[Jwolf] The English Year

[Jwolf]

I'm telling you, I think if Mark Arbour had a gay 20-something son who wrote gay erotica, it would be JWolfe. There are some striking similarities there, I believe.

 

Wow, that's major praise. Thanks so much! And I loved your pic for Pete, but I'd like to throw a name out there that might actually be British... Dan Stevens anyone?

 

[LJH]

Damn! What a journey this is turning out to be. I read it all in one sitting and found none of it boring or cheesy. I totally believe that what will b will b and maybe my boy and Pete dont hit it off, but they will come very close to it. The way things are going, it seems to me that there is a reason for Pete's existence. He surely is fond of Corbin. Hecsurely knows that he has the hots for him. All the sexual unuendos are there. My concern is that no one has told him how Corb feels about him. Surely by now someone would have said something. Its fine that corb has told him oh i like you, but thats different to saying i want you as my boyfriend, or actually i'm in love with you. This concern has not deprived me of the thrill and enjoyment of the story. Its a great story from the mind of a great writer.

[joann414]

I agree Louis. When you are in college, young, someone has to spill the beans. I can't wait for Dakota to show. It is going to be a pivot point I think. JMO

[methodwriter85]

Wow, that's major praise. Thanks so much! And I loved your pic for Pete, but I'd like to throw a name out there that might actually be British... Dan Stevens anyone?

 

Oh, yeah, the Downton Abbey guy. He's pretty attractive, in an understated way, with very whitebread looks. I like it.

[Y_B]

I think Jwolf's found himself a cutie pie and had eloped to Mexico

[LJH]

YB ...I'm with you on that. Or maybe they eloped to the Bahama's.

[Lisa]

I think I need to send out a search and resue party for Jon......maybe he's just having another beer in Mexico.

[methodwriter85]

I loved the new chapter. Anyone who went to college during the second half of the 2000's would enjoy all the little in-jokes, like this one:

 

 

Anyway, great chapter. The tension between Corbin and Peter continues to be hot as hell.

[Conner]

I graduated college in 1971. I hope I'm not missing too much.

 

Justin Verlander, pitching ace for the Detroit Tigers, went to college at Old Dominion from 2002 - 2004. He pitched there for 3 years.

[MJ85]

This is getting really old fast. I'm starting to think that nothing ever happens aside from there being no end of tension.

[methodwriter85]

I'm re-reading the tailgating chapter. Chandliers sounds an awful lot like a game I remember from UD called Get the Fuck Out. You have to make the cup on the first try to be able to pass it to anyone you want, or you have to pass it to the right. If you knock someone's cup out, you yell, "Get the fuck out!", hence the name.

 

I also really hope that Corbin outgrew his bingedrinking stage, like I did. Cause damn. I had fuzzy memories but not nearly so many blackouts.

 

Of course, to be fair, I was a puker, so that probably is the reason why I never had too many blackouts. I remember this one time, before I had transferred into UD...I'm thinking this is around January 2007...I was hanging out with my friend Brian, who was a junior. He and what he referred to as his "temp" girlfriend Renee. We started doing double shots of rum, chased with Yuengling. Of course, I started to get really in need of hugging the porcelain gods, so I did. As I puked my guts out, I couldn't help but notice how nice and lovely the recently renovated bathrooms looked. As I walked back to my friend's dorm, I said something to the R.A., who's door was open, how it must suck to deal with stupid drunk college kids.

Edited December 9, 2012 by methodwriter85

[Jwolf]

Hey folks. Just wanted to drop an update. The latest chapter is off to the editors. I'm looking forward to having everyone read it. My hiatus should officially be over in the new year, so hopefull ill return to a normal posting schedule. Anyway, look for the latest sometime this week happy holidays.

[methodwriter85]

   I found this video and it made me think of Corbin's outing of Lee for some reason.

 

 

    The part of me that's emphathetic to closet cases want admonish this guy for this; my inner 21-year old college student is basically saying, "You go, boy!"

 

     It's completely bitchy and catty, but very, very indicative of just how fucked up "friends with benefits" situations can get, once one of them decides to get into a relationship. I thought the sentiment expressed in this video fit into the college mindset expressed in The English Year.

Edited December 20, 2012 by methodwriter85

[methodwriter85]

    Hey, JWolfe, good chapter as always. The trip to the gas station reminded me of my nightly trips to

in graduate school, which is this Western PA convenience store train where people would go to after a night of drunking. I'd always go there after drinking to get meatball subs. They had cops stationed out the door to ward off all the drunk people. The one I stopped by the most was like much smaller than the one you see here, but I've been to ones that size. It was a great replacement for WaWa, which serves the same function for the college students of the Greater Philadelphia area. Sheetz and Wawa both have very, very loyal fans, but I like WaWa more.

 

    I liked the bit where Corbin's brothes express their concern for him. You can tell they're clearly worried that Pete is going to take advantage of him the way Mike the Cadet did.

  

    And Dakota really is truly an awesome chick. She tried her best to warn Corbin, but as she put it, he's already drowning in Pete.

 

     What I really like about your stories is that they feel like real relationships.

