The Box

[methodwriter85]

Well for me, it's fun to read a story, know it's unrealistic, and enjoy it anyway.

 

Not only that, but as Mark has said before, the CAP saga is a soap opera. He's modeling CAP as like a much, much gayer West Coast version of Dallas. It's not meant to be a gritty reality story.

 

 

[Enric]

Not only that, but as Mark has said before, the CAP saga is a soap opera. He's modeling CAP as like a much, much gayer West Coast version of Dallas. It's not meant to be a gritty reality story.

 

 

 

there's a fundamental disagreement brewing in that view.

 

because, Dallas was quite plausible a story concoction; and had all sorts of elements american people were very capable of living as their own, or seeing as a more or less familiar life.

 

practically all soap operas need to be plausible. The genre is such. A soap opera would probably not succeed, if it loses plausible texture and plausible plot.

 

It's a totally different thing that a portion of real life is left OUT from soap operas; those portions which are sorta tedious. So they display glamorous sides and such.

[KJames]

there's a fundamental disagreement brewing in that view.

 

because, Dallas was quite plausible a story concoction; and had all sorts of elements american people were very capable of living as their own, or seeing as a more or less familiar life.

 

practically all soap operas need to be plausible. The genre is such. A soap opera would probably not succeed, if it loses plausible texture and plausible plot.

 

It's a totally different thing that a portion of real life is left OUT from soap operas; those portions which are sorta tedious. So they display glamorous sides and such.

 

The other thing a soap opera needs is a fan base made up, primarily of middle aged housewives, who like organ music to accent the scenes... There's no organ music for any of Mark's work, it's all contemporary to the time period of the story chapters...no housewives, no organ music, just a nice, gay, reader base...it's Gay Erotic (Well, maybe not too much erotica) Literature--not a soap opera. Thank God for that...soap operas bore to tears...

[Hoskins]

you tryin to call me a HOUSEWIFE??

[Ivy]

practically all soap operas need to be plausible. The genre is such. A soap opera would probably not succeed, if it loses plausible texture and plausible plot.

 

I told myself to ignore Enric's posts and just move on, but Enric I am convinced that you are a very well educated person who just has an inflated view of your own opinions.

 

The above statement is ludicrous if you look at soaps in general. Plausibility is NOT a factor in most. People come back from the dead (sometimes 2-3 times), Vampires live among us, Cops are sharpshooters with ordinary police issue pistols, Magic puppets that only come to life when no one else is around, Witches with magical powers, Angels, Almost every wedding has some sort of disaster.......

 

I could go on and on and on listing impossible and unrealistic happenings in soap operas (daytime and night time television) but there is no point. What you said is just dumb.

 

I am sure that Mark appreciates critique, but keep it logical please. And if you really have a problem with the way he writes his stories, then by all means stop reading them and find others. The CAP series is one of the most popular on the site, and if it had that many 'plausibility' issues that put people off I don't think that would be the case.

 

And by the way, for those of us who live in Dallas, I would like for everyone who doesn't to know that we do not all wear cowboy hats and boots, we don't all own oil wells, and we don't all live on ranches with cows and horses. Some do, but the television show Dallas was not a totally realistic representation of our city, LOL.

 

 

[Mark Arbour]

The other thing a soap opera needs is a fan base made up, primarily of middle aged housewives, who like organ music to accent the scenes... There's no organ music for any of Mark's work, it's all contemporary to the time period of the story chapters...no housewives, no organ music, just a nice, gay, reader base...it's Gay Erotic (Well, maybe not too much erotica) Literature--not a soap opera. Thank God for that...soap operas bore to tears...

 

 

It's not erotic? And I try so, uh, hard.

 

you tryin to call me a HOUSEWIFE??

 

Yep. You're my bitch.

[Mark Arbour]

I told myself to ignore Enric's posts and just move on, but Enric I am convinced that you are a very well educated person who just has an inflated view of your own opinions.

 

The above statement is ludicrous if you look at soaps in general. Plausibility is NOT a factor in most. People come back from the dead (sometimes 2-3 times), Vampires live among us, Cops are sharpshooters with ordinary police issue pistols, Magic puppets that only come to life when no one else is around, Witches with magical powers, Angels, Almost every wedding has some sort of disaster.......

