Comicality

Oh yeah, I was trying to keep up with 'hold' status on my stories, but it's too much of a chore for me. LOL! But yes, there are more chapters coming. Right now, I'm trying to finish off the "Gone From Daylight: Foretold" ebook, which covers a few long chapters and has a LOT of extra material that's not online anywhere! I added stuff to the first three ebooks, but the fourth is exhausting. Hehehe! I think the fans will love it though!

I PALE in comparison, but I'll put my best foot forward, regardless! Maybe he'll give me some good tips to finally finish Volume Two!!! I'd love to pick his brain for a little while! https://imagine-magazine.org/store/comicality/

I LOVE Stephen King!!! He's one of my all time idols and favorite writing heroes! The whole time I was writing "Darkness Waits" Vol 1 (and now 2), I was thinking..."I want to write something that was naturally 'Comicality', but would hopefully make Stephen King PROUD! That he might accidentally see it and go, whoah...good start, kid! I don't think I could even handle that! LOL! Omigod! Can't fucking WAIT to see this! ::Dances::

Jekyll And Hyde Something that can really stand out in a story while you’re reading it...and not in a good way...is the flip flopping nature of the characters that are supposed to be carrying the whole project on their shoulders and moving things forward. You see...there’s a point when the characters use the story to grow and evolve, and times when the story uses the characters to grow and evolve. The problem comes from writers who don’t keep it in mind that these two motivations have to be able to work together in order to create a full experience where neither side is really visible. And when they don’t...what you get is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde situation that creates plot holes, conflicting information, and inconsistency of character voices. That last one is the most notable. So, today, I’d like to talk about consistency being maintained on both sides of this equation, what the equation is, and how to have them work together for the best possible presentation of your fiction. It isn’t really all that difficult, n fact, many writers do it naturally without putting much thought into it at all. But sometimes it helps to know what to look for and how to bring out the best in your story. It’s all about learning where to focus your attention when you go back and read it over again. If it only makes for a super tiny bit of a difference in the final product, at least it will be a positive one. Let’s get started... Let me begin with the two sides that we’ll be working with in this article. To some degree, you really do need both, in my opinion. You can’t really have your character take on a definitive arc without a story that allows them to do so or is willing to explain why it happened in the first place. Well, why did they find the strength to fight the high school bully? Why did they decided to end their relationship after dealing with it for so long? Why did this once selfish character decide to stop and do something charitable for a change? How did they learn the spirit of Christmas? Whatever it is...there has to be a series of events in your story that will lead them up to that point in a logical way. Through those events you can depict a variety of results from the character interactions, whether positive or negative, that will lead them in that direction. This is an example of the characters using the story to evolve. They are the focus. They are the driving force in all this. This is one of those cases where they story sort of moves them around with the rewards and the obstacles that are being placed in their path in order to get them to where they need to be by the time the story is over. On the other side...you can’t have a story created simply from a series of events and not focus the burden upon the shoulders of the characters that you happen to be writing about. Your characters are the relatable sparks that you can use to get your readers to identify with their plight and feel as though they’re a part of their adventures as the story goes along. Without characters that people can engage with and form emotional attachments to...the story is just not as interesting. It’s just a bunch of stuff that happens. No rhyme, no reason, no stakes. It’s like watching a garden grow in real time. Hehehe, doesn’t make for the most thrilling of reading experiences. This means that the story needs the characters to help it grow. It needs direct motivations, it needs mistakes, it needs triumphs, it needs emotional investments, it needs action...and it uses your characters to achieve that. Alright...so I hope that makes enough sense for us to move forward. The story is there to push the characters along, the characters are there to guide and focus the story. Cool? Now, the big question is...what happens when these two sides are completely out of sync? This is where we get some major conflicts of interest, and both sides can end up suffering from getting yourself trapped in that pitfall. This isn’t to say that story and character always needs to be perfectly balanced in every story you write...but I think it’s extremely important to make sure that they’re consistent. Unless it happens to be a deliberate trait of one of your characters...do whatever you can to avoid the Jekyll and Hyde syndrome. It ruins the immersion for your audience and forces them to stop so they can readjust their feelings about what’s going on. You don’t want that to happen. Believe me. Because the only thing worse than throwing your audience off with a distracting curve ball in your narrative is trying to bring them back in and come back to what you originally intended the first time around. Jerking people back and forth gets exhausting pretty quickly. If I was writing a story about a boy who is painfully shy and in the closet, and then somebody trips him in gym class...I might approach that as a point of humiliation for him and he would lower his head, brush himself off, and would probably hurry