Lugh

Welcome Jian! Congrats!

There is a difference in being "critical" and telling an author they should not use words based on some word usage scale just because the word "taunt" is higher ranked than the average grammar school aged child would use.. then again.. every grammar school child *I* know does know that word... herm. I'm sorry, when you make comments on a story you should feel free to give opinions. Please give opinions, but when you are addressing something such as grammar/spelling/word choice have a reason for it and not just that it "standard". A lot of grammar/spelling/word choice in fiction, especially in dialogue, is not up to standard. Also remember the first rule in writing is know the rules so you know when and how to break them. Consider, is the author doing this on purpose or with a purpose? Engage brain... it's your first line of defense.

Needle in a Haystack An irritating buzz disturbed Kismet’s sleep. He swatted his pillow to make it stop. It did but then it started again. With an annoyed grunt, Kismet shoved his hand under the pillow to locate the offending piece of electronics and pressed the off button. It immediately began to buzz again. Kismet opened one eye and looked at it. His younger brother’s image grinned at him. It took a moment for it to register the buzz was not his alarm but a call coming in. He pressed t

LOL hello Well let me see if I can help you out... there is no hierarchy and other people will both agree and disagree, but everyone pretty much starts out a reader. If they wish to submit something to GA Stories they become an "author". Anyone can do this -- good, bad... well you get the idea. Now, we have something called the Writer Support Team. It is comprised of various people picked for their diversity. Some are visible and some are not so visible but all of them are readers, avid readers, and they help pick through who is good and who is not so good. From those who are "good" the promising authors are chosen on their own merit. There is a list of qualifications in the FAQ. Some are intangible so you can't just use it as a checklist and say give me my promising tag now. Same for the hosted authors. As for a "not so great" story by a hosted author, well we all have our off years. Now for the rep system (those +/-) they are primarily in place to help us moderate GA Stories. It's all explained in the FAQ. We just moved to this system earlier this year and the majority of our hosted authors predate that move, so many of them do not have high reps. Many of them do not need to be moderated in the system so they don't give a hoot about the reps, and some, like me, lose more points than they gain between times that stories are posted, so what's the point in worrying about the stinking things? I hope I made it clear now that there is no food chain. That all stories are equal in the eyes of Myr. And if you really want to read some good stories, check out the Anthologies and Peer review. Lugh who happens to be hosted with one hell of an editing staff and who needs it.

hey Jeff! (waves) how about first off not leaving story review comments on the profile comments! LOL PM, forum, reviews... but not the profile -- it cuts them off. I do appreciate the thought though, just wish I could read the whole thing. now I posted a nice little do's and don'ts list of how to give feedback in the editor's lounge... you all should read that if you don't know how to give feedback. John Galaor you really need to look at it. Sending people "thinly veiled critical" emails about chapter four of a multiple chaptered story when youv'e not read chapters one, two, or three and then complaining that you don't understand it isn't working for me. Neither is whining about word frequencies or the choice of my prepositions. Perchance you need a refresher course in English as another language? I like feedback. Any feedback so long as it's solid in the story. If you see a problem, by all means point it out. I misspell things all the time, loose track of characters, lose track of plots... put things down and forget to pick them back up even. And by golly my editors are only human. You can email me, PM me, post in my forum... catch me in chat... whatever makes you feel comfortable, and you can ask around... I don't bite the heads off people who are honest in their views even if I don't agree or like it: nephy, mandra, cia, quonus, myr, comicfan, reneee, and others can attest to that. I review when I have time. I don't have much time, at least not if you all want some of those "in progress" stories to move to the "complete" pile. Now as for this site... GayAuthors.org is a site for authors and readers to come togehter. If the readers are "afraid" to give feedback, then why are we here? How can the authors expect to become better? Many of us do not want to be stuck in "acceptable" all our lives. Some of us have bigger egos than we have writing skills. Should an author (or if you are an author, a reader) become too big for his britches, a moderator needs to know. Immediately. And that includes me. So, enjoy your reading, writing, reviewing, critical ripping of each other to shreds, and I'll see you on the wild side.

the shortest published chapter I've ever seen was two words. the shortest chapter I've ever written was 99 words. so it just depends. I've had short stories that run from a couple hundred words to twenty-five thousand. However when I write chapters they tend to be short, 2-3k, so I post them either in groups or frequently. btw, I've had sentences that run over 100 words too, so it's not that huge of a deal for me... winks.

lesson learned... write the whole thing... have it beta'd have it sent to the editor read over the editor's comments. edit at least half of it. start posting.. you should be FINISHED editing before the 3rd chapter comes out that way nothing major should be changed at that point.... start writing the next story... this way you don't keep a chapter ahead.. you keep a STORY ahead.

snickers.... 3 weeks and the saga continues.... it's not what you think. Colonal Mustard in the Drawing Room with the Noose anyone?

