IMAGINE Magazine Question for 7/15

[JeffsFort]

There is one thing I have learned that is really common feedback given to many amateur authors that even Comicality would be a little speechless when he got hit with. It is a comment that can be given as a compliment and is monumental the first time you hear it. I mean, we all hope that something we write resonates with a few readers and we can get that 'warm all over feeling' when someone says they enjoyed something we wrote. But the one that hits you right in the knees and catches you off guard is when someone says that something you wrote actually impacted their life. I mean, you would think of all people Comicality would have been used to hearing it but no, you never get used to hearing it and, often try to regain your footing again by telling yourself that the reader is just exaggerating or being kind. I've had a few conversations with him and with other authors and we all agree, it's something that is beyond gratifying to hear and normally is a little beyond belief.

Often times it's a story that depicts the life you wish you had, the life you survived against all the odds, the life you just couldn't escape...something for just about every one of us was a real 'GAME CHANGER'. The one that gets us to step back and reevaluate our own situation or reminisce about something that was important to us. Often it feels like it mirrors something we experienced and is doubly amazing to hear coming from someone else. It happens way more than you would think. Most everyone I've ever talked to about it has one story that they instantly bring up when you hit the topic and it usually becomes a very passionate conversation as a result. As a reader you hope to find the next one and as an author, it is so cool to hear that someone else was as moved by your fiction as you were yourself.

So for this month's question, what was your 'Game Changer' story and how did it fit into "Your" story?

[SilentandBroken]

For me it was definitely My Only Escape. For the longest time it felt like I was the only one who lived with the fear and panic I developed even after I was free of the clutches of my abuser. It was validation and I balled my ass off for myself after the first time I read the story. I cried for me. For my forgiveness. I cried because I realized it was finally over and I could talk about it. I cried because I realized someone else knew what I experienced..I mean really truly got it. I cried for them for their pain. Nobody ever put was that panic felt like into words quite like Comicality did and I will be forever grateful to him for it. Man I miss him. 

[JeffsFort]

Every few years this comes up somewhere. You could be looking back at an old favorite or something you read yesterday just sucker punches you in the thought processes and makes you reevaluate...everything!  It's very rare that someone doesn't have one or two stories about a story that simply changed the game in a dramatic way. For me, I'm not going to focus on a Comicality story even though I could very easily. I know *gasp* right? But honestly, I'm sure he'd agree with this one.

So back when I was sitting at my little desk in one of my very first apartments and tying up the phone line to crawl the internet, I found the Nifty Archive. There were quite a few stories being posted on the new platform that simply spoke to a side of me that I had spent an enormous portion of my life at that point hiding. I'd like to say that I was confused about my sexuality but that wouldn't be right. It was more of a self hatred for having to be different. I felt alone, I felt out of place, and I felt undesirable and broken. As I learned over the passing of time, I was not alone. But I was reading stories that portrayed relationships that were closer to what I felt was what I was looking for. The story that kicked me right in the chest was in that archive, but not what I expected at all and in my oppinion had no business in the internet's largest textual porn collection, LOL. It was a story by Gary Q. called: Patient John Doe.

I don't remember specifically why I opened it and started reading it outside of the fact that I was opening just about everything and starting into it. If it held my attention out of the gate, I read it. If it had no story and jumped right into skin on skin with some unsuspecting boy, I was out. this story started straight into a short introduction of the character who would be our perspective, and following a very tense opening in the Emergency Room at the hospital he worked at, we would find our Patient John Doe struggling to hang on to life. It was at that point I realized I was invested and would spend every moment I could reading, or waiting for the next chapter. Now I have many stories from the late 90s into the early 2000s from before the launch of our online community, and this wasn't the first amazing work I had read but the sentiment laced into it's paragraphs kind of redefined what could be accomplished by the right author. I reached out to Gary Q. at some point and told him that I was absolutely in love with his story and he responded within a few hours, giving me my first glimpse of a personality that would serve to be my first partner in attempting to give back to the online community. Through him I met ACFan who is like a real brother to this day and began my journey in building my online family. In repurposing a crappy free forum I had built for my site to discuss Gary's writing we accidentally caught the attention of someone who wanted to nurture what we had started and our community was born... it all started with an accidental reading of Patient John Doe. To this day, the community that he helped to found hosts a full website dedicated to his known works located at https://garysgarden.us which we have been maintaining for about two decades at this point. The Gary's Garden I first got too know was much, much different:

https://web.archive.org/web/20030812121135/http://www.koolpages.com/garysgarden/ and it is so funny to look back at it now, missing graphics and all. Such simpler times...

