Comicality

See? Possibilities that I didn't even think of! Hehehe! I'd pay to see that in the movies!

It only takes ONE Summer! 😮 You know the old saying and how it goes... You're a teenager, and you see a boy and think, "He's really cute!" And then he goes away for the Summer and comes back to school, and you're suddenly like, "JESUS CHRIST!!! WTF HAPPENED???" Because he's hotter than words can express now! LOL! I wonder who's gonna have the hottest Summer now! Will it be Maxwell Jenkins? Or will it be Jacob Tremblay? Because so far...they have BOTH become absolutely amazing since last year! 😮 Max? Jacob? Jacob? Max? GAAAAHHHH!!!! I can't choose!!! It's hard to tell at this point! We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose! Hehehe! 00

Thanks, you guys! I'm glad that you liked it! And you're all right with the points you made. All genres had to grow from somewhere and evolve into what we see today. And as far as riding the wave...by the time it's 'trending', it's probably already exhausted most of its half-life. So why not write a story your own way, you know? Also, @astone2292, I did have a shapeshifter story that I began some years ago that someone else online was going to put into a comic book form once. It had two high school boys who found out that they could both shapeshift, and began dating because they could 'copy' whoever they had a crush on at the time. But the question was kind of, 'do you love me for me, or do you just love me for being someone else?' (Something that I was bugging myself with at the time) It would be cool to see a writer bring that into a genre of its own. The possibilities are endless.

((Hugz)) Thanks, dude!

