A To Z

[Parker Owens]

He'd be nuts if he didnt.  I didnt not for 7 years and when I did it was because the guy had access to me and i couldnt get away. Was in the hospital... So yeah it makes sense. 

And while Stefan/Eric may be many things, he isn't nuts. Stefan/Eric is lucky (I think) not to be in a hospital himself, though his wounds will take time to heal on their own...

[Parker Owens]

Just wondering if anyone else out there has answers for any of Stefan/Eric's big "questions for the day?"  For example, I can't help but remembering how nasty the best looking kids in school were back in the day. They were the worst bullies, and I wasn't on the receiving end, even.

[skinnydragon]

You don't have enough time for me to answer the first of today's questions, but as for the second, naked in church shouldn't make a difference to any God who created you naked. It would make a difference to people. Which means the 'truth' would vary from peoples to peoples. The Romans probably would't have cared, at least during the republic.

Edited October 12, 2015 by skinnydragon

[Mikiesboy]

Just wondering if anyone else out there has answers for any of Stefan/Eric's big "questions for the day?"  For example, I can't help but remembering how nasty the best looking kids in school were back in the day. They were the worst bullies, and I wasn't on the receiving end, even.

Don't remember bullies in school. I managed to stay under the radar, but being good looking and well dressed makes you feel superior so bullying someone is easy then i think.

 

With respect to church ..I agree with skinnydragon. If god is supposed to be all loving then being naked there shouldn't matter. But i don't believe in god or man's churches or religions so to me, its just a building.

[Parker Owens]

You don't have enough time for me to answer the first of today's questions, but as for the second, naked in church shouldn't make a difference to any God who created you naked. It would make a difference to people. Which means the 'truth' would vary from peoples to peoples. The Romans probably would't have cared, at least during the republic.

Naked and Church  don't always seem to go together, at least not in the context Stefan/Eric finds himself. Interesting you should bring up the Romans - don't know enough about their practices. But in general, nakedness was a more common and acceptable thing back then; it happened as a matter of course.

[1brokNangel]

I STILL have flashes of what it was like in school, everyday being bullied and harassed because I didn't dress like them, being painfully shy didn't help, it also didn't help going home and dealing with more bullying there....

And at neither place was there any effort at all to put a stop to it, it was just one of those deal with it kind of thing's because nothing was going to change.

HOPEFULLY things will start to turn around for Stefan/Eric, he has really been through enough.....I just wanna reach in and give him a huge hug and the reassurance that he needs to be given that everything is going to be fine in the end and that there are people he can trust...

[Parker Owens]

Funny to think of it this way, but few kids who are bullied have the chance to wonder as Eric / Stefan does: What am I running toward? So many have to concentrate or running away, or on trying to stay very, very still and invisible - or somehow manage both, which turns out to be impossible. The problem with Eric's situation is that it is also quite dangerous. The world can be a nasty place for a kid on his own.

[Mikiesboy]

Funny to think of it this way, but few kids who are bullied have the chance to wonder as Eric / Stefan does: What am I running toward? So many have to concentrate or running away, or on trying to stay very, very still and invisible - or somehow manage both, which turns out to be impossible. The problem with Eric's situation is that it is also quite dangerous. The world can be a nasty place for a kid on his own.

Kids that run away from home, aren't spoiled or brats. There is some serious shit going down, that makes being on your own on the street look good. 

[1brokNangel]

It's sad to say but that is so true, it's even sadder that people look at these kids and talk about how there is help out there for them if they would only look, but really the kids are to frightened of most if not all adults at this point because they honestly don't know who they can trust....

Its so heartbreaking.... :'(

[Mikiesboy]

It's sad to say but that is so true, it's even sadder that people look at these kids and talk about how there is help out there for them if they would only look, but really the kids are to frightened of most if not all adults at this point because they honestly don't know who they can trust....

Its so heartbreaking.... :'(

You're right. When I was out there.. adult were the last people I wanted around me. It was an adult who put me there.. 

[Parker Owens]

Cannd brought up an interesting incidental character in a chapter 12 review:   " I hope he (Eric) avoids this Ozzie guy. How could he not understand what the kid means when he says 'Ozzie's boys' when he said flat out, 'how long did it take for...' He seemed to want to believe it would only happen b/c of his being gay.

 

The question never really explored was - is Ozzie a predator? Should he have been written that way? Any evidence for that except Colin?

[Parker Owens]

How long is too long without a ray of sunshine? Just asking. 

[skinnydragon]

Wellll, probably about 16 chapters 

[Parker Owens]

 I asked for that...

But seriously, it's hard to break that big barrier of mistrust and stubborn self reliance - I wondered how this experience would have changed Eric over time.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Parker Owens

[skinnydragon]

IMHO It probably would take him a very long time surrounded by complete love with no serious bumps in the road. If he had that always around him, he would eventually survive. But if there was any further betrayal by someone he should trust, then my guess is all bets are off.

[Parker Owens]

Love is the one experience that Eric has only hazy memories of. People may have defined love for him, and perhaps he's read about it in books, but he might have difficulty understanding it, even if he experienced it. How does a starfish understand a ballerina, after all? (credit to Robert F. Capon for the analogy).

[spike382]

I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time investing in any one chapter right now, because there doesn't seem to any payoff to most of Stefan's encounters. He continues to have mostly negative experiences with most everybody he encounters. Even with the few positive experiences he has with people, it never really leads to anything as he just moves on and we never see any of the characters again. Obviously his new rules won't help him open up to anyone, but he's been wandering for ten chapters and haven't seen anyone worth opening up to.

