John Doe

I know we all love to read each others work here and some of us dream of being published writers (I am one of those)... but I stumbled upon a book today at the bookstore by pure accident. I was surprised it was in the Young Adult section (actually I was more surprised that it was in the book store period, since I live in super conservative America) but it's called Hero by Perry Moore. It's about superheroes and it's narrative and protaganist is a gay boy with super powers. I read the first chapter in the bookstore and had to buy the book. I brought it home and had to do all these other chores before I could read it. Now I read about 5 chapters and I'm hooked... only I have to do some volunteer work tomorrow early so I have to go to bed. I just want to share this with everyone so they know about this book. I'd like to support any "mainstream" book out there that involves th GLBT community and I applaud the author for writing such a book targeted to the mainstream audience. As it is a YA novel there's no smut (thank the heavens), but the book tackles issues of family, identity, and the strength or superhero inside us all. Check it out from your library or go buy it, I'm sure many of you will love it.

Check out this site if you are a fan of facebook, here. Some of the posts are hilarious. It talks about facebook fails.

Haha Linxe I just noticed your post and I posted the same thing....relatively speaking, so sorry for repeated "opinion."

I think it is good that this prom thing is getting attention. Equality needs to start somewhere. I do not believe that this prom issue is not as important than Don't ask don't tell or equality in the work place. It is of equal importance. Say Don't Ask Don't tell and equality in the work place is passed in our favor... so then it makes it okay for our children to be discriminated based on their sexual orientation? I would hope not. I want my children to have the same rights as any other child as I want the same rights as anyone else in this country. "I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by [their sexual orientation] but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!" As Doctor King has said. When we discriminate against our own children, saying it's okay for them to lose their rights and be discriminated against then what right do we have to demand such equality? But I do agree... Don't ask Don't tell and workplace equality does need focus and I do believe it's being pushed to the back. We as a community need to figure out how to bring those subjects forward.

Hmm it seems someone just doesn't like to see what I have to say. Hehe. Even though it's just a different way of saying some of the same things. I understand what you are saying here and I respect that, but I lean towards the viewpoint of literary work. Hence I believe there are more meaningful things out there to write about than getting in someone's pants (or the process of or the process of maintaining that relationship). There's a reason why romance and erotic novels are not considered literary. Are they not worth your time then? As Adam stated... love it or hate it. There is also a reason why those kinds of books get publish. I have said it once already (and got a minus rating as I don't know why) but Nifty has a targeted audience as do GA here (much like everything that exists out there in the world). Just know where you are posting your story and don't expect too much when your story is not geared for that audience. You'll get feedback that may or may not be useful to you. I will reuse my analogy... a historical fiction writer may not get the best feedback from a fantasy writer. Two different worlds. Completely agree with you Krista. If you want to publish a work, to go through the whole process of getting an agent and publisher, I wouldn't post it anywhere. Work on it and have close, visible, friends (someone you actually know in person... look what happened to Stephanie Meyers.... someone leaked her "new" book (from Edward's perspective... which by the way I think is a lazy way of writing some thing new and I feel is more fueled by the green bills than creativity... whether it's from the author or publisher who knows)) to edit it. Gay folks have always been on the back burner and will continue to do so (our time will come dammit!). I only heard of a few published gay works that is decently doing well. One being Geography Club (cannot remember the author) but the author is represented by a good agent and good publishing house. His book has been bought to be turned into a muscial or play, I cannot remember which. Free concept... I would have to agree. In my research, (as I have been doing agent/publishing research for about two years now... since I am working on a novel for mainstream audiences and would like to be published) I have found that the research seems to back that claim though it does happen. Very rarely. So bottom line... Know your audience. Know your host's (whether it be classroom, website, newsletter, magazine,etc.) intended audience. And most importantly, yourself, meaning you have to fully understand your work. This is something most beginnger and intermediate authors are still missing or trying to figure out. I have written stories halfway through only to realize the story is no longer about what I intended it to be. Sometimes that's a good thing and other times it's a WTF, what the hell did I write thing. If you know your story you can filter your feedback. and... Regardless of what anyone tells you or say... continue to write and read... if writing is what you want to do. That's the only way to get better at it. Though some people may disagree with me here. (i.e. one of my professors, who happens to have a book coming out soon and the media is picking his book up for other reasons... he thinks a person has the skills to write or don't... that there are some who show potential and then could never surpass that potential and that you have to have a decent grip on wiritng naturally to be good.... oh just replaying that conversation in my head kinda annoys me).

