Renee Stevens

I gave one last critical look around my house as the sauce simmered on the stove. Dave was due to arrive any minute and the last thing I wanted was a stray sock poking out from the couch cushions. I wasn’t a neat freak, but my house was so small I had to keep things picked up or else I’d trip over stuff as I moved around. Satisfied it was as good as it was going to get, I headed back into the kitchen to stir the sauce. Like I’d already told Dave, it wasn’t gourmet or anything, but I’d learne

I hope everyone has had a great weekend! Don't forget that the deadline to submit your anthology entries to the Anthology Proof Team is just a few days away. All entries need to be to the proof team no later than September 3rd to give the team time to proof your story and get it back to you. Also, don't forget that tomorrow (August 31st) is the CSR Discussion Day for Becoming Real by AC Benus. AC will be live on the blog from 7-9 PM eastern. Now, let's take a look at what happened this past week. If you're looking for a new story to read, check out Monday's review. Atruefan has shared his thoughts regarding Future Imperfect by Bill W. If you've never read anything by Bill, at just over 3,500 words, Future Imperfect would be a great one to get you started! For the Wednesday blog, we took a look at Premium Stories. If you'd like to help support the site and keep it going, a Premium membership may be the way to go. Not only do you help the site, but you get access to some great stories, including Rob Colton's newest story in the Galactic Conspiracies series, The Degan Paradox. Friday brought a couple of new prompts meant to inspire you. Instead of only sharing one of the prompt responses, we shared the first few lines from all prompt responses posted since last Friday. Hopefully you found something you enjoyed! But wait, the week wasn't over yet! Cia took over the blog on Saturday to bring us the Signature Background for September. This coming month, we're featuring Noah's New Plan by Rob Colton. If you haven't already done so, make sure to download the background! Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team** 2016 Theme Voting: Voting ends September 2nd 2015 Fall Anthology: Blurred Edges - Due September 3rd 2015 Winter Anthology: Blackout - Due December 3rd In Premium The Degan Paradox by Rob Colton; Book 3 of Galactic Conspiracies By our Classic Authors: Boy, Bus & Key by Dabeagle By our Signature Authors: Space Pioneer 3 - The Yanara Archives by Dolores Esteban Leopard Spots by Graeme; Book 2 of The Lilydale Leopards Black Widow by Mark Arbour; Book 16 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) Sword of Kings: Tested by Adversity by Bill W Global Explorer II by David McLeod Innocence & Carnality by Mann Ramblings Fortitude by Cia Reece's Choice by Renee Stevens Cosmic Inception by Cia By our Promising Authors: Poems for Ross by AC Benus Destiny - a novel by AC Benus Presence by carringtonrj Lie of the Serpent by craftingmom 2015 Prompt Responses by Valkyrie Queer Shakespeare by carringtonrj Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

I can only speak for myself and agree with what Graeme said, but I have 2 unfinished stories at the moment. Thwarted, which has been ongoing and while there have been some large gaps between postings, I'm currently working on it and hope to start posting again around the end of September, beginning of October. With any luck, I'll be able to post weekly through to it's conclusion without any major gaps. I'll then be focusing on finish Forging Trust which hasn't been posted on for a long time. As for reasoning. While I have had a lack of motivation, that stems from real-life issues much like Graeme said above. I have every intention of finishing all of my stories, I just need life to settle down a bit. Over the last couple years, there's been a lot of major health issues with my family, and deaths in the family, as well as my own health issues.