off somewhere to be alone where he didn’t have to face the stares and hear the giggles of his classmates after such an embarrassing display. I would make sure that this even is consistent with the rest of the story (Not the first time he’s ever been picked on or laughed at). And, from the description that I gave you above about his personality and his role in the story, his character’s behavior would also be consistent. Both the story and the people in it are acting in a way that feels familiar and doesn’t distract from the way I originally built them up from the beginning. However, if things were out of sync...it might come off as confusing or way over the top. If the story never mentioned him getting picked on by his peers before that very moment...and all of a sudden they’re tripping him in gym class for the sake of a story plot point...it feels like it comes out of nowhere. It’s like, “WTF? Why did they do THAT?” In the same respect, as a character, if I had the shy boy suddenly ball up his first, pop back up with an angry snarl, and go into full attack mode on the boy that tripped him...that would be seriously out of character for him to do that. The story never built that up effectively, so why would this be treated as though it was the ‘last straw’ where he just snapped and couldn’t take anymore. Again, this is out of sync of what we know about the story as a whole so far, and a departure from everything that you set up from the beginning. Congrats! You’ve just gotten yourself stuck in the quagmire of a Jekyll and Hyde situation. And if you think it won’t be that hard to get back to the shy boy and a non-hostile environment again without anybody remembering what just happened...you’d be wrong. You have to focus and be aware of what you’re telling your readers and what you’re not telling them. If you wanted this event to take place in your story, then you should set up the bullying aspect of it all early on in your fiction. Have it build, and escalate, until things boil over to a point where even your bashful protagonist is forced to take action in order to make it stop. But readers should know how your main character got from point A to point B. What happened? What has he learned along his journey that made him react this way? It had to be something, right? Put that ‘something’ on display so that the story and the character compliment one another in a way that doesn’t through the narrative out of balance. Flip flopping or having things happen without any prior set up or reason can be a bewildering experience for your readers, since they may not know the story like the back of your hand like you do. They have to work together, these two sides. Support one another. You’d be surprised how quickly even a simple short story can be turned into an utter mess if you lose that connection. It’s important. A few examples before I wrap this up. Watch this video down below, and pay attention to the character and the story, and ‘feel’ how they’re basically working in tandem to tell a short story while keeping things consistent throughout. If you notice, the son’s attitude is pretty steady from beginning to end, even when the story element takes over and begins to guide him into an entirely different situation. You never feel like he’s acting in ways that he wouldn’t act normally, even at the very end. It’s an excellent example of holding everything together and making sure that it all stays in line to a certain degree. The story and the characters involved remain true to what we, as spectators were introduced to in the very beginning. You know? It doesn’t stray, and the story may take unpredictable twists and turns here and there, but the way the characters deal with them is consistent with what we know about them. Even if our knowledge of them and their relationship is in limited supply. Now, take a moment to watch this short film. (Same main actor) Both the story and the characters sort of waver a bit in their behaviors or what you might be expecting from them and what you were introduced to initially...BUT, there’s still a feeling of believable action and reaction there. Nothing really feels too out of of place, nothing feels over the top or random. It’s concentrated on all of the elements that it should be, and it never throws you off with events or character behaviors that feel out of place. There’s a growth and an evolution here...but not at the expense of making any logical sense. Now, you may think this is a Jekyll and Hyde story...but think about it...is it really though? You’ve got characters that, even though they change and offer up some surprises here and there...there’s a build up to it. It makes sense. The story of their forward progression from who they are at the beginning towards who they are at the end...makes perfect sense. The change has been supported by the story, and the movement towards the surprise ending has been supported by the characters. Had either one of these been written without that subtle balance in there somewhere...it might have come off in a very different way. And a less enjoyable way, to be honest. Anyway, hoping that all of this makes some weird kind of sense as you guys mull it over and apply it to your own work in your own ways, you may be able to find small opportunities here and there in your writing where you can take advantage of this little tip and teach yourselves how to think about melding the worlds of story and character together in ways that some writers never contemplate, and some readers never notice. But that’s the beauty of the art, isn’t it? Hehehe, making it all look easy when it’s not. I hope this helps you guys in some small way! Avoid sudden changes in character behavior and story theme and tone when you’re writing. It can be a stumbling block for a lot of people. So avoid those Jekyll and Hyde situations at all costs if at all possible. Your work will be better for it, and once you know what to look for...you’ll be doing it on autopilot in no time flat! Take care, folks! Love you lots! And I’ll seezya soon with more!