Sorry James I think I read your sentiments elsewhere in a different thread. Reading three or four threads at the same time, mixes me up. But I feel they are relevant to this thread also.

Oh if you could hear me say it. It'd be nice to hear the tones of one's voice when reading something, but you guys don't know me well enough to hear my voice. I'm just a stranger on the internet. There were moments of sarcasm mixed with my sense of humor in it... molestation was exagerated cause I thought'd it be funny. Oh well take it as you will. Masturbation is healthy by the way. And you can only sexually molest yourself if you feel guilty afterwards. And you kinda proved my point... you're here on GA are you not? I'm just saying if Nifty rubs you the wrong way in any way don't force yourself into something that makes you uncomfortable. If you are worried about readership and feedback, I just wanted to say people at nifty eventually find themselves elsewhere. Maturbation point is that readers who remains on nifty (as a generalization to include many but not all) never branching out to other sites, like the erotica. Nothing against them but that's their tastes. As James mentioned earlier, the Nifty audience is targeted for a specific audience. Heres an analogy: It's like writing a historical fiction and having some fantasy lover critique and judge your work... they can but keep in mind they are reading from a different angle, perspective, and with different expectation.

It's good to hear that you had no problems taking your story off. On the porn writing... I agree with James' sentiments. There's a time and place for sex scenes in a good meaninful story, which is usally never, and there an elloquence required to pass off a sexual scene as something relevant to the story. I stand with James (though assumingly and James please do correct me if I am mistaken) that I feel that sex in stories are not there to elevate anything in the story but give readers and the author the satisfaction that they are doing it. Why not protray this level of intimacy and or advancement of relationship through other methods? The other method is more poignant and relevant. Some writers allude to sex but I like how they don't describe the sex. Describing the sex is like a "bad romance novel," like the ones at the supermarket check out, where people snicker at such books. The moment I read a story with descriptive sex I drop it because descriptive sex to me is not a valuable point relevant to elevate or move the story along. Very few writers had pulled it off, but when you read those excerpts the focus is not on the sex but the meaning behind subtle actions or things while the intercourse is taking place. There's a difference. This argument is similar to those of the publishing world.... literary vs. commercial, which translate to written well with meaning and value vs. written to entice a specified audience. There's nothing wrong with either... but if you want to be part of the former grouping you have to sit and think about what you want to write and the meanings behind each scene whether they were intentional. If they weren't? It is in need of revision.

Why is everyone missing the fact that... nifty gains readers and that has lead them to here on GA. Do you not see the flow of readers and authors alike? If there's a flow, there's no need to go to Nifty if you do not feel comfortable over there. I don't and I will no longer post on that site. They can have 19 chapters of my story and they are entitled to that but that is it. Basically my point is you found GA through nifty. Others will do the same. So the overall point you'll get your readers and such AND you won't have to battle against a lame rule of author ownership. Besides I rather get my readers via GA. Most folks over at nifty are there to do sexaul molestation to themselves. The seious and good readers/writers move on to different sites once they get a good footstep on this online writing business.

