Comicality

"On The Outside 30" Lunch was extremely awkward that day. Partially because I knew that my best friends had a shit load of questions for me that they were afraid to ask. And I had didn’t know if I had the answers to give them. Or any answers that I was willing to be open about in public. We just sort of sat there...pretending that everything was ok. Like we could just slip back into our normal routine as if nothing had changed. But let’s be honest, right? A lot had changed. And

https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/ontheoutside A new chapter is up and ready for the "On The Outside" series! So check it out! And if you get a few extra seconds after you read it...do me a solid and maybe let me know what you think by leaving a comment down below! K? Or...you know...not. Hehehe, some of you people are SO friggin' stingy! It's CHRISTMAS! Can you say something? Please? Geez! I'm working my ASS off over here! Anyway...enjoy! And I'll seezya soon!

Hehehe, just because it's fun! LOL! Thanks, Marvel!

https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/leftwithoutwords/ A new chapter of the "Left Without Words" series is ready to go! Consider it a sexy part of my Christmas presents for you all to say thank you for the love and support that you've given me over the course of the past year, which has been really difficult to get through. Thanks for the donations and the comments and emails. You'll never know how much I appreciate the help that you've given me and my mom. Thank you. And always remember to stay beautiful! K? Thanks for being so cool! Love you all!

"Left Without Words 28" The sensation was rising up within me so fast that it was nearly impossible for me to sit still. My young bottom began to wiggle all on its own, Deme’s soft and wet lips sliding up and down my excited shaft...and every time I thought I’d be able to keep from losing my control, Deme’s extremely tight little orifice would swirl up and suckle lovingly on my extended digit, and I’d immediately get all hot and bothered again. So unbelievably tight. How on Earth did

Yeah, Oscar has been around since he was a tiny tyke. Oh, I already have the Lenni Kim audio, but I wanted the full video. Some motion, you know? Ah well... Back to Cutie Christmas...

I don't know what's going on with the audio on this first one. Ah well, you're still my sweetheart, Lenni! Mwah!

