Cia

Happy Birthday Chris!!

Well he did post it was coming in his blog, LOL! Happy Birthday!!

Thanks for making a post Talonrider. It kept trying to hide CJ's King of Cliffhangers award and we CAN'T have that! I may or may not have made CJ a regular award. But I like the first one better, cause he earned it by trying to make me win instead!

I read this story when I first came to GA. I thought the new blog was an excellent place to review it so that other readers who might not have come across it yet can get a bit of a sneak peek at the story and then go read it! You won't be sorry! No Fairytale World by Tiff Review by Cia The title promises exactly what the story delivers. The fact is that most lives, in this world, are not a fairytale. In fictional worlds they are, but not in this story. Here we meet Andy, a thirty-ish man who is in the midst of a messy divorce with his wife because she caught him with another man. He’s torn from the loss of seeing his five year old son every day and the new way he’s being viewed by friends and family. Add in the emotional stress made him lose his job and Andy’s world is really messed up. Thankfully he has a really good friend helping him out and letting him stay in his house for free, while Mark lives with his girlfriend. Mark also hooks him up with an interview for a new job. It pays a lot less, but in life we do what we have to do, right? We watch Andy struggle for balance, and just about when we think he might be making some progress, his friend breaks the news that Andy is going to get a roommate. A young, surly and obviously damaged Pete that is friend with Angela. Andy can’t stand the guy after just a few days, but Mark doesn’t want to turn down his girlfriend’s plea, for obvious reasons. Over time, it’s clear that Pete’s story is even worse than Andy’s, but he’s not sharing. At least, not until the two friends come home one night and find Pete in a world of trouble. About to be kicked out of the house, Andy begs Mark to let him talk to Pete even if he doesn’t really like him. What follows is an emotional tale of two damaged men helping and supporting each other through the bumps and sometimes sheer drop offs life can take a person on. When I read this, I absolutely loved how dramatic, and yet real, Tiff made her characters and her story without going over the top. There are small moments of levity and joy in the story that balance out the angst and drama. Sometimes it’s the little things details that bring in the emotional drama the characters are facing and Tiff is a master at sharing the repeated blows that just seem to keep coming until Andy and Pete realize just what they need to do to fix themselves without making me think the story is too divorced from reality. The story could be formulaic but she manages to skirt that in my opinion. This story is just about as clean as they come when it comes to errors, and she has engaging, likable characters that make me want to find in real life just so I can help them. Intimacy is there, and handled very well in the story. She writes kissing in ways I can only dream of! There are some off-scene and written abuse/force moments in the story that tug at the heart strings, but they are not graphic enough to bother most readers. If you have time to spare, open No Fairytale World by Tiff. At close to 75,000 words this story is long enough to drag you in and give you a phenomenal read without being too short or too long. Don’t forget to rate, like, and above all, review!

Stop apologizing. Sometimes things happen. If people can't understand that then they aren't very realistic. Pushing yourself when you're not in the mindspace to do things usually means your work isn't as good as it could be.

Oh, I really liked that! Great job!!

Well the conflict in this story was resolved to some extent and life does move on. You'll just have to read the next story, Hypnotic, to learn what is really going on. That's not completely done yet, but close so you'll find out a lot about the bad guys if you read on! Thanks for all the reviews.

I'll clean up that sentence, thanks for pointing it out. The visual of Bashta was very deliberate as it is one so many of us have seen in movies or real life. I like to sometimes add things like that so that the image has a great impact of readers than one I make up. Thanks for reading MidnightMan!

Is there such a thing as an accident in life? Well, probably not in my worlds! Glad you enjoyed the chapter, thanks for reviewing!

It is emotional. I hope the interview went well!

Me, writing something sinister? No way! I'm glad you like the ending

That happened 'off scene' and was left hanging so that their announcement to the family clued the reader in at the same time. She had her face buried in his chest, btw, and hid her tears from view. Hope that clears that up.

LOL. Mebbe!

Fell asleep? How dare you! LOL. No, I love you were so engrossed in reading you ignored bedtime. Thanks so much for taking the time to review too!

I know, me too! I wasn't very exacting on the pill, I figured those details could be left out. I'm glad you like this part of the story, it was a switch to go from jungle to modern like that.

