I interviewed Belem Knight in his UK home in Devon UK, looking out onto the rolling hills of North Dartmoor. He was on a visit to the UK from his US residence.
I: So, Belem, is it true that you do not really exist?
B: Yes and No.
I: There’s nothing like a definite answer to a question.
B: I exist as the alter ego of Rupert Ramsgate.
I: So I am talking to Rupert Ramsgate.
B: You could write that, but it would not be entirely true. You are talking to the corporeal identity that is Rupert Ramsgate. However, you are interacting with the personality and thought processes of Belem Knight.
I: Glad we got that straightened out. So, if you are an alter ego, how and why did you come into being?
B: Well…<strokes chin>….here is what happened.
Rupert was hammering away one day on ideation, which is one of the four stages of writing, and happened to come up with an idea for a storyline. The challenge was that the story line was despicable. Total filth. It was like a pulp fiction novella. Rupert realized that this was a different style of writing that was in conflict from his developing style. So he resolved the conflict by using a different pen name. Hence, Belem Knight.
I: So how would you describe the differences between Rupert and Belem?
B: Rupert is expansive, and writes novels with a wide sweep, covering lots of subjects. Belem writes narrower focus erotica, short stories and novellas. He also writes to order.
I: Orders from who?
B: Well, sometimes I will be in conversation with a friend, and they will say something, and Belem will think “that would be a great subject for a story”. So, a novella is hammered out.
I: How many works have you created?
B: Well, I have a novella that is in second draft, and a couple of other novellas in development. I have more ideas than I have time to finish them.
I was discussing this with a lady friend and we decided that Belem Knight is really, to some extent, recreating pulp erotica. But in a much more modern way.
I: So who is Belem Knight’s audience?
B: The sort of people who will like a Belem Knight story are people who want to read something where sex is a big part of the story. This is not Harlequin with occasional naughty bits. Some of it is extremely down and dirty.
I: What about genres?
B: Pretty much straight sex. I am not an expert on kinks, mostly, so I do not think I could suddenly write a novella about furries, for example, and make it plausible.
There are some common themes. I am a breast man, so you will find some curvaceous women have prominent roles.
The people in the stories are regular folks, but they get it off and get it on. That nice blonde lady from the cookery shop? She might show up in a Belem Knight story, bent over a table, or walking into her second bedroom of the night.
I: Don’t your friends worry that they will end up in your stories?
B: That is a good question. I was once discussing carnal experiences with a lady friend and she said “If I tell you all of this, will I suddenly appear in one of your stories?”. She was leery of revealing much of anything, that was obvious.
Creative writers, with the possible exception of historical novelists, almost never take a real person and parachute them, unaltered, into a novel. I remember reading an interview with David Crosby, the C in Crosby Stills Nash and Young. One of his most famous songs is “Guinnevere”, a song about a mysterious woman. In an interview, Crosby says “people always ask “who was Guinnevere?”. Songs are seldom about one person”. He went on to explain that Guinnevere was a composite of several women (while hinting that part of Guinnevere was Joni Mitchell, with whom he was in a relationship when the song was written).
All of the people in the stories, both by me and my good friend Mr. Ramsgate, are composites. Some of them may have elements of people I have met in the past. Some are entirely imaginary. Taking a real person into a story is too restrictive. Plus, it tends to undermines the whole concept of fictional writing.
I can give you a recent practical example. I was talking to a lady friend about how she imagined herself once as a member of the English nobility. I said “that sounds like a naughty story” and she said “yes please”. So a Baroness with a manor house is currently being written about. She is educated, cultured, very British, and a shameless fornicator.
I: So I could ask Belem Knight for a story?
B: You could, but I currently write for fun, not for money. Some day, once I have honed my craft, I will do commissions.