Thanks weinerdog. I wouldn't either. Wisdom shared.

Hehehe...pretty!

Have some FUN this Summer, youngsters!

https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/myonetrueweakness A brand new chapter of "My One True Weakness" is now up for you guys to enjoy! I know that it's been a while, but I'm dealing with complex emotions here! Hehehe! I've gotta get this stuff right on the first try, so be patient with me! Anyway, have fun with the new chapter! And if this is your first rodeo with the story, just follow the link up above to start from the very beginning! Cool? More to come soon! Seezya then! PS- Awwww...I love my little Colin pic! ::Giggles::

"My One True Weakness 13" And lead the way she did, occasionally looking back over her shoulder at me and smiling with a little chuckle...which I thought was a bit weird, but as she led me out to the bleachers of the school’s football field and began to climb her way up the steps, I didn’t hesitate to follow. All while, hoping that she’d be able to give me a few hints and some insight on what was going on in Colin’s head so that I might have some sort of psychological weapon to use a

That's right, folks! It's the Shack's annual Cake Day! And I know that it seems random and just like another bit of our own brand of personal silliness...but it really has a much deeper meaning underneath. It's origins actually lie in our ability to take a day...just ONE day...to do something special for ourselves. Life can be 'noisy' sometimes. It can get you down when you're not looking, not paying attention. And Cake Day was born out of a time whn everybody was sad and feeling down in the dumps because there seems to be a growing number of people who can't seem to feel good about themselves unless they exhaust themselves trying to make someone else feel bad. It's disgusting. It really is. In February they attack African Americans for Black History Month. In May they attack women. And now? We've got Pride Month coming...and I'm sure they won't hesitate to be outraged by the LGBTQ+ community. All just people who want to be happy, or at the very least want to be left alone. So prepare for that. It's already started. But you know what? Today? Today we have cake! Go out somewhere, and get yourselves a piece of cake. From somewhere. From anywhere. Take today for yourselves, and find a little slice of joy to remember why we're doing this, and why it matters. I spent 26 years trying to do all I can for you guys...and sometimes, the world just seems to get worse anyway. Doesn't matter though. Those people lashing out don't love themselves because they don't think there's anything TO love about themselves. Don't become one of them. Get some cake today. Show yourselves some love. And know that you are appreciated, ok? Love you guys. And I'll seezya soon!

