Comicality

https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/after-practice/ A brand new chapter of the "After Practice" series has just been posted on the site! Follow the link above, check it out, and feel free to let me know what you think whenever you guys get a chance! K? I love hearing from ya, so don't get all shy on me! Also, I got another donation to the https://paypal.me/Comsie button! So thanks a lot for helping me out! Love you lots! ((Hugz And Kisses)) just for you! Take care! And I'll seezya soon with even more! Adios!

AND... ...If you're going to be a fan of something, whatever it may be...then be a SUPER FAN!!! It's ok! Why NOT! Hehehe! Enjoy your fucking LiFE and indulge in the things that make you happy! What are you holding back for? BE...A...FAN!!! It does wonders for the soul, I promise!

https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/gfdfanboys/ This "Gone From Daylight" spinoff actually takes place in a world where GFD is a best selling book series and a popular movie franchise! Two teen boys happen to find one another through their fandom and obsession with the series and the merchandise surrounding it...and love is in the air! So take a moment to check it out, and let me know what you think when you get a chance! K? Of course...check out my actual "Gone From Daylight" series as well! Have fun! And I'll seezya soon! Mwah!

"GFD Fanboys 13" Suddenly, holding Parker’s hand in public not only began to feel normal...but it brought on a feeling of true pride for me. It’s moments like this that really makes me question what the hell the big deal is when it comes to two boys just showing a little bit of affection for one another. It’s seems so silly to me most times, and yet I allow the prying eyes of strangers shame me into keeping it some big secret. But WHY though??? I just wish that I could understand why

As I do every year, I bring you guys a little Christmas cheer through music! Hehehe, so enjoy! And I hope you guys are feeling all warm and snuggly tonight! Mwah! Happy holidays you guys!

Very cool points being made here! I like to see things from your point of view too! Come back next weekend for part 2!

"A Home For Christmas 8" And yet...with Blake sitting right there next to me after we were JUST making out a few minutes ago...I felt like my whole body, heart, and mind, had suddenly turned to stone. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I just wanted to kiss some more. I, literally, couldn’t think of anything else. But it’s like...what am I supposed to do? I can’t just force Blake to let me stick my tongue back in his mouth. Everything was going so great! How did I mess up the mo

https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/a-home-for-christmas/ Happy December, Shackers! The holidays are rushing towards us at top speed! And I hope its a good one for each and every last one of them! Anyway, as you can see above...a brand new chapter of "A Home For Christmas" has now been posted! So go ahead and check it out! Be sure to let me know what you think whenever you get a chance, and let's all take a bit of a rest to enjoy ourselves as much as possible as we say goodbye to 2022! Next year should be epic! ::Giggles:: Let's see what it'll bring our way. Take care, one and all! And I'll seezya soon! Also...if you're in the mood for more 'Holiday Comsie' cheer, be sure to stop by the Ebook section (https://imagine-magazine.org/store/comicality/) for the completed stories, "2 Below", and "Holiday Rush"! I'm sure you'll love 'em! MWAH!!!

