Paternity

[PrivateTim]

 

I really disagree on that. I think Rainne as written was a pretty straight-forward girl. If she had gotten pregnant, she would have informed Will of her decision about she wanted to do. And "punishing the girl who enjoys sex" with an unwanted pregnancy is such a horrible trope.

 

 

 

 

Pregnancy isn't a punishment, it is a consequence of unprotected sex that seems to happen all too often.

 

 

I do enjoy Will as a character, but having him as a front-burner in three straight stories would be a bit much, no? Mark didn't even do that for JP or Stefan. The other thing is that if you give Will another story right after this one, you've got to completely undo the good place that Will's currently at, and I'd like him to enjoy his happy ending for at least the duration of another story.

 

 Since you are a beta reader and I am sure Mark will post the next story in the next week I assume you know who the next narrators are.

 

But you can't really compare Will to JP & Stef as narrators since their stories jumped several years, Millennium, PMS and Paternity is like one long story, maybe even Bloodlines. We are barely 14 months of CAP time from the START of Millennium and exactly 36 months from the start of Bloodlines. The other stories jumped at much bigger time chunks,5-6 years at a crack. If we had followed the pattern, this new story would be starting in 2018 or so and Mark would be adding SciFi to his repertoire,

[Mari]

I would love to see Will as narrator again. His life doesn't have to be complete chaos for that to happen either. He could date Jeff that has family and school issues that will be dramatic enough. And of course, seeing 911 through a teen's eyes? Someone emotional like Will would feel that huge impact. I'm good with whatever Mark A. gives me but I sincerely hope it's not JJ.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Mari

[Northern Dutch Guy]

hallo Mark

 

Paternity.... I sometimes forgot that the title told it all.

Had no idea where you would  let the story end. Or how it would end as there was not one but more main characters from whose POV this story was told.

But again in your last chapter ...  Paternity told it all...  And was a well chosen title.

Yes this book was that struggle about being a father and the feelings and develloping relationship  kids have towards them.

 

There is strong interaction. And those feelings can be much more stronger for the kid !

Because also he as a father is the strongest male role model.

 

And that I only know since my partner helped some girls... yes lesbians like in this story to have children.

For him and me it was him just helping them having kids... when they asked.

Not with fatherly feelings. Just... amazed that they  asked us.

 

But for those two kids....  OMG I was so... amazed that they wanted him (us) in their lives after they started asking why they had no father but two mothers! And they are just 7 and 5 yo !

 

Mark, you captured in this story a very good picture of conflicts and feelings from the POV of a young guy in...  the develloping relationship with his father(s)...

and how both sons and fathers can do react stupid though they still think they are doing things right !

 

Conlicts and handling them... how bad they will get...I can only hope when we have conflicts so deep with our kids ... I hope they will end this way.

 

Basicly it is about learning to see it and understand it from each others POV. Dare to be open and trusting and honest... It sounds so simple... !

 

loved the sory ! :worship:

 

 

Ahh Mark please.... maybe this is too personal... but I think you were reacting on this site some two years ago... you had troubles with...

Is this/was this your way of describing a personal strougle with a puberal son ?

[methodwriter85]

I'm good with whatever Mark A. gives me but I sincerely hope it's not JJ.

 

I agree completely. I don't think he's going to be in the place of mind to be a fun and sexy narrator for at least a couple of years. At 17./18...yeah, I can see a story. But not when he's 15 and a largely asexual kid dealing with the trauma of losing his mother to insanity and having been forced to become sexual when he wasn't ready to be.

 

Dating will always be dramatic, but I'm not sure how dramatic his school issues would be. Menlo is not a school where being gay is a big deal, so something like Patrick's story In The Perks of Being A Wallflower wouldn't work. So much of high school drama is based on the fact that you have no real perspective outside of that world, thus things such as "Who will I sit with at lunch?" become of big, earth-shattering importance. Will's already been emancipated, already played the popularity game and decided to do things his own way instead, and he seems to be setting himself up with Marie's crowd, who seem like a pretty chill crowd.

 

Matt's high school angst storylines worked because he was a closeted kid who had the pressure of being King of the A-Crowd, and it was important to him until they ditched him when he got sick. Brad was similiar, and his outing was dramatic because it was 1980 when the world "coming out" wasn't a very common phrase in college, let alone at high school.

 

I think the only real high school angst I can see Will having is involving his dating life, but other than that...Mark's written Will as a guy who doesn't really sweat academics because he's genius-level smart, doesn't have to worry about people liking him because he's hot, and doesn't have to worry about being bullied for being gay because it's 2001 and a liberal area. So where exactly would his high school issues and conflicts come from?

