My flash of inspiration became the opening of The Experiment and that one line of dialogue is still there, exactly the way Patrick said it the first time. I loved the idea so much I grabbed a notebook and pen and spent the next hour furiously scribbling down every detail I could remember. Then the man turned to his friend, who was sitting beside him, and said, “You know, mate, this would be a hell of a lot easier if you’d quit laughing.” In that instant, I knew the friend was the man he would end up kissing, and he would be anything but reluctant by the end of it. I knew they were in a bar, and that he was doing it to satisfy a lost bet, but other than that I had no idea what was going on.

I could see a straight man trying to psyche himself up to kiss a gay man, even though he really didn’t want to. The idea for The Experiment came to me one day in a flash of inspiration. How did you come up with the idea for your book? Most of the time it takes about six months, but I’ve been working hard to train myself to write faster so I can publish more often. The second took only a few months because it was much shorter and came to me quite easily. It took me seven years (on and off) to write my first book. How long does it usually take you to write a book? I remember when I used to dream about reaching this point. Reaching that double digit is going to be such a thrill. The Experiment is my ninth book and I’m already hard at work on number ten.

It was when I finished a 30,000 word fanfic that I decided to try writing an original novel that was all my own. It was so much fun! Those first stories were my training ground and I learned so much from them. I began writing it on the bus while commuting to and from work. I had been reading fanfics for a while when an idea for a story came to me. My journey into writing began with fan fiction. When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?

The experiment by alicia nordwell