[skinnydragon]

You're right. That's why it's going to take a long time for Eric to come up with a proper internal meaning for love.

Maybe he would be better off mentally with a start-over. He's sorta begun by changing his name. Now if he could begin to mold a new me, then it might make it easier. (I'm obviously no shrink.)

 

I chuckled over the starfish/ballerina comparison because in 18 Weeks, many chapters ahead, David is going to make a similar comparison, although not with those items ...haha.

[Parker Owens]

So here's another question - a more mechanical one - that's been on my mind: when is the right time to post a new chapter?

[skinnydragon]

Here's what I do, but don't forget I have lots of chapters (122) in Twoey so for a story with 30 chapters, say, you might want to space them out more. As a reader, what I dislike a bit is when chapters are months apart, because I have to reread several chapters to remember character names and their personalities. I'm not complaining, everybody has a day job and their personal issues to deal with. Also some authors have a jillion stories going at once, so I get that. But when you read a lot of stories, characters can get mixed up if they lay fallow for long periods of time.

OK back to what I do. From your stats you can see when the latest chapter has settled into only a few new viewers per day. That's when I put a new chapter up on Twoey, which again is gonna have a lot of chapters. And then, they're all pretty much written too, although I make changes all the time, sometimes even in response to reviews. So for Twoey that has been every third or fourth day.

I'm not sure whether a chapter per day allows the story to sink in enough. That's just me.

Vignettes on the other hand doesn't require too much memory and it's not really a story so I post about once every week or two. It's almost over anyway. I'll have to think of something else sorta off the wall ...hehe.

I don't want to tell you what to do with a-to-z, cuz it's your story! I like seeing them at the same pace as Twoey, but maybe it's because they've hit the same day so often. 

WOW ...all that crap and I didn't even answer your question ...sorry!

[Mikiesboy]

I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time investing in any one chapter right now, because there doesn't seem to any payoff to most of Stefan's encounters. He continues to have mostly negative experiences with most everybody he encounters. Even with the few positive experiences he has with people, it never really leads to anything as he just moves on and we never see any of the characters again. Obviously his new rules won't help him open up to anyone, but he's been wandering for ten chapters and haven't seen anyone worth opening up to.

Having lived on the street, I can tell you that positive experiences are rare.. most people don't see you because they don't want to, or can't bear to, or just don't give a damn. It's hard to trust, it's hard to believe anyone really wants to help you.  So Stefan's wandering alone and staying that way, doesn't really surprise me. 

[Timothy M.]

Cannd brought up an interesting incidental character in a chapter 12 review:   " I hope he (Eric) avoids this Ozzie guy. How could he not understand what the kid means when he says 'Ozzie's boys' when he said flat out, 'how long did it take for...' He seemed to want to believe it would only happen b/c of his being gay.

 

The question never really explored was - is Ozzie a predator? Should he have been written that way? Any evidence for that except Colin?

 

Interesting, I didn't see Ozzie as a predator. I thought perhaps he was a kind guy, known for helping (gay) homeless teens.

[Parker Owens]

 

 

I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time investing in any one chapter right now, because there doesn't seem to any payoff to most of Stefan's encounters. He continues to have mostly negative experiences with most everybody he encounters. Even with the few positive experiences he has with people, it never really leads to anything as he just moves on and we never see any of the characters again. Obviously his new rules won't help him open up to anyone, but he's been wandering for ten chapters and haven't seen anyone worth opening up to.

 

 

There's a conflict here that's really hard to resolve - as a reader, you want to see development, progress, and yes, something brighter than the black clouds that seem to follow Stefan / Eric everyplace he's gone. In reality, the bright spots can be few, and can be a long time coming.

 

I could plead stupidity or ignorance because I'm a new author - this is my second piece of writing - but really, I can see that I might not have squared this circle very well.

[Mikiesboy]

There's a conflict here that's really hard to resolve - as a reader, you want to see development, progress, and yes, something brighter than the black clouds that seem to follow Stefan / Eric everyplace he's gone. In reality, the bright spots can be few, and can be a long time coming.

 

I could plead stupidity or ignorance because I'm a new author - this is my second piece of writing - but really, I can see that I might not have squared this circle very well.

People/readers want gratification... telling the story of a street person is hard because their situation may not end until they die.  I almost died and then was helped by a determined hospital chaplain... i was in bed for 2 months and couldn't escape. He managed to get me to trust him. Not everyone has a happy ending. 

 

If that hadn't happened, my life would likely still be on the street, or I'd be dead from an overdose. That's the truth.

[Timothy M.]

I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time investing in any one chapter right now, because there doesn't seem to any payoff to most of Stefan's encounters. He continues to have mostly negative experiences with most everybody he encounters. Even with the few positive experiences he has with people, it never really leads to anything as he just moves on and we never see any of the characters again. Obviously his new rules won't help him open up to anyone, but he's been wandering for ten chapters and haven't seen anyone worth opening up to.

 

I'm having a hard time with the very nasty encounters like Colin or the sex predators. They are too much.

However, I find it quite believable and poignant that even the positive encounters, like the boys at the strawberry farm or him rescuing the mom and baby, do not register as a possibility to create a good connection. That is immensely sad, and to me actually quite interesting to read about.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Timothy M.