Genre Fatigue ::Giggles:: Really? Are people out there trying to make that a 'thing' again? It doesn't exist, you know? No, seriously...it's a business based illusion. Its not real. The idea that you cant write and release an awesome story because the 'idea' has been done to death and nobody wants to see it anymore…? Its all bullshit. Don't ever buy into that brainwashed mode of thinking about the stuff that you write. Your story is your own. Period. If there are 150 fantasy novels being released this Summer...so what? Make yours original, and there's a chance that you might surpass every last one of them. You just concentrate on telling the most potent and most exciting fantasy novel that you can. I mean...what…? What if you want to write a zombie story, or a romantic comedy, or a spy thriller? Who's to say that people have had enough of that kind of thing? Who's the judge of that sort of thing? I can guarantee you that its none of YOUR readers, if that happens to be the genre that you happen to love and feel the most comfortable with. There will be some stubborn folks out there who will dismiss your hard work just by looking at the genre alone, because they've seen it a bunch of times before in other writers fiction (And possibly done poorly), and they want to avoid your project like it's poison ivy or something because of their previous experiences with it. But you cant allow that to discourage you. Not if you really believe in what it is that you're writing. Building up writing confidence is soooo important in this game of being noticed and appreciated for your efforts! If you think you have something new and unique to offer, no matter WHAT genre you write in...then DO IT!!! I can't stress that enough! I know that a lot of people will tell you the same, and it may even be a conversation that you have with yourself from time to time...but let me speak up and tell you, definitely, that you really need to do it. Write what you feel, and do it the way YOU want to do it. If you're writing from the heart, then that means that you are going to have a slightly different take on a tried and true genre of writing? Go for it! There have been so many interpretations and variations on every kind of character, conflict, and story, that has ever been written for the sake of prosperity...that there simply can't be any reason why your own perspective shouldn't be included as a part of that human connection. No way! You've been given a voice. Use it. When you think about it...Christianity is the probably the BIGGEST widespread religion on the entire planet...and even THEY can't agree on any one way to believe or worship with anything. Christian, Evangelical, Baptist, Mormon, Catholic, Episcopalian...interpretations differ from person to person, and therefore...from group to group. So how can there be any 'fatigue' involved in any genre of storytelling? You go looking for what appeals to you on a personal level. And your readers will always remain loyal to whatever it is that you have to say with your work, no matter what. So please...PLEASE...don't fall for the smoke and mirrors trap of thinking that people will ever get bored with the stuff that you write and the way that you write it. Its a trick. And while I always encourage writers to broaden their perspectives and try writing in different genres from time to time...you don't have to leave your particular niche of writing in order to feel relevant or to chase the attention of the fanbase that you've gathered over time. You're not following them, ok? They're following you. Just do what you do, give it your all, and (popular genre be damned)...and you will succeed. Let's talk about the idea of genre fatigue today! Because its something that keeps popping up, time and time again...and I'm being serious when I say that it doesn't exist outside of what some big book publisher or movie studio can suck out of it while trying to make money. An awesome story is an awesome story...period. How do people not understand that? Now, I understand that the whole super hero movie genre thing is making billions and billions of dollars right now at the cinema. And there are people who keep saying that its all going to end and come crashing day 'any DAY now'! But...why would you wish for that to happen? Seriously. When I was a kid, comic books were everything! And the people who didn't like comic books...just didn't buy comic books. Done and done. WTF is the problem with them being popular? I grew up during the video game revolution, with mainstream rap music, with Stallone/Schwarzenegger action movies, with 'Magic: The Gathering' cards...and if you personally didnt like it...then fine. Why does it bother you so much that OTHER people like it? It seems so silly to me. I write gay teen erotica online. Thats my niche. That's what I'm most comfortable with. That is where I excel and where my fanbase comes looking for me. Is that supposed to get tiresome and repetitive to the point where nobody wants to read my stories anymore? Or at least have a sense of curiosity when it comes to how this 'new' story is going to be different from all the ones they've read before? Doubtful. Really...I highly doubt that this scenario will ever play out. Mind you, it is basically 'not-so-softcore' porn, and that will always have an audience no matter what. Hehehe! And Im well aware of that fact. But there's no fatigue involved for most of my diehard fans when I comes to the new or the continuing stories that I write online. Even the folks who holler and scream that it is...they are always right back here to complain about the next chapter within 48 hours of it being posted on the site. So….what happened to the fatigue? What happened to all of the stories being the same and having the same characters and the same plot? I thought they were tired of that stuff? Am I right? The system counts the number of views, you know? If there's a fatigue or some sort of limit set for any genre of writing, movie making, music, or any other creative endeavor...then chances are that I'm not going to live long enough to see it. Check out this short video, celebrating 75 YEARS of Superman! Comic books, TV shows, video games, movies….and you tell me if you wouldn't go out and see another Superman movie right NOW if they came out with one! Hehehe! That iconic music alone got me all emotional! Yeah...it's easy to forget, sometimes, that some of these characters and franchises have survive years and years and YEARS of changes and updates, successes and failures, fans and haters. But the KEY is to touch on something that is consistent and relatable to everybody watching and reading your work, and you keep soldiering on. Being able to plug in to this universal thread that is a part of all of us. If you can do that...then your story lives on, and can last for years and years, while still having a deep impact on whatever generation you might be able to talk to through your narrative. My personal expertise is young love. And whether my readers tap into that through their current experiences as teenagers, or through a strong sense of nostalgia as older readers...the feeling remains the same. And it NEVER gets old. It never gets stale. Not if you treat your stories the way they were meant to be treated. One genre of storytelling, whether it be erotica, horror, action, or science fiction...has a limitless variety of stories that can be told within it. New characters, new adventures, new motivations, new questions with new answers. No matter what you write...you're working with a blank canvas. Don't ever let somebody use broad strokes to classify your ideas and try to put you in a certain box or category. That's a mistake. You're a writer! The world is yours to create as you see fit. You can have a TON of different narratives existing in the same space, or within the same genre, without even breaking a sweat. And anyone who says otherwise? They simply haven't been open minded enough to have seen it done yet. Prove them wrong. Because every stroke of genius has been weighed down by the comments of people who said that it cant be done. I say, AWESOME! That means Ill be the first! Hehehe! There was a time when I never ever EVER thought that the comic books that I enjoyed as a kid would ever be made into movies that all crossover with one another! That was unfathomable to me! WTF??? But here we are...and its possible! And now they can deliver nearly THIRTY movies and TV shows to you in a row, with people still stomping their feet and hoping theyll fail, or that fatigue will set in and they'll just go away. But they DON'T go away. Is nearly fifteen years of quality material not enough? Psh...ok. Maybe you're not getting it. Hehehe! It's not up to you. It never was. Comics are where I discovered how to write stories and develop characters and crossover storylines...so maybe I'm messed up in the head too. But hey…I've been around for 25 years now. So what do I know? ::Shrugs:: Hehehe, we live in a time where there have been long running franchises that have lasted our entire lives. Why would they suddenly tire themselves out for no reason? Because this guy or that lady said they suck and don't want to be a part of the fandom? K. No sweat. More enjoyment for me. Good luck on finding something that makes you happy, instead of telling me why everything sucks all the time. What do YOU like? Have you ever asked them that? Where your personal creative touch as a writer comes into play is in your view of the situations and the characters involved. You want to write about love? Well...how many people over the countless centuries have written about love??? Forbidden love, jealousy, betrayal, romance, sacrifice? Was there ever a time where you thought you'd be the first? No, of course not. But where there have been a mind-blowing number of stories written about love since the beginning of time...your story still belongs there as one of those perspectives on the idea. This is what you have to understand before you let that weird 'crabs in a barrel' idea take a hold of you and intimidate you into thinking that you cant truly create something special from pouring your heart into a story or genre that seems saturated or over-hyped at the time. There's no fatigue on love stories. No fatigue on action. No fatigue on erotica. So why would your particular genre of choice be expected to be wearing itself out when the only reason it was so popular in the first place is because have gotten so EXCITED about looking for it online? They want to read more. And if you are confident in your abilities as a writer, then you can provide them with the goods that they've been screaming for while the 'posers' are out there are constantly trying to chase the next big thing. Hehehe, build a fortress and let it stand strong, you know? Fatigue? Psh! Do people have any idea how many stories and characters have continued on and on over decades and decades, touching and including one generation after another? Its not a 'surface appreciation' of a single part or a chapter. Its the idea and the theme and the deeper engagement that keeps people coming back for more and more. It doesn't matter if it was one movie, or a trilogy, or 25 movies! That's not what makes it work! And folks who are looking for box office numbers don't seem to be able to understand that for some reason. There's no big secret when it comes to having your stories having a sense of extended longevity during the run of your story, no matter how long it takes for them to read it all the way to the end. A huge part of that comes from getting your audience to be truly invested the main character and the other characters surrounding him or her on their journey. Even when telling a short story, Ive had readers tell me that they want more or that they hope I continue on beyond the point where I stopped. This is a good thing. That is the story beyond the story, and it creates a craving in your readers to peeking in and seeing what those characters are up to now, long after that particular story is finished and done with. What are they doing? What are they up to? Where do things go on from here? The world that you've built for your readers, as seen through the eyes of your protagonist, has become engaging enough for them to invest a piece of themselves into, where...even if it never continues...there's a tug on their heartstrings that will forever be searching for more from the story that you've written and the world that you've built around them. To accomplish that...ensures a long and successful shelflife for anything that you've shared online as a writer. Not only that, but it leaves the door open if you ever decide that there's more of a story to tell later on. It may not seem like it at the time, but you are the author of actual mythology with the stories you write. Take that in and absorb it for a moment. To this day...we are still well aware of the myths of old. Beliefs from a long forgotten era. Books that are thousands of years old, The Bible, The Greek Gods, American folk tales, Buddhist texts...they're still around. Did they 'fizzle out? Does any good story? Bottom line...write what you have in your heart, even if you have people grunting like, "UGH! Another vampire story!" Or "UGH! Another K-Pop Fanfic!" Whatever. Hehehe, do what you want to do, make it your own, and carve out your own space in the vast ocean of online mythology that we're all building each and every single day. Why hold it back? You may be the next big thing! If you have one of those idea that could possibly revolutionize the entire genre and flip it over on its head? Then SWEET!!! Do that! But if you just want to add your own take to something that's already well established in that genre of writing, hey...go for it. You're MORE than welcome to scratch out a place for yourself among the greats! You never know...you might be the stand out champion of it all. For me, personally...I always try to do something new with whatever genre I happen to be tackling at the time. Im constantly trying to find ways to bring something new to the table. But that's on a personal, writer to reader, basis. It has nothing to do with genre. Like I said...there are always an infinite amount of ideas that become possible once you get settled into a certain spot and decide to spread out. Now, I have gotten a lot of flak over the years for writing a vampire story for the Shack, especially during that whole "Twilight" phase of vampire lore...but I stuck with it, no matter what. And when the vampire genre was considered played out and overdone..."Gone From Daylight" still remained. There are sooooo many spinoffs and alternate stories surrounding that main story, that it would be difficult to keep up with them all! But that's exactly what I mean with this article...the genre never gets old or suffers from any sort of fatigue. No more than the typical 'boy meets boy' romance stories that I've written. But a change in the theme, the tone, the circumstances, the characters motivations, their history...the whole mood changes from story to story, and they will always come off as brand new and appealing to readers as long as I stay true to the ideas and the dedication that I had to the many many stories that came before them. Hehehe, anybody thinking that I could ever possibly run out of "GFD" themed stories and characters has obviously never read the stories on the "GFD: Worlds" section of the site! LOL! Yeah, they could very well go on forever. So if you're waiting for it to die off...don't hold your collective breaths! And now that my unasked for, amateur, advice is done (along with my shameless self promotion tag), I leave you all to hopefully use some of these tips to truly get into your readers bloodstream and live long and prosper throughout the rest of your writing endeavours! Remember, it's not just the story. Its not the characters. Its not your skill with words, metaphors, or symbolism. Its being able to discover and 'touch' those fundamental emotions and world views that exist within all of us. The flaws, the conflicts, the love, the anger, the sorrow. Strike those touchstones, and the masses will understand you on a level that you may not even understand yourself. Give it a shot! See what happens! Seezya soon with more! Take care! And happy writing!

