Drew Payne

Thank you. Freddie is such fun to write, he doesn't seem to have a filter and says whatever he wants. This is great for me, as the writer, because he can say whatever is needed for the plot. He's based on someone I knew when I was coming out. He had the great way of summing up a situation with one line, and he was so supportive too. As for having Matthew run over by a bus... Mmmm... Only if Niki is driving it (!!)

Simon slouched back on the sofa reading his Facebook feed on his phone. His mum and Niki were sat on the other sofa, with EastEnders playing on the television. Niki looked tired as she, too, was slouched back on the sofa. His mum was also more slouched down than sitting, though her eyes were fixed intensely on the television. The pair of them had returned home a little after six o’clock with his mum still in a bad mood. Her face seemed to being pulled down by a whole sack full of negative em

Thanks. Niki is such an enjoyable character to write, she is both wise and sensible and she really knows people (You don't always find all three things in one person). She is what Simon needs, especially with his parents. I was a lot older than Simon when I finally met someone as wise as Niki, who helped me to come out (And that was a woman too). Now Niki is wise but Simon's essay is on the modern structure of the NHS, and Niki isn't THAT wise. I've written about the current structure of the NHS and God it's really complicated.

Thank you. Yes, Simon is growing up, he's accepting his gay skin and learning about his gay life... He just hasn't learnt exactly what dating apps are for (!!).

Thanks for your comment and so getting my story. Good things can do pay back good benefits, and the good things in Simon's life are having positive effects on him.

Simon stared at his laptop screen. His essay on the structure of the NHS was still five hundred words over the limit and he didn’t know what to do about it. He’d cut everything he could and still it was over the word limit. He was now hating to have to write this essay. It had been interesting when he started, and he’d enjoying making the points he wanted to, but now he was feeling more and more frustrated because he couldn’t get the essay down to the required word limit. He minimised Word a

That's what I wanted to write about here, Jeff enlightening Simon that the homophobic t*wts are a minority and this is their last breath of their alpha status. Once they enter the world outside college, being good sports alone does not open many doors form them, and they will tumble down the list of importance. As for the guy in the expensive shirt. He's a straight guy who isn't homophobic, there are a lot of them about.

I really, really don't want to say what will happen, but I'm so happy you're so involved with my characters. I've given these people so much time and thought, and they mean so much to me. I'm so happy other people are also getting involved with them. As for a sequel... I've got the plot and the title, but I just need the time to write it. Because before I do I need to write three other things, including the second and third parts of the story I started with my story A Walk Along the Promenade.

A friend of mine wrote a wonderful piss-take of bad straight romantic fiction, with a lot of "heaving bosoms" from all the women. I guess that his writing is still playing in the back of my mind. Simon has the view that you have friends and you have boyfriends and there's no grey areas. Jeff is the first guy he knows as a person (friend) but who he's also attracted too and he doesn't know what to do about it. He's still so innocent were relationships are concerned, even with all the shit he's been through. It's strange and wonderful to write this. I remember going through these feelings when I found myself deeply attracted to one of my first gay friends, when I was coming out. As for the next chapter, well it has a very important conversation but I won't say anymore.

Simon and Jeff are very similar, and that's what's makes for good friendships, they both sort a very OUT gay man (Freddie) as a way to make gay friendships and to take those first steps in coming out, though Jeff is a year ahead of Simon and when you're sixteen that is still important. Also, both of them had shit first boyfriends. There's plenty there for a really good friendship, and I really enjoy writing about relationships and people's journeys. I am so glad you're enjoying my story.

Thank you, that was what I wanted write here, Jeff showing Simon how to be more observant. Simon is so naive that it's almost dangerous. He needs to open his eyes and that's what I wanted to write here. But Simon is still not great at reading situations...

(Big smile on my face) But nothing happens, not even a chest heaving glance. Though it does show how their friendship is developing, on their own, and that was fun to write. I enjoy writing about people and their relationships.

Thanks for this. Bossy readers? I don't mind because people are reading this story and that's amazing. I'm a good few chapters ahead with writing this story, and I know were it'll end, but I love all the suggestions I get because it shows me how much people are getting involved in this story. It is just amazing.

Simon walked out of the college building and into the courtyard between the buildings. The sun was still warm against his skin and he now felt uncomfortable having put his jacket back on. He walked across the corner of the courtyard, heading straight towards the empty concrete bench. When he reached it, he sat himself down and started his wait. The concrete was still cold against his buttocks, even with the warm spring air that surrounded him, and Simon unsuccessfully tried to move to make himse

Thank you. That means so much to me. I've been worried that this story was a bit too much of a soap opera, though I am trying to write a modern-day Kitchen Sink Drama. It's so hard not to give away the story. People seem to be getting involved in it and that is amazing and really quite humbling.

