Carlos Hazday

No guarantees on who the winner will be but it seems Chipper has a chance.

Six years after leaving New York, Chipper was a confident man. His anger at his father’s infidelity and having to leave his hometown had waned. However, the longing to stroll the congested sidewalks of Manhattan had grown. During his time at the University of Miami, he realized he was good enough to make it in the music business and able to plant roots wherever he wanted. That was in the Big Apple. Greg Nalbo’s attempt to dictate his future rattled him. The entertainment mogul was a roadbl

I'm in the same boat.

@Geron Kees I don't think there's a way to track reads and @Myr has never said the system does. Views is what we have. For a story as a whole, those can be skewed by the number of chapters, I agree. I divide total views by number of chapter and use the average if I want to compare with long-assed stories. Views are also influenced by other factors. You mention one, and I'll add two more from my own personal experience. There are times I don't want to be interrupted by notifications so I'll read without signing in. Myr mentioned that one. My chapters get a lot of comments, I add to the views myself whenever I respond and readers also increase it by going back to read comments and author responses. Authors like you that tend not to post in chapters may also have less views because readers may not want to tackle long stories without the ability to mark stopping points. In the end, although not perfect, views count can still give us an idea of how popular a story is. If one chapter has 50 and another one has 500, I'm pretty sure the latter one was better received. Views inflation is similar to reputation inflation. Those active in the chat rooms rack them up in a way someone simply sharing their work can't. In the end, the willingness of members to engage by leaving comments is a better indication of interest than any number.

Now you have me curious. My current story shows some 20k views on the story page but only 13k on the stats page.

Even though I knew the number of non-member readers was high, I was surprised to see they make up about 3/4 of all views for my stories. Anyone else on the same boat?

@avidreadr I hope I've done okay with my NYC descriptions. I think the only fictional locations I've used are the bar and the gym down in Chelsea. Most of the other ones I've actually been to. Last year I was there for my birthday, staying with friends who live in the same building Cesar and Brett have their apartment in. @Defiance19 came into the city and joined us for brunch before we headed out to Brooklyn. The chapter describing their trip to the Brooklyn Museum was based on our experiences that day. In the last CJ story I posted, we find out he served as US ambassador to the United Nations/ If I ever get around to writing about that period, expect a lot more of New York. I'm dying to have CJ and Owen attend the Met Gala and some of the fashion week events. Not sure if I'll write them all, but I'm slowly outlining spinoffs for the other Squad member. Obviously, Ethan's would take place in New York.

Good song and the subject fir perfectly in my quest to show Chipper as a rabid New Yorker.

NBC and The Voice have a different attitude than FOX and Idol did. There have been quite a few GLBT contestants and their story has been prominently highlighted during the silly, human interest portions. A transitioning half of twins was shown being scared of his voice cracking since he was just starting hormone therapy. During rehersals, one of the coaches encouraged a gay contestant to use boy instead of girl in a song he was to sing. Adam Levine has a gay brother, Alicia Keys espouses her support for sexual minorities often, and Kelly Clarkson always roots for gay contestants.

I didn't know you were a New Yorker! Chipper's love for NYC is based on similar attitudes by several friends. I've been visiting the city for over half my life and have never had a bad trip. EDIT: Correction, way over half my life. The first time I was in New York I was 11, my parents took my brother and I to meet our grandfather, He had left Cuba with his new wife before I was born.

My neighbors across the street have a camera that covers the end of my driveway. They've told me they enjoy watching me take the garbage and recycling bins to the curb while in my boxers and flip flops.

The damn muse has been hyperactive. Do you realize I've posted something every month in 2019? And so far this year I've only missed 6 Fridays because I posted 1 chapter stories in July and August. I'm shooting for 2020 to be a similar one. Edit- The story I'll share in December is 3 chapters long so I'll miss another Friday

Thank you! I had to leave a few things out because of the word limit and my self imposed format, but nothing omitted was crucial to the main story.

Duh! Blakey of course. I did consider having Chipper sing "This boy is on fire" but Empire was such a damn good fit for him.

Remember how some readers complained my chapters were too complicated? The unpublished stories I've already written and the one I'm working on now will hopefully have the best of both formats. But I do want to try the 1k approach again at some point.

Thank you! I wanted to build on both the musical and personal fronts, let's hope I did it right.

Repeating myself, CJ and Chipper have the most alike personalities. Ethan's a fixture in these stories, Miles makes an appearance in the one I'm currently writing but has no dialogue. Bryce and Zion are mentioned in that same story. All three will play a part in future ones.

Y'all better be voting for him!

So glad I delivered even when I didn't know I was. I keep stressing Chipper's a die-hard New Yorker so the song was a good fit. I have one more NYC-centric tune before we get done.

Thanks, Tor!

My stories have been based on the East Coast for the most part, but I've been California Dreamin' lately. The one I'm currently writing opens up in LA. A long time ago, in a story far, far away, I had Chipper perform "Empire State of Mind" in front of friends. I had one of them comment on Chipper starting the song in a lower register most likely afraid he could not reach the higher notes. I think of most musical competitions as boot camp for singers; there's a lot of work behind the scenes with vocal coaches and other experts. Levine is known for his falsetto and I wanted to show his influence on Chipper. Our boy keeps learning and isn't afraid to stretch. Oh, one more thing: he plays guitar, keyboards, and dabbles with drums.

Now that we are in the second half of the story, the frequency of performances will increase. Hope you like what's coming. Glad you like the songs I've picked for him so far.

@Tonyr I'll think of you tonight This is from Wednesday's edition of the Sun Sentinel, our local newspaper:

The shoes were his—canvas sneakers a friend back home had outlined the Manhattan skyline on. The jeans were also his, and the New York Yankees baseball jersey would be after the show. So would a couple of the bracelets on his wrist. The wardrobe coordinators worked with each artist prior to every performance. They provided as much or as little of the outfits as needed. In Chipper’s case, it was close to an even split so far. After each show, the contestants could keep or buy anything not t