But I think I'm better now, albeit a bit tired. Spent Mother's Day on the couch trying to stay awake for longer than 30 minutes at a time while my mom laughed at me for trying so hard. Hehehe! I'm gonna make it up to her this weekend though. I'm looking up recipes so I can cook something really awesome for her. And then we'll scroll through a bunch of bad horror movies until we both pass out from exhaustion. Should be a classy evening. Anyway, I'm here. I just...get sick sometimes. I'm still working on it. Just takes time. I'm much better than I was a few months ago. So cheers for that part of the process! LOL! And I lost weight, so that's sexy! Hold on to your boyfriends, fellas! I might be coming for 'em soon! Take care! And I'll seezya soon!

OMFG!!! What the hell did I watch?!?!?! 😮 Okaaaaayyyy...so we went out to see "Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness"...TWICE in a row, actually...and (NO spoilers! Because, there would be a LOT for me to spoil! Believe me!) that was some of the craziest shit that I've ever seen from a PG-13 Marvel movie! Jesus! A lot of it was like a friggin' HORROR flick! I love it!!! You NEED to go see this movie before anybody spoils it for you! WOW! Also...you should REALLY watch the "Wandavision" series for better context if you haven't seen it yet! It's important! Besides, could little Tommy and Billy get any more adorable? Hehehe! They just make me smile! Awwww! AWESOME time! And thanks for the donation for the movie tickets! Best birthday gift ever! Hehehe! GREAT movie! I thought "Avengers Endgame" was as far as they could go! And then "Spider-Man No Way Home" was AMAZING! So that's it, right? NOPE!!! "Doctor Strange" just guaranteed another ten years worth of new movies and characters all at once! I am thoroughly impressed!

