My name is Marcus Lopés and I’m a writer.
In my first blog post, “The Journey Begins … Again,” I talked about why I write. Let me share that with you again:
I write because each morning when I awake, and at night when I lay my head down to sleep, writing is what becomes me. It quells within me, gnaws at my heart, enlivens my soul. I write because of the stories within me that I long to tell. I write because of the beauty that is this world. I write because of the ugliness that is this world and perhaps, with my words, I can challenge it. I write because I have a vision of today that may spillover into tomorrow. I write because it is the passion that consumes me. I write because writing is all of me. Writing is who I am.
But, today, I want to go deeper …
With the publication of my novel, The Flowers Need Watering, I entered the world of indie publishing. I write “literary” or “contemporary” fiction, but because my lead characters are gay, my writing is often tagged as gay romance or gay fiction. There is romance in my stories, but not erotica (which seems to be a staple and expected in mm romance); and that can disappoint a reader expecting steamy sex scenes. That’s not my style.
What I attempt to do through my writing (and I hope successfully) is to explore, through the lens of a personal story, the aspirations of the individual against those of the collective. I hope to challenge the reader’s, as well as my own, belief system. It’s not just about asking, for example, “What are we doing here?” but also “How did we get where we are?” and “Could we get here another way?” For most of us, life is anything but linear. I want us to think about the choices we make and how we respond, either under duress or when our emotions take control, to the challenges we face in life each and every day. Whether the theme is family, love, relationships, forgiveness, etc., it’s my hope that The Flowers Need Watering — my short stories and essays — will foster more love, tolerance, respect and kindness towards each other and ourselves.
Marcus Lopés’s debut indie novel, The Flowers Need Watering, is available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback formats.
You can connect with him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.