Hope everyone has had a great week so far and is looking forward to the weekend. What better way to start it off than with brand new prompts! If you've been feeling stuck, or maybe just want to do something a little different, maybe one of these prompts will jumpstart a new idea. A couple of things to remember: Prompt responses under 1,000 words must be posted as part of a collection. Do to the high number of collections containing only a few "chapters" we have set a limit of five collections per author, any more than this requires prior Admin approval. Prompt 442 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following in a story – a candle, a table, a cat, a Duchess, and a diamond necklace. Prompt 443 – Creative Tag – The Book You won a book online. When you finally get it the book surprises the hell out of you. What is the book about? We had A LOT of people take on prompts over the last week. There were even visits to older prompts, so I decided to do a massive feature this week. Enjoy these first two lines of each prompt posted since last week's Prompt Me! (In the case of first line prompts, there will be 3 lines) Puppilull Prompt 438: The warm water cascaded over my head and down my back. A feeling of relief was spreading through me. Read More>> JohnAR Prompt 441: ‘Really? If you believe that, you have lost your mind!’ Emma’s cheerful eyes had seemed to say when she left. How could Seb think he could beat a nerd at chess? Read More>> Valkyrie Prompt 441: “Really? If you believe that, you have lost your mind!” “I know what I saw!” “Tim is not an alien.” Read More>> Puppilull Poetry Prompt 5: My eyes blinded from the light To just feel, suspending sight Read More>> Puppilull Poetry Prompt 4: Bacon fried to careful crisp Eggs, then cheese that’s grated Read More>> Headstall Poetry Prompt 4: I know you can't behave It isn't in your genes Read More>> J.HunterDunn Poetry Prompt 1: Are tears part of life ? Unshedded ones, held inside. Read More>> Timothy M. Prompt 299: “I’m going to give him a piece of my mind! And if that doesn’t work, he can have my fist, again.” All of us stared at Rob, trying to work out whether he was joking or not. Read More>>

Thanks for the review! Like you, I'd never have bothered to show up, in fact I have done that a few times with the in-laws. At least he finally realized that there is a line that shouldn't be crossed and was willing to stand up to them when it really came down to it. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on future chapters

Thanks for the review, CG! It's always a good thing when there's at least one person on your side. I don't know how I'd deal with it if ever did something that caused me to be rejected by my family. I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Thanks for the review, CG! Reece has definitely been through some crap, but we have yet to hear Dave's story. I'll be waiting to see what you think as the story progresses, but I'm happy to hear you're enjoying it so far

Thanks for the review! I'm glad to know that you're enjoying the story and that the characters have managed to grab you . Next chapter will be out next week and hopefully you'll enjoy that one as well.

Thanks for the review, Lenny! I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter and I did my best with Reece. I went back and tweaked repeatedly until I was happy with the way it turned out. The next installment will be out next week

Thanks DDK! I'm glad that you're enjoying the characters and the storyline. There will be more each week until it finishes posting (don't worry, it's completely uploaded, so NO delays). As far as Thwarted, I'm using the time while this story is posting to get a queue of chapters written so that I can once again start posting Thwarted. If things go as I hope, I'll start posting Thwarted again once this story is done and be able to post until the end. *Crosses fingers*

I pulled into the steakhouse just as my phone rang for the third time since I had left my aunt’s house. I glanced at the screen and groaned when my mom’s name was on the display. I really didn’t feel like talking to her but it was probably better to get it over with. “Can you give me a minute?” I was pretty sure I didn’t want him to hear my side of the coming conversation. “Yeah, I’ll go see how long the wait is and use the restroom.” I waited until he’d gotten out of the car and closed the

Well, we're at the start of another week and this week we are going to look at a story written by Bill W called "Future Imperfect". If you like what Atruefan has to say in the review, why not go check out the story and leave the author a review! Also, if you've read a story you've enjoyed lately, and would like to see it featured in the GA News Blog, simply shoot me a PM and send me a review. I'm always looking for reviews. Future Imperfect by Bill W Signature Author Reviewer: Atruefan Status: Complete Word Count: 3,538 I may be fairly new to GA, but I've been reading stories like those on this site for nearly three decades. In that time there have been only a handful of stories that have stuck with me. One such story is one from back in 2012. This story stuck in my mind not due to its sweetness. Nor due to its romantic content. This story was truly frightening. Not frightening due to its 'horror' content, but from its realism and potential to become real life. The name of the story is 'Future Imperfect' by BillW. The story opens with a newscast proclaiming that a definite genetic connection to sexual orientation had been identified. This was initially hoped to finally end the debate over whether a person made a choice as to their orientation. The story goes on to outline various ways that groups could use this information to forward their own agendas. Churches instituted testing first to find out if any of their clergy possessed traits which were against their dogma. Subsequently, to weed out undesirables from their congregations. Next, there were attempts to have educators tested in order to "protect kids". Other groups then required testing of their membership,basically instituting a 'Witch Hunt' type mentality. Some others offered any who could afford testing to test unborn children for this predisposition, allowing them to choose whether or not to terminate the pregnancy. Finally, a whistle-blower came forward revealing that there were secret laboratories attempting to produce toxins or retro viruses to eliminate those genes which caused these unwanted orientations in an effort to eliminate the possibility of these 'abnormal' children from being conceived in future generations. The truly scary part of this story is, even though it's far fetched, each and every scenario in the story is plausible. Our society has grown and evolved somewhat from the time this story was written, but there are still those who would push for many of the things outlined in the story. It was a great read for a one chapter short, one that can open your eyes and make you think. I highly recommend it. Category: 2012-2 Choices Genres: Sci-Fi Tags: Medical, Future, Dark Rating: Mature

