MESSAGE BOARD TOPIC #20

[Comicality]

Can you remember the first time you ever sat down to finally write out that very first story of yours? When you just stared at a blank page, and forced yourself to find the words to describe exactly what it was that you were feeling inside? Or as a reader, do you remember the first time you found a story and said, "WOW! That's my life!" or "I wish my life was like that"? It happens. It happens all the time. And the hardest part about creating stories like this is that initial idea and how it relates not only to you...but to everyone reading. This week's question is...

 

=Where do your ideas come from? What do you draw from your real life? And how much of your own life do you find in these stories as you read them?=

 

If you write stories, how close are the characters and situation to you and what you're going through? Are they mostly from memories? Regrets? Pictures or stories online? Maybe something you've currently been through.

 

If you read stories, what parts truly relate to your real life? What kind of concepts and situations do you most vibe with? Maybe it reminds you of something you went through. Or maybe it gives you hope to solve a problem that's currently plaguing you at the time that you read it. What is it that connects you to tale itself?

 

I know it sounds like a lot of questions! Hehehe! You don't have to answer them all. Just type away until you wanna stop, kewl?

 

Alrighty folks! The board is open!

[Guest jamieanderson]

OK here I go.

 

>Can you remember the first time you ever sat down to finally write out that very first story of yours?<

 

Yes, but I didn

[WoodCarver]

Well I'm *just* a reader. I'm the socket that fits the author's, well... leave that to you imagination. Well the truth be told we need each other. For where would I be without you and where would you be without me. Most of your questions really pertain to authors not readers, but never one to hold back my opion - here goes.

 

"What is it that connects you to tale itself?"

 

The connection for me in any good tale, is whether I can get so inside a character, that I actually become that person. I'm not really reading any more I living inside the story, lost in the magic you guys create.

 

"...as a reader, do you remember the first time you found a story and said, "WOW!"

 

The first story I really connected to was Kayden- by Ryan Keith on nifty. Let me find it for you in case you've never read it. Hold On. Ok. Got it. It's here. Keyden, this was the first story I read on the net that wasn't a porn story wrapped in dialog. In moments I became Zac and fell in love with Kayden. Since I came to Comsie's Shack, I've been Randy in love with Ryan, Taryn protecting his little brother and then Justin in love with Taryn. With non-gay authors I've been Sparrow in "The Dark Beyond the Stars" by Frank M Robinson and Kid in "Dhalgren" by Samuel R. Delany.

 

For me to love a story and author, the character in the story has to fit like a glove. Well that's this readers opinion. I hope it helps you guys. You can put your you know what in my socket any day. OMG I don't believe I said that. I'm a such a slut! Hehehe.

[Guest jfobbs]

This is my first posting for the cafe, so I hope it's good....

 

First off, I am a reader and I am responding to the second line of questions of the topic. For me, my ideas stem from a multiple events, people and experiences of my life. Being a gay, black christian male <Can you believe that mix > I draw my ideas primarily from my faith and my family and friends. To be honest, it is EXTREMELY difficult at times to be me....as is the case with everyone...but these areas of my life ARE at the very core of my being. I know what my faith teaches of homosexuality, and I know my family/friends are disgusted by it, but I am still drawn to them all. My faith teaches me paitience, love, hope...and all other things that are TOO preachy to get into, while my family/friends open me to new ideas, and guide me so as to prevent me from harming myself, others, and overall showing me how to be a good person.

As for what inspires me in real life?...it's hard to say. Although I feel this constant rejection from EVERYTHING ON EARTH, even thogh those who're rejecting me don't know that I am gay; thus, the object of their disgust, I see the good in people, and I have this NEED to protect them all, even those who'd do me wrong. I don't know...I am by far a goody goody, but I can't help but look at the world, see the potential that is there, and fall in love with it all. The pain really comes into play when that love is not returned.. On a good day, that doesn't bother me, but on bad ones...it makes me question my purpose and my constant role of serving everybody's elses needs above my own...And that is where I find my connection with Com's stories.

I see myself as a mix between the Justin and the Dylan characters. While constantly hiding who I am, I am forced to protect everyone around me, and remain faithful to a faith, that at times, seems to have abandoned me....TO GET A LITTLE PREACHY NOW...Yesterday, after reading part 2a of GFD, I became really depressed about being alone. I became angry with my situation and with those that I believed were the cause of that and I wished to disappear, to become invisible. However, just as I was about to give up, AGAIN, the song "Have a Little Faith in Me" began playing somewhere in my house...from down stairs...and I just stopped and listened to the words. Although they were speaking of a man's plea to his woman to keep believing in him...I heard it as if God was speaking to me.... Don't laugh...it's true.

I by no stretch of the imagination am saying that my life is perfect, nor my faith...but it's times like that that I sense God trying to push me to keep believing in HIM and not the bile that seems to permeate many christians...WHEW...sermon over...

 

 

To finish up my idea though, I have taken the lessons from Milton's Paradise Lost, Dante's Comedia, Homer's Iliad and Odyessy, Virgil's Aneid, James Baldwin's Geovanni's Room, Lynn Harris' Invisible Life/This too Shall Pass/Anyway the Wind Blows, and Comicality's Gone From Daylight and merged them with those of my faith and experiences, and have found a very common theme...the suffering hero.. With each writer, there is usually 1 person...or many people who're faced with events that will forever shape their lives; thus, causing them to choose ONE path in life. That path, in every story, is revealed to be THE MOST DIFFICULT PATH that each must choose to take. In taking the hard path...each hero faces his greatest weakness, strengths, doubts, and failures. However, they all reveal that

"to each some rain must fall" and that none of us...NOT EVEN THE "BEST OF US" can live life without experience tremdeous pitfalls and pain. In the end, excluding GFD because I don't know the ending yet, everyone finds their way...for good or bad, right or wrong, they discover what they've been looking for. In doing so, each hero revealed their greatest strength....FAITH....this, my friend, is the very source of my ideas, my hopes and more...

For me, that faith lies with God, not the predilection of others...and it is from this I draw my strength to keep living. It isn't always strong, but is constant. It pushes me to see the good in everybody, even the assholes <oopps, I shouldn't say that, but it's what we're thinking...right?> and it motivates me look at each experience and each story that I come across as another guide to enhance that faith and help me grow.

I am not very sure if my comments helped anyone...or even made sense, but there they are... I thank whomever read this and liked/disliked it. I only hope that it serve to show my understanding of what I view as important in my life. Thanks for reading.....