Cia

Well hey, that's not at all specific!

That's freaking hilarious. I can remember wearing the huge pants all the time, but girls paired them guy boxers and a baby doll shirt, so there wasn't quite so much skin showing if they fell down--like they always did!

Welcome oat327! If you have any questions about posting, check out the faq "New Author Help: How to Post a Story" which can be found through the Help tab in the red menu bar. Or my PM box is always open.

How much time on a weekly basis, or even monthly, do you spend--not just your actual writing---but on the mechanics of writing? Just browsing a writing website or style guide can be fun if you're a geek like me, and I often reference them when I have a rule I'm not sure of when I'm editing. But the rules of writing aren't the only things to think about; there are all sorts of ways to refine your writing that have nothing to do with proper nouns or proper use of possessive punctuation/formats! But these things, like creating characters or story hooks, how to create a plot arc, what makes up a believable villain... those aren't things most authors just look up on a whim. So why not have them come to you? I WHOLEHEARTEDLY recommend Writer's Digest to everyone who writes, even if they don't aim to ever publish. Today's inbox article about How to Introduce Your Hero is fascinating and shares some really great examples that made me think of the way I start a story and bring my characters alive for readers. Check it out, and when you're done, sign up for their newsletter. It comes right to your inbox, and it's totally free! **I am not associated with Writer's Digest in any way, other than being a fan!

Whoops! I was using copy/paste with my titles and sections off my Word file to the topic in the future blog post forum and mixed up those titles with their proper information sections. The information was sound at least. This just goes to show why editing--many times at each step of a writing process--is so important! (And why more than one set of eyes is vital as well) According to Chicago Manual of Style (my style guide of choice as it is a common US epublishing standard) this situation is handled in a mixture of styles. Section 7.8 covers plural proper nouns and Section 7.16 and 7.17 cover possessive s. Plural surnames ending in s: With a surname that ends in s that is plural, you do add es. Example: The Joneses bought a new car. Possessive plural surnames with words that end with the s sound: When you have a surname ending in a plural es, as it is already ending with the additional s sound, you use just the apostrophe and no additional s to indicate possession. Example: The Joneses' new car is red. Possessive surnames ending in s: When you have a surname that isn't plural, but ends in s, you would use 's to indicate possession. Example: Mr. Jones's drive to work in the new car was quiet. Their reasoning is twofold. Most people say the additional 's' sound when they say a word that ends with possessive s, even when the style was to simply use the apostrophe, and it then looks more consistent with other possessive s words. The exception for surnames that are plural ending in the apostrophe alone is that you say the additional 's' sound for the es (as in Jones becoming Joneses) and you do not verbally add another s when you're indicating possession. Try reading the examples aloud and you'll note that most actual speech habits do fall in line with that reasoning. Just because it's the style guide, however, doesn't mean that I'm saying you have to use these formats or that your way is 'wrong' if you don't use it. In 2014 CMoS allowed for both styles as acceptable. In 2015 they've now moved to state 's is the only accepted format. Obviously, editing styles change over time and adapting isn't an easy process. In my Saving Caeorleia series, I refused to use 's for my 2014 eBook release as I learned the apostrophe and no s style growing up, and prefer it, and CMoS allowed for both. This year's release, I had to fight to again not use 's, even though it was now the only accepted format, because it would then make the editing appear inconsistent and 'wrong' in my first book versus the second. My publisher agreed for that reason, but any new works outside of that series will have to adhere to the new 's rule instead. Knowing the rules is good for just that reason; sometimes there are exceptions that are acceptable if you know how to argue your case.

