Quin asked Brad Boney:

How do you keep the story unfolding through dialogue? Your ability to craft emotionally enervating dialogue and leave out overly explicative content designed to direct the reader toward emotional stimulation are 2 things about your books I really enjoy. Thanks for your contributions to the m/m romance genre. I've read all three of your books and look forward to whatever you do next.

Brad Boney Thanks for the question, Maria, and the kind words. I think my writing style comes from my background in the theater, where dialogue is king. Many of the great American plays, like Long Day's Journey into Night or A Streetcar Named Desire, are little more than characters in a room talking to each other. So when I started writing The Nothingness of Ben, it felt natural to drive the story through conversation. Writers are often referred to as either plotters or pantsers--the former write from an outline and the latter from the seat of their pants. I'm a pantser, and I think that has a lot to do with how I keep the story unfolding through dialogue. It allows for a sense of discovery and the unexpected. I don't know ahead of time how my characters will react, and they often surprise me. My job is to put them in motion and then get out of the way, since they always know how to tell their story better than I do. As for what I leave out, that's intentional. A novel is a collaboration between an author and a reader, and I don't want to tread on your half. My books have more shades for the reader to fill in. But one person's pleasure is another person's poison, and I've been accused of being downright lazy. I'm okay with that, because questions and comments like yours reassure me that I'm on the right track. My next book, Yes, comes out in a few months, so I hope you'll be reading. Thanks again!

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