Cheating (Part One) It can be soooo tempting sometimes! Hehehe, trust me, I know. And there have been quite a few times when I’ve done it myself, and you want to know something? I go back and look at those stories sometimes, and I really regret making some of the decisions that I did to get those stories over and done with. Was I successful in that pursuit? Well, sure. I mean, it worked. But if I mentioned a bunch of those stories or their characters by name...chances are most of you wouldn’t remember them. Hell, I wrote them and I barely remember them! Hehehe! But there were a lot of little pockets where I wish I had added a little bit more of my own personal magic. And those pockets were skipped over because I cheated. And that makes for a story that’s finished, but often not very memorable. At least not in my opinion. So...I want to help you guys see these potholes in the road ahead and hopefully avoid them before you end up wrecking something really special. Don’t cheat. It’ll only weaken your project in the long run. And a weak project is a forgettable project. Let’s not allow that to happen to all of your hard work, because after all of your hard work and emotional energy...even if you decide it’s not one of your best efforts...there’s ‘gold’ in there somewhere. At least let the good parts of it shine the way you meant them to, right? I’ll be splitting this article into two parts so I can spend some significant time and focus on eight points that I think need to be looked at and enhanced if you get the chance to go back and check out some of your earlier projects. It’s an exercise that I always recommend for every writer. Just to see how you’ve evolved from those first few big efforts to what you can do now. You get more relaxed, more patient, more adventurous. You may not notice it just reading your new stuff...but if you go back and compare it to stuff you might have written a year or two ago? You may be surprised at how much of a difference a little time and practice makes. It’s like that Mr. Miyagi, ‘Wax on, wax off, paint the fence’ kind of deals from “The Karate Kid”! You’ve learned more than you can imagine, believe me. So, let’s tackle the first four sins when it comes to being tempted to cheat at your own writing. This is all according to things that I’ve learned from going back to update and create new versions of stories that I really wanted to bring up to standard and make them stand proudly next to the many stories that I’ve written since. And who knows? Maybe one day I’ll go back and see if I can improve on them even more. Who knows? (It’s doubtful though! Hehehe, some of my stories were better off just being spontaneous and from the heart. But...ever say never.) Now then...cheating sins... #1- Leaps And Bounds - When writing a story, it’s natural, and even beneficial to have a plot in mind so that you have a clear path towards whatever ending you have in mind. You’ve got it all plotted out and ready to go, and now all you have to do is write it, right? Ok...so then...write it! The first writer’s sin comes from a rush job where you have all of these great moments swimming around in your head, and you can’t wait to get the words out on the screen. It’s like, “I’ve got the hottest idea for a sex scene! I’ve got this really dramatic moment that I want to grip my readers and pull them into the story! I’ve got this crazy climax planned! Wait until they see this!” I love that enthusiasm, but if you push too hard and race by the small stuff too quickly...all of those fantastic moments that you hav planned will end up going to waste. Don’t forget your sense of structure and storytelling. It’s important! Especially if you want to set up these special moments in your work and have them deliver the appropriate ‘punch’ that you want them to have! The problem of being impatient with the process needed to take you from one big scene to the next is that it tempts a lot of authors to ‘cheat’, and leap over a ton of the opportunities for character development and plot details that you’ll have to have in place in order for your audience to feel fully invested in what’s going on. The impact of your story doesn’t just come from the big events, nor do they come from the words you use to describe them. It comes from readers’ emotional attachment to the characters, to the world you’ve built for them, and the growth and the steady evolution from what they were at the beginning of the story, and what they are by the end of the story. Otherwise, it’s just a bunch of stuff that happened to a protagonist that seems somewhat familiar. The leaps and bounds you take can cause you to simply use quick shortcuts to hurry the plot along without really giving it a chance to take hold in the hearts and minds of your fanbase. Slow down. Take your time, and make it your goal to pour talent into getting you to your first major plot. JUST the first! Getting the new job, finding the buried artifact, talking to the cute boy at the gym for the first time, or buying their first car. Focus on that. And when you complete that task, focus on the next step. If you look at your story as a whole...you’ll be tempted to skip and race forward from one big deal to the next, and that hurried mindset is going to cause you to use your characters as simple tools to conveniently carry the plot forward with no real connection to your audience. You can only have so many coincidences and lucky breaks before readers begin to get bored with the idea. Remember...your plot should be somewhat ‘invisible’. People should be following the characters and feeling like a part of the journey, not figuring out your formula to see what happens next before they read it. Skipping over tender moments and emotional details can weaken your story’s impact. So don’t cheat. Let your writing flow naturally. Trust your instincts. #2- Drama Bricks - Think about your life as it is, right now. Just take a moment and think about all of the super exciting moments or dramatic interactions that you’ve had within the last two weeks. How many did you come up with? Even if you’re going through a turbulent time in your life right now...if you came up with more than five big moments, I would be surprised. Now, there are folks who live in dangerous neighborhoods, or are dealing with domestic abuse, or a super stressful job...and I get it. Life happens. However, for a lot of stories that I used to read on Nifty many years back when I first started writing, there was some kind of gigantic heartbreaking, mind-blowing, even every single chapter that got posted. Cheat number two? Using action, sex, or drama, to keep your story feeling interesting and exciting at all times. You definitely want to toss in some meaningful events here and there...but for your average person, life isn’t really all THAT exciting. Every chapter can’t be full of life altering events and passionate sexual interludes. This becomes tiresome after a few chapters for some readers. Someone dies in a car crash, and then someone breaks up with their boyfriend of three years, and then they’re getting evicted from their house, and then they find a way to get the money...but they get mugged in an alley, and then their computer gets hacked, then they’re outed to their family...ummmm, ok. Shhhhh! Hehehe! You’re doing just a little too much to hold people’s attention. It really isn’t necessary. As I’ve said before in the past...a good story is all about peaks and valleys. Introduce a problem, maybe it comes to a head and has to be dealt with immediately, and then let it die down a bit before tossing another major conflict at your readers. If every day is a dire emergency with high stakes and severe consequences...after a while they begin to lose their meaning. Thus, once again, weakening your story