Honestly...I hate to tell you, dude...but I hardly remember where I got a bunch of those particular clips at all. Hehehe! Except for "Untouchable"...because I am ALL about Theoz! MWAH! Send me an email, and I'll see if I can find some of them. Also, I wrote a section in Imagine Magazine about my trailers, if you're interested. ((Hugz)) https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/volume-72/comsie-talks-making-a-video-trailer/

Rough Draft When I first began writing stories for Nifty, my very first gay themed stories ever, everything that you see in the Nifty Archive are all first drafts. For the first two or three years, in fact. I didn’t have a whole lot of space, didn’t have a lot of privacy, and I didn’t have a lot of time. Plus, I was working out how to write and format using HTML code for the very first time, and even though I had a pretty good idea how to structure and put a story together...to say that I had no real practice with that particular aspect of writing that much and that often would be a severe understatement. So I would try to get my thoughts together, take my little notes in tiny little handwritten phrases and abbreviations (I was still terrified of having somebody read it over my shoulder or figure out what I was doing)...and when I had the time, I would sit down and type and entire chapter, and sometimes an entire story, in the body of an email. Then I’d go back over it really quick to see whatever big mistakes I could catch with my eyes through a super quick scroll through, and then I’d send it off and pray for the best. Hehehe, and there it was...my rough draft. And they were ROUGH! Believe me! But I was truly grateful for every last one of them. I still am to this day. Of course, on the site, I went back through a great deal of those stories to fix them up, and still find mistakes here and there that still need correcting so they’ll read better. Then, of course, I really put my nose to the grindstone and work even harder for the ebook versions to make sure that they come off as being a more professional effort. But if any of you guys are just starting out or are looking for a way to go back to your roots and revamp your style and dedication from scratch, going back to those rough drafts can really benefit from keeping this a constant part of your writing process. Not just for practice, but for the many lessons that it teaches you along the way. After all this time, I still think that there’s perfection in imperfection. So let’s figure out how this works. When it comes to your rough drafts...there is one rule that you want to keep in mind. And it sounds simple, but it really isn’t. So expect to slip up every now and then. That rule is...’Don’t get it right...get it done.’ The reason I say that is because any one of us can easily end up spending the next ten years trying to write the perfect story...and it’s not going to turn out to be perfect anyway. So what are we doing other than wasting time, you know? That’s just me being honest here. The first goal is to have a finished project under your belt, right? Ok then! Figure out where you’re going to start, where you’re hoping to finish, and what major events of your story are going to be strategically placed between the two sides. After that...start writing. Don’t overthink it...just get started, and stay disciplined long enough to get it finished. You don’t have to rush yourself or write until you burn yourself out...just relax, let the ideas come to you, and write them out to completion. But don’t stop and retrace your steps over and over again during your rough draft. That will take forever, and can sometimes frustrate you into a state of perpetual writer’s block. So don’t do it if you can help it. This part of the process is all about your deepest feelings and your initial gut instincts right now. There will be plenty of time for editing and adding and subtracting and tweaking everything else later on. For right now though, learning to push yourself forward to a completed rough draft without putting unnecessary pressure on yourself to create something revolutionary, sentence to sentence, can actually be a really liberating exercise. And it’s one that I miss every once in a while. One of the major pluses that a writer can get out of appreciation of the rough draft writing process is the fact that you get a literal view of how your story is going to read and how it ends. You can actually look at it in its entirety, and examine it as something more than a few floating thoughts floating around vaguely in the back of your mind. Finish it and make it something solid. Something concrete. Read it. See what’s missing. See what needs changing. Figure out what’s weakening your narrative and get a feel for what parts you can strengthen with just a few extra sentences. This is the best time to get your truest emotions and ideas out there...and then study that landscape, first hand, to improve it and make it even better. You will b able to clearly see places for added detail, opportunities for character growth, and discover places where you obviously began to get off track or wander into territory that you didn’t need to be in for the sake of telling the story you want to tell. Having an actual blueprint laid out in front of you helps you see the flaws in your work, and it provides a vision of your story that you can clearly analyze and fix to better represent what you had in mind. Try it out a few times. You’ll see what I mean. Another advantage of completing a rough draft before going back to re-edit and scrutinize over every word you’ve written, is that (for most creative minds) it inspires confidence and strengthens your