LOL you can come to chat too... meet a whole bunch of weird people in there, like Cia, Frosty, and Jian... other than that... poke around, read the FAQ, join the fun, and write.

this is a bittersweet little piece. good job.

meh girls are girls and boys are boys... they both have their perks. At least this way you never have to put up with anyone saying to you, are you sure two gay men should be raising a boy? For some reason it's perfectly fine for gay men to raise girls. I'm honestly glad all the parts are there. Thats really all that is important. Counting down with you.

heh wicked step-mother? I just went with the flow. You know how it is.. I just record them, they write themselves.

simply go to my off-site blog and click on News

actually I do, thank you. I can see the use of silly, stupid (in the context of silly and ridiculous) and ridiculous but the use of lame (other than the defined dictionary defintions) and retarded (absolutely forbidden in my home along with a few other words decribing persons with handicapping conditions) the use of gay is limited to happy, festive, and homosexual -- any other uses get a stern lecture concerning hate speech and sometimes further punishments and that goes with ANYONE who comes into my home (punishment can include being asked to leave and not being allowed to come back). It's just not allowed. I don't care about society, I don't care about 'norms'. If people don't allow it then changes cannot occur. So, be the change, not the lemming.

still doesn't make it GAY. I guess that's what's pissing me off about it. It could very well be part of a person's cultural heritage but because a popular television show said it was gay, it's now gay... so now young gaelic men who might have wanted to wear a kilt to their own prom in honor of their heretige... they COULD be perceived as homosexual just because they are wearing "a skirt". it's wrong.

so I guess people who live on various islands, in countries that have "dress like garments" (even if trousers are worn under), and other "non-western" cultures are "pretty dang gay"... good to know.

I really got pissed off with the linking of man-skirts and being gay. I liked Kurt's outfit, honestly, but not all men who wear similar attire are gay or feminine. That was a bit out of line.

heh he was making a "political statement" about the unfairness of the school rules because in winter the boys must wear long pants but the girls can wear skirts that come above the knee (so long as they are past the finger tips when standing) at any time of the year.. we have warm days like 70 degress sometimes in the winter and the heat is on in the school, several of the boys protested...

heh the identity-bending exploits of DC: he owns and actually wears to school... usually sometime in the first week... a "Son of a Queer" t-shirt. he owns "Bastard Nation" t-shirts and claims this as his 'cultural identity' when asked he claims 'other' as his racial identity, when asked, he states, I know what my father is but my mother is unknown his hair has been (and I have pictorial proof) blue, orange, green, red, pink, and platinum he is both a jock and in drama he came out as straight to me, complete with the sit down talk, don't want to hurt your feelings, I'm sorry to disappoint you.... he has worn kilts to school in lieu of pants... with combat boots... in high school and finally -- he's been before the school board for expulsion twice, won the presidential volunterism award (600+ hours since he was 13), made life scout, turned 16 (as of Tuesday), earned his adult level black belt (as of the end of May), had one pregnancy scare, one (major) STD scare, and kissed a boy... in the past 12 months. Would I buy him another barbie? yeah.

So, while you are not an advocate of conformity you are advocating it? Honestly? The idea is to raise a child that is secure in their own decisions no matter what that decision is from barbie to saying no to drugs to getting behind the wheel once they've had a beer and everything in between. Peer pressure is such a huge issue in our society and the only way to combat the issue is to make it a non-issue. By telling a child that your friends will think ill of you and you will be ridiculed because you don't choose to do this or you do choose to do that... you are setting them up to make decisions later in life based on what their friends think.

barbie dolls, baby dolls, faery wings.... boys need to develop their imagination and it really doesn't matter what toys do it for them. Just because it's pink and sold on the "girls" aisle does not mean it's inappropriate. Just like a truck is not inappropriate for a girl. In preschool boys are encouraged to try various toys, some they happen to find they like, and want one at home. Oddly it's when you say NO and make a huge deal out of it that it becomes a problem and a scar on their psyche. By just purchasing the doll (if it's within your budget to do so) just as you would an action figure and treating it as if it were no big deal, the child learns that it is no big deal, that he is not 'different', that his feelings are normal, and that you (his parent) love and accept his choices/feelings. This is the basis of a solid relationship for when they have real issues later whether it be drugs or relationships. So to answer the question... would I buy my son a Barbie doll? Yes, and Kelly and Ken and even some of the accessories. But I draw the line at baby dolls that require feeding food and that pee or poop. DC even carried a manbag for a while.

I'm glad you think of me that way since one of my other names is.... lughcifer....

what ocean? where? getting paranoid... they're all around.

Hoppy Dirt Day!

Satanist, meh... It's the conservitives that scare me.