Heartbreak It hurts. If any of you guys have been through it, and I'm assuming that you all have at one time or another, same as me...you know just how much pain it can cause when it comes to experiencing a really painful heartbreak. I think the most damaging part behind the psychology of heartbreak itself is the fact that you have to willingly lower your defenses to truly love or be loved by anybody else. You have to break open. There's no way to truly enjoy and embrace love, while still keeping enough of your guard up to remain 'safe'...just in case you end up getting hurt. And that is, I believe, what is at the very core of writing about heartbreak. It's the foolishness behind leaving yourself so vulnerable to such a devastating attack, mixed with the utter betrayal of it all once it's over. And if you can re-submerge yourself into that feeling, even if only for a little while...and translate it into words that truly explain what it is, where it came from, and where you're afraid it might lead in the future...then you will be able to snatch the breath away from every last person who might be reading, and carry them back to that very same place with a sense of understanding, all while giving them something that they can truly identify with. Like I said...most of us have all been through it before. So today, we're talking about heartbreak. And even though this is your story that you'll be writing, and you control the over all outcome of what happens or doesn't happen in the end...don't expect to be any less vulnerable when you go back to channel some of those feelings into your story, experiencing them all over again as if for the first time. It can be a bit painful, I know...but when I'm writing, I still feel as though I'm doing so within a place of safety. It doesn't make it any less emotionally draining for me...but it's kind of like jumping over rooftops in a "Matrix" simulation for me at this point. I might miss a step or fall or crash through a window...but it's not all the way 'real'. I'll be ok. A few moments of self torture for my art is worth it. LOL! Omigod, how pretentious does that sound right now? Basically, the impact of adding a truly horrendous heartbreak into your work goes back to an earlier article that I wrote here for the 'Writing Tips' section of GayAuthors called, "Kill The Dog". To sum it up, it talks about really evoking the deepest of emotions in your readers when it comes to sadness and sympathy. And when writing heartbreak into your story, the same two basic rules apply. It comes down to the feelings of justice and injustice. It's not natural for us to really want to see our favorite characters hurt and heartbroken...but the weight of the heartbreak depends on their actions and what caused it to happen in the first place. For example, your audience might feel extremely bad if their boyfriend cheats on them for no apparent reason and leaves them a sobbing mess in the wake of it. But...if your protagonist was the one doing the cheating in the relationship, and it ends up costing them their boyfriend when he finds out...well, that sucks...but you kind of reap what you sow in that scenario. Do you see the difference in the impact there? Justice and injustice. Playing with the emotions that exist on either side of that fence can have very different effects in your storytelling, depending on what angle you approach them from. And I've tried to write my true feelings of heartbreak from as many angles as I possibly could so far. But there are always other avenues to explore on that front. And with this article, I'd like to go more in depth into how I look at heartbreak in fiction, and how to get as much emotion out of it as your story will allow. Full confession here... I wrote a story called "Save Or Sacrifice" (Completed) about a really bad heartbreak that I was dealing with at that time. I was sort of coming out of it when I began, but basically I had really strong feelings for someone who was gay, and I had a very close friend who was also gay, and all three of us got together to have fun for a weekend. And...basically, the two of them paired up and I was sort of booted out of the whole situation. I had known them both separately for months and poured all of my energy and my humor and my personality and my caring into both of them. Then they meet for the first time, click right away, and all of that heart was wasted. Poof. Gone. This was absolutely soul destroying to me at the time, and my heart felt like it had been completely obliterated in a single evening. To the point where I just left them to be together and went home alone in the middle of the night, in the snow. Heh...you should have seen me. I was soooo pathetic and hurt! LOL! Shivering on a late night subway train while fighting the urge to cry my eyes out. The only thing that was missing was an abused puppy and Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel" playing in the background. I mean, I can look back at it now and kind of smirk at the memory, but at the time...it felt like my whole world was coming to an end. And it had been a long long time since I hated myself that much for not being good enough. You know? But time passes...wounds heal...and when I finally got tired of feeling like shit all day and all night long for weeks on end...I channeled that pain into a story, and spilled it all out (in a fictional way) while the hurt was still fresh. Looking back at it now, I'd like to think of "Save Or Sacrifice" as a stepping stone for me as a writer. I was focused on trying to express an unfathomably bad heartbreak into words that my readers could somehow understand and possibly relate to. That part was really important to me. However, something else that I didn't want to do was demonize any of the people involved if I could help it. So instead of attacking the narrative like some kind of 'frothing at the mouth' savage...I used it as an opportunity to tackle the situation from all three sides, and create something a bit more sympathetic and somewhat emotionally 'educational' in terms of the characters involved. And that's when I began to look at the concept of writing heartbreak from three different perspectives. Something that evolved over time and a method that I still use to this day. Trust me, I've had my heart broken many more times since then, and it never gets any easier to take. But I don't want a shield from it. I don't want to build a callous and block out or numb myself from the amazing feelings that love, or even just a strong infatuation, can bring with it. But for those times when I made the wrong choices, screwed something up, or just got kicked to the side for somebody else, I often think about writing those feelings in three different manners. The exterior approach, the interior approach, and the F.Y.I. (also known as...the 'Fuck You Initiative'! Hehehe!) Let's begin with Exhibit A...the 'exterior heartbreak'. This is often used when the heartbreak is a betrayal of trust, or some sort of problem that is actually caused by someone other than the protagonist himself. This taps into the 'injustice' part of the equation, and therefore makes for a really heavy emotional part of your story. This is something that you would use for a character that you really want your readers to sympathize with. They were doing their best to do everything right, be romantic, or fun, or beautiful...and in the end, the other person just doesn't feel the same way. Whether it's unrequited love, a nasty break up, or something that simply faded away without any real explanation...this is the kind of heartbreak that your main character has to take like a sucker punch to the stomach. And it's coming from someone else, so there's really nothing else for him to do but bear the brunt of it all and wait for the pain to go away. I find this method to be really useful when the story you're writing is actually about the heartbreak itself. If that's the major focus of the project, this perspective works very well. It all depends on how you approach it in the long run. But it has a very, "What did I do to make you not like me anymore?" vibe to it. Like, how could you do this to me? And why? The second method is an interior heartache. I find this kind of perspective to be very useful when you have a character that is expressing feelings of regret, but it can be used in a variety of different ways. The interior heartache is when your protagonist swallows all of the pain and it begins to eat him alive from the inside. Instead of concentrating on someone else breaking his heart, this method is more of a sad and sullen, 'curl up in a ball and die', kind of feeling. Heh...I've been there too. Believe me. It's a method of explaining the ugliness, self doubt, and weakness, within. When your main character takes the blame for everything falling apart the way it did, whether he's really responsible or not. This is probably one of the methods that I use most often in my own writing, seeing as I'm most familiar with the feeling. This is a good way to get the emotions flowing for certain scenes, and even extended parts of your story...but I wouldn't advise using it for an entire story. Not like the exterior heartbreak maneuver. Heartbreak hurts, yes. And there are a lot of painful tears involved in struggling through it. But when you internalize that pain in your story and let it drag on for too long...there comes a point where the story begins to suffer from it. You want the pain to take center stage and have it be significant enough to get your readers to be invested and empathize with your protagonist...but you don't want your story to be downright depressing to read. I think the interior heartache method is most effective when used in short bursts here and there. Some inner monologues, some rainy days, a few tears...but don't lay it on TOO thick or you could end up losing some of your audience. At least with the exterior heartbreak, they have somebody that they can look at and find some level of emotional 'balance' and still side with your main character. There's an external enemy there, even if he didn't really do anything wrong. But with interior heartache...it's all doom and gloom, and that gets to be really heavy after a while. So be careful with how you add that to your story. Now...the F.Y.I. is a much angrier approach to the heartbreak scenario, and one that is best used for characters or former love interests that you plan to sideline or use as a motivating factor to get your protagonist to overcome the heartbreak and find something better. This is how you get your readers engaged in a way where they are cheering for your main character and push the pain aside. It's the hero's tale that many of us all wish we had whenever it came to having our hearts broken in two by someone we had deep feelings for. Tell me that you haven't thought about it! Hehehe! Somebody treats your heart like garbage, and you find yourself a perfect ten, who truly adores you for everything that you are. And even though you got hurt in the process of growing up, it's the other guy who ended up missing out. Enjoy your karma, you heartless son of a bitch! This is a method that is best used at the beginning, or at least early on in your story, in my opinion. And out of the three, this is the one that I would use most sparingly. Even if it feels fun to punish the proverbial bad guy by being the one to come out on top, you don't want to keep doing it too harshly or too often, or you end up demonizing your main character. Remember, the idea is to have your readers to cheer for your main character. And that's kind of hard to do when you turn them into a total dick. You don't want them to inflict the kind of pain on other people that was once inflicted on him, otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose of putting in the work needed to get your readers to empathize with him in the first place. When used correctly...this kind of heartbreak in your story can really push a much bigger story forward, and can be inspiring to a lot of people who have been deeply hurt before in the past. This doesn't necessarily free you up from actually addressing the heartache that your main character originally went through to get to that point, as I think it makes for a better story if you don't skip over that part of their growth and story arc...but if you've got any lingering bitterness over a past heartbreak and want to get rid of it? I say, have fun with this one. Hehehe! Anyway, when it comes to writing heartbreak into your fiction, take some time to really go back and remember what it was like to have someone do that to you in your past. Don't be scared of it...really feel it. It might hurt for a little bit, bring up some bad memories, and may even bring up a few old tears that you didn't know you had left concerning whatever happened there...but once you get yourself in the moment, take all of that emotion and all of that pain...and put it on the screen. It really does feel good in the long run. It might even help you to get the kind of closure that you were looking for. Just remember that some methods of expressing heartache hit your readers differently than others. Some should be placed at different parts in your story. And some have to be used sparingly, depending on how much of a focus they're going to have in your writing. Play around with the balance a little bit until you find something that you're comfortable with, and use it to your advantage. I've been doing this for a long time now, and I'm still learning. So don't expect everything to come to you overnight. But give it your all, each and every time you start a new story...and that skill, and those instincts, will evolve all on their own. Cool? I hope this helps! And for all of us who have had our hearts carelessly tossed into a meat grinder in the past...let's all share a group hug! (((HUGZ))) Love you all! And I'll seezya soon!

