Riley Jericho

Of course, the classic is that I think I'd get more than a few amused looks if I went to work in my pants!

Okay...I'm a Brit. Don't get me started on how our language gets hammered! On another note, writing in English outside your natural culture (even with a shared language) is a minefield! Riley

Happy birthday, dear lady. You are a tower to support to many! Riley

“Dad?” I studied my son, David, as I stepped into the lounge. He was sitting crosslegged on the floor, backed up against the sofa. “What?” “Are you gay?” The voice was hesitant, and he looked rattled. My eyes shot to the iPad he was holding. My iPad. Oh my God… Milliseconds felt like hours under his scrutiny as I tried to remember if I’d shut down my private browser when I’d gone for a pee. The moments extended as I tried to find the right things to say; anything that would sound laughable and nonchalant. “For heavens sake, David,” I finally muttered. It sounded dry and overly tense. “Of course I’m not!” Just then, my son turned the iPad around and I paled at what was on the screen. Under his curly mop of hair, his eyes looked panicky, confused, scared even. He was only thirteen - old enough to understand, but far too young to make any sense of it. At that moment, everything changed.

Okay, let's take this a step further. If you had to take your scary word/phrase and incorporate that into the first sentence of the opening para of a gripping story, what would that look like? The equivalent of, 'It was a dark and stormy night', but with a bit more GA to it! Still thinking about it myself. Will post something shortly. Riley

I think Cilla would have been one of the first to laugh at that! She was a Liver Bird (liver as in diver, not river). Over here, it's a girl from Liverpool. It was when Brits discovered that people who didn't live in London, and had weird accents, made much better entertainers!

Cool! I'm going to go read it! Riley

Another might be: "Riley, be honest with us. Are you gay?"

LOL!

Maybe it's your mother poking around your room and saying, "What's that?"

So here’s a question: what is your scariest word? I know context matters, but despite that, what’s the word that you use - or have read - that most send shivers down your spine? I’ll also accept short sentences. Riley **NOTE: We've taken 'Scary Word' to the next level and have begun incorporating into the first para of a story. Why not have a go?**

Actually quite gobsmacked that after two years, the chapter still managed to pick up 250 reads in 24 hours! Riley

Parker…thank you. It’s kind of you to say. And the good news? It’s been two years since I published something new, but Luke and his family and friends are back on the menu. Today sees the publishing of a brand new chapter (The Morning After the Night Before) for ET! How’s the search for an Editor/Beta going? Riley

I think what I was trying to say was not to fathom the likelihood of whether we are alone in the universe, either because of a one-off quirk or intelligent design (which, depending on your beliefs, and both valid). Instead, I was reflecting that we often imagine a future prepared for us by fictional authors, and we think we'll eventually get there. That belief negates any concern that we might catastrophically blow ourselves and our world to smithereens, because we've seen the future and we already know that we make it....right? Of course we do...it's on TV!

I was reading the tread about astronomer's finding a new rock, and it reminded me about what I call The Star Trek Syndrome. First off, let it be duly noted, I'm a fan and get numerous Star Trek posts to my personal FB page. I'm a Trekkie and proud of it - though that said, I don't think I'd ever resort to bring geeky enough to go to a 'convention'! Anyway, my point - and, yes I have one - is that the Star Trek Syndrome has conditioned us to believe that everything we have learned about the future through endless Hollywood Sci-Fi is an inevitability waiting to happen: the breaking of that final frontier, space. We live in the present, assuming the future will play out like another episode with Picard or, heaven forbid as it's totally awful, Captain Janeway, or a whole host of other futuristic visions. It's only a matter of time our heads tell us... In fact, it might just as well be nothing more than TV...

A good editor/beta reader are worth their weight in gold, Parker. I used to be a bit of a loner in that respect, and at first never thought it mattered much. Then I let a GA friend, who's writing I admired, loose on a chapter. Ouch...did that become a steep learning curve, or what! Warning - be willing to have the rough edges ground off, but it's often the best way to rapid improvement! Riley PS Just a quick note to my own readers to say that I'm now caught up with 'English Teen'. The next chapter - to be published this coming Wednesday - is new territory!

