Happy Mother’s Day everyone! And since it is Mother’s Day and my monthly day to post, why not talk about writing mothers in gay romance?

Parents, and mothers in particular, are often pivotal points for characters in any genre of writing. In my own writing, I’ve explored both supportive and damaging mothers and the aftereffects of those helpful and hurtful relationships. Mothers become the pillars that support the grown man. A mother who herself is weak or damaged can give her son a crumbling foundation on which to base his own life. Those rickety foundations make for great flawed characters who must learn to repair or even recreate those unsteady supports.

Thinking about this now, I’ve realized that I often write stories where the main characters come from families with mothers who are polar opposites. More interestingly, it’s often the character who has struggled with a difficult mother who shows the character from a more stable background about the joys of life and how to take a chance.

In the original Blue Notes, Jason Greene comes from a loving, supportive family where both of his parents encouraged him to explore his talent in music, but didn’t interfere with his life choices. In contrast, Jason’s love interest, Jules Bardon, grew up with a mother who was drug addicted and unable to protect Jules from the hardships of life. Unlike Jules, Jason hasn’t struggled to survive. And as a result, Jason is more afraid of taking chances in his life. Jules, whose life thus far has been a constant struggle, shows Jason that taking chances can truly open doors on new opportunities, including love. But Jason teaches Jules something as well: that he is deserving of love and happiness, something Jason learned growing up in a loving household with two loving parents.

In The Melody Thief, Cary Redding is a disaster of a man. Addicted to casual sex, flirting with addictions to drugs and alcohol, Cary is a product of a quintessential stage mother who lived her dreams of success through her young son. Cary manages to succeed in spite of his mother’s machinations, becoming a child prodigy who performs with the best orchestras in the US and, later, an international superstar. But the lack of love he felt growing up leaves him empty inside. Enter Antonio Bianchi, an Italian lawyer who grew up with a loving mother who supported him. With Antonio’s help, Cary becomes a loving parent in his own right, and comes to understand his mother’s legacy and her motivations.

Many of the other Blue Notes Series books also include mothers who have helped or hindered their sons’ futures. But even my fantasy series, Mermen of Ea and Blood, include mothers as key to the formation of male characters. For Taren Laxley, a merman shifter who grows up believing himself unwanted by his parents, the series allows him to learn more about the mother he never knew. For vampire hunter Adrien Gilbert, who saw his mother murdered by a vampire, her death cements his hatred of vampires and colors his actions even when he meets the vampire he comes to love, Nicolas Lambert.

What all of this tells me isn’t really a surprise: we are all products of our childhood. Parents help create and shape who we are. Those of us with challenging childhoods and difficult parents can choose to learn from our past and move forward, or we can be limited by the past and not fully embrace the future. For characters in stories, the tension between past and present makes for fascinating plots, of which mothers often play a pivotal role. -Shira

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Bio: Shira loves a great happily-ever-after and never writes a story without one. She’s happy to write what her muse tells her, whether it’s fantasy, sci fi, paranormal, or contemporary romance. She particularly loves writing series, because she thinks of her characters as old friends and she wants to visit them even after their stories are told.

In real life, Shira sang professionally for 14 years, and she currently works as a public sector attorney advocating for children. She’s happy to have made writing her second full-time job, even if it means she rarely has time to watch TV or go to the movies.

Shira writes about the things she knows and loves, whether it’s music and musicians, the ocean, or the places she’s lived or traveled to. She spent her middle school years living in France, and tries to visit as often as she can.

Shira and her husband spend as many weekends as they can aboard their 36′ catamaran sailboat, “Lands Zen,” at the Carolina Coast. Not only has sailing inspired her to write about pirates and mermen, her sailboat is her favorite place to write. And although the only mermen she’s found to date are in her own imagination, she keeps a sharp lookout for them when she’s on the water.

You can find all of Shira’s books at Dreamspinner Press:  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=shira+anthony&x=32&y=6