Agreed. The same could be said of us. Do we go to Amazon and write a review for every book we read? I bet most of us don't. Some authors out there are as talented as some who have not been published and being a published writer does not mean that you are above the criticism of the mass public. But again we are not required to write a review for all the books we buy and read... as should our readers. I admit I have read quite a few stories on here and I haven't comment on much stories. I read and finsihed one or two but I'm just too busy in school and work and social life... along with reading books and novels. Writing a review takes time. Yeah a minute or two isn't a lot but it is when you have other things to do, it just seems like too much work. Plus if I was to "really write" a review it'd take me a good ten minutes. All my reviews consist of my initial feelings of reading the work, which I deem as pretty shallow coming from the perspective of the author. Anyone can say they like and dislike something. *shrugs* But I guess knowing that overall is better than not hearing anything. As much as we want every single reader to read our stories and leave a comment, it's not going to happen and it shouldn't be a requirement. For some, it takes the pleasure out of the reading. For others, it's like your aunt who bakes a cake and after eating it she keeps asking how the cake was just to fish out a compliment and you find yourself sitting on her couch rolling your eyes at her back.

Very true and I understand that, and thanks for clarifying. It is my personal belief that an author retains all rights when concerning the online world. We are gracing them with our stories. Without us they have no stories to share. Yes anyone can write but very few of us can write well and those of us who write well care a lot more about our own stories. Stories that is ours and should be used at our discretion not theirs. Things like title changes and what not is not for them to decide. From the exchanges of conversation the moderator there wouldn't know literary work if it crash into him like the shinkansen. He'll think the smut filled crap there at Nifty is just as good (yes I'm exaggerating but I'm annoyed). But again your point is true about volume. But since I do not write for the purpose of a lot of readers, I write to get better at writing. Once I'm good and great, that in itself will lead readers over to my work. Nifty does has a lot of readers but I like GA for the more interactive forum.

It's still the old format. I can't seem to add it to my smaller pictures, but I guess I'll just keep it as is for now and change it when I come to write more stories and hopefully I can figure out how to work it better then.

This aint working for me anymore. It did the first time but after resizing my images I cant do it anymore. It's prefilled in the URL but not link text. Opposite. Help? Am I just doing it wrong?

License Legal stuff: Authors retain rights to and title to their submitted works. By submitting a work, the author grants the Nifty Archive a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, and non-cancellable license to display the work. (If this is unacceptable, please contact us to discuss your concern.) Authors may license their stories to other publishers, but that does not revoke the license granted to the Nifty Archive. Authors may reclaim the license granted to Nifty by replacing a story with an equivalent story appropriate for display in the Nifty Archive, or by making a contribution to the Nifty Archive of equal value in another form. The maintainers of the Archive will respect requests for changes to stories, to attribution, and/or to email addresses in the Archive by the original author of the work. Decisions to honor requests to remove a work from public display are determined on a case-by-case basis. This does not nullify, terminate, or revoke any license granted to the Nifty Archive. Updates and changes will propagate to all Nifty mirror sites within a day or two. Only submit a story if you are the author or explicitly have permission from the author to submit the story for display on Nifty. Do not remove or replace another author's or poster's attribution from a story submission. __________________________________________ This here is Nifty's disclaimer. This is a bunch of bull****. I have made up my mind. I will no longer post my story there. They can have the chapters I have posted there but if I can't retain my rights to my full work you can bet your ass they won't get the full work. There's a bit of contradiction in their statement. It says the license is non exclusive but also states that they have the right to maintain and leave the story up as they please... and should consider each case by case. Non exclusive is non exclusive meaning authors should be able to request their stories be taken off without any questions, ifs, ands, or buts. Yeah sounds like scam talking to me and I don't like any of that stuff. I'll be sending an email out to all my fans. I'm done with that place.

