Sasha

I'm afraid he never got filled out, properly. That's the short answer. The long one goes something like this:

Alec's last name came from a Ukranian cliff diver, and Sasha got his first name. Sasha Kutsenko (finished 4th, you can see him toward the bottom of the page) came to my attention on a list of hot guys from obscure sports. I kept his photo on my desktop until I could use it, but the image never worked its way into an actual story.

When I started Sanitaria Springs I had just returned from Romania and had gotten the story about the orphans and what had happened there after the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the former dictator of Romania, and that was in the front of my mind as I created Sasha Buchanan. Even though his given name is Alexander, Sasha is a common diminutive. Originally he was created as a bit of a foil for Alec, something to blunt his antics. As an adopted child, there are several ways Sasha could have gone behaviorally and so forth; I chose to let him have a wide open, liberal upbringing in terms of freedom to make mistakes, to try things and color his hair in a rainbow if he wanted to. This contributes to his open, worldly view - because he doesn't sweat the small stuff.

After writing Don't Tell Alec! I felt that the next one would need to tone it down a hair - Alec is tough to keep up with, and thus the reasons why he's mellowed a bit and why he's not the main focus as often. Sometimes, re-reading him, I can get to the place again but it's not very easy. One way to mitigate that, but still showcase Alec was to write from Sasha's perspective. What does he think of his wiseacre boyfriend? Could he feel any potential shortcomings? Does Alec? In the end, they are able to share those vulnerabilities. The result of this is Alec's insecurities have a safe place and Sasha gains confidence from having Alec's deep trust.

As we see things from Sasha again in Pillow Talk, I was taking advantage of Sasha's more worldly view and his understanding of Alec to allow him to tease out what was going on in Alec's head. Initially this was supposed to be simply an intimate talk, one all couples have or should at some point that defines their relationships, that allows for fantasies to be told without judgement and where their own intimacy grows by their deeper knowledge of their partner. At first, putting all four together was something of a joke - Ryan held Alec in deep admiration and expressed that through Kale. Through our discussions, we researched poly relationships and decided to branch out and experiment with it - except that we wanted it to be a positive thing. As time goes by, my thought is, that the sexual side of that relationship would quiet down and the deep friendship would be the result.

Sasha was always meant as a balance to Alec, his perfect other half.

Sasha is, by far, my favorite character (with Lucien a close second). He always seems wise and sage-like beyond what someone should be like for his age. He seems to be the type that understands almost anyone's actions in any situation and does not seem to be the type to hold a grudge. But maybe I am just getting all this from Alec's POV. He does seem to worship, even idolize, the guy.