Cia

Maybe? Just have to follow along and see, lol.

I'm so glad you're enjoying it Hillj. Unfortunately I won't be posting this every few days or anything. This is part of a group of bloggers that do flash stories every Wednesday-so I get prompts once a week to fit my story around, then post it on my blog on Wednesday. I can't share faster than that, because I only get the prompts once a week. But you can count on this coming every Wednesday. Thanks for the review.

I believe I've heard people mention that there are several authors on IOMFATS that write teen fiction; I've seen Grasshopper mentioned time and again as well and that he's hosted there. I don't really like to read the teen genre, so others might be better informed and can steer you elsewhere. As for your question about 'in process' versus 'on hold'/abandoned stories comes down to the fact that there are many many stories here and only a few of me. Namely one. My time is busy doing other stuff on the site usually; it would be a giant job to constantly check the older stories, track down authors, and find out if they're still writing/coming back to the site to finish posting. Unfortunately, sometimes authors start posting something and just don't finish; I'm guilty of having 2 'on hold' stories as well. I do understand the frustration on the false in process status, however. Our best solution to this was to make sure that the story description area not only has the original publish date, but the 'last updated' just below. The dates of the chapter update don't show up until you click on them, but you can quickly jump from chapter to chapter so you can see if the author posts regularly every month or three months... or if they posted all at once and just stopped. If you want to take it a step even farther you can click on the author's avatar and visit their profile to see if they've been on the site recently. It's not a perfect system, but it was the best time saving solution we had to prevent a mountain of work for the limited staff.

That is an immense challenge to go through.

I'm not into nasty slave-fic. If you managed to read this first chapter, you'll be just fine! I'm glad you found it interesting though.

You are correct; he's a lion-taur, you might say. There will be a lot more of him in the next bits, of course!! Thanks for reading ninecila.

Thanks lilansui! I like to mix up the style of my stories, and this one just came to me. I do so love starting new stories/worlds. Thanks for the review.

My father's enemies had wreaked their vengeance. They killed my father, captured me, and claimed my family as slaves. My mother would not allow such disgrace. Using her woman's knife, she opened the veins of both of my little sisters and then her own. They were found in the courtyard under the sacred family tree, clothed in their best robes with their hands touching, the blood from their slit wrists turning the soil red. Furious at their lost worth, my uncle beat me until I was barely conscious

I was a slave. Captured by my uncle, forced into service, and then ... sold. To a wemic. A lion man, one of a race characterized by their vicious actions-and supposed love of flesh. It would not be my flesh on the menu.

Yay! Thanks Carrie. I'm glad you liked Owen and Connor's story. I can't wait to work on a new short though, the possibilities are so much fun when you start a new project. Thanks for reading!

Thanks Jadelilac, I'm so glad you enjoyed the story.

Oh, I'm planning on doing some interesting things for November. Moving a bit more into my preferred genre, with some interesting twists. You'll just have to wait til next week to find out though! Thanks for the review Ateneact!

Sorry Lisa! This was part of my flash group and I want to do a new story every month or two, just to keep it fun and short. I'm really glad you enjoyed the story and that they felt real enough to make the story really realistic. Thanks for the review.

"It's alive!" I make a face at Cooper. "That's gross." "Hey, mate, it's in your refrigerator. I think the bowl might actually be growling. We need to buy new storage bowls too; I threw one out that had Halloween candy so old that it had all melted and cemented to the inside of the bowl!" Cooper put the food that was still good in a box as he cleaned out the fridge. "I can't wait to finish this up. We're almost done moving." Some friends from my jobsite came by and helped us with the furnitur

Well those are good questions. How you solve those issues varies from person to person. For me, linear is the only way to write. I don't do scenes, then fit them together. I know some authors do, including some well known published authors. My best suggestion for you would be write out a timeline. Plot your story from beginning to end, as if you were writing a timeline through history. Sort of a ... this declaration led to that skirmish which brought about this defeat and this escape when led to this assassination which ended the war, so to speak. Each event/chapter in a story should have a purpose and should be a natural result of the chapter before, and lend some necessary aspect to the overall story, as well as leave the road to the next chapter. What might seem like 'filler' could leave vital clues to a mystery, or the secret of a character's inner pain, readers just might not realize it til later. That is why I write in a linear fashion; it's easier for me to see all of that if I write it that way. You can jump around to write scenes, however, if you're careful about making sure you know where and why each fit in the story, and you can create good bridges from scene to scene. As for characters; I'll have a piece in the blog this week on Thursday relating to character interviews. Talk to your characters, ask them questions, draw them out. Learn about their childhoods, their favorite food, their scars or plans for a tattoo when they move away from home... whatever it is about them that makes them individual. Then drop little hints of those aspects of their character here and there throughout the story. The guy that's aloof to the boy trying to get his attention might actually be hard of hearing and couldn't understand what was being said but didn't want to admit to being different. The girl that wears the oversized clothes and smokes might be hiding abuse from home, or she might just like to smoke and wear baggy, comfortable clothes. The parent that nags their child incessantly might have lost an older child to cancer and has hidden that all their 2nd child's life. We all have things that make us tic, preferences, favorites, hates and loves. Your characters should too. You don't have to share everything with your readers, but knowing more about your character lets you make them more well-rounded.

Lust at first sight can happen. Love, not so much. Love is more than an attraction to a person's body; it envelopes the mind and soul, as well. I met my husband, thought he was handsome, we started dating... 15 years later we've been married for 12 years and we have 2 kids, but I still didn't love him at first sight. The longer we were together, and the more we lived through, the more our ability to love -and tolerate- each other grew as well.

Marc definitely is blinded by his fear. Preston deserves every one of those not mentioned bad words too! Thankfully Ry is a pain in the ass, lol! Thanks so much for the thoughtful review, Clockwork.

Well you got a taste of my published ebook. I added scenes, changed some things around, wrote out scenes I narrated... but the essence of the story remained the same here. The challenge was definitely on, keeping the integrity of the story, while adding twice as much content-without creating the feeling of it all being 'filler'. But yeah, I'm glad you enjoyed Pricolici. This is one of my favorite stories as well, which is why I subbed it. Tucker and Stelian hold special places for me; I'm glad you loved them too.

Thanks Clockwork! I really do like to try new things, so I flit around through many genres and styles. It's best to challenge myself, so I know what I can do. It's great to hear that versatility is appreciated. Thanks so much for all of your wonderful reviews.

It is!! I wrote this in the midst of writing The Price of Honor. I wanted to explain a bit about the artifact, but the scene didn't fit into the story. So, it became an anthology short story.

Such insight! I won't say what is right and what is wrong though! I'm glad you're enjoying the story though; keep reading!!!

No little blue men! Keep marching along to Hypnotic! Promise you'll like it. Thanks for the reviews!!!

Ahh, I'd love to say that just comes to me, but it doesn't. I'm always very deliberate in the choices I make when writing whether it be the specific words used or the senses chosen to make the story come alive to readers. The emotions and physical reactions are geared to draw a reader in as much as possible, to make it as vivid and visceral as it can be. Glad to see it's working! Thanks for the review Clockwork, and I hope you continue to enjoy this story.

Glad you liked it Gene! This story was the first long modern story I wrote, and it is full of drama and very emotional. Just keep reading. Thanks for the review!