The Slow Burn One of the elements of a really good story that we’ve discussed before on this board had to deal with ‘pacing’. Now, while it seems like such a thing should feel natural and almost effortless to some writers...it’s actually not that way for everybody. In fact, it’s a very delicate balance that I feel should be recognized and respected when it comes to putting a story together in a way that could be considered ‘effective’ when it comes to getting your message and your emotions across to your audience. Too many moving parts can come off as being chaotic and confusing, while too few can come off as directionless and downright boring. For most of the stuff that I put out, I try to balance the two extremes out in a way that will draw readers in and give them a full experience...while still providing enough entertainment to keep them interested and invested in what’s going on. BUT...there are times that I definitely want to slow things down and take my time to build a story that will have more depth and character building than anything that I could write in a ‘confined space’. Things like sex, romance, humor, or direct conflict, are present, sure...but they don’t take center stage until later on in the story. At least not in the way that I imagine it. Now...why would a writer ever want to slow down their pacing when they’re obviously trying to grab the attention of their audience and hold onto it for as long as possible? And if such a thing is possible? How do we pull that off? That’s what we’re talking about today! Feel free to add any thoughts or feelings of your own on this topic, as I’m always looking to learn as much as I look forward to teaching. So...what is a ‘slow burn’, exactly? It’s the craft of telling a story that is heavily focused on the characters involved in the plot, but doesn’t necessarily push for story advancement or major events until the readers are fully immersed in the proper mindset. It might seem like nothing major is happening, but the idea is to give your audience the promise that everything that they’re reading and learning about is all a part of the master plan, and will have some deeper meaning later on. It’s a gradual rise towards something great, if only they’re patient enough to stick with it. I’ve incorporated this technique into quite a few of my stories, and I’ve learned to hone my instincts to leave just enough breadcrumbs along the trail to inspire the kind of patience that I need for the story to work. Nothing major or too flashy...but interesting. That’s where the magic lies. The advantage of writing a slow burn story is that it gives you almost limitless room to explore the ‘space’ of your story and the characters that populate it. There are going to be times when you might feel as though you need to force your way towards that big moment that you think your readers are looking for, and I definitely think that you shouldn’t allow your story to stall in some state of limbo where nothing I happening at all...but if you really have more to say before anything ‘big’ happens...take your time and let it happen naturally. Give yourself some room. Working on a project with a slow burn approach give you time to do some world building (If applicable), or to really give everyone a deeper understanding for your protagonist and the people surrounding them. Ask yourself, what’s the backstory? What’s the motivation? If there are obstacles waiting for your main character on the horizon...what are they? And why do they affect your characters the way it does? Let’s get the whole story from you. I realize that every little tiny bit of information isn’t necessary to tell a story if it isn’t needed...but if you’ve got parts of your story, your character’s history, the relationship that they have with their friends, or their siblings, or their parents...don’t be afraid to add those elements into the mix and explore them at length before rushing to get that first kiss or sexual experience out of the way. Get to know your own characters, and allow your readers to get a chance to know them as well as you do. Sometimes, this can be essential in making a good story GREAT! The idea is to always keep a sense of momentum building in every chapter, even when your main character and your love interest aren’t making out or getting naked for ‘sexy time’. Know where your story is headed, but relax a bit and take some time to weave your protagonist’s mind set into the expectations of your audience. Make it your goal to learn at least ONE new thing about one of your spotlight characters per chapter. Remember when we talked about story arcs? Keep that in mind when you’re doing this. It can be a direct action, a bold piece of dialogue, or even just a series of inner thoughts that shows a change and a progression in your character that you can later use to your advantage. So, when those big moments DO happen in your story...they’ll have increased meaning and purpose to everyone invested in your narrative, because your audience will have gone on that journey with the characters that you’ve taken so much time and such care to build up from scratch. And nothing makes your story more memorable than having your readers be actively involved with your characters’ growth. Trust me. What you need to do as a writer is make sure that you stay focused on the plot that you have planned out from the very beginning. The last thing you want to do is start wandering aimlessly where your readers get lost as to whether this story has a point of not. Concentrate and stay on track! A slow burn is not an abandonment of story structure or an excuse to throw your instincts about story pacing out the window. Please don’t take this article as a license to do that. It isn’t. It’s merely a call to slow down when putting your story together to see things from more than just a few angles. It’s meant to give you room to ‘explore’ as a writer, and create a rich and satisfying experience for the crowd that might actually really like diving deeper into the hearts and minds of the people you’ve written about. The more they connect to your characters...the more they care about them. And the higher the stakes are when it