Author

J Gul - early 30s, writer of steamy queer romance. First nations and mixed, so a lot of my characters will also be.

[ja-gul-writes]

If anyone is here from the link in the back of my book

originally this was going to link to a patreon page where I posted extra-spicy chapters and snippets that I didn't think Amazon would like in books I publish there, but as it turns out that's not something I think I can get away with, what with patreon cracking down on nsfw content.

[ja-gul-writes]

Ya know what, fuck the zon sometimes. I hate that as an indie writer, amazon is the best option for me. It's like they're actively trying to make my efforts to be an author on their platform harder and more annoying.

I wanted to take my books off the KU program so I could eventually go wide with them and publish them elsewhere, seeing as the one book series I have published is kind of niche (gay human/giant smutty romance with a mixed race, first nations main character) and I figure I should get it out to as many people as possible. So I uncheck the auto-enrolment feature for KU, which means at the end of the current 90-day period of KU enrolment, they won't go for another 90 days and will no longer be in KU. Great. That means I can publish elsewhere, right?

Wrong!

Looked it up because I'm a paranoid mfer, and other authors have gotten banned for breaking the exclusivity clause of KU, even though it was after the book had been removed from KU. As it turns out, you should wait six months AFTER the end of that current 90 day period, to avoid the system as flagging it as you've gone and broken the exclusivity deal, because even though it won't be available to the public it will still be in their system for a few months.

And due to when my 90-day periods end for my various books, if I go by six months after the last one ends, and then just because I'm extra wary I'll round up to the start of the next month after that, that means I can go wide in July of 2025.

Bruh wtf. I was hoping to have my books go wide before Christmas of THIS YEAR.

The problem with this is if I went and published after the 90-day period but before the books were no longer in the internal system, Amazon could ban me. And their ban could mean that I'm permanently banned from Amazon itself, and yet they leave my books up- so they'd be taking 100% of the profit off of my books, and I would not be able to log in and unpublish them. Pretty fucked up.

To be honest, it makes me want to entirely abandon amazon AND the book series I have up. But I won't, I'll wait out the 90-day plus 6-month waiting period, go wide, and THEN complete the series.

So uh, long post to say that the fourth book of the giant/human romance is on a delay. And if you were one of the few people reading my Jude and Cael series, that's also on hold. Sorry about that!

NOTE: I have seen people mention that they've gone wide after that initial 90-day period and not get a ban from the zon, but I'm operating under the assumption that like with everything else I do in life, I'm always going to be unlucky, so I'm playing it cautious.

[ja-gul-writes]

Wait I've had this tumblr for a whole year already? Good god I haven't done much with it

[ja-gul-writes]

Writing prompt

Character A: I would topple an empire to avenge you, I would betray my country to save you, I would end bloodlines if someone so much as looked at you the wrong way, I would-

Character B: How about you sit down, eat some food, and then cuddle with me while we watch a movie together?

Character A: ... that is also acceptable.

[ja-gul-writes]

To expand on this prompt

Character A: I need to call to get this problem fixed.

Character B: Where's the rant about ending bloodlines and toppling empires?

Character A: ... but this is a phone call, it's different

Character B: Want me to make the call for you?

Chracter A: pleasepleasepleaseplease

Character B: Okay, but you're making dinner-

Character A: I WILL VANQUISH A WILD BEAST-

Character B: THERE'S CHICKEN IN THE FREEZER!

[unicat-w]

an ojisan

[ja-gul-writes]

Me: I wonder if I should write straight smut to reach a wider audience

Also me: ... but then it wouldn't be queer :(

[ja-gul-writes]

Happy 'it's pride month and I'm queer so I should enjoy it while I can, but capitalism has turned it into a soulless cashgrab, but also my dad is a violently homophobic boomer so now I gotta hear about how queer people are evil all month because commercials keep reminding him that queer people exist' month.

[ad-wills]

[ja-gul-writes]

This, but also 'me' instead of 'my'. And suddenly everyone sounds like a pirate (fitting for this meme).

"Where's me coat?"

[ja-gul-writes]

Cael: are latex gloves a condom for your hand, or are condoms a glove for your dick?

Jude: ....

Jude: Cael, it's one in the morning.

Cael: But now you're thinking-

Jude: But now I'm thinking about it, damn it.