Very creepy at times, enjoyable at times. Overall very good James! Thanks for sharing.

Awww, this is a very emotional story. Keep the tissues handy!

Oh no, that's not going to happen. Bashta's mother is gone. It's part of the make up of mates; if they lose each other they go feral. Sometimes parents can hold on for a while, but usually it happens pretty quickly. Their souls are bonded too closely; it'd be like losing half of their psyche. No one can exist like that; not in my world at least. Glad you're still reading!

I did a lot of research for this story. The location, the wildlife, the plants and fruits, even the rings that come into play later on are real things you'd find there. I may write paranormal fiction, but if it is something that exists in the world I typically make sure that I have my facts straight. I like research though, so it's fun for me. Thanks for reading!

I'm glad you like it! One of the things I try to focus on is really bringing the setting to life. Quick question, did you read Bonds Unbroken first? While each of these can be read independently, Bonds, then this story, then Hypnotic are intertwined. I'd start with that one, if you haven't, though it's not really crucial. You'll just get a bit of plot spoilers for Bonds if you read this first.

I definitely got the point of the character. Been there, done that, so it was a little too vivid. Excellently written Comic, and an eloquent series of haiku.

Okay, so I rank the reading order of the Carthera stories, Bonds-1, ToaK-2, Hypnotic-3,IoY-4. Sort of. See, Inside of You takes place AFTER Hypnotic ends, it just hasn't ended yet. Also, 1-2-3 are a linked triology with a common story line threading through them. Inside of You is a short story set in that world with some characters you saw in Hypnotic, but not part of that story line per se. I have many characters in Hypnotic from other stories, but I only had so many people to highlight. If I give you all the ones you know, then I don't have new characters for short stories or a new triology in the world later. Inside of You actually posted here on GA before the Lit contest, but I'm glad you liked it, other than your lingering questions. I'm glad you like the pacing and the flow of Hypnotic. It's coming to an end, which is sad for me, but I can't wait to work more on other stories! Thanks for the comments, Rik!

Ahh, but as a reader, how do you determine that the character is acting OUT of character for that type of plot? The author has to decide how the events will shape the story, and the character. Will a character react 'in type' to the stimulus written, or out of type? Do people not change in real life depending on the circumstances they find themselves in? Can't a brave person, say a firefighter who is willing to risk his life to rescue someone in a burning building be unable to do face something that requires equal amounts of bravery, say rescuing someone who falls overboard a ship into shark infested water, due to a phobia of sharks? That characteristic of someone in that profession, bravery, is integral to many people's views of them but take them out of that type of 'adventure' plot and put the same character into a different adventure one and it's not the same thing at all, is it? What if that change in the perception of the character and how they react is exactly what the author wants, and he uses that type of character AND plot on purpose? What if that event is a catalyst to springboard another character you didn't think was brave, or as 'good', into the situation and change your opinion of them? I'll stand by my opinion that the plot and character in a story I think is GREAT should be interwoven together so that it wouldn't exist as one without the other. Yes, there are a lot of 'type cast' characters cookie cuttered out to fit the story the author writes in every genre, including lot of that in gay fiction I've read online too, but I personally tend to be drawn to the stories that aren't that type. I also like to think I try to avoid that in my writing as well. My preferences in those regards do heavily influence my thinking I guess.

What is one without the other? Could a reader truly enjoy something a crime drama, for example, if he isn't drawn into the main character's drive to discover the culprit and bring them to justice? Can a plot actually EXIST without a character to bring it to life? Without a plot, some idea behind the story to influence their reactions and yours, do you care about the character? They are nothing without the events occuring in their lives and/or the emotional and physical responses they have to those events. The question here shouldn't be about which you prefer to 'drive' the story, plot or character, as if they are independent of each other in some way. In my case, I need both and I strive to write both. I want to identify with the characters in some way, to feel for them - like or dislike, love or hate, amusement or disdain; I also want to see more than them going about their day to day life. I want a reason to examine the essence of what makes them tick; it could be through a new romance, or an adventure they didn't expect, a tragedy they can't avoid . . . just about anything. A writer should bring their character to life through the story they tell OF their life; whatever that happens to be.