Edited December 25, 2012 by methodwriter85

[Jwolf]

Hey folks! Here's the next chapter, ready and posted. I hope you enjoy

[MJ85]

Corbin says it isn't Pete's fault that he's given up on him. But...isn't it, though? He wouldn't have given up if Pete hadn't kept up his ways of keeping his love interests at arms' length. And frankly...the whole shpeel from Amanda about, maybe Pete just doesn't know that Corbin likes him - maybe Pete doesn't even want to know! Or: What if, like Corbin initially suspected, Pete has known all along, and has instead put up the front like he doesn't?

 

Frankly, I feel like it's a crock that Lee just gets to use him to get into the fraternity, though.

 

And is Roberto determined to eternally be this constant bitch to Corbin at every turn??

 

And then...the chapter ending. And all I can do is sigh once again. I really hope Corbin puts his so-called, um, "boys" on ice for a while. Roberto, for one, is a guy who I can't imagine any need to be friends with even through to the end of this year.

[Mark Arbour]

What I really like about Corbin is that he's a flawed individual.  I think that the way he outed Lee was way worse than Lee using him to get a bid, and I find Corbin's actions in outing a whole series of guys to his brothers to be pretty reprehensible.  As far as Pete goes, the clear course of action is for him to just lay it out there for Pete, to tell him how he feels, and then deal with the emotional carnage (or euphoria) as the case may be.  But again, flawed being that he is, Corbin doesn't do that.  He can't quite muster that much courage.  That Jwolf has created this person who annoys me on several levels, but that I still like, says much about his skills at creating characters and plots. 

[MJ85]

That Jwolf has created this person who annoys me on several levels, but that I still like, says much about his skills at creating characters and plots. 

 

You...do know that The English Year is Creative Non-Fic...right?

[Mark Arbour]

You...do know that The English Year is Creative Non-Fic...right?

 

Yet he still has to describe it effectively, no? 

[Jwolf]

Mark, I'm glad you're reading the story and enjoying it. That means a lot. And thanks for the feedback. I've always been one of those writers that believes protagonists should be well rounded. Sure, if Corbin annoys it a little, who in real life doesn't? The goal is that you go in chapter after chapter still wanting to root for him. Like him in a sense.

 

MJ, I'll tell you that Lee won't just waltz into Chi Beta if Corbin has anything to say about it, trust that. But there is a level of fraternity that even he respects, and if it's good for the house to at least rush him through the semester, then Corbin is going to play along, like he did in this chapter.

 

I know there's been quite a bit of back and forth with Corbin and Lee, but let me just tease that Corbin's decisions start to stick here pretty soon, and he does stand behind what he does. I won't tell you what that is just yet, but hopefully you'll tune in to see.

Yet he still has to describe it effectively, no? 

 

I think it has less to do with the character one creates or the inspiration for the character and more to do with how that character's story is told...

[methodwriter85]

Hey, Mark, first of all, I want to welcome you here to the JWolf board.

 

Secondly, I agree with what you're saying- what I think is JWolf's strength is that he creates characters and protagonists that realistically flawed, yet still pretty rootable. Definitely a step-up from the Nifty Archive stories of old where the protagonist or his love interest was too perfect to be believed, and the only real conflict came from a two-dimensional villain. I think you'd really like his two completed stories- The List and The Funny Thing Is.

 

Finally...what is it with guys in their teens/twenties wanting to play pranks on their friends? Does that change when guys get older, Mark?

[Jwolf]

Hey folks! The next chapter is available here. Let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy the first part of Homecoming

[methodwriter85]

This is going to sound weird, but ever since I saw Get Real back when I was 15, I wanted to have an angsty affair with a closeted macho jock. There was something that seemed kind of romantic about it, having this frustrated and unrequited relationship with a totured closet case. Of course, the reality here really isn't that romantic. Poor Corbin.

 

I could also kind of relate, because the gay dating scene at University of Delaware was pretty shit, too.Which was kind of surprising, because there is a large openly gay population, but it kind of felt like the bulk of gay guys there just wanted hook-ups. I was surprised that there were actually far more openly gay couples at Indiana University of PA, in the middle of bumblefuck PA, than there were at the more cosmopolitan university I went to for undergrad. 

 

I loved the term "super senior". I was one. It kind of felt like, when I graduated, that it wasn't really my graduation, because my real graduation should have been in 2009. I wasn't that emotional as compared to how I had been when I graduated from high school, and how I was when I graduated from grad school. Doing 5 years of college made me ready for it to be over. There was some big tough frat guy during graduation weekend who cried for like a good ten minutes at this bar during last call, and I couldn't relate to it.

Edited January 20, 2013 by methodwriter85

[Jwolf]

Yeah, the idea of hooking up with a closet case is definitely one that's better in theory than in practice. But I hope it's making for a good story

[B1ue]

I do like how blatantly hostile all of Corbin's friends were with Mike. It's none of their business, but it shows how much they fully accept Corbin as one of their own.

 

I knew my mom had fully assimilated my sexuality when she started criticising the guys I dated, and their parents. "You would had me make nice to THAT woman for the rest of our lives? I thought I raised you better than to pick potential mother-in-laws like that."

Edited January 20, 2013 by B1ue