BIG thanks to one of my readers who donated some money to the http://paypal.me/Comsie account so I could see the "Dr. Strange" movie tomorrow before the internet spoils it! LOL! Also to someone else who gave money, so I can do something cool for my mom for Mother's Day! THANK YOU!

Thanks to you all for the comments and the positive feedback! This was a really hard story for me to write, and previous attempts to approach the subject hurt so much that I realized that I wasn't quite ready yet. So elements of "New Kid In School" and "Gone From Daylight" were rough on my emotions. But it was you guys and your acceptance of the content that made it all worthwhile. I was able to grow and mature with you. And I can't thank you enough for giving me a platform to tell my story. It healed a lot that was wrong with me. And just knowing that it might have helped to heal some others along the way is the greatest accomplishment of my life. So thank you for letting me know how you feel! And I hope that I can keep making you proud!

Thanks, you guys! I LOVE you all for the positive energy! And I love you too! Thanks, for keeping me going strong!

GAH!!!! Holy shit!!! 😮 That...was EPIC!!! YES!!! The season finale of "Moon Knight" was EVERYTHING that I wanted and needed it to be! just...the action is INTENSE! They did not drop the ball at all on this one! And seeing all of the personalities working together...wow! Oscar Isaac needs like ten awards for this show! His acting is phenomenal! I, honestly, kept forgetting that he was just one person playing different roles. It's crazy! A+++ series! I am blown away! XD

The birthday celebration continues! A brand new chapter of the very first gay teen story that I ever wrote online is now up and available! So, I hope you all enjoy it! And please feel free to let me know what you think in the replies! Our two favorite boys have come soooo far over the years! Hehehe! God bless them! I love them all! Mwah! And if you're reading this story for the very first time, then you can start from the beginning at the link below! https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/newkidinschool Take care, you guys! And thanks for the birthday wishes!

"New Kid In School 68" I peeked up from what was left of my breakfast to see Ryan giving me this amazing smile from his side of the table. Those beautiful eyes of his blessing me with that intense craving stare that me fall in love with him for the very first time. Giggling, I said, "Knock it off, dude." "Hehehe, what?" "You know what." "I just...I think it's kinda cool. That's all." "Cool?" He sighed and said, "Being able to just sit here and admire my 'boyf

😮 😮 😮 Oh *MY*....! ::Think Unsexy Thoughts, Comsie:: Omigod...

A brand new chapter of "Gone From Daylight: Blood Ties" starts off the festivities for this week! So I hope you guys will enjoy it! And look for more soon! Because my keyboard has taken quite a pounding lately! Hehehe! Should be fun! Check out the new chapter at... https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/gfd12bloodties/ Or you can start from the very beginning of the site's BIGGEST saga (So far, at least! Hehehe!) on the Story Page at... https://comicality.gayauthors.org/stories.html

"Gone From Daylight: Blood Ties 59" I didn't really answer Richie's question about his mom. Instead, I just sort of put my hand behind his head and lifted it up a bit to see if he would sit up. "Uhhh...wait...now..." He moaned. "Justin, I can't..." "Yes. You can." I told him. "I get dizzy when I sit up, Justin. Seriously." He really seemed to believe that he was incapable of sitting upright on his own. "Where's my bucket? I might get sic

It is May 2nd, and I wanted to celebrate my birthday this year, seeing as I missed my chances once Covid-19 hit! So, I drove a bit out of town to have some fun with my family this weekend, and it was an awesome time! I'll do it even bigger next year if times lighten up! But, no worries! I'll be spending a few good times with you guys too! So buckle up! Let's have some fun this week!