 

Sometimes people just have a good and relatively easy time in high school, and Will at this point seems like he'd be one of those people.

 

 

Tim, they didn't have unprotected sex, though. Rainne was on the Pill.

 

Edited March 21, 2013 by methodwriter85

[Northern Dutch Guy]

Ahhh how could I forget that in my reaction. Probably the most important thing for kids/girls/boys is that they need to feel loved and told to be loved !

[Mari]

She SAID she was on the pill.....

 

 

MethodWriter, I was thinking more along the lines of Jeff's college experiences. He is at a completely different place than alot of kids his age who are more carefree and taken care of by parents (or at least have better support systems), growing up on the streets and hustling ages a person. I'd like to see how he reacts to the new enviroment. And dating Will who is 4 years younger. *cough*

 

 

I can see Will having trouble in high school from Carter but that wouldn't be overly dramatic, I don't think. I'm sure at some point they would end up in bed together. I'm really hoping that while we won't have a JJ narrator that he doesn't follow in Shane's footsteps either.

[sat8997]

I'm good with whatever Mark A. gives me but I sincerely hope it's not JJ.

 

Oh hell no. Not unless he's okay with castration by rusty spoon.

[methodwriter85]

MethodWriter, I was thinking more along the lines of Jeff's college experiences. He is at a completely different place than alot of kids his age who are more carefree and taken care of by parents (or at least have better support systems), growing up on the streets and hustling ages a person. I'd like to see how he reacts to the new enviroment. And dating Will who is 4 years younger. *cough*

 

RIght. It'd be interesting to see the community college environment...it's definitely a lot different than the typical 4-year college environment. I think Jeff would have to attend community college for at least 2 semesters, meaning that the earliest he'd get to USC would be about the spring 2002 semester.

 

And yeah, Sharon, I think JJ has waaaayyyyyyy too much growing up to do before I'd even entertain the idea of him as a narrator. 2003 when he's 17 and Evan Lysacek has moved to El Segundo, yeah. Not now.

 

It's just interesting how JJ seems to parallel my own childhood in some ways. At 15, I was completely and totally obnoxious. It took me until I was 17/18 before I started behaving better.

Edited March 22, 2013 by methodwriter85

[rjo]

Wow!! You really don't like JJ do you. I've been thinking about who should be the next narrator of the next book? I it is to be shared Will, he is just fun. I am thinking Will and Jeff. We could get more back story on Jeff and continue the progress of Will. Thanks again for the wonderful story. Words can not express how much it has meant to me.

[centexhairysub]

I don't know; it just seems with the subject matter that the next story will cover that the narrator will require a certain gravitas.  I still think JP is the best person to be the narrator for the 9/11 story.  I can see a split narration with someone younger to give a perspective from another generation but I do think JP has to be involved.  Maybe the first three-way, get your mind out of the gutters, narration; JP, Brad/Robbie/Cody/Claire, and then Matt/Will/Gathan from the younger generation.  9/11 is such a seminal event that I really think it demands JP as one of the narrators. 

 

I, of course, will survive no matter who the narrator ends up but have you noticed how I whine when I don't get something I really want???

                                       :whistle:                      

Edited March 22, 2013 by centexhairysub

[rjo]

JP, I love JP. JP and Will?

[Mark Arbour]

Interesting ideas.   Hmmm.....

[Daddydavek]

Interesting ideas.   Hmmm.....

 

 

He's not giving away anything.....

[mmike1969]

 

Tim, they didn't have unprotected sex, though. Rainne was on the Pill.

 

 

   

 

Sorry but I almost spit out my morning coffee when I read this..

 

Yeah, that line is almost as abused as much as when the guy says "I know what I am doing!"

[naaz]

For some reason, I believe it will be good if we get another dually narrated story by JP and Will. And though people may hate me for this, I do hope that Will does not find his 'soul mate' really soon. I mean, I don't mind Will Finding, just we have a little too many people in the CAP world to find their partners for life real early and they remain together, like, forever. I am glad for them, but does it really happen? 

[methodwriter85]

   The problem with Will finding his "forever" soulmate at 14 is that Mark clearly wants to use Will for more stories, and while monogamy is nice, it's not very good for a soap. Note that Brad/Robbie and Matt/Wade weren't allowed to have another story until they came close to breaking up.

[Daddydavek]

I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere along the story line Mark does introduce us to a character uninvolved with Will that in a subsequent story (say when Will is 18 or 19) becomes Will's forever mate.  He does seem to like to introduce characters for a point, even if it isn't apparent in that book. 

[Mark Arbour]

I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere along the story line Mark does introduce us to a character uninvolved with Will that in a subsequent story (say when Will is 18 or 19) becomes Will's forever mate.  He does seem to like to introduce characters for a point, even if it isn't apparent in that book. 