It's nice to finally be back on the list

I hope everyone had a great weekend. As we get ready to start a new week, it's time to take a look back at what happened this past week in the GA News Blog. There was a lot of great things going on, and if you haven't already checked out the past week's post, now is the chance for you to get a glimpse and maybe go read up on the posts you missed. We started out the week with a review of JohnAR's story MetaOrigins. If you haven't already checked out Puppilull's review, then what are you waiting for? You might just add the story to your reading list. Tuesday brought an anthology announcement that the voting for the 2016 Anthology Themes is now open. You have until September 2nd to get your votes in. After that, I'll be announcing the four themes for next year and also have a special announcement for next year. (Oh c'mon, I gotta build up the anticipation somehow!) Wednesday we took a look back at a previous writing tip that was supplied to us by Libby Drew. Have you ever wondered whether conflict is necessary in your story? Well, Libby answers your question! Once again, we finished out the week with some new prompts. Hopefully they'll spark some ideas and we'll see some new prompt responses before next week. This week we featured a response by Aditus. Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team** 2016 Theme Voting: Voting ends September 2nd 2015 Fall Anthology: Blurred Edges - Due September 3rd 2015 Winter Anthology: Blackout - Due December 3rd In Premium The Degan Paradox by Rob Colton; Book 3 of Galactic Conspiracies * NEW * By our Classic Authors: Mansfield by Dabeagle By our Signature Authors: Leopard Spots by Graeme; Book 2 of The Lilydale Leopards "Waiting Outside The Lines" by Comicality Space Pioneer 3 - The Yanara Archives by Dolores Esteban A prompt a week by comicfan The Secret Life Of Billy Chase 9 by Comicality; Book 9 of The Secret Life Of Billy Chase Global Explorer II by David McLeod Sword of Kings: Tested by Adversity by Bill W Innocence & Carnality by Mann Ramblings Fortitude by Cia Veil of Shadow by Stellar; Book 2 of unnamed Black Widow by Mark Arbour; Book 16 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) HMS Valiant by Mark Arbour; Book 7 of Bridgemont Reece's Choice by Renee Stevens Hercules III by CarlHoliday Cosmic Inception by Cia By our Promising Authors: A Fool's Thoughts by aditus Presence by carringtonrj Lie of the Serpent by craftingmom Destiny - a novel by AC Benus Queer Shakespeare by carringtonrj 2015 Prompt Responses by Valkyrie Aditus' prompts and circumstances by aditus The Lonely Heart Club – a prompt story by aditus Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

Happy Prompt Day!!! Otherwise known as Friday. I hope everyone has had a great week and are getting geared up for the weekend. Have you ever tackled one of the prompts provided by Comicfan? If not, what better time is there than now? Each week, Comicfan provides two brand new prompts to help get the ideas flowing. Don't forget to share your prompt responses in the forum and if you're posting in GA Stories, remember that all stories under 1,000 words must be posted as part of a collection. Now, let's see what Comicfan has for us this week. Prompt 440 – Challenge Tag – Travel There are many genres of books and stories. The challenge is to write a Travel story. You tell a story about traveling, the places you see, the things you experience, and the things you shouldn’t miss. Prompt 441 – Creative Tag – First Line “Really? If you believe that, you have lost your mind!” We had a lot of takers last week, especially on the vampire prompt. Enjoy Aditus' response to Prompt #438: Read and review the rest!

Thanks for the review Lisa! I hope you continue to enjoy the story as well. Yeah, I agree about his family, but I absolutely love Josh. His aunt is a complete bitch, and no, you're right that there was no apology from her. His parents *shakes head* I'm not really sure what I can say about them. I look forward to seeing what you think about the story as it continues!

You and me both Dave, but when I wrote it, that's how it came to me. Unfortunately, lack of support is all too common which is probably why that scene came to me like it did. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story and thanks for the review!