in the long run. Avoid the urge to make every chapter an epic triumph or an epic failure. Readers will burn out after a while. That’s not to say that you should write chapters with no real impact or purpose at all, just for the sake of separating one major even from another. I’m just saying that you can find other ways to keep readers invested in your story and your characters without putting them in mortal danger all the time. Even the most violent, on edge, war movies full of soldiers who are constantly under fire have a few quiet moments peppered throughout the story where the writer is given an opportunity to build up their characters. Deliver information. Have more subtle conflicts and rivalries take place. If you’re writing a good story with good characters, then every single chapter won’t have to knock everybody off of their feet and leave them breathless by the end. I know it seems like that might be the way to go, and a lot of people will be into it at first...but it’s a cheat that eventually wears off. Don’t exhaust your readers. Too much drama makes for a weaker read. #3- Emotional Leapfrog - The thing about writing a story from your heart is that it forces you to deal with and translate some deeper emotions, and that’s not always easy to do. So there can also be a temptation to keep away from that quagmire of intense feelings and try to tell yourself that your readers will just know what you mean. They’ll understand, right? Just tell them your main character is scared, hurt, angry, jealous….whatever, and they can fill in the rest. Nope! SINNER! Hehehe! I know that it can be difficult sometimes, finding the words...but try. Don’t cheat. It will be worth it in the end. Your readers are participating in the emotional impact of the story, but YOU are the one who’s supposed to be taking the lead in this dance, aren’t you? What are you feeling while you’re writing? I’m assuming that you have some knowledge of the emotions that you’re trying to convey in your story, since you’re writing about them. Well, take some time and think about how you plan to express those feelings. If you need a break, take a break. Go for a walk. Listen to some music. Watch a movie or a TV show. Get inspired. If you have a protagonist that is terrified beyond belief that there’s a man with a butcher knife hiding in his closet...then tell us about it! What’s he thinking? What’s he feeling? Is he trembling inside? Is he holding his breath to see if he can hear somebody moving? Are his eyes trying to see any shadows move in the dark? Will he reach for the light? Is he too scared to reach for the light? Is his heart pounding in his ears? All of these are physical and emotional brushes that you can use to paint a full picture of what’s going on in your character’s head. Don’t skip that part! Give your audience three hundred and sixty degrees of a frightening experience the whole time. Even if you begin to feel a bit of a block while trying to find ways to get those next few sentences to sound the way you want them to say, it’s better to take an extra day or two to work on getting them right than it will just trying to skip over them in order to save you time and go on with your writing as if it doesn’t matter. If you are REALLY having trouble putting your feelings into words...leave yourself a note on the page somewhere, and finish writing the next scene. But be sure to come back to it later. Sometimes...just writing something else for a little while will help you find the words you were looking for before. But, whatever you do, don’t skip it. I’ve done that before, and it made the rest of my story a lackluster experience. Not to mention that it becomes a nasty habit in your future projects. So don’t do it if you can help it. #4- Sudden Sob Story - This is a cheat that doesn’t just affect sadness, but all other emotional parts of your characters’ make up as well. You might have a protagonist who just moved to a brand new town from the other side of the country, and he feels completely alone without his friends. You might have someone who’s recently dealing with a massive heartbreak. Or someone who’s experiencing his very first time going to a gay bar on the outskirts of town. Do NOT downplay moments like these for the sake of simply letting your readers in on whatever exposition you need them to know in order to set the stage for future events. I realize that I can sometimes be a little bit ‘wordy’ with my own stories, but there’s a time to cut back on the details for the sake of delivering information...and a time when that information needs to have a much more personal and organic feel to it. You guys can balance that out however you see fit as long as you’re being honest with yourself when it comes to choose which is the best approach. But DON’T cheat! Hehehe, don’t take the ‘tell, don’t show’ approach for laziness sake. Put your nose to the grindstone and put your best foot forward. Each and every time. Take a moment and think about what you can use to bring more color and life to the static information that you’re writing out. “I’m living in a new town now. I miss my friends.” Ok, simple enough. But moved to what new town? Why did you move? Miss what friends? Were you forced to move? Was it for college, or for a job opportunity? How do you feel about what’s ahead of you as opposed to what you’re leaving behind? This might only add up to a few extra sentences here and there, but it works better than simply stating something and skating right past it as if it was a note written on the bathroom wall of your local gas station. Hehehe, you’re creating art here. Give us more. I remember watching this remake of Stephen King’s “Carrie” a few years ago, and I was thinking that there was NO way that a teenage girl that beautiful could possibly be totally ‘friendless’ in high school. Weirdness and all. Hehehe! I mean, you can’t just say that someone has been bullied for their entire life and just have everyone accept it as being a fact. Show your readers some examples of bullying. Some rejection. Some hard times. If you merely deliver it as a sentence or two in the beginning of your story, and then your protagonist turns out to be smart and funny and extremely cute and can charm his way into another boy’s heart without any real problems...well those two extremes don’t match up, now do they? When I wrote stories like “On The Outside”, “Gone From Daylight”, “A Class By Himself”, or “My Only Escape”...I knew that it wasn’t going to be enough to simply say that these teens were victims to massive abuse and teasing in their lives. I had to show examples of that. Something like that affects the way they interact with other people, with how they see the world, with how they see themselves...and my readers needed to see examples of that in real time so that it made sense, and so they could be a part of the story along with my protagonist’s struggle. It’s important. And it needs to be more than just a bit of info to keep in mind while you’re reading. It has to weave itself into the story as a whole, as well into the personality of my main character himself. So find ways to make choices about what you want to highlight and what you don’t...but don’t cheat! It’s a bad idea. K? Alright, so this is part one of the whole writing sins thingy! Hehehe, I’ll let you guys meditate on this for a while! And I’ll be back soon with part two! We’ve still got four more to go through! Feel free to let me know what you think down below! These are all mistakes that I’ve made in the past, and might make again in the future if I’m not paying attention. But once you figure out what you’re looking for...your instincts will pick up the pace and make better choices moving forward. Cool? I hope this helps! Happy writing! And I’ll seezya soon!