Subverting Expectations You ever see one of those race car lengths on a full track, with everybody is trying to get ahead of their other opponents? And there's more to it all than just slamming your foot on the gas pedal and going faster than everybody else. There's a strategy involved. A little gas here, a little brake there, how you take certain turns, etc. So...you've got somebody ahead of you, and you're trying to find your way around them so you can move up from fourth to third place. And then from third place to second. And then you find yourself fighting for umber one. Well if all of the cars are capable just as fast as you can, what do you do? You've to find a way to fake them out somehow. The way that you do that is make the person ahead of you think that you're going to go left...and quickly dodge right. Or you make them think you've got a wide opening on the right, but you suddenly shift left. While one driver is compensating for all of the moves that he thinks you're going to make...you play the smart game and do the exact opposite. Basically...you subvert his expectations in order to try to score a win. And that's the topic for today's article. (Obviously) Subverting expectations in your writing. A couple of do's and don'ts that we can all think about so we can pull this off as effectively as humanly possible. Because, much like that race...trying to take the lead can either lead to sweet maneuver and success...or it can lead to a serious misstep and a massive wreck. Let's try to avoid that second one as often as possible. K? So the actual idea of subverting expectations with your writing doesn't just mean a clever plot twist or a surprise character or revealed secret. Sure, those can be parts of it, but I'm approaching this as a way to throw your audience off with your story as a whole. Or at least in a few major scenes that leave your readers a bit uneasy when it comes to trying to predict what's coming next. Not an easy task, but far from being impossible. Especially if you use a few of the techniques that I talk about down below. I'm still learning when it comes to this particular practice, but I've picked up a few breadcrumbs of wisdom here and there over the years. Figured I'd share. I can remember seeing "Jurassic Park" in the theater for the very first time, and by this time, I was pretty confident in my movie knowledge to figure out the whole 'formula' works. You've got your heroes, you've got your villains, you put them in an isolated, potentially deadly, situation, and then you eat popcorn as you wait for everybody to make it out of there alive. Then came the T-Rex scene... And "Jurassic Park" became one of the very FEW movies that actually made me doubt certain elements of everyday storytelling tropes that I had become so used to. I distinctly remember my thoughts going from, "Oooh, this is gonna be good!" to "How the hell are they going to get out of this?" to "Psh! C'mon now! I'm not buying it! Stephen Spielberg isn't going to kill a couple of kids in a PG-13 Summer movie! That's crazy!" To "Wait...he's not really going to KILL a couple of kids in this movie, is he?" Hahaha! Now I'm riveted, because that doesn't seem like it would be possible for a movie to do that...but it also doesn't seem like there's any other way to keep the story moving. Back to the racing analogy...is he going right, or is he going left? Either way, he might just slip something past me. And I'm loving every last minute of it! Now, of course, this movie did end up sticking to the formula...but the events depicted were getting so bad, and kept getting worse by the second, that for a moment there I actually BELIEVED that they were going to break away from everything that I could have ever expected and start wiping out main characters left and right, kids be damned. Hehehe, can you imagine? To subvert your audience's expectations is to suddenly yank the rug from underneath the and put them in a state of discomfort where they're lost and become more engaged in the moment and less engaged in how it's all going to end. It's an art to figure out a set up and present it to your readers, only to change gears and send them into a literary freefall where they don't know up from down. At least for a little while. Don't worry...they'll be looking for something else to grab on to as quickly as possible...but imagine how fun it'll be to just have them just drop aimlessly for a little bit. I love being able to do that every now and then when I can figure out how. It's just this confusing state of, "What NOW???" For example...when Alfred Hitchock's "Psycho" first hit theaters, Janet Leigh was being billed as the big starlet of the movie. Beautiful, a singer, a dancer, an actress...they put her on the movie poster and a lot of people were going out for a night at the movies just to see her, specifically. And very VERY early on in the movie...well...we all know how that turned out... This was seen an INCREDIBLY bold movie by Hitchcock, killing off the perceived main character of the entire movie so early on in the script. It was absolutely shocking to the audience, and once she was gone, many moviegoers had no idea where their feet were going to land concerning how the rest of the story was going to go. Expectations subverted. Right? And there have been a lot of movies that have used this tactic to truly throw their audience a curve ball when they least expected one. (No spoilers) Movies like "The Sixth Sense", "The Usual Suspects", "Hereditary", "Fight Club", "The Green Mile", "Se7en"...and even the original "Scream" by Wes Craven, where Drew Barrymore was displayed proudly on posters and all of the promotional material, only to end up paying homage to the original "Psycho" in the movie's opening scene. The idea is to have a very solid red herring from the very beginning, and to stick to it. A faked sense of importance that will be strong enough to be perceived as 'plot armor' for that character or situation. You have to have your author's poker face in place, not showing your hand until it's too late for the readers to start figuring things out for themselves. This is how you get around the savvy nature of your audience. Find a certain consistency that is leading them in a somewhat 'predictable' direction...and then holler, "NOPE!!!" And switch things up on them. And be sure to do it fast! Blindside them with it and keep the story moving as if that's what you meant to do all along. Because...well...that's what you meant to do all along. A few things that make for a great red herring in my opinion... 1 - Don't spend too much time on foreshadowing. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do any foreshadowing...but if you do add it earlier on in your story, I find that it's best to treat it as an afterthought, personally. A few lines of dialogue here and there, a couple of actions that may seem a bit out of character, stuff like that. Say...you have your main character getting into his car to drive in the mountains, and suddenly the brakes don't work. The car flings itself off of a cliff, and your protagonist jumps free just in time to survive the impending crash. Maybe you can add a friendly conversation between him and his best friend earlier on in the story, and he just happens to be sharing a laugh with him...while he's wiping his hands off on a rag and has obviously been working under the car. Focus on their civil dialogue to the point where nobody finds it weird that he was working on the car at all. Unexpected, maybe even unwarranted, betrayal makes for a good red herring. 2 - Build up a secondary character as though they were meant to be the main focus of the story. This can be very effective when trying to subvert expectations. I've seen in this in movies, books, video games as well...but I won't name any as they give away the best part of the story. But imagine how shocking it would be for your readers to have them learn all about one character, their backstory, their motivations...and then have something terrible happen to them where their major involvement is completely taken off of the table, and now it's time for that secondary character to step up and take the role of protagonist. This is one of those techniques that takes a little finesse to pull off, but done right...it makes for a really cool shift in the story's original theme and tone. Maybe that first character was righteous and noble and pure of heart...and it gets them severely hurt, or even killed. And your secondary character was a total loose cannon, and now he has to find a way to change and adapt and mellow out in order to get the job done in his partner's place. Whatever the plot may be, give it a try some time. See how you. I've done this with a few of my own stories in the past, and I'd love to do it again now that I have a bit more experience with the idea. In those earlier stories I focused on one character, or one love interest, and then came the reveal that they weren't meant to be the focus of the story at all. And since it's really obvious, I can tell you that one of those stories (Completed) was a miniseries called "Between The Lines". And it begins with a college boy making love to his very first boyfriend, and early on it becomes clear that they're having a few problems connecting in a relationship that seemed to be more of a chore than a mutual bonding. From most of the other stories that I had written up to that point, it seemed like the focus would be on these two finding a way enhance and express their love and run off to live happily ever after. But the protagonist's boyfriend gets pushed into the background as a new potential love interest shows up in one of his elective classes. Someone with common interests, and a sense of humor, and a sense of caring and kindness that shows him how effortless love and romance could be, if given the chance to blossom and is shared with a more compatible partner. I invite you guys to check it out some time when you get a chance. Just remember that I wrote this one many years ago, so...hehehe, so don't judge me TOO harshly. 