 

I could go on and on and on listing impossible and unrealistic happenings in soap operas (daytime and night time television) but there is no point. What you said is just dumb.

 

I am sure that Mark appreciates critique, but keep it logical please. And if you really have a problem with the way he writes his stories, then by all means stop reading them and find others. The CAP series is one of the most popular on the site, and if it had that many 'plausibility' issues that put people off I don't think that would be the case.

 

And by the way, for those of us who live in Dallas, I would like for everyone who doesn't to know that we do not all wear cowboy hats and boots, we don't all own oil wells, and we don't all live on ranches with cows and horses. Some do, but the television show Dallas was not a totally realistic representation of our city, LOL.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the nice post Ivy. Personally, I don't think anything I've written is implausible. I think much of it is unlikely, at least linked together in one family like that. There's a big difference.

 

I don't think Enric is the egotist you make him out to be. I think he's just drunk. Hammered. Blotto. Three sheets to the wind.

 

 

[KJames]

It's not erotic? And I try so, uh, hard.

 

 

 

Yep. You're my bitch.

 

 

Oh, Mark, you're being much too hard on (now that was not intended ) yourself...I did not mean to imply that there wasn't eroticism in your stories, only that it was the right amount.

 

Hoskins, you can bend over and wax my floors, anytime...

Edited February 11, 2010 by kjames

[micky]

I'm going to gently disagree, Mark. I think much of the CAP series is, indeed, implausible, not that I disagree with unlikely. You've suggested the situation yourself, with "...linked together in one family like that." One of the familial twists would go down fine. Two gets a little more doubtful. By the time you add them all up, you've arrived at implausible.

 

So what?

 

Is there a single person who reads your stories who thinks that they could be (not necessarily are) real? That these events could reasonably be expected to actually take place some time some where? If there is, that person needs to get a grip.

 

So what?

 

I don't read either series for reality. The plot twists and turns are fun to follow and well enough done that while unfolding they achieve verisimilitude. That they won't survive dispassionate consideration is also true.

 

So what ?

 

I trust that you write for pleasure; clearly there's no money in it in this venue. We read for pleasure and take pleasure in the characters and the plot developments. If, from time to time, we would like to be one of the characters or share in that life, so much the better. That we might is also implausible.

 

So what?

 

I presume you're getting what you seek out of writing these stories for us, or you'd stop. Lots of people are getting pleasure from your work and anticipate the appearance of every new chapter.

 

That's what counts.

 

Micky

 

Thanks for the nice post Ivy. Personally, I don't think anything I've written is implausible. I think much of it is unlikely, at least linked together in one family like that. There's a big difference.

 

I don't think Enric is the egotist you make him out to be. I think he's just drunk. Hammered. Blotto. Three sheets to the wind.

 

 

[Mark Arbour]

I'm going to gently disagree, Mark. I think much of the CAP series is, indeed, implausible, not that I disagree with unlikely. You've suggested the situation yourself, with "...linked together in one family like that." One of the familial twists would go down fine. Two gets a little more doubtful. By the time you add them all up, you've arrived at implausible.

 

So what?

 

Is there a single person who reads your stories who thinks that they could be (not necessarily are) real? That these events could reasonably be expected to actually take place some time some where? If there is, that person needs to get a grip.

 

So what?

 

I don't read either series for reality. The plot twists and turns are fun to follow and well enough done that while unfolding they achieve verisimilitude. That they won't survive dispassionate consideration is also true.

 

So what ?

 

I trust that you write for pleasure; clearly there's no money in it in this venue. We read for pleasure and take pleasure in the characters and the plot developments. If, from time to time, we would like to be one of the characters or share in that life, so much the better. That we might is also implausible.

 

So what?

 

I presume you're getting what you seek out of writing these stories for us, or you'd stop. Lots of people are getting pleasure from your work and anticipate the appearance of every new chapter.

 

That's what counts.

 

Micky

 

 

 

You make good points.

 

I do get a lot of pleasure out of this. Part of it is the ability to play God, part of it is the fun of being creative, part of it is creating characters that I end up really liking, and the biggest part is that you guys like it.

[KJames]

You make good points.