Wow...this one looks pretty dark for a "Guardians" flick, but I like it! And WTF, Drax??? Seriously, dude? Hahaha!

...That I have to inform the rest of you that we lost another one of our Shack family this past weekend. A writer, an ally, and a good friend...ATrueFan was exactly that for everybody that he came into contact with. He really was a true fan, and he made us all feel the love in his heart without holding anything back. And I'm going to miss that. Thank you for sharing some of your time with the rest of us, dear friend. Rest easy, and be at peace. ((Hugz))

https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/gfd12bloodties/ A brand new chapter of the "GFD" saga has been posted today! So be sure to go and check it out as soon as you get a chance, and leave me a comment, send me an email, or just click the 'Like' button to let me know what you thought whenever you get a few seconds free! Cool? Ebook versions are available in the Comicality Ebook section at https://imagine-magazine.org/store/comicality/ with all of the extras and added scenes included! Grab your copy today! And huge HUGE thanks for the donations made to the https://paypal.me/Comsie account to help me out! Love you lots for the help! Lord knows that I need it! ((Hugz)) Take care! And I hope to see you soon!

"Gone From Daylight: Blood Ties 60" I thought it was soooo extremely cute to see Richie constantly ‘touching’ everything as we walked through the streets of Chicago. Well...that, and a little bit embarrassed, because it made me wonder how I must have looked like to Taryn when I was first waking up and stepping out of that trailer for the very first time right after my own crossover. Hehehe, I had to imagine that I was probably twice as goofy as Richie was right now. Out of the two of

Daaaaawwwwwww! ::Melts::

