Blogs

Story Review Blast From The Past

For today's Blast from the Past we are bringing you an Anthology entry from 2007 written by Graeme called "When the Cat's Away." Why not take a minute and go check out this Anthology piece as well as many of the many other early Anthologies! If you are interested in reviewing a pre-2009 Anthology story, then please contact Renee or Trebs! “When the Cat’s Away” by Graeme Reviewer: K.C. Anthology: Fall 2007~ The Rainy Day In this short story, our previous Anthology Coord

Renee Stevens in Reviews

April 28, 2012

Prompts

Prompts Writing Prompts #130 & #131

Even though we paused our news blog last week, the prompts continued on schedule. So *that* means - we have FOUR prompts to showcase today. As usual, ComicFan is our source of all of this wonderful promptyness... Prompt 130 – Creative Cue – The Call You have lived your whole life in the same town, however with each passing year you have felt a desire to move. Always you head in the same direction. Now you are legally an adult and the money you have saved manically for the past few years is g

Trebs in Prompts

April 27, 2012

Writing Tip Writing Tip: Character Building

Interesting characters are usually one of the most important elements of good writing. That's why this great tip by CassieQ is a welcome addition to our GA News Blog. If you have a great tip that you'd like to share with the community, let me or Renee Stevens know. Character Building by CassieQ To be 100% honest, writing about characters was hard. Characterization is something that always seemed to flow naturally, so trying to take it apart and explain the mechanics o

April 26, 2012

Story Review Author Showcase!

What day is it today? Oh yeah, it's Wednesday, which can only mean it's time to showcase two more Authors! Today we have a review of "The House Always Wins" by Promising Author: Andr0gene as well as a review of "Blizzard" by Admin & Author: JSmith! Enjoy!!! The House Always Wins By Andr0gene Reviewer: Renee Stevens Status: Complete Word Count: 51,936 Before I became a beta reader for Andr0gene, I first read his story The House Always Wins. While I have read all of his s

Renee Stevens in Reviews

April 25, 2012

Writing Tip Writing Tip: Brainstorming Past Your Block

Brainstorming Past Your Block Especially when writing a short story, there will often come a time in your plot when you get stuck. One of the best ways to move past a block in the action is to brainstorm what could happen. Then... pick one! Often when I'm trying to figure out the loose overall plot I will do a 'this happens, then that, then this' in a timeline fashion. Sometimes I can't figure out what I want to have happen next and that's when I start brainstorming. I'll do this on my

April 24, 2012

Story Review Featured Story: Stonegate Stables

After a brief lull, we return to our regularly scheduled daily GA News blog, with this review of Gabriel Morgan's Stonegate Stables. Stonegate Stables By Gabriel Morgan Reviewed By: Renee Stevens Status: Complete Word Count: 230,697 I first started reading ’52 Panhead by Gabriel Morgan on another site. Since it wasn’t finished yet, I went searching for any site that might have more of the story. Instead of more of that story, I found Gabriel on Gay Authors and immediat

April 23, 2012

Story Review Featured Story: Angst Poetry Collection

Poetry is one of those things I think are in the eye of the beholder. The impact a poem bestows on the reader is only as great as the answering emotion it awakens. When Houdinii offered to do a Hosted Review, I was surprised and pleased when he offered to review Luc's poetry. I thought his review was as honest as he found the poetry; I hope you will enjoy both! Poetry Collection: Angst By Luc Review by Houdinii Marzipan once told me that I, Houdinii, may be great at

April 16, 2012

Weekly Wrap Up

Weekly Update Weekly Wrap Up!

It is with GREAT pleasure, that I announce our newest Hosted Author - Baby Q's dad! (erm - I guess he also goes by Quonus10). I am personally a big fan of his work, especially Second Shot and The Trial of Jordan Colmar - if you haven't read his stuff yet, I encourage you to give it a try. Also, a big last minute reminder that entries for the Poetry Anthology need to be to Lugh by April 17 - that's just two days from now. So, we've had a pretty good week, starting with a review of Duncan

Trebs in Weekly Wrap Up

April 15, 2012

Writing Tip Writing Tip: The Editing Process

So - glancing over some of the past newsletters, I found this gem from Feb 2007, about editing from a writer's perspective. I hope you enjoy! Editors and Writers The Editing Process: From the Writer’s Point of View By Talon Rider Finding an editor can be a problem sometimes. You think to yourself, where can I find someone? Do I ask another author who they use? Do I post something in a forum somewhere? Has an editor made their presence known? Either one of those methods may

April 14, 2012

Prompts

Prompts Writing Prompts #128 & #129

Today we bring you two new prompts from Comicfan. While they both look like they're going to be interesting, I think "The Sexes" is going to provide quite the challenge! Enjoy! Prompt 128 – Creative Cue – Word List Use the following words in a story: fog, bus, newspaper, coffee roll, and toilet paper. Prompt 129 – Creative Cue – The Sexes Science has always said that there would be new species added as time went on and as Mother Nature needed change. What wasn’t expected was that the hum

