love the BOATK series and Normal Person, I would like to read all of your books.
    Thank you for make me laugh and cry with your stories and characters, you are incredible talented and have a lot of fans in the Spanish-speaking community.
    I wish you the best, you deserve it 😘😊

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  13. I'll be waiting for that fan service Kid scene to be published one day ;)

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  14. I'll be waiting for that fan service Kid scene to be published one day ;)

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  15. I am very into the new book in this series. It had taken me a while to get into the story (because I too hate fake relationships,) but once Matty, Larry, and Nana came in, I was as sucked in to the story as I was when I bought TMIR, BOATK 1, 2, and 3, and Normal. Stellar work as always, can't wait to read more!

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