[ja-gul-writes]

The difference of writing spicy scenes from my two series

The giant/human romance: NO GIANT'S COCK IS TOO BIG MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH LEON CAN TAKE IT ALL WITHOUT EVEN TRYING!

The 'normal' series: and they will spend a lot of time doing some prep and foreplay so that the above-average top does not cause any pain for the bottom.

[isabellebissonrouthier]

Yes I'm a writer. Yes I'm looking at tumblr instead of writing

[cwritesfiction]

I will not overcomplicate my plot

I will not overcomplicate my plot

I will not overcomplicate my plot

[jacqueswriteblrlibrary]

Due to unforeseeable events….

The plot is now overcomplicated.

[theprissythumbelina]

I have lost control of the plot

[ja-gul-writes]

And somehow this is the opposite side of the coin of 'I want to make an epic, detailed, multi-layered plot!' and then it becomes... very simplistic. Just vibes, no plot.

[ja-gul-writes]

Character tropes: the mom friend

Personally, I only like this trope in very specific situations, because I prefer the idea of a group of friends that all look after each other rather than putting the emotional burden and mental load of care giving on one person in a group, but I do recognize that there's a reason this trope exists, and that's because in real life there are people who will inherently fall into 'the mom friend' category.

When it is portrayed, I like to see it in instances where something happens, and other characters might be paralyzed by fear or indecision or something of the like, and the one friend that always has their head on straight when There Is A Situation suddenly takes charge and helps everyone get through whatever the crisis was.

But then upon that crisis being averted, the friend reverts back to their usual self and is no longer the one that has to look after everyone else, and everyone else realizes how integral this person was to the success of Getting Through The Situation and acknowledge that they did so much for the group.

Basically, I just don't like it when a character has to constantly put others before themselves and put in all the work, all the time, and it never gets recognized.

... unless it's whump. I do like reading whump every now and then. But it has to have a happy ending for me, so I guess it's more like hurt/comfort.

[animentality]

actually your characters should be pure wish fulfillment and your writing should be entirely self indulgent and it should all be very, incredibly, undeniably horny.

[urnumber1star]

That moment when the unrelated scenes you've been writing for two weeks both somehow connect (i have no idea how this happened)

[ja-gul-writes]

I don't know whether to rejoice or throw my hands up in exasperation when this happens

[ja-gul-writes]

On character tropes: grumpy and sunshine

I actually really love this trope a lot, though I haven't written it. Jude and Cael were almost going to be that, but upon writing it they drifted away from that pretty quickly (characters really do seem to have a mind of their own).

Though when it comes to the grump and sunshine trope, I like it when it's a little bit subverted. One is still obviously grumpy, one is still obviously the sunshine, but they each have a bit of the other in them (no, not like that, get your mind out of the gutter). The sunshine character hiding that they're hurting in some way, maybe depressed or anxious or otherwise not doing great, and the grumpy holding back that they really do want to cuddle that damn kitten or be more outgoing or that they really, really care about other people.

Grumpy and sunshine is one of those tropes I love seeing but I don't write much of it, except in some disconnected WIPs where I have a half-baked idea that I never really figure out how to turn into a full story. Maybe one day I'll write it.

Probably one of my favourite parts of the grumpy/sunshine trope is when the sunshine character acknowledges the grumpiness and doesn't actually hark on the character for it. In a lot of cases, people tell someone who doesn't seem to be happy to cheer up, stop being a grump, don't be a wet blanket, look at the bright side, etc.

The best part is when the sunshine says or does something that screams 'you're grumpy and might be having a rough day, and that's fine, it's not going to scare me away' and they don't try to change the grumpy character, they just accept it. And that allows the grumpy character to feel accepted, possibly for the first time in their life.

And the same goes the other way. Sunshine characters might annoy some people, and then they'd get told to tone it down, don't be weird, god can't you be normal about things, etc.

Then the grumpy one comes along and just lets the sunshine be a ray of sunshine as much as they want.

When I eventually write a completed story with grumpy/sunshine characters, that's how they'd be. Or at least, that's how they'd end up once they're together.

[ja-gul-writes]

Writing prompt

Character A: I would topple an empire to avenge you, I would betray my country to save you, I would end bloodlines if someone so much as looked at you the wrong way, I would-

Character B: How about you sit down, eat some food, and then cuddle with me while we watch a movie together?

Character A: ... that is also acceptable.