Flashbacks Depending on where you place them and how they are used in your writing...I’ve found that adding a flashback, or even multiple flashbacks, to your fiction can be really effective when it comes to expanding upon the story beyond the story. It’s like...putting two mirrors facing each other and creating that illusion where it looks like it just reflects itself and goes on and on forever in both directions..when it really doesn’t. But it gives your story that kind of vibe when used correctly to expose it’s full potential. And that’s what we’re going to dive in to today. Flashbacks...the short histories that aren’t always given the credit that they deserve when it comes to really bringing your characters to life and providing them with a sense of depth, all while giving your readers a better understanding of who they are, and why they do what they do. You may have used this technique to perfection before in your own writing without even knowing why it works so well. Well...let’s see if we can figure it out together. A flashback can happen at any time in your story, and it’s simply a bit of extra information that is given to your readers in an entertaining and visceral way. It’s like this wonderful weaving of ‘show’ and ‘tell’ that gives everyone insight that they wouldn’t have without the flashback being a part of the narrative. It goes back to a past time that happens before your plot takes a hold of the protagonist. It works to explore and explain their existence without actually telling the whole story in full. Just in small doses. Because if you treat your main character as if they’re really interesting and important to the rest of the story, their history should have been a major part of their creation. It’s the foundation that your main character is built on. That might just be the ‘actor’ in me talking...but it’s true. If you want to get a real handle on who they are and why they have the motivations they do to be a part of your story, you should at least have given a little bit of thought as to why. It builds a closer connection between you and your creation, and that will create a closer bond with your creation and your readers. Think about it for a second. Now, where does a written flashback come into play here? First of all, this can be done in a variety of different ways. It can be triggered by seeing someone again for the first time in forever, where the inner thoughts of your protagonist can reminisce over how this person came into their lives and what they might have experienced together...either as friends or enemies. This can also be triggered by having your main character go to a familiar place or finding a familiar object that shares some kind of meaning for both your main character and the person they’re thinking about. Again, told through narration, or a stream of consciousness running through your protagonist’s mind. But you can always feel around and find what method works best for you and for that particular story that you’re trying to tell in that moment. This can be done through random conversations, from PTSD reactions to certain stimuli, through dream sequences, etc...but the whole point is to build up your character and let your audience that they have an entire life and a legacy that exists outside of the boundaries that you set for them in this particular story. This is a short dream sequence from the original “Terminator” movie. Now, this character is from the future and he’s come back in time to watch over the Terminator’s target in (what was then) the modern day. So this is technically a flashback, it just happens to be a flashback to the future. Now, what did you notice about this use of flashback? First of all...it’s brief. It doesn’t really show the whole story...it merely shows that there is a story. You don’t have to do an entire recap on how the war began between man and machine, you don’t have to show a nuclear war, you don’t need to show the leader of the resistance or how the resistance came to be. All you needed to show was the fact that this character has an entire backstory that you, as a part of the viewing audience, isn’t aware of. It nod only adds some depth and intrigue to his character...but it encourages everyone to want to have more of their questions answered. This can be followed up with some exposition laced dialogue to fully flesh out a more complete story as to what happened there, but with the flashback being handy, that exposition has been cut in half. Maybe even more so, depending on how much mystery you want to remain when you’re finished. It’s a short peek into the world that he comes from, it displays that he’s a soldier, that he’s experienced hard times and loss, and it sets him up to be a worthy protector of what matters most. In less than five minutes, you’ve given your audience an entire prequel movie that sets up one of your main characters, identifies their motivations, and displays their expertise in situations like the one he’s trapped in right now. Again...all in less than five minutes. This is what an effective use of a story flashback looks like. And they didn’t need any narration or a single word of dialogue spoken to pull it off. Brilliant. On top of everything else...you now have a deeper glimpse into the character himself by seeing him in action. This is a history that exists outside of the rest of the story plot. Can you still manage to write a complete story without the few flashbacks that are in this movie? Sure. I suppose you can. But isn’t it much cooler to actually see it with your own eyes then just having the woman he’s protecting ask him a bunch of random questions out of nowhere and having him explain it to her in detail over a period of five to ten minutes? Where’s the fun in that? Sometimes a story has to be more than ‘functional’, you know? Show your readers who this person is and let them see why it’s important that they should trust him, root for him, or even care. That little bit of backstory makes a difference in the minds of your readers. Always keep that in mind when writing. If you read my ebook, “Shelter” (https://imagine-magazine.org/store/comicality/), you can get a full story about a group of teenagers who have all been barricaded in their local high school and guarded by the military during a zombie apocalypse. All of the characters are described, and talk and interact with one another in ways that lets everyone know who they are as characters in this makeshift, last minute, fortress of theirs. But...I knew that I couldn’t result on brief little flashbacks for each character to truly introduce them with the kind of thorough backstory that I had in mind...so I went a different route instead. I could interrupt the “Shelter” story every few paragraphs for a full flashback, because that would come off as haphazard and sloppy. And I couldn’t deliver everything in a long, drawn out, info dump of exposition either, because that would have been long winded and boring. So I passed up on the short flashback idea, and decided to write a series of prequel stories that I thought would work much better. Even though the whole story is technically a ‘flashback’ in itself...it can be much longer and much more detailed, getting everyone attached to each individual character on their own...and then bringing them all together in the main “Shelter” story, so it can stand on its own and not have to stop and stumble in order to have (yet another) flashback to fill readers in on what’s going on with them. That can get really messy, really fast. I didn’t want that. So anybody who reads “Shelter” by itself can enjoy it as its own story...but...if they read all of the stories that come before it, there are a ton of bonuses that they can see and hopefully appreciate on a whole other level than they can just reading the main series by itself. I definitely appreciate both, but I love flashbacks and backstories and making them a part of my characters’ growth. People have reasons for doing what they do and for being who they are. Exploring that in greater detail, I feel, makes for a much better story. It just makes the characters more like personal friends of yours, doesn’t it? The key is altering the context of what your audience can see and read and experience through your writing skills. Even a subtle shift in context can make a big difference in how a story reads. Even if it’s being read for the second time. Context is an incredible factor to play around with, once you learn how to bend it to your will. ::Evil Laugh:: I could name a bunch of movies, but they have some of the best surprise endings ever...and I don’t want to spoil them for anyone who hasn’t seen them. But, I think this short horror film is a great example. Watch it all the way through, and pay attention to what’s happening, what’s being said, and how it makes you feel. And then...when it reaches its conclusion, there’s a flashback that actually exists inside of the story that’s being told here. But the flashback is what gives the rest of the story context, and creates an entirely different narrative from what you might have thought it was originally. Check it out, and examine how one flashback can make all the difference in a short story like this one. Hopefully, you can understand what I mean after seeing that, right? It’s the same camera shots, same dialogue, etc...but now you have a different context added into the mix to show you what you might have missed the first time around. Again, this short film could have been told without it if they wanted to do it that way...but isn’t it more fun with the flashback to earlier parts of the story? I thought it was. So practice and develop dependable instincts when it comes to using flashbacks in your work. They’re all like an army of fireflies, buzzing around your story while not really being a major part of it. And yet, they can add so much extra feeling and magic to your story when used in the right way. Pick your moments, keep them short, and don’t over do it...or you’ll scramble things up into an unreadable mess, and it’ll be nearly impossible to get things back on track after that. Put yourself in the place of your main character. For anyone in your life who ever doubted you...what would they say if they knew about your fans online that you gathered from writing stories? What would they say if they knew that you used to be the star athlete on your high school football team? Or if you were valedictorian of your graduating class? How would people see you if they could gather a glimpse at some of your past achievements, or failures, or vast knowledge, or your experienced travels around the globe? Having that context might change their attitudes about you completely. Well, adding short bursts of flashbacks and memories, whether good or bad, to further display the truest parts of your fictional character is no different. Keep it brief and to the point...and then make sure that your character’s personality traits, actions, and motivations, are in line with the historical illusion that you painted for them. Line those two things up...and you can’t go wrong. It’ll be fun! You’ll see! Hehehe! As always, I hope I’ve given you guys some food for thought today! What are your opinions on flashbacks in fiction? Some people never use them, others find them helpful every now and then. What about you? Let us know! And I’ll seezya soon! Love you lots! MWAH!!!