So, Patient John Doe is that story for me as it redirected an enormous chunk of what I would decide to do with my time on the internet, including my ability to help IMAGINE Magazine 6 years ago and, up to our work to keep it alive through to today. All on the same server that hosts that one incredible story from so long ago. I'd say we've come full circle but, there are so many circles yet to go  

Edited July 9 by JeffsFort

[JeffsFort]

Just checking in because I'm starting to assemble August's issue and noticed that excluding my answer, there is only one other. I do remember Comsie mentioning that there were times he'd just skip posting the question because it got no responses and sadly, this may be one of those questions. If it stays this light I guess I'll put it off until September because a Q&A with only one answer isn't much to post.

[SilentandBroken]

9 hours ago, JeffsFort said:

Just checking in because I'm starting to assemble August's issue and noticed that excluding my answer, there is only one other. I do remember Comsie mentioning that there were times he'd just skip posting the question because it got no responses and sadly, this may be one of those questions. If it stays this light I guess I'll put it off until September because a Q&A with only one answer isn't much to post.

Some folks may simply not have “one” or are even ready to reply. Or they don’t care enough but in this group, I doubt that is it. Not all of us have experiences like he did. In fact I’m sure that’s a small number.

[JeffsFort]

On 8/3/2024 at 8:49 AM, SilentandBroken said:

Some folks may simply not have “one” or are even ready to reply. Or they don’t care enough but in this group, I doubt that is it. Not all of us have experiences like he did. In fact I’m sure that’s a small number.

Coming from the group that both collectively stated that at least one author has had a serious impact on their lives and also that they regretted not being more interactive with this particular article, I find that hard to believe and am honestly surprised.

The reason I asked the community if we should continue this article was because Comicality himself often questioned why it was so difficult to get feedback or community involvement with any of these articles, we all do at times to be honest. I knew at some point we'd slip back into that rut but it's disappointing that we only just relaunched in July and already in August there is no more than one person responding. (Thank you for that by the way SilentandBroken.) On my end this is absolutely not the same without him and I know that many wanted to see it continue to just not have to see it all screech to a halt, which of course would hurt worse. It's why we have tried to keep so much of the original themes intact.

End of the day, I do need to watch closely and constantly question if what we're doing is helping or not. We all put so much work into each issue and now it is a real possibility that without Comsie, it could simply just not work anymore and this could be a sign of just that or, it's just the same issue that would seem to bring him down at times. Normally I'd be there to support him through his disappointment and now, I'm kinda forced to take it on the chin for him.

I'll try to figure out a way to post this one and maybe post another question to see if "Comsie Q&A" has just had a bad month or if we should consider retiring it. I thought a community based article was something we could continue because we were all involved. Maybe I just didn't consider all the working parts involved without the man who made us want to be involved in the first place.  I mean, IM seems to have resumed it's regular traffic for now so, maybe we should rely on the auto-pilot he set for us a little less than I had anticipated.

[SilentandBroken]

51 minutes ago, JeffsFort said:

Coming from the group that both collectively stated that at least one author has had a serious impact on their lives and also that they regretted not being more interactive with this particular article, I find that hard to believe and am honestly surprised.

The reason I asked the community if we should continue this article was because Comicality himself often questioned why it was so difficult to get feedback or community involvement with any of these articles, we all do at times to be honest. I knew at some point we'd slip back into that rut but it's disappointing that we only just relaunched in July and already in August there is no more than one person responding. (Thank you for that by the way SilentandBroken.) On my end this is absolutely not the same without him and I know that many wanted to see it continue to just not have to see it all screech to a halt, which of course would hurt worse. It's why we have tried to keep so much of the original themes intact.

End of the day, I do need to watch closely and constantly question if what we're doing is helping or not. We all put so much work into each issue and now it is a real possibility that without Comsie, it could simply just not work anymore and this could be a sign of just that or, it's just the same issue that would seem to bring him down at times. Normally I'd be there to support him through his disappointment and now, I'm kinda forced to take it on the chin for him.

I'll try to figure out a way to post this one and maybe post another question to see if "Comsie Q&A" has just had a bad month or if we should consider retiring it. I thought a community based article was something we could continue because we were all involved. Maybe I just didn't consider all the working parts involved without the man who made us want to be involved in the first place.  I mean, IM seems to have resumed it's regular traffic for now so, maybe we should rely on the auto-pilot he set for us a little less than I had anticipated.

I was only being honest in stating that you have to consider all possibilities. It could be the most least possible reason but who truly knows? At the end of the day the why doesn’t really matter so much as the results. I can imagine how much work it is do this stuff and you’d be crazy not to weigh whether ornnot it’s worth your efforts on the end. I do suspect that maybe you have yourself a bit of a higher expectations just at little anyway at first and the lack of responses I think might’ve shocked you. I am surprised there weren’t more responses too. As wonderful as it is, this thing is a lot of work, especially for one person. I’m not a writer myself and even though I’ve been encouraged to write by others, even if I felt called to, I don’t have the time to make it as good as I’d want any story to be fiction or semi-fictional. I’m way too ocd. You’re welcome btw for my response earlier.