I abosolutely agree. And like many have said Nifty is going down the drain. Most readers who read there should read elsewhere (but guess those who read there should stay there, it's the ones with intellect and curiosity for expansion of their minds that should go elsewhere). Majority of those works deals with getting their rocks off. If you are reading for that reason might as well go watch porn. It irratates me to no ends that I get readers who email me about that smut. I have stated before that I will NOT put that stuff in and don't bother to email me about that kind of crap but I still get emails about it. Then it makes sense because those readwers reflect nifty... and that's for sure as a hell not a compliment. Back to nifty... I am done with that site for the most part. Really I don't even want to post there and as a writer we should be able to pull our story from the site no matter what like Lugh has siad but the admin who runs the site thinks he is God and demands more from us writers. The hell he is and you can bet your ass an author will always retain rights to the story unless sold. He didn't give us monetary compensation, we are allowing him to post our stories for momentary reasons, and it's just that. We do not owe him any favors. I don't care how quirky he is, doesn't mean I should bend over backwards so people can steal my story.

I like to idealize my creatures... humaniod or otherwise... hmmm my favorite humanoid ones would be merfolk and Nymphs (and I say there's a male counterpart too hehe.... idealize....ya ). Creature wise... I'd say the thunderbird and kitsune (9 tailed fox of Japanese mythology) and Nessie (the Loch Ness *ahem* Creature.... I was always fascinated with that creature as a child. For the evil (misunderstood) creatures I like harpies (and I imagine them like angels but ugly skin and feathery appearence and with taloned feet) and succubi and incubi... creatures... kraken and manticore.

Happy borned day!

I regretted a few of my one night stands. Well most. There was one or two that I can say I enjoyed and did not feel horrible or bad. Now I am looking for someone serious, if I can ever find the person. I am picky and yeah a bit shallow (in the appearance department and demeanor) I admit but what can I say... I'm being honest. So I'm single at the moment and I can't really complain. Heh. But people who sleep around a bit... some of them just do. Most I believe are trying to fill a void in their life... in one shape or another. As humans we all do. Friends for family. Beliefs for values. Material items for feelings. Vice versa for all. So that doesn't make anyone any different. You can object but simply it's the honest truth... and there is nothing wrong with it. Unless of course the "invisible line" is crossed.

Thanks I figured it out! You're awesome! I was confused about the part of where to insert the link. I thought I was suppose to insert it into the preinserts... (the little icons for adding link and image click on those and then add the string in). But you just patse it directly into the signature box. Thanks for your help. Hopefully I can make a decent banner.

Sorry I might be annoying. Which URL part? In the Insert image part or insert link part? And what do you mean image tag? I tried inserting in both places and it doesn't work... that google link i mean. Sorry I'm being annoying...

Seeing banners help ads.... I was inspired. I want to make my own. I am learning how to use photoshop and I think I can make one. My question is ... I see that some authors use their banners as their signature... how do I do that? and How would I be able to link a site to my banner? Like when I click on the banner it'll take me to the story so i don't have to have an external link. Any replies or help would be nice and thanks for helping and viewing.

How do you link a url to a banner/picture/jpeg?

Christmas Shoes - New Song What Hurts The Most - Rascal Flatts (I Agree with their song "Skin" too) The Last Kiss - Pearl jam There's more .... I'll think of others. (I agree with Just a Dream by Carrie Underwood too) Angels in Waiting by Tammy Cochran

AMEN! PREACH ON BROTHER!!!!! PREACH ON!!!!