 

I do get a lot of pleasure out of this. Part of it is the ability to play God, part of it is the fun of being creative, part of it is creating characters that I end up really liking, and the biggest part is that you guys like it.

 

 

You do, of course, notice that he used the word 'implausible', rather than 'improbable'; which means that a complex family such as JP's hierarchy is quite possible in today's world. As further nudging to that effect, do you remember the Tom Hanks movie "You've Got Mail"? He played the grandson of a bookstore chain founder, the grandfather had remarried and had a son by a wife 50 years his junior, so Hanks' character, roughly portrayed as a 28 year old, had an uncle of 5-7 years old.

[Enric]

And by the way, for those of us who live in Dallas, I would like for everyone who doesn't to know that we do not all wear cowboy hats and boots, we don't all own oil wells, and we don't all live on ranches with cows and horses. Some do, but the television show Dallas was not a totally realistic representation of our city, LOL.

 

 

It does not look to me like the soap opera reported all Dallas residents as owners of oil wells [it chose a subset of people there as its protagonists, and not even all of them owned oil wells]

and not that it depicted all Dallas residents wearing cowboy hats and boots.

and so forth.

 

That soap opera concocted a plausible family, to do such things.

The soap opera presented a bunch of plausible happenings.Things which were plausible per se.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Enric

[Canuk]

I am sorry, I wasn't going to enter this debate but saying Dallas is plausible ..... it was the greatest load of hokum.... watchable, well-ish acted, a vague plot but plausible? no, no way and not at all. In fact it was about as plausible as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all other soaps/serials from I Love Lucy and Gilligan's Island to Lost. In fact I would go as far as to say that the implausability / improbability level has to be high to turn it from documentry to drama/soap. As no one has offered to film my life or any of the lives of anyone I know (perhaps my social circle over 40 years on two continents is just too small), I'd suggest that our all-too-plausible, day-to-day lives don't make good drama/soaps...... so far this morning the greatest drama has been I forgot to plug in the toaster after doing the ironing..... thrilling drama; no. Plausible; yep. boring; you tell me.....

 

ultimately it's whatever makes your boat float and Mark , your writing floats mine very well!!

Edited February 11, 2010 by Canuk

[methodwriter85]

The more I read, the more I am convinced that Enric is really Benjamin Whist come to life.

[Canuk]

methodwriter85, you may be right - I sense a tweed coat - even if it's in the closet!!!

[Mark Arbour]

I think that's actually pretty flattering. Prof. Whist is tall, good looking, and intelligent. He has a gruff and stuffy manner, which has led us to conclude that he must certainly be hung like a horse. He just needs someone to love him and loosen him up a bit.

[JimmyZ]

I think that's actually pretty flattering. Prof. Whist is tall, good looking, and intelligent. He has a gruff and stuffy manner, which has led us to conclude that he must certainly be hung like a horse. He just needs someone to love him and loosen him up a bit.

 

So when is the next chapter? I am dying to know more.

[Mark Arbour]

So when is the next chapter? I am dying to know more.

 

It's in the queue to be posted. Should be up soon.

[GLH]

Another fine chapter! Kudos Mark!

[Mark Arbour]

Another fine chapter! Kudos Mark!

 

THANKS!

[Enric]

ch4: was this actually the first lesbian scene in the series....

[Guest Wyndham]

Chapter 4 was amazing.

 

Not too keen on the Lesbian stuff but I understand how that fits into the story. It also explains a little more about Tonto who was one of my favourite characters.

 

I enjoyed the eroticism of the sex in the water!! Very nice.

 

Thank you

[Mark Arbour]

Chapter 4 was amazing.

 

Not too keen on the Lesbian stuff but I understand how that fits into the story. It also explains a little more about Tonto who was one of my favourite characters.

 

I enjoyed the eroticism of the sex in the water!! Very nice.

 

Thank you

 

Thanks. I thought it would be an interesting twist.

 

ch4: was this actually the first lesbian scene in the series....

 

True...but not our first lesbian.

[paya]

Big bulky frame and lavender eyes! Lavender eyes?

[Tiger]

Omg, Tonto liked fish?

 

Ahhhhhhhhh poor Steven. It seems that Aaron is giving him the cold shoulder after they had some hot sex.

 

Good chapter! I want more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!