Cia

It can be real James. My daughter is 7 and has shown that she 'likes' boys since she was 4. My son was teasing her about a crush on a boy band guy in the car the other day and she started teasing him back that maybe he wanted to kiss this actor girl or that actor boy. There was no hesitation about saying he wanted to kiss a boy... though at 5, he's not showing signs of liking either gender, thank goodness Having one kid stare at the teenage neighbor boy as he mows his lawn shirtless is enough right now, LOL. I do get that most parents like the one in the story are a minority. I even get your skepticism. I'm telling the absolute truth about my little story... but if you have never experienced or seen a parent accepting their children wholeheartedly, it's hard to believe. I'd be a pretty big hyopcrite if I cared who my kids end up with, other than a good person, and I try to make no assumptions on how they will be when they grow up. There are good moms out there. Good dads too. It's just a lot more common to hear about the tragic tales, they're more dramatic than the offhand I'm happy for you and short hug a truly accepting parent will wield.

Keep it on topic. I'm personally a fan of Autumn I'm hypersensitive to the sun and wearing long sleeve shirts and still getting burns all summer is annoying. Hence why I live in the Pac NW where it is gray, cloudy, and rainy 9 months out of the year... and I like it!

Awww... well at least he turned you to that new exercise program you liked so much, yeah?

LMAO James!

Good luck! Westie, I misses you!!

I think you have a good beginning here, a lot of angst and drama that hooks a reader. You also set the stage for a bit event for James emotionally in future chapters. However, the flow of your story is a bit off, imo. You use a lot of commas and run on sentences. I also found the formatting issues with the different scripts to be highly distracting. I would suggest you edit this and remove the different text and simply use italics to show the text of the suicide note. At least go in and make sure just the note is changed. You missed the first part of the note in the font change and then didn't change it back drom the note font for the end of the prologue.

Happy Birthday!!! My contribution, as a gift, was fixing the topic title, Addam! LOL.

I never plan for a specific length for a story. I've had anthologies I couldn't use because they were too long but I don't think you should write with a word count in mind, unless you are doing a contest. I will caution that you take a look at each scene you write and why you write it though. Sometimes there is more going on in the plot than I knew when I first got the idea. Sometimes my idea changes as I write. The main thing is that your story is progressing at a good pace and you're not obscuring the main plot with too many small details or side stories that aren't relevant to the overarching issues. I sometimes will get lost in the details, and while that can be a good way to make a story come alive, you have to keep it reasonable. So, length doesn't matter so much as the plot and story pacing does, imo.

LOL. Teenagers... eeks! And you do it voluntarily? Well at least you get paid. Sorry about the guy You'll find one who cherishes the unqiueness that is you Eric... (see, I can be nice)

Do I think coming out in general is a good idea? Sure, if it's something that you want and can handle. Is there a reason to? Do you feel the need to tell people? Are you wanting to tell a specific friend for a reason or your family because you feel you are living in secret? As others have said before, are you ready to accept the consequences? Look... everyone reacts differently. Their generation, their location, their friends/family. For example, my dad is a 53 year old homophobic redneck from the south. He doesn't rant and rave but he uses not so nice terms to describe gay people and I know that about him. I'm bi. I've never told my dad but I did tell 2 of my sisters. One older, one younger. The older one is supportive, even of my writing. The other one I told called me a freak. We don't talk much anymore. Then you have the next generation, my daughter. Just this morning she was reading over my shoulder on the computer and asked what GA meant. When I said, Gay Authors, she said... but you aren't gay. I just waited (she's not ready for the whole bi talk) and her next words were, it wouldn't matter if you were though and you do write. I just kissed her head and said yep, I do and you're right, it doesn't matter. 5 people in one family, all different ages, and all different reactions. Can I predict any of those? Really, only my daughter's since I have tried to shape her opinions myself. I think one day you won't have this conflict, this need to say 'you're out'. There won't be an out. You'll be gay or straight or bi... and no one will care either way. That's not right now though. Right now you have to consider the things that Nephy and James have mentioned because it's the reality you face if you feel the need to share with others something so personal. Only you know when it's right and SAFE for you to do that.