spontaneity when it comes to your fiction. It most definitely does for me. See, even now, I have a habit of reading my own words and thinking about them as I’m writing. But I’m my own worst critic, which is a huge bias that is constantly working against me. I keep thinking that I could word something differently, or write it out better, or I should stop and wonder if I need this sentence or not...and I keep going back over the same paragraph over and over and over again...and you know what I discovered? Most times, I would have bee better off just following my first instincts and just writing it the way I had it the first time. I mean, sure...I might come back later and change it if I truly think that it’s best for the story...but more often than not, when I’m writing, I do so in the moment. Spontaneity is key. That’s when all of the ‘right’ words just spill out of me with little to no effort at all...and they’re usually just right to fit the emotion that I’m trying to convey during that part of the story. It might have flaws and imperfections...but at least it’s honest. In the purest way that it can be honest. So...sometimes, trying to come back and review the text with more of an analytical mind kind of ruins what made it flow and feel the way it did originally. And that’s a huge disadvantage in my book. Because if my stories are all about feeling something real, then trying to artificially mold it into something that it isn’t, spoils the effect. Am I right? What is one of Comicality’s MAJOR rules when it comes to your writing? Be comfortable doing it. Be inspired. Does squinting your eyes and staring at a blank screen and feeling like it’s harder to think up what to say next than it is to just shut your laptop down and go watch TV instead sound ‘comfortable’ to you? Listen...your heart is speaking to you. Right there in that moment. What is it saying? Keep it simple, straightforward, and ‘comfortable’. For me, when I get in a certain zone...writing my feelings out all at once feels like a huge release for me, and not a chore. Now, it’s really hard for me to not slow down and backtrack to rewrite something to make it sound better...so I won’t claim that I don’t do it. But I try to curb that habit as best as I can and get my emotions out while that inspirational fire is in me. Because, for me, it’s the emotional connection that lasts longest with my audience. And I want to capture that more than anything. I can straighten out the mechanics of it all later on. So if I get in a verbal fight with someone, and it’s raining outside, and my bank account is empty, and I’m hungry but don’t have any food in the fridge...I might sit down and relay that message to everyone reading. In a fictional way, sure...but with real life emotion lacing every word. I just keep writing out all of my deepest frustrations, and it’s like I can feel the knots in my stomach slowly beginning to unwind as I pour a great deal of myself into the story and let go of it. I just want to capture the fire of it all...and when I’m done, and the other side of my brain is ready to take over again...then I can go back later and fix up my spelling errors, my writing mechanics, add a little something, take a few things out, and edit with an open mind that isn’t so emotionally biased. THAT’S when I’m able to get everything right. That’s when I try to make it look good with a little spit and polish so I don’t sound like a total madman to my audience. Hehehe! But, at least now I have a visible framework to work from, and I was still able to get those feelings out of me while they were still fresh. There’s nothing more daunting for me than trying to breathe life into stale emotions. That’s why I’ve always been so incredibly hurt whenever I’ve written a story with my whole heart and it gets erased or lost or my computer crashes. Because all of those spontaneous, truly special, emotions can’t ever be recreated in the same way ever again. Those moments are gone for good. It would be like finding out that your wedding photographer had the lens cap on the whole time, you know? It sucks. However, if you can capture those feelings in the moment while they’re still potent in your rough draft, knowing that you can always go back and fix it later if you have second thoughts about anything, it makes writing it out to completion a much more relaxing experience in my opinion. Like I said before...when I just write and let the words flow through me without putting too much thought into how it’s going to translate or look to other people...I can sit here and write all night long. Even when it comes to these shorter writing tip articles, I get in a frame of mind where everything just seems to come out right. Of course, I also have nights when I second and third guess myself, hehehe, and I end up putting certain topics off until later or tossing them out completely. So don’t think that this is going to make writing any easier for any of you. And even if it could, it would make the editing process that much harder afterward. So it balances out. But think about it some time. Give it a try. Throw your analytical thoughts to the side and just write. Take what you’re feeling, what you’ve got in your heart and in your head, and just type it out with a stream of consciousness that you don’t have to worry about polishing up until you’re done getting your feelings out on that keyboard. Don’t get it right...get it done! Hope this helps! Happy writing to you all! And I’ll seezya soon with another dose of whatever tidbits and breadcrumbs I was able to pick up along the way on my way to getting where I am now, and where I hope to be in the future. Sky’s the limit, after all! Later!