comes to them possibly getting hurt or rejected by the boy of heir dreams. Those stakes will keep readers glued to every word, and it will help to create the kind of momentum that I was talking about. Whether your protagonist needs love, or needs courage, or needs to get over past mistakes and hardships, or simply need protecting...you readers will provide that energy for you when they’re moving from page to page. It’s difficult to explain, but not really all that hard to do. Think about the times you spent hanging out with some of the best friends that you’ve ever had. Sometimes...it’s just a good time for the sake of having a good time, right? Some laughs, some deeper thoughts being shared, a couple of memories exchanged, whatever. But even though you’re not expecting that particular time spent together to be leading towards anything magnificent...it doesn’t lose its significance. You’re building a true connection, a foundation, and a history between characters. This is all a part of the ‘show, don’t tell’ process of writing. What may seem slow and mundane to some is actually a strengthening exercise for your story to take. If your protagonist’s best friend happens to be a bit of a hot head...this is your opportunity to display that through a more involving interaction. Maybe you have that character come close to losing their temper over a simple slip of the tongue or a misunderstood joke. Or, maybe they’re having fun and begin talking about how they both got into a heated brawl on the playground with a couple of punks when they were younger. If it’s some expansive world building that you want to do? This is the time to explore that as well. Is this world heavily ruled by a militaristic regime? Is it a fantasy world full of monsters and magic? Does it take place in the current day, or in the future? Or maybe many decades in the past? A slow burn progression in a story is an opportunity to flesh out the details of the reality your characters have been given to work with. You can get a feel for the lingo and the gestures that are used. You can show your readers the kind of advantages or dangers that they might have during this time or in this particular place. You don’t want to explain everything and cause it to be an info dump that will ultimately overwhelm and possibly confuse your readers. What you want to do is make everything feel three dimensional and ‘real’ by giving the characters, the plot, and the world in which they exist, the feeling that this is simply the way things are and have always been. I believe that it helps to create a certain level of familiarity with the illusion that you’re trying to paint with your fiction. It’s like...whenever I talk to an old friend or a family member that I haven’t seen in ages...my brain has to create a ‘story’ that links the two of us together. I remember old parties that we went to, or sleepovers that we had, or laughs that we shared over the years...and I have a wealth of inside knowledge into who this person is and why we have the relationship that we do. That ‘story’ is what bonds us together. If I had total amnesia and didn’t remember the little things about this person at all, or vice versa...would we still be close? Without that history of random events and knowledge of so-called mundane moments, what would there be left to bond over? The idea of using the slow burn method is to fill in those gaps with something more personal. More emotionally engaging. Sometimes, more often than you would think, I see authors simply using their characters or the scenery around them to simply carry the plot forward without really involving them in the story in any significant way. You read on, and if you were to ask yourself, “Why is this character in the story?”...chances are the answer is, “They’re here to deliver this particular piece of information to my protagonist.” Well...ok. Straightforward, and right to the point. But once the information has been delivered, what else is there for them to do? They either fade into the background, or simply vanish altogether. And they’re simply not needed anymore. Which begs the question... ...Were they ever really needed in the first place? Now, I’m not saying that it’s totally wrong to use certain characters in this fashion, but when you have enough space to explore their necessity in a story, and make them a memorable, three dimensional, part of the narrative...you can create a need for them that goes beyond the ‘one’ thing that they were meant to do. If that makes sense. Otherwise, they come off as that random guy in the red shirt on an episode of ‘Star Trek’. What is their purpose? Their purpose is to die and demonstrate the threat that the characters we care about most will have to face between their last breath and the roll of the end credits. As opposed to series like ‘The Walking Dead’, where even the most beloved and well loved characters may end up not coming home by the end of the show. Using a slow burn to fill everything out and give it some color and meaning can occasionally be a better way to go than using your characters to just move the plot forward from point A, to point B, to point C, with no real involvement beyond that. We all have people in our lives who basically exist in the background as far as our goals and motivations are concerned. I don’t mean for that to sound as bad as it does, but it’s true. Acquaintances, co-workers, people we see in the hallway on our way to class, or that one guy that we always see at the coffee shop or on the bus or train on the way to work. We may turn a blind eye to them as an actual human being...but the truth is, those people have thoughts, passions, wants, and needs, just like the rest of us. The next time you’re out and about...look around you with that in mind. Take a moment to actually see them, and think about who they might be beyond being an ‘extra’ in your personal movie from day to day. A slow burn approach to a story can make the world around you so much more interesting than you might give it credit for...once you get everyone to pay attention. I hope this helps, folks! Happy writing, and I’ll seezya soon! We’ve got so much more to talk about! Hehehe!