Tiger, I understand that they are actual people with actual feelings, I was not implying otherwise. And you are right, people are people and they SHOULD be treated accordingly. I have treated everyone I came across with respect and politeness. Internalized homophobia? It's not internalized. I know it and I let people know it and I explain myself... which I should have done. (I am done addresssing Tiger... This next part is my rant) All my friends know my feelings and I have gay effeminate friends who understands, it's not like I'm hiding a secret. Many of the effeminate gays I have ever met (and that's a lot) were nothing but bad image creators. They make fun of people's appearance, disrespect people's opinions, grab random women's boobs and butts, make mean comments about others, and their excuse for doing so was they were gay so it's okay... as if it was expected. This guy in high school was effeminate and I was nice to him. I gave him rides from school becuase we had the same afterschool activity. He relied on people taking him home and he EXPECTED people to take him home. The day I did give him a ride home he complained the whole entire time. I was driving too fast. I needed to drive faster... blah blah blah. To say the least he was also mean to everyone and stated his "opinions" freely. "Oh, honey, you're getting a little chunky here." But everyone says it's okay because he's gay and gay men are opinionated. No, that shit don't fly with me. I can't tell you how many times I go to bars and my female friends gets groped by gay men. They get uncomfortable. "It's okay, I'm gay," is not an excuse and reason to grope someone. It still invades the person being grope's privacy and comfort zone. But it's taken in stride that these things are okay because the person is gay (Will &Grace moments come to mind). If a gay (and I hate to use this term because it's F-king ridiculous but it gets the point across ->) straight-acting man should do the same, there would probably be an fight. Once I was with a friend, drinking at a bar after work. This friend was very religious. He had his opinions about gay people (of where they were going after death) but he didn't let that stop him from seeing me as a person. We met near the "gay section" of town. This guy I met once for like 2 seconds walks into the bar. Yes he was effeminate. He sees me and starts talking to me. One thing lead to another and an arguement broke out. When I first introduced my friend to the gay man I made a disclaimer. "He's very religious. It was surprising he agreed to wander so close to the Sodom district." And the gay guy almost immediately ask what he thought of gay people. My friend politely declined but the other man was persistant. So my friend told him the truth. Basically we got yelled out of the bar by an angry group. But you know what we were minding our own business. My friend was being a friend. He was not rude to the person. He told the person what he believed and yet somehow he was called a hater and whatnot. Everyone in that bar probably thought it was a victory for them to chase out a "gay hating" Christian. But my friend was a man who had his opinions, but he was still my friend and he never expressed such feelings to me. We are still friends and never once has he asked me to save my soul or repent. He accepts me for who I am and I respect and accept him for who he is. So yeah because all of these "stories" I don't like effimante gay men. From my experiences, they all have been cruel, mean, harassers (mentally and physically), and everyone seems to think it's okay because of the fact that they were effeminate gay men (prime example: Perez Hilton. The douche celebrity commentator... he has a following... massive... and people love him because he's a queen bitch, but he's accepted because he's gay AND effeminate). I don't think it creates a positive image for the GLBT community. So yes, I dislike effeminate gays by association. Is it right? No. But it's not like I won't give a person a chance. I always do. Sometimes even second chances. If you disagree then fine we can agree to disagree. But it's not like I won't talk down to a person because he is effeminate... I will still treat anyone and everyone, I should ever interact with, with dignity and respect. Just because I don't like someone or something about someone does not mean I have to lose my human aspect. If it really bothers me... I'll tell you what bothers me and again you can dislike me for disliking you. So I'm not saying there shouldn't be effeminate gay men. I'm saying there shouldn't be people with rude, bad, horribe habits and use the excuse of a being an effeminate gay man to execute their cruelty, or lack of respect. It embarasses me to know such people represent a culture and community I am lumped into. If you happen to dislike effeminate gay men just because... by all means you can dislike them, but yes you still have to treat the man with the golden respect and emotions you would want to be treated with. We all have our dislikes... no one person is golden and perfect. We all discriminate (don't try to deny that either because it's true)... just differently... whether a person's mentally or physically handicapped, or by race, creed, religious affliliation, physical appearance (fat or thin... skin tone and markings), gender, orientation, and the list goes on. It is okay? No, but sadly to say it's human nature to judge and compare. So yeah I'll give that to people. I won't expect them to change, if they do then great, and they should do the same for me. As long as everyone is being fair, treated equally, and with respect and dignity. Well that's off my chest... so to reroute... stereotypes are bad... we all make them... and yes they are annoying... and they are wrong... but we still all make them... we still make assumptions (an "early" form of stereotypes)... and it can't be helped... people will make them... but you should address them if it bothers you...