https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/sneak-away/ The second chapter of the three part series, "Sneak Away" has just been posted! So run on over and check it out, and please let me know what you think whenever you get a chance! Cool? I'd LOVE to hear from you all! MWAH! And look for more soon! It'll be a lot of fun! Promise! Also, UGE thanks to those of you who helped me out by making donations to the https://paypal.me/Comsie account! It's one of the only things keeping me afloat, so I'm forever grateful for the support! More new stories for ALL of you! Hehehe! Anyway, enjoy the new chapter! And I'll seezya soon, k?

"Sneak Away 2" My legs were trembling like crazy as I thought about walking over to that couch. The idea of sitting next him just rattled me for some reason. The weird thing is that it was really difficult to tell whether it was excitement trying to push me forward, or if it was terror trying to hold me back. Maybe a little bit of both? Hell, I don’t know! I just sort of wandered around Steven’s party for another few minutes, trying to figure out my next big plan of action before I e

Hehhe, sweet! And it will be back VERY soon! Until then, you might want to check out "Taryn's Song" at https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/tarynssong/ It'll tell you more!

I'm cooking at the moment, so I've got to keep an eye on things. Then, dinner and a short break, and I'll start working on the second batch! Cool? Hope to talk to you soon! MWAH! Love always!

Omigod...I forgot about this! Yes! Just a few weeks away! I HAVE to get my Marvel fix! ::Giggles: I thought I was going to have to wait until November! Squeeeee! Nick Fury, mixed with Iron Man, mixed with Black Panther, mixed with Captain Marvel, mixed with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D??? I'm in! How are they going to fit this whole saga into one TV show though? Curious...

He's growing into a real cutie, isn't he? Hehehe! He's come a long way from "Gotham" and "The Boy II"...

Hehehe, awwww!!! Look at how *YOUNG* Hanson was! Little Zac wasn't even old enough to perform yet! Isaac and Taylor have to be a duo for a bit longer! aa