Thanks for the review Lenny! I'm glad that I was able to draw you into the story and make the characters really stand out. I've gone over this story so many times that I've lost count, but overall I'm happy with the way it turned out. I really like Reece and I really wanted him to stand out and stand up for himself. I'm so glad you are enjoying the story and I look forward to seeing what you think as it progresses!

Oh yeah, I had to start this story off with a bang! Since I don't want to ruin the story for you, I'll keep what happens in the next chapter to myself, but it'll be up next Tuesday Hope you enjoy the story as it progresses and thanks for the review!

Thanks for the review Suvitar! I don't particularly like most of Reece's family, with the exceptions of the cousins (especially Josh). I hope you like what you learn about Reece as the story progresses!

Thanks for the review Dave and for sharing a little of your own story. I always enjoy hearing about my readers! I hope you continue to enjoy the story and I hope to hear from you again.

Thanks for the review Kevin! I'm you're enjoying the story. I definitely agree with you about Reece's family and it was time for him to stand up for himself. Thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing what you think of the rest of the story.

Thanks Wayne! I hope you enjoy the changes. There were some major ones. I ended up not putting up who my team was on it, because since it was originally written, a few different people have worked on it and I didn't want to risk forgetting anyone. You'll have to let me know what you think as you read through

Sometimes it's hard to find new content to share in the GA News Blog. Lately, I've been looking back at some of the stuff that has been shared since the Blog started up again and I realized something. We have new authors joining all the time and not everyone wants to search through the News Blog and read the tips that have been shared. With that thought in mind, I decided to look at some of the past tips and bring them back to the forefront. The first one I'm once again featuring is from Libby Drew and is all about the conflict in stories. It was first featured in the blog back in July 2013. I hope you enjoy this little blast from the past. Conflict Is Key Creating powerful conflict and weaving it tightly throughout the story is a difficult skill to master. It can take years of practice. But the reward is worth the learning curve, especially if the result is cathartic to the reader. Conflict is what makes us interested in outcome. A story with a weak conflict that leaves the characters exactly as they were at the start won’t be satisfying; your story won’t make a lasting impression. I’m betting that’s a no-brainer for most people reading this. Unfortunately, knowing isn’t the same as doing, so here are a few generalities to keep in mind while crafting your plot. Your main character, your hero, should face three different types of conflict. • Internal • Relational (with other characters) • External (against environment or circumstances). Use all three. It’s not as difficult as it might seem at first glance, and your story will have more depth. Keep the tension rising. Always. All the time. The pacing of conflict in your story should look like this: Conflict Simmers --> Conflict Boils --> Conflict Explodes --> Temporary Safety --> Repeat. Envision your story with peaks and valleys. Your peaks should get progressively higher as the climax nears. At every turn, ask yourself “How can I make this situation worse?” Conflict is the nervous system of your story. It sets characters in motion, forcing them to do things they would never have imagined doing. They may lash out or jump onto paths they never expected to travel. In reality, most people try to get along with others, to bring peace to potentially explosive situations. Your characters should go out of their way to make those situations worse. This will highlight their imperfections. Make them more richly rounded. Your characters can’t all love each other. They can’t always agree. If they do, your readers will be asleep by chapter two. Or looking for something else to read. So don’t hold back. Let characters say things they’ll regret. Make then lose their tempers, their possessions, and their hearts. Push them beyond their limits and then show the reader how much that hurts them. Consider these suggestions: • Give your characters opposing goals. • Make them face their fears and rely on their weaknesses instead of their strengths. • Deny them what they want most of all. Then deny them again. • Introduce uncertainty at every opportunity—is a friend truly a friend? • Make them care, then threaten what they care about. • Leave them isolated and under attack from both friends and enemies. Maybe even from themselves. It may sound complicated, but chances are you already have a solid grasp of what’s needed. Execution may not be so simple, so stay vigilant. Test yourself by “graphing” your story. Is the tension escalating as it should? Pushing your characters into conflict will drive your story tension higher, forcibly evict blandness and banality, and leave behind something far more fulfilling for the reader. Conflict is a requirement of satisfying fiction, so make it a strong component of your stories. ~Libby

I really hated coming to these family dinners. Once a month the entire family from my mother’s side met to catch up with each other and have dinner. Each month it rotated on who’s house would host, but everyone was included: aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. It hadn’t been so bad when I was younger, but ever since my coming out, the older relatives essentially ignored me, including my parents. I don’t think it would have bothered me quite so bad if it wasn’t for the simple fact my