https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/ A brand new issue of the Shack's online magazine, Imagine is now live and waiting for you! Our holiday issue has a bunch of new chapters from your favorite stories and authors! New articles! And our usual brand of monthly high jinx! Hehehe! So dive right in and check it out! Enjoy! And I'll seezya soon! Happy holidays, you guys!

Oh, I know. Hehehe, I did an article on Robert for the Christmas issue of Imagine last month.

Hiya DK!!! Long time no talk! Drop me an email some time! Much to discuss! And Twitter is kind of a shit show right now, so I'm avoiding that place like the plague at the moment. Anyway...back to our Christmas joy!

Cheating (Part Two) Welcome back everybody! ((Hugz)) As I’m writing this, I’m hoping that I didn’t offend anyone or step on any toes as far as their writing process is concerned with Part One of this article. I’m writing these back to back, and it will be a short while before you guys get to see them, so my apologies if I sounded like I was singling out any kind of writing style or anything like that. I wasn’t, promise. These articles come mostly from stuff that I’ve found in my own writing over the years, and see even more clearly now that I’m going back and updating and re-editing stuff to make them as close to perfect as I can get them for publishing as ebooks on my site. (https://imagine-magazine.org/store/comicality/ if you guys wanna grab a few! Hehehe!) I’m putting my mistakes here to keep some of you from making the same missteps that I did when I was learning. That way, you guys can get a bit of an advantage, and do it a thousand times better than I ever could! Hell, a lot of you there already! So keep going, K? That being said, we’ve still got a couple of writing cheats to cover with this article, and I’m going to pick up right where I left off last time as we get into the final four! So let’s hop right back into it, shall we? #5- Speak No Evil - I cannot express enough how important it is for your characters to be able to talk to one another in a story. To interact in some personal way...whether it be as friends or enemies, lovers or rivals, students or mentors. It’s simply a part of creating good fiction, and I think that dialogue gives a good story a certain sparkle that can’t be accomplished with narration and well written prose alone. However, I also understand that writing dialogue can be a bit of a chore sometimes in certain situations. It can be awkward and clumsy and just feel unnatural when you’re trying to add it to your project in a believable way. BUT...sorry...can’t skip it! I know that there are going to be times when you want to, but it’s another one of those cheats that I think weakens your story immediately if you don’t at least make a sincere go at it. You know? The temptation to simply describe a great conversation that your protagonist had with their love interest or whatever...it can be useful in certain spots and in smaller scenes, but you can’t keep using that sin to shuffle past the work you need to put in to create conversations between the people you’re writing about. It very quickly becomes a disconnect between your readers and your characters. So, difficult as it may be at times, push yourself to making it a discipline when it comes to writing a story. It’s like the difference between having somebody describing a complete stranger standing on the other side of the street, and you having a conversation with a good friend. Again, I know that this isn’t always an easy task for everybody. Some folks, writers especially, aren’t always all that ‘chatty’ or outgoing, and might have a few stumbling blocks when it comes to writing dialogue. That’s ok. But try this... Go to a public place a few times a week. A park, the beach, a fast food restaurant, a shopping mall, a grocery store...as long as it’s public and has other people walking around. You don’t have to make any creepy introductions or approach anyone you don’t know, and you don’t have to necessarily eavesdrop on every word they say...but just go and get a feel for how people interact with one another verbally. There are no mind readers out there. They have to say what they feel and communicate out loud. Pay attention. Find the ‘flow’ in their words and see if you could possibly bring that into your stories the next time you sit down to write something. One of the big mistakes that I read in some fiction is coming from authors who feel like every word of a conversation has to lead to something in the plot of their story. Or that every question acts as bait for a predictable answer, which acts as bait for its own response. That can be one of the main problems when it comes to keeping dialogue from sounding stunted and uncomfortable. Depending on the relationship between the two characters that are talking in that particular scene, you should be able to control how comfortable or uncomfortable that conversation is going to be. Because that’s the leadership role that you’ve chosen to take, and not because you feel weird with dialogue. Find a way to learn how to make your characters talk in a natural way, making it a part of the story, but not so heavily concentrated on playing both roles and forcing it in a certain direction for the sake of your story. Practice. Everything takes practice. Just don’t run from make it a part of your story. Not only will you be cheating yourself, but you’ll be cheating your audience too. Not a good