Period Pieces I don’t think it was until I began to really play around with the many spinoffs surrounding the “Gone From Daylight” vampire mythology (https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/world/gone-from-daylight/) that I found a true love for the challenge in writing stories that don’t all take place in the current day. It’s something that I think every author should probably try, at least once or twice, just to get a feel for the skill behind it and see if they like the idea or not. There’s a completely different ‘feel’ to it that I don’t experience when I’m writing my other stories. So...seeing as this was something that was a little off center for me personally as a writer, I began to take a few moments to shuffle through my own feelings about different periods of time and figure out what it is that I find so appealing about how they work from a storytelling aspect. I’ve been this doing for quite a number of years now, and I’ve collected a bunch of ideas and inspiring thoughts about the practice of writing something outside of my own growth experience and how and why it’s a cool approach to take in my work from time to time. You know, if for no other reason than to change things up every once in a while. And now...I share some of that writer experience with all of you. Ready? Good! Hehehe! I believe that my very first attempt at writing something that took place in ‘the past’ wasn’t that much of a leap of faith. I did it for the sake of the story, and I was trying to rebuild the current world that I was living in at the time with a world that existed a full decade earlier. Not a BIG difference that would come off as being all that radical or even noticeable in many ways...but it was my first few baby steps. Hehehe, give me a break. That story was “Taryn’s Song” (https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/tarynssong/), which actually acts as a prequel to the “Gone From Daylight” series (Read “GFD” first though. It’ll be better that way!). The main love interest is a vampire, and had already been living in darkness for ten years before running into my protagonist in the first chapter. Now...as the story began to move forward, a lot of readers began to ask questions that weren’t really covered in the original story itself. I mean, there’s a rich backstory involved with Taryn’s life, who he is, what kind of life he comes from, and why his heart reached out to main character, ‘Justin’, in the first place. I allowed some information about his past life unfold little by little through their interactions in the story, providing a few glimpses into his memories...but it wasn’t enough to truly embrace the drama and intimate nature of what really happened to bring him towards the decisions he made, leading him to leave the daylight behind him forever. So I was caught in a bit of a dilemma... I didn’t want to leave those parts of his backstory out of the series, because a lot of those elements come into play in future chapters. I didn’t want to draw it out for too long and affect the pacing of the story when it’s obvious that two boys who were so in love would probably be talking to each other on a personal level all the time without restraint. It wouldn’t be believable to think that these major issues simply never came up in their late night conversations. At the same time, I didn’t want to deliver Taryn’s whole history as a huge info dump of exposition, weakening the reader’s investment in Justin, who’s supposed to be the main character of this story. So I grabbed my notebook and a few pens, and I began to make plans on how to structure and tell Taryn’s story in full. Or at least enough of it to be really intriguing to readers and fill in some of the missing pieces of the puzzle that a great deal of my audience was looking for. These were details that I always had sort of swimming around in the back of my mind when I first created the character, but didn’t have any plans to develop on its own as a separate story. That was going to take more depth and insight, and...most importantly...would take a time machine back a decade to when these events originally happened. I know that ten years doesn’t really seem like that much of a jump, and that the world wouldn’t be all that different...but as I began thinking more and more about it, ending up with quite a few scratch outs on the page and having to think about replacing certain elements of the story with something more ‘time appropriate’, I began to understand that the presentation of the time period was just as much of a character driven part of the story as the character himself. And it was going to take a bit more work than I thought it would. Technologies advance and evolve, so does speech and slang, so does music and entertainment, and media and the world at large. Also, certain jokes or sarcastic quips wouldn’t work anymore. How could they? They’re making references to events that haven’t happened yet. The style of dress was different. The view of public opinion changes as well. And since I started “GFD” waaaay back in 1999...then that meant going back to the late 80’s early 90’s. A time period that wouldn’t work now...if I was going to try to keep things consistent. So, just like in the science fiction movies...you have to be careful when you play around with time travel. Hehehe, it can end up being a problem if you’re not constantly monitoring it in your fiction and keeping a keen eye on whatever details you use to build your story. Writing period pieces can be both a blessing and a curse at times. And I’ve found that the closer the era is to current day...the more difficult it is to distinguish the two from one another. We’re talking about period piece writing this time around! Let’s get into it! And please feel free to share your own experiences with this down below if you like. It might be of help to us all in this arena! If you were to look at yourself in the mirror right now...you may not see anything all that unfamiliar than what you’re used to seeing every morning when you wake up or every night when you go to bed, right? When you were a teenager, you might not have noticed how