“What?” I asked him. “You’ve never done it to me, but you have….” He trailed off, biting his lip. All the color had drained out of his face, and now I knew why. We didn’t talk about that—ever. It was a rule between us. I could only imagine how scared people would be if they knew I could manipulate them and their behavior. Just a little, but if Schvesla’s machine amplified powers…. I couldn’t be sure that’s what they meant, though. What if they were fishing? Chester and Bart had not shown us an

1) Stay hydrated 2) If you're coughing or worried about a respiratory cold spreading, wear a mask 3. Stay hydrated 4. Wash your hands, a lot 5. Stay hydrated 6. Rest 7. Water, tea with honey, juice, etc... thins mucous 8. Hot shower or bath with eucalyptus or peppermint essential oils help headaches, body aches, and congestion Feel better!

This month I thought I'd feature something a little different--and I hear there are some real twists to this author's stories, too! Depending on your reading speed, check out Books 1, 2 or 3 of the series: Rumors of War by Cynus Book 1: War on Earth Length: 33,600 Description: Damien has just been uprooted from his childhood home and is about to start a new life. Little does he know that a war between angels and demons spanning thousands of years is about to be brought to his doorstep. Book 2: War of Hell Length: 46,573 Description: Damien awakes in a hospital room surrounded by family and friends when an unexpected visitor arrives to tell him his life is in danger. He enters an alien environment and is left to question who is friend and who is foe. Book 3: War in Heaven Length: 33,961 Description: After being betrayed by Lucifel and Shatan, Damien follows Lumial's lead and decides to take the battle to heaven. The CSR Discussion day will take place on the last Monday of the month, April 27th, but April is a long month so you have 4 full weeks from today to read!

I put my fear of clown dolls down to my friend scaring the crap out of me while watching IT when we were 8. Childhood fears can be insidious--even if, as adults, we know they're not logical.

Surprise! It's me! Our prompts aren't up so prompt this morning, whoops! But we're featuring 2 new flash options for authors from Comicfan today--so enjoy! Prompt 406 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following in a story – rain coat, patch of ice, steak, blue fuzzy slippers, Greek statue Prompt 407 – Creative Tag – The Clown Clowns have always freaked you out. You don’t find them funny and find the whole thing sort of scary. Unfortunately, this year your job decided to throw a party for the boss and the entertainment were some clowns. You weren't expecting that and nearly broke down into tears when you suddenly found yourself surrounded by five clowns. What happened? Featured prompt this week is from Dolores Esteban, with her take on Prompt # 405, with "Jump": To read the rest, check out her collection HERE.

Okay... that's a bit vague. What are you having trouble with? Did you read the faq topics, which can be found through the Help tab in the red menu bar?

That's easy to do when you don't have kids, or smoke filling the house making you need to get out (there will be more information on why he rushed Micah out of the house). Unfortunately I burn myself a lot, and I've been forced to wait for relief to finish what I was doing or handle the mess. Cold water definitely helps, though!

Thanks, ninecila! It's really calling to me, too!

This will likely be my next Briefers plot! Thanks for reviewing Belann!

“Ow. Ow. Ow.” Evin slammed the oven door shut with his knee while simultaneously dropping the cookie sheet of charred teething biscuits into the sink. He turned on the cold water, fanning the air desperately to try and get rid of the thick fog of black smoke. It didn’t help nearly enough, so he opened the window even though it was pouring down rain. He wanted to stick his hand out in the frigid drops to ease the fiery burning, but he didn’t have time. He ran into the living room and grabbed Mi

Do you have any writing mechanic tools you use, or do you outline in Word? Or do you just open a story/chapter as a blank file and start writing?

Have you found that angst-lite is a preference for you, or do you gravitate to lots of drama in your recent work? Does length of a story dictate that for you at all?