idea. #6- Divine Destiny - While this can work in romance and relationship stories as well, it’s most evident in stuff like fantasy and science fiction. I’m not saying that you can’t use it for your own work, as I’ve used it in mine many times, but it can sometimes weaken your narrative if readers are made to believe that your protagonist is simply destined to win the day, no matter what. This is the ‘chosen one’. The one who brings balance to the force, or will save his enslaved people, or was prophecized to come to Earth and rescue the whole planet from total destruction. I understand that this is an attractive lure to a majority of readers, and can truly set the ‘hero’s journey’ into motion almost right away without much more needed to make the story work. But, believe it or not...if you don’t get the balance just right, this can also come off as a cheat code of the highest caliber. This is going to happen because it was meant to happen. Period. End of story. Ok, then...what are the stakes, then? Where’s the urgency? When the motivation of your story is entirely left up to fate, then you instantly turn your main character into more of a passive observer of what’s going instead of having them be the driving force behind their actions and their quest to evolve to the next level. Your audience has nothing to worry about or stress over. They merely have to read long enough to figure out how the main character is going to follow the falling dominoes that are leading him to a happy ending that was already plotted out for him ahead of time. Done right, it can make for a pretty good story...but there are ways to increase the tension and make it a much more engaging read for your fanbase. In my story, “Gone From Daylight”, I have such a character where his entire existence has already been written in the texts and prophecies ahead of time, before he even knew what they were. He is...for lack of a better term...the ‘chosen one’. But how can I take that idea and make it much more interesting for my readers. First of all...he’s given a choice as to whether he wants to follow this path or not. There’s nothing saying that he has to, and he still has a choice in the matter. (Which, like I said, keeps him from being just a passive observer in his own story) That’s the bare minimum, I believe, when it comes to that sort of story. Second, the prophecy that he’s following reaches beyond his previous knowledge of it, forcing him to wonder if all of the pain and suffering that he experienced beforehand was a part of his path. And what kind of sick purpose does that give his life if he was never in control to begin with? And third? What happens if him being the chosen one is destined to win the day, but only at the kind of cost that he’s simply not willing to pay? What if he saves us all, but loses everyone and everything that is important to him in the process? There we go! NOW we have a nail biting experience! The audience wants him to win, but might want him to abandon his fate altogether...and he can choose either one at any time. These little additions can make a big difference in how your story reads. Don’t cheat by saying your main character is the chosen one and it’ll all be ok. Well...then you just gave away the biggest spoiler ever! Hehehe! That’s just bad promotion! #7- Well That Happened - When placing certain events, obstacles, and conflicts, in your story...there may be an urge to attack them, have everything boil over, feel satisfied with getting that off of your chest, and then moving on to the next issue that you have waiting for your protagonist just over the horizon. Hehehe...but wait! What happened to the big problem that your characters were just dealing with??? Sin number seven! Not properly closing all the loose ends from the issues you just inserted into your narrative and expecting them to just disappear with the next chapter. Honestly, you suck all of the credibility and power that your last major scene just had by sliding underneath it and leaving it behind you like it never happened. I have seen that before in some of the stories that I’ve read. (Not on GayAuthors though! You guys are consistently awesome! I’m actually impressed at how hard it is to find something that isn’t in my personal tastes!) If you’re going to showcase a conflict or a flare up in your story, treat it as though it has a certain amount of natural consequences. Nobody gets their heart broken or catches their long term boyfriend cheating on them with someone else, has one argument, says good bye, and starts life all over again. What? No way! That’s a cheat, for sure! Those situations have lingering feelings behind them. They cause damage. Anger, fear, depression...don’t just close that chapter up and move on like it’s some TV sitcom. Deal with those lasting effects in a realistic way. If a character dies, if the protagonists smashes his car into a tree, if someone’s house gets robbed when they’re not home...these are problems that continue to have an impact on your characters for a while beyond the initial assault. Add that into future chapters. These aren’t things that can simply be forgotten about and smoothed over in a day or two. Explore those feelings, and demonstrate how they affect your characters for a decent amount of time before simply moving on to the next part of your story. In part one of this article, I talked about skipping over details and opportunities for character growth and reflection...this falls into