Cia

Surprise! It's me again! This week has just flown by, and we're a bit late posting these. Whoops! But hey, we're not going to leave you hanging without your prompt fix. I have two great ones to share with you. Prompt 378 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in a story – gift, broken shoelace, brown coat, scarf, and a zebra. Prompt 379 – Creative Tag – Birthday Revenge Four months ago your partner’ had their birthday. They told you they didn’t want a party, just a nice dinner out. Of course you decided you knew better and huge party was put together that they absolutely hated. They smiled sweetly and through clenched teeth told you that you would pay for this disaster. Tomorrow is your birthday. Will it be what you expected or a case of birthday revenge? Several of the authors here on GA are writing ongoing stories with prompts for each chapter, and I thought I'd feature Timothy M's response to Prompt #328: You expect me... To read the rest of the prompt response (or the story if you haven't been following along) you can find them here: Timothy's Terrible Prompt Stories

Welcome to GA!! New members, authors or readers, are always quite welcome!

The original GA member, Myr, is mostly found behind the scenes (Don't look behind that curtain!) on the site, but he's also an author. As you'll see from his interview, that isn't always easy to do with everything else he has going on. I hope you enjoy this interview, and if you haven't had a chance, go check out his featured story and download the Signature background! Who do you like best, Jerry or Tom? Jerry, obviously. Do you eat your fruits and vegetables? Nope and Nope. Still don't eat any fruits, but I do eat enough vegetables. What are you wearing (and no fibbing!)? Polo shirt, kahkis, boxer briefs, socks and shoes. But that what you get when you ask questions when I'm on lunch at work. Gay fiction has gone through quite an evolution since you began GA. What do you think the biggest change is? Popularity, by far. Gay fiction has gone mainstream. It used to be difficult to find it, and now its everywhere. What’s your favorite genre to write and why? Fantasy. I'm a big fan of escapism and as an engineer working on cutting edge technology on a daily basis, Sci-fi is too much like work. (seriously). With fantasy, I like a world where the entire playing field can be flipped around to fit the plot. As long as you have rules and consistently follow them at least. What was your biggest challenge in writing back when you wrote Nick Cringle? How about now? My biggest challege hasn't changed. It's time and focus. I need my free time to align with my ability to focus on a task. The two don't align often. I'll get free time and want to rest or I'll get a great idea I want write about, but be in the middle of work. It get's really annoying after awhile. Nick is very self-assured, though he’s just a teen. Was that part of his ‘heritage’ or just the way he came to you as a character? Nick is an only child that grew up knowing what his life's work would be. That removes a lot of uncertainly in life and gives him the strong confidence of knowing who and what you are. When we meet him, he also has the powers that come with the sack, to so speak. So, in this case, it was a combination of both nature and nurture. Did Nick’s character or your interesting spin on the Santa mythos for your short story come to you first? It was sort of both. I started with the general idea of Santa's son, and Nick quickly popped into my head. And he sort of wrote himself. The character quickly dictated the twists to the Santa mythos though. If that makes any sense? Do you have a favorite MM story that features a Christmas theme? I can't really think of one off the top of my head. I want to thank Myr for taking the time to do the interview, with his busy schedule and all. I hope everyone enjoyed it (and maybe if you have a fav MM Christmas story, you can share it here).

Not prisoners didn’t mean Anna was just going to let us go. Oh no, that would be too damn simple. There were vague comments about returning our pistols and swords, after a tour of the city. And lunch. And a visit to the nursery to see they had young thriving. We found Wildman there. He was not thriving. They’d cleaned him up and given him fresh clothes. He looked sullen. A guard stood next to the small stool in the corner where he was sulking away from the other kids and teens. A boy was sitt