I feel so terrible for saying this so much but... No Spoilers. I took that decision when I posted my first long read on GA and I have to stick to it. I know exactly where this story is going but I really, really can't say. I often put a character, into my stories, who has my views, and here its Niki. But she is also a very caring and loyal person. If she loves you then she'd even die to protect you. You don't find that loyalty and caring often, I hope that's why people like her so much, that and she's so sensible. She is also so enjoyable to write, she can say and do the right thing and it doesn't feel forced. As for Matthew, God but he really does get on my nerves. But I don't always like my own characters.

No Spoilers! No spoilers! I can't say anything about what will happen to Matthew for being such a t*wt or Freddie playing matchmaker or not (Though the next chapter will shed some light on this) After I wrote Chapters 4 and 5, so much of Rosie's character was defined for me, she isn't that great a mother. But there's also an "anything for a quiet and comfortable life" about her. It can make her a frustrating character, but writing this story I didn't want to make everything perfect and easy for Simon as he comes out. Saying that, Niki is behaving in the way I hope I'd behave if I was parenting a gay teenager, she's also the person I always wished I had in my life when I was coming out. But she does need to push some sense into Rosie. Maybe looking after Simon is easier for her.

Thank you so much. That means a lot to me. I don't write much heterosexual fiction, and when I do write stories with heterosexual characters there is very much a queer edge to them. Some examples of my less gay fiction can be found on these sites (Though there are stories on them that I've also published on GA) Tablo: https://tablo.io/drew-payne ABC Tales: https://www.abctales.com/user/drew4payne

First off, this is a spoiler-free-zone, so I can't say what's going to happen. But you sum up what's going on here wonderfully. I hadn't thought of Simon being backed into a corner but he is (I saw him overwhelmed by his situation but really that is the same thing). I wanted to capture that inexperienced teenage reaction to all this, the lack of insight that leads him to blame himself for everything that has happened. Niki is a Social Worker but she's also a naturally caring person, and so often she's the voice of reason. I wish I'd had a Niki in my life when I was coming out.

Thank you, it's so nice you get what I'm writing. Niki and Freddie are important characters to me too, they are both characters happy in their own queer skins and therefore they can give Simon the support he needs. They are also characters that don't often get centre stage in gay fiction, the effeminate gay man and the non-feminine lesbian. (They are also so interesting to write) Simon's parents aren't the greatest, even with his mum being bi, and they certainly cannot understand Simon and what he needs. But how many people can really understand someone who is very different from themselves. These two aren't great examples of parents, but that is another subject that fascinates me, why someone people are such bad parents. In my late teens and early twenties, I read a lot of coming out fiction and they always seem to run the same way. The central character/narrator came out and everything turned rosy. I didn't want to do that here, I didn't want all Simon's problems to go away when he comes out, but I did want to show how important friends are for Simon, once he has made them.

For most people, there is no test or examination before they become parents. I saw that many years ago and I’ve met many people who should never have been parents. I based Matthew (Simon's father) on a couple of men, who were fathers, I've met. Men who 'believed' everything they were doing was right. I've seen men just believe what they were told by the minister/priest at their church without any question. I've always thought that was so dangerous and seen how harmful it can be. I wanted to capture that with Matthew. Thanks for your comment, it means a lot to me, it shows me I am on the right path.

Thank you for that, that is so important to me. What fascinates me, in my writing, is how people react to different situations. Here I really wanted to try and capture the reaction of a naive sixteen year old, and I haven't been sixteen for a good few years now. Fortunately I have friends with teenage children.

Thanks for your feedback. Niki is a great character to write, she has so many of my views and opinions, but I also wanted create someone who has never been a parent before and is faced with raising a teenager. She's one of the first adults who treated Simon as an adult. Thanks you for what you said about my story. Many, many years ago I said I'd never write a coming out and here I am doing so, but I am enjoying doing so. I am also so surprised at how many people are reading it. That is so amazing.

Simon sat at the kitchen table, with his feet tucked around the chair’s legs, as he worked on his laptop. He’d arrived home from college to a quiet and empty house. That was nothing unusual, as his mum and Niki rarely got home from work before six o’clock. In the quiet he’d decided to work on his latest college assignment. For this one he had to write an essay on the structure of the NHS. When he’d been given the assignment, he’d thought it was a relatively easy one, an essay he would be able to

You got it! Thanks. This was inspired by someone I once knew. He had a mid-life-crisis and dumped his long-term boyfriend so he could act like a horny teenager, in his forties. I thought he was such a tw*t at the time. I wrote this to show how I felt about it all. There's only one thing, Will will never crawl back to Isaac because there is no more Will left... the ghost got his revenge, and the life he never had.