3 - The corruption route. If you want to surprise readers and subvert expectations...corruption is also an option that you have at your fingertips. Literally. The idea that they can truly get an idea for your protagonist, follow them on their journey, through good times and bad...only to have them slowly steer their lives out of control and change into someone completely different along the way...it can be devastating. Someone that they were once cheering for has now become the very thing that he hates. I can tell you, I had absolutely NO idea how many people were reading my very first gay teen romance story until one of them fell into temptation and ended up breaking up with the main love interest. Suddenly I was being yelled at by people I had never even heard from before! LOL! What the...? Who are you again? Another big example from my own experience was one of the books of "Billy Chase", when he completely went off the rails and went through a phase of simply not giving a shit anymore. It got to the point where the whole Comicality Library was full of reader 'wars' taking one side or another. Anger and sadness and threats to rage quit if the story kept going in that direction...it's a powerful tool in your tool belt. Believe me. (More on the real reason why I did that in a future article, "Venting Machine"...but that's for another weekend discussion!) The thing about corruption, temptation, severe loss and depression...a lot of people can relate to it. But it can be frightening to see it on display in a story, because we all have a need to feel that we'd be better than that. All that aside, we kind of want to know what happens if Luke Skywalker were to turn to the darkside. Hehehe, all of "Star Wars" could have been a very different story today if he had. But the idea is intriguing, isn't it? These are all methods of deflecting your readers' focus away from your real intentions, while still giving them a good story in the process. Subverting expectations can be awesome, exciting, surprising... ...But don't forget...there's always that possibility for a massive wreck, lying in wait right ahead of you. So you'd better be prepared for it. And that brings us to our three tips on what not to do if you're going to try to pull this off. Ease up off the gas for a bit...and use your brain, not your speed. 1 - DON'T pull a bait and switch on your audience! I, personally, have a lot more patience with the written word than I do with movies...but for movies? I want to see something that comes 'as advertised'. If you billed this as a horror movie with ghosts and demons and boogeymen under the bed...don't give me a super slow gothic romance with hardly any horror elements at all except for what I saw in the trailer. If you're trying to sell me on a comedy, don't exchange it with a heart wrenching drama that just happens to have a few elements of comedy thrown in...jokes that you showed me in the trailer. Please don't do that. If you're writing a romance, but add some deeper philosophical elements to it? Then cool! GREAT! But at least the people get a taste of what they came for. You can only enhance the flavor by putting in a little bit extra. I remember getting all hyped up for a new "Godzilla" movie some years back! Hehehe, and I came for two things! Bryan Cranston! And Godzilla kicking ass and destroying shit! Well...spoiler alert...both of those big draws put together adds up to about fifteen minutes of a two hour movie. Well...expectations subverted...just in a bad way. I'm not saying I hated it...just...ugh, if I had known, I wouldn't have left the theater so frustrated. So whatever it is that you're trying to do with your story...if you're promoting it as one thing...then give your readers that one thing! Please! Even if you change stuff around and decide to subvert expectations later on, at least have the initial draw to your story laced throughout the entire project in some cohesive way. 2 - If you're going to do an ensemble cast, or decide to switch the secondary character to the main protagonist...do what you can to make both characters equally as interesting. So when you pull off the big surprise, fans of your work won't feel slighted or cheated out of a great story, and are now being sold on the idea of accepting the 'second best'. I think it's cool for them to have different, and maybe even conflicting, ideologies on how to handle things...but, as writers, we always have to reember that the 'Back Button' is our worst enemy. If you kill off their favorite character and switch the focus to someone that they don't know or have no emotional investment in...they'll stop writing. Even if you have an AMAZING story planned that will end up being rewarding in the end...some readers don't get to the end. So even though you're building one person up as the main character, and decide to divvy up that focus further along in the story...make sure that you invest as much time and effort into all of the characters that you plan to have take the reigns when you pull the switch. K? This is something that I'm experimenting with a lot in my "Gone From Daylight", vampire themed, story, "GFD: Dead Language", where both parties have a strong and abrasive conflict with one one another, but may have to end up getting past their differences to work together and get the job done. What begins as a fight between two people who have sworn to never get along, no matter what...will eventually create a conflict within the readers as well. (Or so I'm hoping, hehehe!) And even if I were to switch one character out for another, I would hope that the other could continue on to the end of the story, and that that conflict and that loss be a part of their personal story arc. So that's something else to think about. Don't kill off your best asset, or somehow take them out of the picture, unless the character that will be taking their place is equally as interesting. (That's not the plot or plans for "GFD: Dead Language", but if it had been...I'd like to think that I could pull that off after years worth of writing practice.) 3 - If you're going to subvert expectations, especially within the same story...don't attempt to do it without the proper build up. Now, I realize that I said you shouldn't do too much foreshadowing, and that you should blindside your audience with the big reveal when the whole story changes over to an entirely different theme and tone from what it was before...but that doesn't free you from the burden of a proper build up. When the change happens, no matter how shocking or crazy it may seem...during that reader freefall they should be able to have some idea as to who, what, where, when, and why. They don't need to know all of the answers all at once...but you can't just have things happen for no reason. Well...I take that back. You CAN...but it can sometimes come off as clunky and confusing. It creates a stumbling block in the minds of your audience, and the goal is to have your writing flow as smoothly as you can possibly manage it to be. Think of it like the difference between a popcorn kernel and a blossoming flower. If you planted a garden, and all of your roses or tulips or whatever just 'pop, pop, pop, popped' open instantaneously all at once...that would be freaky and weird. Hehehe! But if you see the blossom growing, day by day, and then it changes color, and then it slowly begins to spread...it's a little bit more comforting. I hope that makes sense. This is where the idea of 'balance' is really important. You want to hide your intentions, and make them obvious at the same time. There's a scale that's difficult to navigate, depending on the story...but you guys can do this. It's not as hard as you may think. You just need to practice until you find yourself in a comfortable place with the idea. So, all of that being said, I'd like to suggest a movie where almost all of these methods come into play all within a ninety minute space, and that I thoroughly enjoyed MUCH more than I ever could have guessed that I would. And that movie is... ..."Coyote Ugly"! Hehehe, surprised? Well, whenever you get a chance, wherever you can find it...give this one a chance. I gave it a try years ago, still in 'college boy' mode...and I watched the trailer which was full of beautiful women and liquor and dancing on bar tops...why not, right? (I hope that doesn't sound sexist! I didn't mean for it to.) But I thought that was all I was in for. Some laughs, some dancing, some booty shaking, and that was it. But what I got from this movie was sooooo much more! I don't want to say too much...but I was thinking of a small town girl who's moving to the big evil city for the first time, trying to blend in, and having to work as a sexy dancing bartender to make ends meet. Just like with "Jurassic Park", I was pretty confident that I knew the formula ahead of time. However...the movie is actually about a young songwriter that is following her passion and trying to pursue her passion and her career, but deals with a bad case of stage fright. The job at the bar helps her pay the rent, but ends up helping her get over that stage fright and find a way to let loose and truly understand what it is to live without restrictions like she did before. And the other ladies she works with become more than just her friends, they become her family. It's got music, it's got drama, it's romance...it gives you everything that it promised, and then it becomes bold enough to give you SO much more on top of it. HIGHLY underrated movie, in my opinion! And that's just what I'm talking about. It subverts expectations (by going beyond them), it gives you everything as advertised without a bait and switch, it has a subtle yet effective build up throughout the whole movie, it sets up a few events without too much foreshadowing, it has conflicts that are clearly defined and all have a payoff, and the story that I thought was going to have this one female lead be the star of the show turn out to be a part of a family by having all of the other characters be strong and standouts in their own rights, while still letting you know where the spotlight i supposed to be. I LOVE this movie! So check it out! Anyway, I hope this helps! These aren't things that any of you aspiring writers HAVE to do or even try if it's not your thing. But if you're ever looking to expand your talents or attempt to write something a little bit different, if for no other reason than you want to truly surprise your growing fanbase, or perhaps catch the attention of a brand new fanbase to add to the one you already have...this can be a valuable exercise when it comes to changing things up a little bit. I've, quite literally, written hundreds of stories all my own at this point...and nobody is going to stick around to watch me write the same 'boy meets boy' story over and over again, one hundred times in a row. I'm constantly changing up the formula, the situations, the characters, the tone, the themes...and attempting to create something new. If you ever feel the need, I think you can too. Take care! And I'll seezya soon!