 

Yes he does.  

 

I think that Will is a bit too much like Stef to readily settle down, even if he weren't so young.  He learned his lesson in "Poor Man's Son," where you can't just fall in love with every guy you bone.  He seems to do best with a cadre of guys.  I think that as long as he has one of them to latch on to when he has a crisis, he really doesn't need a boyfriend.  But we'll see. 

[darlingnikki]

I created an account just to throw my $0.02 out there...please let Brad be a narrator next! His scenes are so hot, and I'd love to see what happens to Darius, JJ and Will next from his perspective.  

[rjo]

I still vote or Jeff or Jeff and Will or JP and Will.

[mmike1969]

Hell, just make a chapter involving everyone that is still alive after 9/11.

 

POV of Will is going to be different from Brad even though they are seeing the same thing.

Edited April 13, 2013 by mmike1969

[methodwriter85]

     After watching the racist bitch known as Aaryn Gries on Big Brother 15 (seriously google her- this shit's unreal), I have to realize that I was wrong about MaryEllen not being plausible. You can apparently be an openly huuggggggeeee bitch (Not Regina George's nice-to-your-face-bitch-behind-your-back bitch) and have hangers-on and followers. Blue was totally right about that. The sorority bitch types I knew in college have nothing on Aaryn Gries (and MaryEllen). I must have just been in nicer colleges.

Edited July 15, 2013 by methodwriter85

[methodwriter85]

Over on the t.v. show Nashville, they're currently doing an "rich teen tries to emancipate" themselves storyline. The circumstances are completely different, but it made me think back to the VERY strong (myself included) reactions to the emancipation storyline in Paternity.

 

I still think it bothered me because as someone who grew up with people who were really getting abused by their parents, it bugged me that Will couldn't make it work with Brad, but I also get why Mark did it. He didn't want Brad and Will constantly at each other's throats until Will turned 18 and went off to college (which might have been what it was like with his own son), and there was no way that wouldn't happen if Brad was still in charge of Will's life.

 

It also conveniently allowed Will to be able to do things like own land and travel more often, without Mark having to advance the story to 2004-2005. It served a purpose- it allowed Will to be this grown-up in his peer group, and Mark could have him do things a normal 14/15 year old couldn't, while we waited for the rest of his co-horts to get a little older and catch up in maturity. (See: JJ.)

 

I'm still not entirely sure that Brad has ever really recovered from the damage that Paternity did to his character, though. I still have a really hard time rooting for him.

 

And it also bugs me how Jeanine was just dragged through the mud. I liked the spunky, cool lesbian we met in Man In Motion, who instantly took to Preemie JJ as his mother, as he desperately needed one since his egg donor was getting it on at the local crackhouse. I'm not sure the bitter, stagemother bitch was out of nowhere, because you could see how being the "mother" but not REALLY being a full-blown member of the family while she could barely connect to her one biological son that was basically elevated to lord of the manor would eventually lead to some really bad things.

 

I think ultimately, what bothered me about the storyline was the idea that the unconventional family unit that Brad set up back in 1986 with Jeanine, Robbie, and their three boys "failed", slowly crumbling apart from the time that Robbie said he wanted to try dating other people in late 1999, to Will's emancipation at the end of 2000, and then the final end during 9/11.

 

I just really, really hope that Matt, Tiffany, and Wade have better luck, LOL. (Think about Maddie and Riley- they would be 15 years old right now!) I do think Tiffany would have never, under any circumstances, accepted the kind of treatment that Jeanine got from Will. Of course, Tiffany's different- she's not some poor nanny that the heir apparent decided to knock-up in order to get some offspring going. She herself springs from some pretty solid Midwestern upper-class stock, even though her parents were crazy the grandparents were supposed to be pillars of Grosse Pointe, MI society. I liked that she was kind of coy when asked about how much she has- probably not Wade money by any stretch of the imagination, but she's not hurting.

[Timothy M.]

I like how you bring this aspect back up. To me Will's struggles to be in charge of his own life and his decision to apply for emancipation was actually my favorite parts of Paternity and the reason this is my favorite of Mark's CAP stories. Jeanine's way of tackling Will was as wrong as Brad's but of course she did it more a part of her power struggle with Brad than out of any mothering instincts towards Will. I noted he had a great relationship with Tiffany, so I'm not worried about her abilities to tackle bratty teens.

[Drew Espinosa]

There's teenage rebellion, and then there's a Will Rebellion.

I highly doubt Riley, Bobby, or Maddy will be as troublesome for their parents as Will was to his own. Now, if Will has children of his own... watch out!

Edited May 5, 2016 by Drew Espinosa