You need to be thorough in the editing, yes. But before you even begin to think about publishing you need to start networking. Join author groups with other published authors, brand yourself on Facebook and Twitter, create an author website or blog, etc... You should also track down review websites that often post reviews of material similar to what you intend to publish so you can send them Advanced Read Copies prior to publishing to start the process of getting the word out to readers--these can also be nice to add to your eBook or on sale sites to promote yourself. Identify sites where you can sell your content, and make author/publisher accounts, as these often have to be approved before you can upload material. Then you get into the actual process of creating an eBook. You need to create appealing cover art, research applicable legal notices to your area, format the text, add your author bio, etc... and then create the eBooks. At a minimum, you need to create a pdf, epub, and mobi format. Some sites, like Smashwords and Amazon, will allow you to post from a Word document, but each have their own formatting requirements. Other sites will not make the eBook formats for you, so you need to make them yourself. Once you are ready to place your completed eBook for sale, you need to start thinking about promotion. Where do you see authors of content like yours promote? Consider a blog tour, author chats, doing contests, promoting in yahoo groups and on Goodreads, etc... which often require you to write up posts about your writing, your story, your characters (either about coming up with them or as them answering interview questions), answering interview questions from blog hosts, etc... There are MILLIONS of works online and in stores. Just publishing doesn't guarantee anything, because your story is just one of many to readers. You need to figure out ways to bring your audience to your book instead, and that requires A LOT of work. Good luck!

Futuristic with post-apoc themes. I love this genre, and can't wait to read more. The macabre way your character killed the spider and then identified with it gave him a seriously messed up mental portrayal right away--perfect characterization for the story genre. Well done.

The first year my husband and I were together, and this year marks our 18th actually, he got me a Betty Crocker 3 ring binder style cookbook. I still have it--and even used it today! Last year's Christmas presents featured a bookstore gift card and bath stuff. Yep. He gets me. LOL He's a far better shopper than I am.

Happy Birthday!!

I kill all plants, liquor seems a little alkie-ish for Christmas other than a host/hostess gift, and home decor really is very personal so unless it's a specific print/style/item asked for, I could see that being something that gets shoved into a dusty corner. Books can also be one of those things that people have to be careful. I hate getting books that are mid-series, or already own them. So if someone is buying me books, they really have to be a series I'm asking for. Now, get me a gift card to my fav used/new book store and I'm going to be thrilled.

How is this month going so fast? December is already halfway gone! Today we're featuring this month's Signature background story, Nick Cringle, by Myr. If you haven't already downloaded your Signature graphic, you can do so here. Nick Cringle by Myr Signature Author Reviewer: Celethiel Status: Complete Length: 5,676 A story about Santa Claus, except the Santa Claus is 16 year old who has taken over the family business, or as one could put it, Corporation. Which is what it sounds more like. the young man also happens to be gay, however you don't find this out until over half-way through the short story. The story has a general feeling of being rushed, kind of like Santa is rushing through Thankgiving to get all them gifts made for Christmas. There is no Romance, then suddenly Nick Cringle is picking up a guy to live with at the North Pole, who up to that moment where he explains he's Santa, is only his friend in school. Its the story that is every American Boy's Dream come true, Get rich, inherit the family corporation, and get a love for life without much effort on at the least the last part. It's a good story that would have done a lot better if it was drawn out more and had more to it. For fun, since this story was written so long ago, I thought we'd also feature a review in the story topic from back in 2004 when it was first posted, by Miguelsanchez55: Truly lovely story dude. I never figured the ending like it was but, oh well, silly me. Should have known better. Great. Category: 2004 Winter Anthology--Christmas Genre: Fantasy Tags: Teens, Magic, No Sex, Light-heated Rating: Mature

My husband is the type you don't buy for off the list. So he can be hard to surprise. Fortunately, nowadays I get a link to things he wants all year long via email. I put them all in a folder titled 'Christmas' and go to that for shopping ideas. Family always wants to know what we're all getting for the kids, so we put out a list and let them coordinate and I keep the choicest items off that for me. Used to be Santa got the credit, but now it's all Mom! I do all the wrapping, other than my presents, so they're functional. Sometimes I coordinate paper and ribbons/bows and tags, but my hubby's mom and sister-in-law are all about the pretty stuff and mine looks sad beside theirs but I don't stress over it. Fortunately, my kids aren't peekers. They don't try to find presents beforehand. They and the hubby love to shake and feel packages once they're under the tree, though. For me, I'm not big on presents. I never got what I wanted as a kid, though I did receive some nice things some years. I learned early to just appreciate what I get. It makes things very simple for me, but it also means I never really got into the ripping into gifts mode. My pleasure is usually seeing that my hubby and kids are happy.

A lot of people feel that way, it seems. This may have to be my next flash story with the Wednesday Briefers. Thanks for the review, Chezakeeba, and thanks so much for reading my stories.