James…I know I already wished you happy birthday, but it seems inadequate. You are such a mainstay for this community, and I’m sure I echo everyone in that we want to both thank you for all you give, and wish you the absolute best! Riley J

Have a really great birthday, James! Riley J

I remember when Nephy told me years ago, just when I was getting started having a go at writing, that she had decided to completely finish a story before publishing any of it, that my chin hit the floor. It wasn’t something I could even contemplate! At the same time, it was her that wrote a review to the very first chapter I risked putting on here (Against The Machine - which I hang my head in shame to say it’s another story that currently remains in unpublished doldrums!) However, that one chapter and her single, encouraging review was a watershed. Without it I probably would have given up. The point is, for newbie authors, that’s often all we can manage. And this is why I think GA is so good at catering for both the pros like Nephy who can reel them off without blinking, as well as be forgiving - and still encouraging - to those of us who are at least good at starting well!

For me, it's been a bit of a learning curve. Scrap that...a LOT of a learning curve! (and Andy, who edits for me, tells me off ALL THE TIME for using caps!) Sorry - I digress! During this last year, I took the time to finish ET...right to the end. And I have to confess, I never really knew what that end was going to be back in 2013! Once I got there, I found it really impacted earlier chapters, which I needed to edit a lot, just to get the backstory right. I can't imagine what it must have been like for those in bygone times that only had typewriters! 'Publish and be damned' sounds heroic, but the problem is, once you've published a chapter, you're pretty much bound by it as you go forward.

I take Ron’s comment on the chin. Leaving readers to twiddle their thumbs is a naff thing to do, though my post wasn’t really a complaint about the outcome of what was my own fault. Stuff happens, but still, if I pissed you off by taking chapters down with no explanation - and you won’t be the only one who got annoyed - I apologise. Wanting to publish is a terrible taskmaster. On the one hand, I guess most of us who write get a great deal of energy to keep going when we get feedback - even just to see the reader count go up! On the other hand, the drive and expectation to get that next chapter out there can be exhausting, and pressure both the author and the story itself. Sometimes I think we get stuck on the idea that the three elements of Author, Audience and Story have equal rights on the outcome. I dunno - I’d like to think I could write the whole thing before publishing. That’s what print authors have to do. But what if nobody likes it by the second chapter? At least this way you get to sense if you’re hitting the spot on an idea. Re: English Teen. For the record, almost all the chapters are back now, and I just updated and republished ‘Unplanned Sleepover’. Now there’s only one more chapter before we get to something new! Riley

Thank you to both of you! I think it proves that people last longer than stories! Riley J

Yep - I think you're both right. It's a Google ad issue. Interestingly - as I actually clean out my cache and cookies after every session, and had not browsed to any other site prior to the ad appearing - it seems that Google rate GA as a dating site! Lol! Riley

Is it just me, or is the banner image and link (at least that comes up on my page) to singlemuslim.com a little weird? Considering that most things LGBT are considered a heinous crime in Islam, punishable in many countries by execution, I wonder if this is that appropriate…

I’m in a contemplative mood, so here’s a thought… Of course, the surefire answer to losing your readers is to stop writing. Been there - done that! When readers get disconnected from the story, they can naturally lose interest. I reckoned there were at least three elements that interact: the author, the audience and the story itself. So maybe, even if the story is old, if you like me, you’ll also read me - even if I haven’t written for a while? In that triad, I think it’s interesting that, though Harper Lee hasn’t written for years, her new book is flying off the shelves. Why is that? Is it because readers liked her last story, or is it because they like her? Or is it because they are intrigued by the overlap between Author and Story? Did she actually write ’To Kill a Mockingbird’ or was it here sister, Alice? As a writer, I think there’s something really important between the author and their story that an audience really want to know. I even watched a film recently that told the whole, real life story of how JK Rowling came to write the Potter novels. I think if I had lunch with an author, I’d want to know what their tale told me about them… Just a thought… Riley PS You can find mine here