I think it's a hell of a lot of work I'll have been married for 11 years next month, after tying the knot when I was 19. Legally and financially, it was a smart move. Romantically... it didn't change us at all. Our relationship wasn't suddenly more important or take a bigger aspect in our lives because we had rings on our fingers. To some marriage is just another step to showing your commitment, to others it's a way to bind yourself together in the eyes of the law. Do I care who wants to be married or not? Nope. Do I think everyone should be considered equal in what they call their relationship or their commitments? Yep. Should governments have any say in that in my mind? No but that's the reality right now. It's changing for the better slowly, but at least it's changing. Love is love, no matter what it looks like on the outside and no one should be able to tell a couple how to express or validate their relationship. One day it will be that way all over and people won't understand why anyone cared about what was beneath the clothes of the 2 people being married at all.

Welcome Dorian. GA is indeed, a great place for writers. Check out the writing prompts for fun, tips and topics on styles and editing tips in the writer's and editor's areas, chat to meet people in real time, and the site help tab for the faq's that so helpfully teach you how to post a story here on GA as an author. Welcome back Katica, I hope you enjoy the new and improved GA.

I love this... but I want more. It doesn't seem complete. I want to know what the map is about and what the secret it and where the key goes and what Neldor does and if he's young enough to go find what the map leads him to... Please?????

Thanks! This was based a little in real life and a bit of make believe added along side. I couldn't help but smile as I wrote it, I'm glad you enjoyed it too. Thanks so much for the reviews dear!!

I also loved a book of Aesop Fables I had, my dad and I would read that. I found a 2005 reprint with the original 1919 illustrations and share it with my kids... with strict no hands policy. I want to be able to share it with grandkids in the future too! Books do bring us closer.

It's not my fault. It's Uh's fault. Notice I made Uh a guy and See a girl? A little subtlety This wasn't a GA prompt, it was one I got from one of the writing newsletters I get, they have prompts weekly. The exact language of the prompt is in the chapter note for this one. Like I said... I couldn't have just one person in there moving me about. It's easier to spread the blame around

"I told you this would happen!" "How in the hell was I supposed to know the train was going to be so late, Yost?" Malachite ran a hand through his hair, brushing the rain off before it could flatten his careful hairdo that he spent twenty minutes making it look like he didn't do anything to it at all after rolling out of bed. His braid was neat and tidy, Mal noted, hating how put together Yost always was. He went by his last name, was never late, never missed an assignment. Well, the

I am pretty sure we saw this topic before. You can't MAKE him fall in love with you, straight or not. IF your friend is straight, maybe he's just curious. If he's not... well you have to put yourself out there. You are taking a risk at getting shot down but that's what happens in life. But in NO way can you make a person who isn't interested in one sex, be they gay or straight, fall in love or want to be intimate or happy with the wrong gender for them.

I think this was vaguely naughty!

LOL. I think the narrator should have gloated a little bit more about being responsible really. I mean... he did that payback, that glorious payback, to 2 horrible people! They deserved that and more.

I saw her visually, I saw her actions. I didn't get a real sense of her though, not what she was about. It was too tell for me even though you used first person for the narrator. I don't think you missed the prompt, just that I didn't get that connection with the female character you were going for, I got it with the male narrator.

I think it fit very well. Not only did the laughter break the immediate silence, it broke the silence that had filled the house from the lack of his family for years. Happiness is coming back into a house that was missing it because of the actions of one person. Honestly, I have similar issues as his kids so I think the story might resonate more with me than others but I totally think you hit the mark.

Loved this in the forums and here again. I could see myself as Christina totally beating up on a hubby that thinks being physically ill means I somehow lost the ability to make decisions for myself. Been there actually

LOL. Was she a scary teacher and this was a memory, yep. I liked it, a lot!! A bit of a hint to make it easier for the readers to understand the prompt, trying posting it in the chapter notes so they can read it in the story details before they click on the prompt 'story' in each chapter.

I like that you gave us more info but again... You should work on the delivery a bit. The main issue I saw the mental monlogues of Gabriel's. You mean it to be his pov but it's too much narrator in it. I see it as you getting an info dump out there which helps the reader but doesn't really fit the story.