GA Authors have achieved posting 100 Million words in Stories!! Congratulations, Authors, on all your hard work to make GA a wonderful place for fellow authors and readers! To celebrate this event, we're going to run two contests. I'll post links to both, as they will be in the site Lounge forum, and that is where you can enter one or both contests. Contest #1: One month FREE Premium membership Contest #2: One $5 Amazon Gift Card *Contest will run from the time the topics open until Saturday, December 20th, at 7 PM, Pacific time. The winners will be announced on the Weekly Wrap Up! site blog that goes live on Sunday. Winners will be chosen by drawing through Random.org* FYI... as another awesome achievement, we've now had 100,000 reviews written on those stories!

Contest # 1 Prize: $5 Amazon Gift Card What's your favorite story on GA and why? **Contest runs from now until Saturday, 12/20, at 7 PM, Pacific. Winner will be chosen by Random.org.** Members who wish to comment but not enter the contest just need to state they are not entering this contest in their post. Winner must have Amazon account.

Contest # 1 Prize: 1 Month FREE Premium Membership We have authors and readers from all over. Share what prompted you to join GA? A story? An author? Our awesome community? **Contest runs from now until Saturday, 12/20, at 7 PM, Pacific. Winner will be chosen by Random.org.** Members who wish to comment but not enter the contest just need to state they are not entering this contest in their post.

I like the start of this story! I do so love sci-fi, and you've set up a really intriguing plot line so far. *reading on*

LMAO! As a mom... that really tickled me. It is SO something a young kid would do.

My earlier post was an author who does have that type of story (I did go back and add the menage tag) and also understands your problem with ending up with content that just turns me off when a story takes a twist that isn't to my taste. I can't stand stories that have love triangles, for example, and sometimes I'll see things tagged menage but they're not really (not on GA) and it drives me bonkers So, I wasn't just speaking as 'Cia the Admin', though I responded mostly because there were other members making statements about changes they'd like to see as well. I'm the staff member who oversees Stories, so it's best to remind folks from time to time that they can contact me if they have suggestions or problems with the system--readers as well as authors.

We cannot dictate how comprehensive a description authors place on their stories, or require that they use exact tags for their content, for the most part. Obviously, for sensitive content that can trigger negative reactions for some people, eg abuse, extreme violence, incest, etc... we do require that information shared, because that can cause a site disruption. While multi-person relationships are not to everyone's taste, they are not an issue that will usually cause mental trauma so we do not require warnings placed on those style of stories. Any time members have a suggestion for Stories for things like tags they'd like to see changed or included, please feel free to PM me. Staff doesn't always track all topics and conversations on the site, so just bringing it up here or in another topic won't guarantee your voice is heard. Making a suggestion or request doesn't mean it will be implemented immediately or at all, I'm always willing to listen!

Oh man. That sucks!! I hate homework nights where it's all a big battle, and writing is often one in our house. I've started young with my kids with their writing skills so they actually get the concept. Just got my kiddos' (8 and 10) report cards yesterday and both their teachers say they have excellent story writing skills--but need to work on handwriting and spelling. LOL Damn writing mechanics, but they are so important! They are so lucky they're living in the age where reports and probably daily school work is all going to be on computers/typing vs. handwriting. Hence the daily typing lessons I make them do now. You have my sympathies!!

You know, I have my latest anthol as a MMM series with that tag for all but the last story, where it just slipped my mind. My descriptions are usually pretty clear if that element is in my stories. I hate getting ambushed as a reader myself. And yes, we don't allow custom tags, but we do have a list that covers most things.

I believe in letting the reader get to know the characters and story as they read, not just lay it all out in the beginning in a 'tell all' fashion. Balancing that with making the story standalone yet not be a rehash of all the other stories was difficult, but fun this year. It would probably make a lot more sense if you read the others, though, yeah. Thank you so much for the lovely review, Carlos!

Oh, that's a lovely sentiment, Sacredlove! I really like the way you viewed the story. I really tried to show how all three men were separate but it worked for them as they grew closer. I'm glad you enjoyed the progress of their relationship as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Aww, you're sooo nice! Thank you so much; I'm really glad you enjoyed the entire series. I've mentioned I want to eBook this, so I think it will need a bit of tweaking to make it a cohesive whole, and maybe some more added to the end... we'll see what happens! Thanks again for the review!

I know, Moshe is just yummy! I wanted to keep the story believable, even though it's a sci-fi plot. I'm so glad that element worked. Thanks for the review, Mann!