a similar category. If you have something significant happen in your fiction, and don’t properly address it or at least give it some time to breathe before it fades away, then you weaken the effort and make your audience wonder why they took the time and energy to invest themselves in it in the first place. Definitely not a good look. You created the problems and obstacles in your story...so deal with them. And have them be consistent with how things move forward from there over the next few chapters. #8- Time After Time - Last, but not least...do not use time jumps to get out solving any of the problems listed up above, or any of the problems in part one of this article. Hehehe, you didn’t think I’d catch that one, did ya? Oh yes...I know that trick. And I’ve only used it a few times myself, but it was definitely a cheat, and I personally used it to avoid dealing with a few situations that I didn’t have the words or the inspiration to deal with at the time, as well as skipping over everything might come off as being boring or awkward. So, I’m guilty as charged. But I’m trying to get better about that. No more cheating….unless it’s a literary emergency. LOL! Like...making a deadline or just not feeling like writing that part out. It’s a cake walk to simply add the words, ‘six months later’, and then basically give your story a reset and have everything go back to normal. Now...if you’re just cluing the readers in on a simple passage of time, that’s fine. But if you’re committing a literary sin and using this as a way to avoid the aftermath of dealing with a significant problem that you set up to punish your own characters (Meanie!)...then that’s cheating. If you’re going to use a time jump in your narrative, whether it be a couple of days, a couple of weeks, or a couple of years...don’t assume that your readers are going to magically forget what happened before you did so. Don’t think that you can just time travel into the future and come back without explaining what has changed since the problem first popped up in your project. What happened? How did your main character deal with it? What happens now? Why this particular jump in time? Six months? Why six months? See...when you make a time jump in your story, you’re basically pulling a magic trick that erases a significant amount of time from your story. And if you’re going to do that, the there are going to be questions. Depending on the length of time, you’ve left your audience out of a whole lot of character growth, conflict resolution, engaging drama, romantic attempts to get back together, character self reflection...there’s a LOT of story in there somewhere! If you think you can avoid some of the hard stuff by skipping ahead a few years and starting over...you’re wrong. That might be one of the biggest cheats of all if you don’t handle it in JUST the right way! So unless you’ve got some kind of brilliant plan in the works, this is the worst cheat of them all. I’m not saying that you can’t use time jumps in your story...but when you come back, you’d better have one hell of an explanation as to what happened between paragraphs 203 and 205! Otherwise, you’re going to have one hell of a frustrated audience to deal with. So let’s not do that, k? I think I’ve rambled on enough for today. Again, this is all stuff that I’ve gone back and found as flaws in my own work, and some of you may see the same in some of your older work as well. These are all methods that actually CAN be used effectively if you know how to do it, and if you’re doing so with the right intentions. But there is always that temptation to cheat and cut corners every now and then, and I’ve, personally, figured that it’s best to avoid using any of these as a crutch unless it’s absolutely necessary. That’s not to say that I’m anywhere near being flawless, or that I’ll never pull a few cheats myself from time to time...but for the sake of effort and professionalism, I promise to do better. Alright folks! Take care! Keep writing, and let me know if I missed any cheats along the way! I’ve always got more to learn myself, and that’s what makes this so much fun! Enjoy! And I’ll seezya soon!

"GFD: Children Of Sunset 17" “I hear one of you boys got a talent for calling names out here. Who was it? Was it you?” Ford said, steely eyed, but with an arrogant smirk on his face. It seemed like everybody in the middle of town got stuck in their positions immediately. The very presence of him could just be felt all through the entirety of the place. From one end of the road, clear down to the other. It was a menace of a feeling. Like that sensation you get when you approach a wild

https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/gfd-children-of-sunset/ The next chapter of the Western GFD spinoff, "Children Of Sunset", is now up and ready to go! So enjoy! Have some fun! And look for more GFD stories as the lineage of vampire-kind spreads out over the ages, from era to era, to create new sagas of their very own!

"After Practice 7" This should be easy, right? Asking my mom for a little bit of cash, I mean. I’m basically just going out for pizza with one of my buddies from the soccer team. She doesn’t have to know anything more than that, does she? It’s totally plausible that I would be spending time with my teammates, and not have a major crush or anything. I mean, it should really be the perfect ‘cover’ when you think about it. Hanging out with another boy. It just seems like we’re friends,