Very true, and thanks for the feedback! Honestly, I think my biggest issue with the idea is the fact that I write series that span over many years (Something that I'm trying to cut down on) and the earlier chapters don't match up to the later ones. You know? Like...if I wrote a story in 1998 about two boys in an arcade, and finished it, then that would be fine. I'd leave it as a snapshot of that period of time. But if I was writing a series that starts in an arcade, but goes on for years to a point where arcades really aren't a 'thing' anymore...it's difficult to keep the original vibe of the story going, and I feel like I have to update things. But I totally get what you're saying though about it limiting an author's output. Thanks for the addition.

One of my younger cousins came by and wanted to spend the weekend over here, which has been a lot of fun. She's 12, but she LOVES horror movies just as much as I do, so we had a marathon last night! LOL! Thank God, I finally have a kindred spirit in my horror fetish! Hehehe! Then I put her in VR and she became obsessed with the Exorcist game and refused to go to bed until she finished all of the chapters. And that game is freaky as shit, even for me! (Snakes crawling in a baby's crib and wrapping themselves around the baby's throat??? GAH! Nope!) But she loved it! Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow night with more stuff. I'm just doing the whole family thing as they come into town for the holiday. So I will see you then! Coming up next? "Gone From Daylight"!

::Sniffles:: Thanks, you guys. I'm feeling a little emotional now. Hehehe! Love you too! Thank you. And welcome aboard, @Demian I hope I make you proud. I think I need a moment.

I can honestly say that I've never done it before, myself. I mean, a big part of that comes from me not really being fully out of the closet to any friends close enough to me to know what kind of 'date' I'd be into. But...I don't know. I don't think I'd really go for that sort of thing. It's just me, I suppose. Like, I can meet someone on my own, and maybe I find myself feeling a certain attraction to them from how they look, or through whatever it is that we have in common, etc. Like, I'd be more captivated by a long conversation and a sense of humor than anything else. Laugh with me, intrigue me with your insight or creativity, or demonstrate a few cute habits or hand gestures...and I'm totally involved from that point on. There are little things that drive me in to a full on emotional frenzy that I don't think other people can see. Does that make sense? You don't have to be a supermodel or extremely young and cute. You don't have to be a scholar or an athlete or a party boy. There's just a hidden 'something' in certain people that I can see when they're just comfortable being themselves. And if I catch a glimpse of it, it excited me. And it's like, "Hi! Wanna hang out?" Hehehe! Now, there are definitely boys out there that I think are insanely gorgeous, and my jaw drops like, "Jesus! How are you REAL???" But a pretty face and a hot body only goes so far. As they say, "Fun to play with, but not to stay with." So, if someone is setting me up for a blind date...they've got to have more than an excessive level of 'hotness' to bring to the table. Been there, done that. What else you got? You know? So, I don't think the blind date idea is for me. I mean, I won't say never...but I haven't in the past. I'd rather just sort of find my own matches by accident than have a third party try to fix me up with someone that they think would be just right for me. Simply because my idea of 'just right' is probably going to be really different from someone else's idea of 'just right'. Plain and simple.