many inches you’ve grown in such a short amount of time. If you shave, you may not notice how much scruff you’ve got under your chin, or how long your hair has gotten until you are actually due for a haircut. These are changes that happen gradually, and can easily be worked into a story without you having to put much of an adjustment in how you create your current world and how your characters interact with it. However...the further you get away from your current state of mind...the more the world seems to change, and the more you have to pay attention to what you’re doing and what choices you might be making to make the whole ‘time’ aspect of your story seem authentic and true to form. You know? It’s not just about how the people walk, talk, and dress. Always keep that in mind, and try to remember the culture and the world as it was during that time. The characters that you’re creating for your period piece are going to be more than just an existing member of your personal cast of characters...they’re going to be living, breathing, products of their environment. Not your currnt environment...but theirs. There a few videos down below that I want you guys to take a good look at as examples of how many things have changed, and how many have stayed the same. Hehehe, now there’s nothing really malicious or insulting about what’s being said in this clip when you place it in the appropriate period of time. This is what the world’s perception was like as far as he was concerned. So, if you’re going to write a story that takes place in the early to mid 60’s in suburban America...a lot of your ideas and approaches to certain situations may have to change in order to fit the time period that your characters exist in. The era is now an active participant in your ability to build your world around it. If that makes sense. Now...if we jump ahead about ten to fifteen years...times have changed again. And you’ve got an entirely different framework to build off of, even with subjects and feelings and arguments that feel familiar. When writing a period piece, you have to keep that in mind. There are core bits and pieces of all of us that exist in everybody. Parts that we can all recognize and identify with in some way...but the era is different. Which means the conversations, approaches, and solutions to conflict, are all different as well. Take a look. Hehehe, have we really been having this same conversation for THIS long? Different, yes...but still dated. Something else goes into a period piece that goes beyond some fashion and hip lingo for the times. The entire environment is a factor. To be effective at writing something from a certain era in history, this should always be top of mind for any author looking to do it right. Even if you have no personal experience in that time period yourself...some research is definitely needed. One thing that I think the series “Stranger Things” (especially in the very first season) got absolutely perfect was capturing the 80’s in it’s purest form! Hehehe, I was blown away, like, “Omigod! I remember that!!!” And the references were always there, but were never overdone in my opinion. The nostalgia was overwhelming. But even though that series could probably have taken place in any current era of time...the 80’s nostalgia was the perfect touch that set it apart from everything else that everybody else was doing at that time. So that was a definite win. Yeah...the 80’s was a very specific time in history. Hehehe, sorry to all of you younger guys who missed it. (Then again...there are college kids who don’t even remember 9/11...so what am I even talking about right now?) The key is to have just enough era influence to give your story a certain flair and dated feel...but still keep those unifying core elements of storytelling present that will appeal to anyone watching, whether they have a personal attachment to the time period or not. Imagine all of the stories written about Al Capone’s Chicago, World War II, Ancient Rome, or during the building of the pyramids in Egypt! You’ve got thousands of years to play with...just make sure that you stay true to the customs and beliefs of that piece of history if you want it to feel legit. Me, personally? I always do some research, but I’m sure that I slip up from time to time. And sometimes I’ll catch it in an editing marathon...but sometimes I won’t. So be careful of that. The civilizations that came before us weren’t as advanced as we are now, but they were nowhere near being savages either. Like I stated above, events that happened just fifteen to twenty years ago may seem completely foreign to the younger generation today. They’re looking at these past events almost as if its fantasy in some cases. But you can bond the current day readers with stories from the past by simply relying on staying true to those core elements that keep us all united as human beings. Finding love, securing shelter and a dependable food source, protecting our friends and family from harm...envy, joy, vengeance, loneliness...the entire human experience revolves around these things, no matter where you are or what era you lived in. Take those core elements and practice feeding them into the mindsets of different cultures and time periods to examine what’s different...and discover what’s the same. Cool? I hope this helps you guys out when it comes to branching out with brand new stories of your very own! Give it a shot. It’s a lot more fun than you may think it is. Especially when you play around with more than one era, or with one or more genres. I get a kick out of it, myself. Take care, you all! And stay beautiful! Seezya soon!

https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/ Just a quick note to let you know that the newest issue of Imagine Magazine is now live for all of you guys who are interested. It's a day and a half late, but that was all my fault for being under the weather an unable to finish things up on time. I'm not at 100% quite yet, but I'm getting there. and I hop you guys will enjoy the May issue! K? Love you lots. And I'll seezya soon! Hehehe, CUTE astronaut! I'd share some space with him any day!