Sometimes one of the most difficult parts of writing a book is figuring out which character’s point of view the narration will be. Am I going to write first person (“I went to the store”) or third (“He went to the store”)? In a romance, will I alternate points of view between the two or more characters involved in the relationship, or will the story be in only one point of view?
I’ve written books in first person and books in third. For me, first person flows more easily because it enables me to “get into the head” of the character more fully. When I write first person, in a way, I am that character, and I know everything they think, feel, etc. While I can do that to an extent in third person, using third person narration distances me from the character in a way that first person doesn’t.
Some romance publishers insist on third person, and when I wrote heterosexual romance, all of those books were in third person because that was what was required and expected. But when I started writing male/male romance, I wanted to use first person. And fortunately, with my first M/M romance novel, I had a publisher who was fine with first person narration.
That novel was Salad on the Side, book 1 of Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat. Originally released in 2011, Salad on the Side is first person narration from the point of view of Kyle Slidell, who becomes the world’s only(?) gay vegan werewolf. (I released a re-edited and updated version of Salad in 2022.) Books 2 and 3 of the series, Veggie Burgers to Go and Hummus on Rye, are also first person from Kyle’s point of view.
When the time came for me to write the original version of book 4, though, I decided to change things. I had written three books “in Kyle’s head,” and while Kyle’s a pretty observant guy most of the time, having only his point of view was by default leaving out some aspects of the story. Several people had asked me if I would consider writing a book from the point of view of Tobias Rogan, Kyle’s mate and the Alpha of Boston North Pack. So although changing narrator for book 4 rankled my preference for patterns and consistency, when I wrote Try the Tofu I chose to change to Tobias’s point of view.
This choice gave a much deeper insight into Tobias’s past, present, and choices, as well as focusing on the character who has a much higher stake in this book and book 5 of the series (Tempeh for Two, which will be released in January 2024). Although I’d questioned whether I would be able to get into Tobias’s head as effectively as I had Kyle’s, I found it relatively easy to delve into Tobias’s viewpoint and mindset. And I enjoyed the process.
The new version of Try the Tofu is, like the others, re-edited and updated from the original, and I found out more about Tobias through the work I’ve done on this novel. Kyle is still very much present in the story, of course, but in this book we get to know Alpha Tobias Rogan much more fully, and I think readers will like him.
As Alpha Tobias Rogan and his mate Kyle Slidell prepare to travel to the regional Alpha gathering, Tobias receives a threatening phone call. If he brings his mate to the gathering, Kyle will not return to Boston. But stubborn Kyle, believing the threat is actually against Tobias, refuses to stay home.
Tobias’s foreboding is proven correct when a visiting stranger challenges Zane Wolfskin, Arkhon of the Northeast Region, to a fight for rank–and wins. Tobias and his allies learn that the challenge was part of a larger plan to destroy their region, something Tobias will not allow. To prevent disaster, Tobias must challenge the new Arkhon himself. But can he survive the attempt?
Warnings: reference to past sexual abuse and trauma, PTSD, violence
About the Series:
Kyle Slidell didn’t move to Boston expecting to be changed into a werewolf. But that’s what happened. He can’t control whether he shifts at the full moon, but he can damn sure continue being vegan–even in wolf form.
Tobias Rogan, Alpha of Boston North Pack, never expected to fall in love with anyone, let alone a man. A male Alpha is not supposed to have a male partner. But when he meets Kyle, he’s immediately attracted. And after Kyle is changed, Tobias realizes the truth: Kyle is not only his partner, but his mate.
The werewolf world isn’t a simple place, and Kyle and Tobias are thrown into the middle of conflict within and among the packs of the United States–a conflict that extends all the way to the top of the werewolf hierarchy. Can they and their love survive what they face?
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I entered our room and closed the door. Kyle flopped down on the bed again. “Sleep.”
“Food,” I said. “Plus our bags will be here any second, so you wouldn’t be able to get much sleep.” I sat on the bed beside him. “What you said earlier.”
“Yeah.” He sat up and took my hand. “I love you. Things have been rough as hell on both of us the past few months, and sometimes it’s hard not to think that they’ve been rough because of us. But we didn’t make bad things happen, and I wouldn’t have gotten through everything if it hadn’t been for you. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I love you too.” My heart melted. No matter how much I wanted to shut him out, I didn’t know whether I would ever actually be able to do it. We had been through hell, no question, with all the times I’d almost lost him, not to mention my own brush with death. But we’d faced it together. He’d brought back a part of me I hadn’t even realized existed, let alone missed, until he made me aware of how long I’d lived without it.
That didn’t mean I was ready to let go of the idea that we might be better off apart. A lot would depend on what happened over the next several days. I couldn’t stand the prospect of him being in danger, and if things went as badly as they had the last time we’d come to Zane’s, I would have some serious decisions to make.
“Tobias, don’t,” he said softly. “Please don’t think about the bad things. We’re here together in our honeymoon suite.” He chuckled. “Zane put us here for a reason, you know. I don’t know if you’ve talked to him about us or if he just figured something out the way he seems to do, but he had an ulterior motive for giving us this room.”
“Yeah, he probably did.” I had to smile at that. Zane was not only tolerant of one of his alphas having a male mate, he wholeheartedly supported the idea. In September, he’d treated Kyle and me the same as any other mated pair, and that meant more than I could express. Just as some werewolves were stuck in the past when it came to the idea of a woman being in charge, some were mired in prejudice and hatred of those who were “different.” Pretty ironic considering that werewolves were different by definition.
But for Zane, Kyle and I weren’t different. He wouldn’t accept any hatred toward us from any other attendees of the gathering, and if he suspected Kyle and I were having problems, it wouldn’t be surprising for him to try to fix them.
“There’s going to be a lot going on.” Kyle moved closer against me. “I know you’ll be busy with all the meetings and things, and I know you have a lot on your mind. But please, Tobias, while we’re here, let’s try to spend some time on us. I want things to be good again.”
“Yeah, me too.”
I put my arm around him and held him tightly. My mate. My lover. The man who had changed my life for the better, bringing me so many good things I’d been missing without even realizing it. I loved him, even if things weren’t great between us right then. He was right to have insisted on coming with me. We could spend time together and try to make things better.
Back in Boston, I had to attend to the pack’s needs. Here, even though I would have to sit in meetings that dealt with anything from changes in protocol to sorting out which pack had the right to hunt deer near the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire, I didn’t have to be in charge, and that meant I might have time to actually talk to Kyle. And to listen.
We both turned at the same time and our mouths were together before we had time to think. His tongue touched my lips, and I opened to let him in. The kiss was both tender and rough and sent heat and arousal through to my core.
Karenna is a polyamorous, nonbinary human who splits time between the home she shares with her husband and the one she shares with her committed partner. She also has two adult children and a bonus son, three grandchildren, and two and a half cats. (Half in terms of time the cat lives with her, not in terms of the cat itself…)
Find out more about Karenna online at http://www.karennacolcroft.com or https://www.facebook.com/KarennaColcroft. You can also sign up to receive a free short story, and be added to Karenna’s mailing list, at https://karennacolcroft.com/get-your-free-short-story/.
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