Renee Stevens in Prompts

April 13, 2012

Writing Tip Writing Tip: Synonyms

Synonyms In writing, especially when doing character pieces, you need to watch for repetition. The words used when writing can give clues to accurately express how the character appears or acts depending on what synonym is used. Physical cues are very important when it comes to showing and not telling. However, using the same word repeatedly is boring. Below are a few common actions and examples of synonyms you can use to highlight them in different ways. Expression: noun-outward ap

April 12, 2012

Story Review Author Showcase

Well, it's Wednesday again, and you know what that means! Is everyone ready for their weekly dose of "Author Showcase"? Today we bring you a story by Promising Author: JWolf titled "Nowhere Man". Also, we are bringing you a story by a bit of a newer author here at GA, Author: Percy and his story "The Waltz". Nowhere Man by JWolf Reviewer: LouisHarris Status: Complete Word Count: 44,350 JWolf understands the edge. And, in this short thriller, he doesn’t waste words. Ever

Trebs in Reviews

April 11, 2012

Writing Tip Writing Tip: Setting "the Scene"

Today's Tip is brought to you by our prompt guru, Comicfan. Thank you for this wonderful little lesson on setting the scene for a story! If YOU have a tip for a future blog entry, let Trebs or Renee Stevens know! The Scene by Comicfan Ever notice how important a scene is? I don’t mean the action; I mean that place it is located in. Sometimes it can add to the overall sense of what is happening or it can make it a tragedy. It isn’t very hard to have a story go wrong by the

April 10, 2012

Story Review Featured Story: How The Light Gets In

Duncan Ryder is one of our Hosted Authors that writes in a very touching and true fashion. Two of his stories, Everybody's Wounded and its sequel, How the Light Gets In show very realistic young men, struggling through life and struggling to connect both with others, as well as with themselves. CarringtonRJ has done a great review of How The Light Gets In - but I strongly recommend reading Everybody's Wounded first for the full experience of how each person has gotten to the place they are w

April 9, 2012

Weekly Wrap Up

Weekly Update Weekly Wrap Up!

Before we review the past week, I want to point out that the deadline for the Poetry Anthology is just NINE days away. If you are planning on submitting a poem (and I hope you do), it needs to be sent Lugh by April 17. Our week started as always with a Hosted Author review - and this week, Roan wrote a review of Renee Stevens' Eternity. This is a story that I loved when I first read, and Roan's review is a great reminder of what a gem Eternity is. Our tips this week were both very usefu

Trebs in Weekly Wrap Up

April 8, 2012

Story Review Blast From The Past!

Today we're going to revisit another Anthology Entry from some of the earlier anthologies. So from the 2007 Spring Anthology: Fairy Tales, here is the review for: Time to Grow Up by Jack Scribe Reviewer: K.C. Status: Complete Word Count: 8,584 “Time To Grow Up” 2007 Anthology piece by Jack Scribe is a modern twist on a timeless fairytale of Peter Pan. The character of Peter Pan has delighted children and adults alike for more than a hundred years. Peter’s carefree l

Trebs in Reviews

April 7, 2012

Prompts

Prompts Writing Prompts #126 & #127

Good Friday! Happy Passover! Or that great catch all - TGIF!!! I recently chatted with someone who said they couldn't write - they thought they did well on email and documents for work, but trying to write a story was something they thought beyond their skill. I have to say, ESPECIALLY for that type of person, these writing prompts are the perfect way to just experiment and try seeing what you are capable of. ComicFan has given us two great new prompts - I really hope you try one of them

Trebs in Prompts

April 6, 2012

Writing Tip Writing Tip: Writing For Technical Geeks

For today's tip - we have a great writeup by Myr that we hope will be useful to you as an author. If you have a tip you think the community would find useful, please let Trebs or Renee Stevens know! Writing for Technical Geeks by Myr As many know, I'm a rather technical person by nature. It is in my blood to research stuff into the ground so that I can understand all the angles of a thing. I think and rethink on things all the time. It is thus when I went into a writing blo

April 5, 2012

Story Review Author Showcase!

It's Wednesday again and that means it's time to feature some more stories from GA's very talented authors. Houdinii has done a great review of "Charlie", a touching story by Promising Author Hamen Cheese. We also have a guest reviewer who is a board member but would rather do reviews anonymously, and we agreed as long as all of these reviews are under the same reviewer name. So here is "Fozzy Bear" with their first review - and what better first story for them to review than Mr. Anonymous b

Trebs in Reviews

April 4, 2012

Writing Tip Writing Tip: Blogging For Exposure

How to get more traffic to your stories is frequently something author's are concerned about. What use is it to write a fantastic story, if people don't know about it. Here is one way - Cia writes about blogging as a way to increase your exposure. Check out her tip and let us know what you think! Also, if YOU have a tip, let me know. It may be one we feature on a future news blog entry. Blogging for Exposure by Cia Do you blog? I didn't until about 3 months ago. I've writin

April 3, 2012

Story Review Featured Story: Eternity

Being an admin on GA, and especially recently with working on this news blog, I've "met" and gotten to know quite a few people. Renee Stevens not only is a great writer, she also has been a fantastic help with so many things on GA and helped me so much with this blog. I really enjoyed reading Roan's review below - especially as I first read Eternity on nifty, and remember waiting for each new chapter. Now I get to really know an author I admire. Eternity by Renee Stevens Review