Hi everyone,

I was going to respond to Steph's comment in the last blog, but I was planning to post a quick blog about BMAD anyway, so I decided to just do it in this entry:

Kev, nice little dialogue with your friend (hahahahaha). So, have you ever used something from a conversation IRL in your stories? I could totally see this in BMAD... although, who would be the clueless one?

LOL, thanks, Steph

BMAD definitely has some aspects that are taken from my real life. For example it takes place in Houston and with the exception of Bender's and Frank's all the other clubs, restaurants, parks, etc. that I mention are actual places in Houston that my friends and I periodically frequent. (It feels weird to say that online since it almost invites stalking, but we don't go that often and I find it unlikely anyone would recognize me).

Bender's is a made up combination of the two gay dance clubs that I go to most often (and no way could someone pick me out of a crowd of gay boys like that ). They're actually located near each other in real life and set in essentially the same location that Bender's is in the story. The reason I created Bender's instead of using one of the two real life clubs is because...well there's no real 'Mick' and 'Jake' (thought there are certainly strippers and bar tenders ) and I also took a bit of creative license with the way the clubs are set up.

Frank's is pretty much more of the same. There are two diners that are extremely popular with the club crowd after a night out. Frank's is a blended version of those two. 'Boots' is actually based on a real waitress at one of these two venues.

The main characters themselves aren't directly based on anyone I know and are pretty much created out of my imagination. They all have aspects of various people I know though, or simply 'types' of people I'm familiar with. Cosmo, Aaron, and Ben are the most 'reality based' characters. Cosmo's inspiration comes from a friend I have - also positive - who meets the general physical look and personality. The story version of Cosmo drinks more, has more money, and is a bit of a sweeter, less selfish person. Incidentally this friend isn't someone I'm that close with so he isn't someone I've ever mentioned in my blogs. Cosmo's drink comes from my own proclivities. I don't always drink Cosmos when I go out, but I very often do.

In many ways I envision Aaron and Ben as 'split' versions of myself. As the narrator Aaron has a few noticeable traits that are similar to mine. He's a sociology major/psyc minor. I got my degree in both as a double major. Mick's interest in philosophy comes from my own fascination in it (I briefly considered minoring in it). Ronnie is one of my favourite characters and it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that his predilection for fashion is taken from own.

I see myself as sort of a 'Ben' in terms of 'gay personality'. I'm not quite as 'femme' as Daisy, Cosmo, or Ronnie, but not quite as 'butch' as Giorgio, Jake, Mick or even Aaron (well maybe Aaron).

Mick, Jake, and Amanda are more or less completely fictitious although I've certainly known a few people like them who would sort of fit their M.O. I briefly had a friend who was somewhat like Amanda who had a "Ronnie" (with whom I briefly had a semi-fling with actually ).

However, to answer the actual question about dialogue: nope, up until now I've never directly used dialogue from real life. I guess I might in the future, but it would sort of feel like 'cheating'

Anyway, what I mostly wanted to mention with this blog is that I've restored all the chapters to eFiction and I've also posted Reflections Over Coffee. Reflections was actually supposed to be posted after chapter 6 and before chapter 7 and actually takes place immediately before the events in chapter 7 started (you can think of it anywhere from a few hours to a few minutes before, but in any case it took place the morning of the same day).

Because it was saved at the bottom of my folder ('R' coming behind all the 'ch...''s) and because it's easy to assume that chapter 7 would come immediately after chapter 6, I forgot to post it. I also suspect this is related to the fact that I was dealing with the whole eFiction story deletion and was busy that week in general. Nevertheless, I do apologize for the mistake and I hope you guys enjoy it anyway.

On a side note, I've also posted If No One Notices - My summer anthology entry - to eFiction. If you haven't read it yet, please do and let me know what you think

LOL, while I'm spitting out information about my stories I'll also add that my Anniversaries anthology entry is completely finished, has been edited twice by Sharon, and is now off to Tim for beta-ing. Once I review his comments and suggestions I'll be sending it off. Incidentally, this is the piece I had originally meant to submit as my summer anthology (If No One Notices was just a random short story that Sharon informed me fit the theme). I had misread the topic for the summer anthology and I don't think it would have worked there. I think it works pretty well here though. Ironically I have another story that I'd originally meant to use as the Anniversaries entry, but I didn't feel as inspired to work on it as the one I'm submitting, and I'd also done a lot more work on the one I'm submitting. Eventually I hope to get out this last piece as well though.

Finally, I have a special short story planned for release immediately after the last chapter of BMAD. It's actually something I wrote a very long time ago (while I was first working on Indefensible), but like much of my work I never felt inclined to release it. I think it really fits after the last chapter of BMAD though and considering how long it's been since I wrote it, now that I've actually decided to release it I'm anxious to see how it's received!

LOL, if you followed all of that I'm proud of you!

Take care everyone and have a great day