This month we featured Roommates by Krista for the CSR feature. I did an interview with Krista all about herself, her writing, and the inspiration behind Brett and Will, two best friends in college. Did you read the story? Don't forget to share what you thought! Krista will be available to answer your questions or to just chat about her story and writing at 8 PM, EDT. Are you a person who makes their bed in the morning, or do you not see much point? I don't see the point during the morning, but I do make my bed at some point during the day. Only because there is nothing more comfortable than getting into a nicely made bed. I don't have time to in the morning though, too many people want to stay in it until we're all rushing out the door. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla, definitely. What brought you to GA? Dom's stories and the opportunity to post my own work. Dom's links from his Yahoo group is what led me to GA originally though. Is there a writer you’ve considered a mentor? When I first posted here, CJames helped me a lot. Not only with getting the feel of forums and writing, but we did talk via private messages a lot. I bounced some ideas and sent him some of my earlier anthologies to read as well. In the beginning the person that had the most influence on me and my writing was actually my very first editor. I met him when I posted my stories to a different site and he contacted me and told me that, although my writing is good, it needed editing. So he and I talked a lot while I sent him chapters to edit. He told me of his life, I believe he was in his mid-thirties. HIV+, but always generous and optimistic in his e-mails. I lost contact with him after I finished my first story, he had told me during our conversations that he wouldn't be around much as his HIV had really started to drain his energy. Eventually he stopped sending e-mails completely a month or so after that. I'd say he was my first online fan and my mentor while I didn't know what the hell I was doing... Right now as I continue on, I'd say, Wildone the ornery Canadian has been my mentor. The person that I discuss my stories most with, bounce ideas off of, and trust wholly when it comes to my creativity. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? Passive voice, I've always had past/present tense issues as well, and I have this terribly annoying habit of capitalizing things that have no business being Capitalized. When did you originally write Roommates, in comparison to your other stories? Are You Christian was on hold about fourteen or so chapters in. I found myself really lacking motivation with that story. So I dabbled around and started two more, the one I fell in love with happened to be Roommates. Mostly because the characters were entirely different. I wanted to write an angst-free or at least angst-lite story, when Are You Christian bogged me down on all the drama and angst. So in-between Are You Christian and my later story Standing In Shadows. Did the characters or the plot for Roommates come to you first? Characters. Always characters with me. Most of the time I don't know what I really want from a story until I get a sense of what I want from my characters. Then I just try to limit the plot to fit them.. and try not to let the plot spiral out of control too much. If Roommates was made into a movie, who do you picture playing the parts of Brett and Will? These characters were a bit mid-twenties to late twenties. For the hot factor.. since I believe Brett and Will just liked to undress themselves an awful lot, so on screen meat would be a big factor in casting... Luke Mitchell for Brett and Robbie Amell, I'd say. Although back when I wrote this all those years ago.. Ryan Reynolds and Chris Evans would have played the parts.. but they're just a bit too old now.. What was your favorite part of Roommates? Will's coming out actually was a major theme in the story, but the way he finally did it is my favorite part. What are your future projects? A story called Force of Nature. Another story where the characters are well into early adulthood, but not really knowing what they really want out of life. Similar to Roommates in that regard, I guess, but everything else is completely different. I'm experimenting with a protagonist that may be difficult to like during some parts of the story. Then I have a story on hold that I am biting at the bit to get back to. If you talk to Wildone, he'll say I have a ton of projects, too many and they probably change too much for him to keep track. I mean we still have our joint writing venture on the table.. that I do so badly want to post one of these days. My projects change a lot, so I don't commit to anything long term until I have a significant portion of it already written. I have failed anthology attempts that I still want to tackle... I think I'm up to three of those now. With that said though, I do have the prologue and three chapters written to the project that is firmly behind Force of Nature on my list. If it stays there, we'll have to wait and see. So what did you think of Krista's story? Thoughts on the genre? Fan of another story of hers? Share your thoughts here!!

Maybe they can. Or maybe it's too big for them... for anyone! There is more to come, though, so keep following!(I know, I know the 1k limit is killer).

The mystery is deepening, but only because we're getting to the root of it. As for your not-quite-awake idea, no spoilers, so I won't say yea or nay, lol!

You did know. The beta/gamma dynamic is important!

The question is... for what?

You caught the little details. I like that! Good job.

Aww, sorry! I keep posting each week, though! They did know quite a bit about Schvesla... though there's a lot more to come that hasn't been shared quite yet.

Thank you! The sticky web really hit me and super appropriate for this scene.