Contemporary Something that I’ve learned while writing stories over an extended period of time, is that times change. People change. Sometimes in drastic ways that make older versions of my original stories seem irrelevant or maybe even confusing to some of my younger readers. And it’s not really a ‘problem’ in any major way...but it’s a bit of a stumbling block that I’ve trained myself to pay attention to in my work, a try to avoid moving forward. After reading this little writing tip, hopefully you guys will learn to do the same. What this is about is simply understanding that this moment in time isn’t meant to last in terms of music, movies, pop culture, slang, or anything else that seems so normal and mundane to us right now. Times are changing faster and faster all the time, and the written word isn’t something that was created to keep up. (Unless you want to go through the trouble of going back to update them every six to eight months, hehehe! Which I, personally...do not.) Like...remember when that brand new ‘Justin Bieber’ kid was so obscenely famous and had his pretty face plastered over every corner of the internet? Well, guess what? The high school aged kids who read your work right now? They may not even have any idea who he is, and the ones who do will look at stuff like that as an extremely outdated reference. It sounds crazy, right? But it’s true. So...if you’re writing a story and using Justin Bieber as a point of reference, a topic of conversation, or even as a punchline in a witty joke inserted into a friendly dialogue between characters...it’s not going to hit the same way now as it did when you first wrote it. There’s an obvious shelf life involved when it comes to immersing yourself in the current era that you’re writing in. And this is fine if you have a story that is completed all in one shot and is over and done with. But it can have an unraveling effect on a series that is written over a number of years. Life is constantly changing and evolving at a rate that is hard to keep up with. And I had to find out the hard way that it can wreck havoc on your whole story and force you to switch things up to have everything make sense if you plan to keep going forward. It’s a definite monkey wrench in the gears, and it’s something that you need to look out for, or possibly avoid altogether if you can. So let’s talk about contemporary references, and how to use them. When I first started writing online, there were a lot of things that I put into my stories that were comfortably settled into the current culture and my characters existed in a world that no longer exists. But now that I have been around for a while, I’m aware of how the world changes and evolves in ways that don’t fit my stories anymore. The biggest example of this would be my story “Arcade Junkie” (https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/arcadejunkie) which is a story spinoff of the “New Kid In School” (https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/newkidinschool) series...and the first time that I ever wrote a threesome between boys, by the way! Hehehe, but not the last! Anyway, it takes place in an actual ‘arcade’. I mean...sure, arcade still exist to a certain degree, but not in the same way that they used to. The culture changed, and all of us changed with us. So the idea of a cute boy meeting up with a couple of other cute boys in a dark room full of coin operated arcade games isn’t really something that a lot of younger Shackers or readers in general can relate to. That’s simply not a world that they grew up in, and it comes off as unfamiliar and out of touch. Which is not the way I want my stories to feel to people who read them. You understand what I mean, right? I hope this doesn’t sound too weird. It’s like...the stories that I started off writing were placed in a different era. And I’ve had discussions in my emails where it became evident that I occasionally fell out of the loop as to what was current and seen as a normal part of life. It goes beyond the fact that arcades don’t really exist anymore in the same way that they used to. The internet is different, the way people talk is different, the fashion is different. I see it, and I can easily update my current state of mind to match the sign of the times and adapt in ways that will keep things fresh and relatable for my readers at all times. BUT...what I can’t do is go back and correct some of the things that I created to build the origins of the story that I’m trying to tell without having it look awkward and weird. That can be a problem. And every author should pay attention to stuff like this so their projects don’t end up feeling dated and out of place. To a degree...there really isn’t a way to avoid this obstacle in writing contemporary fiction...but it’s commendable to know that you tried. Hehehe! So what is contemporary fiction? Well...check out this movie trailer for the movie, “Wargames”, with Matthew Broderick. Hehehe, awesome movie, by the way, if you’ve never seen it. But look at the computers, the ‘phone modem’, the whole ‘Cold War’ scare that was going on in that movie. This was cutting edge and extremely relatable when it was first released, and while the concept of it all has aged well...the technology and the references haven’t. They’re really outdated now. The idea that you could use such a rugged home computer to somehow ‘hack’ into the nuclear launch protocols for the US government seems like a ridiculous premise in this day and age. It just wouldn’t work in today’s market without some serious tweaking and a much more sophisticated view of the internet and the capabilities of your average high school student gaining access to much of anything online, much less nuclear war initiatives! But...for the time, it worked. And everybody was cool with that. Watch these clips, and ask yourself...if this movie was coming out this year...would it be at all believable to you? I mean...really? Would it even make sense? What I’ve come to understand is that it’s sometimes to my advantage to avoid some of those ‘currentlt current’ references that may not be relevant in future chapters, depending on how long it takes me to write it. And, let’s be honest...it takes me an ice age to do just about anything! Hehehe! So it’s safe to say that I should probably keep this in mind all the time! The earlier stories or chapters that I wrote don’t exist in a time period that people can really understand anymore. Writing stories like “A Class By Himself” (https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/aclassbyhimself) or “Jesse-101” (https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/jessie-101onlinecelebrity) has some wiggle room, but they’ve still taught me to pay more attention to the rapidly changing landscape that I’m working with, and maybe cut some of my references down a bit, making them more vague and less time sensitive so that people can read stories years from now and not run into the barrier of weirdness that they may not grasp right away. If that makes sense. I realize that it’s kind of hard to picture a world where all of the things that you know and love, the music you listen to, the movies you’ve seen, the verbal expressions that you use when you’re having a good time with your friends, will someday be seen as unnatural or unfamiliar by a younger generation. But it will happen. Trust me. Hehehe! And this new generation will see it happen to them and the things that they enjoy someday as well. It’s the circle of life, I suppose. BUT...your writing is meant to be timeless. Right? Or is that even possible? I’d ike to think that it is to a certain degree. Give a sense of immortality to your work by shifting the main focus of your story towards the fundamental ideas and emotions that we all feel and have experienced at some point in all of our lives. I can remember reading “Romeo And Juliette” in junior high, and it was practically in a whole different language from what I was used to reading. So for that story, as well as other works by Shakespeare, we had to have daily discussions in our class to sort of decode everything so that could translate the text into something that we could better absorb and understand. When the play was originally written and being performed for audiences...I’m sure that there was no translation needed at all. Why would there be? That was the sign of the times. However, even though it didn’t go back as far and wasn’t as poetically scripted...I had no trouble at all reading books like “Lord Of The Flies”, “Huckleberry Finn”, or “Of Mice And Men”. They were all written and completed before my time as well...but there was something in those books that I felt was more connected to adventure, betrayal, war, compulsion, and emotions that I could not only understand but developed meaning for and ended up being able to more closely relate to by the time I was finished. Yeah. I was a binge reader, school assignments be damned. Hehehe! So, why is that? Because those stories really spoke to my heart in terms that didn’t feel as though they were coming from another world at the time. Naturally, through our class discussions, I was better able to grasp “Romeo And Juliette” concept of forbidden love and everything...but again it was something that speaks to everybody’s heart at one time or another. That desperation, the nervousness, the longing, the swooning infatuation...I get it. Most people do. And it doesn’t matter what era of time it takes place in. The human condition has certain elements that continue on from generation to generation, and I make that my concentration more times than not. I might still toss in a little reference here and there, but now I do it as more of a tongue in cheek sort of thing than anything of importance. For example, there were quite a couple of my earlier stories that I wrote in a scene that took place in a public arcade. Now...growing up, arcades were everywhere. And they were always full, as they were super popular. So if you see some of my earlier chapters, chances are you’re going to find references to stand alone arcades somewhere in there. And then...they all kind of closed down and disappeared for a while. Then, you could find a few of them at your local movie theater or in one of those places with crane games and skeeball...and now they’re sort of making a comeback. But there was definitely a time when the idea of my characters getting together at an arcade seemed a bit weird. And I can totally understand that. Hehehe, going back, I can imagine how cool it would be to have this gigantic mega event where all of these kids and adults would get together in a rabid crowd of fans to watch a kid play...Super Mario on a large screen? Ummm...ok! LOL! It looks so strange to me now! And a few years later, even the arcade in “Terminator 2” is pretty much a nonexistent thing anymore... 00 But it’s not just arcades. It’s comic book stores (Which are still around, but a lot more rare now), certain club atmospheres, and certain character interactions. When I started writing, every single kid on the planet had an iPhone and texting capabilities. There was no Twitter, no Instagram, no Facebook...at one point I was writing about there was no way that one of my characters could afford a laptop for school. Of course, laptops are much cheaper than they used to be...but they weren’t back then. Heck, “Billy Chase” works at a music store, selling CDs and DVDs! That’s not really a thing anymore either, but I’m keeping it in the story because it’s fun for me. Hehehe! And it’s relevant towards some of the things that “Billy” is going to learn in future chapters. So there. Basically...I’m in the process of teaching myself to maybe pull back a little bit on the cultural reference that I was using so casually before, and focus more on the timeless parts of the emotion and relatability of the feelings that I’m trying to bring forth with the story that I want to tell. Sometimes, ‘current’ doesn’t mean hip or in touch for much longer than a year or two before that vibe begins to fade away. Eventually vanish completely. This isn’t a HUGE issue for many writers, but I think that it’s something that all authors should maybe think about from time to time. We all grow, we all change, and we adapt to new current times...but our stories don’t. And, let’s be honest...some older ideas and perspectives simply don’t age well on the written page. I’ll just leave it at that. Hehehe! Hope this little bit of food for thought will help you guys out with any current or future projects that you’ve got in the works. Learn every lesson you can, and keep them in the back of your mind in case you need to draw them out later. Cool? Love you lots! And I’ll seezya soon!

Going in blind...it can be a scary thing sometimes. Then again, it might take off some of the pressure of fining that someone special all on your own. Right? I mean...meeting new people and making friends gets to be a bit more difficult for most people as they get older or move to different parts of the country or th world in general. I mean, I love people and having fun...but since I've been away from my home of Chicago...I don't really have friends here. I still relate more to the friends that I know best online and stuff. But, without that...how would I really go about meeting new people here and basically work on building my life all over again from scratch. I'm not a twelve year old anymore. We can't bond over comic books and digging up earthworms together anymore. You know? So...what happens if someone knows somebody else that they think they would be a perfect match for you? Someone with your sense of humor, shared interests, someone very cute, and also gay as well as single! Would you take a chance and go out on a blind date with this person? Have you ever done it before? Would you ever do it again? Maybe you talk online for a while first, or maybe on the phone? What are your thoughts when it comes to possibly being set up with the boy of your dreams by a third party? You might be worried about it being a total disaster on one hand...but on the other hand, it might end up introducing you to someone that you never would have met if it weren't for their influence. You've got open access to a link up with someone special, and he could end up being someone really special! But...he might also end up being a total train wreck waiting to happen. Blind dates...would you be into that? Or not? Let us know your thoughts on this! Anonymous answers are welcome as always. I'd love to hear what you have to say, Shackers! So speak up! Seezya soon!

https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/ontheoutside A brand new chapter of the "On The Outside" series has just been posted! So check it out! And let me know what you think! K? And THANKS for the donations to the https://paypal.me/Comsie account up above! You guys are the only thing keeping me going right now, and I couldn't do it without you! Thanks soooo much! And always remember that I love you TOO! ((Snuggles)) Take care! And I'll seezya soon! More on the way!