Yeah...I was watching this episode, and I had to take a break. Because I was literally crying and couldn't stop. You know...there have been a lot of people who have read "My Only Escape", and they've told me that I really had to live through it to portray it the way that I did. And that's what I felt with this episode. Because I really do remember. From when I was just a kid. You know, what it's like to just force yourself to feel like everything in our life is ok. To block certain things out and hide and maneuver and run from it all and try to be normal on top of it. Seeing it played out on screen like that, with Oscar Isaac's *phenomenal* performance...the denial and the anger and the pain and the self torture...I couldn't make it through the whole episode without losing it. Ugh! The tears just wouldn't stop. Oh God, I'm tearing up just writing this. But yeah...that's what life feels like when you live through it. Every minute of every day. Whoever made this show...he or she definitely understands that situation on a personal level. This level of authenticity wouldn't be possible without living through it, you know? That pain never goes away. Believe me. That episode hurt. A lot. But it was SO well done! So, applause for that one!

Dangit!!! I was absolutely SURE that Marvel's "Moon Knight" was going to finally be the ONE mini-series that wasn't gonna get me all choked up and teary eyed...but episode #5 hit me pretty hard. I think it just touched on some deeply personal triggers for me, and it left me feeling weird after it was finished. So kudos to Marvel for pulling this series off. Hitting those deep emotions....AGAIN! Wow. And can we just give Oscar Isaac, like...ALL of the awards for his acting performance in this series?!?!? He is seriously KILLING this role! Jesus! If you haven't seen it yet, definitely check out "Moon Knight"! It's not connected to the other stories or movies like the others are. So you can watch it as a separate thing. Yeah....this episode triggered me in a major way. Probably the most since "Wandavision". ::Sniffles::

I had seen trailers for this show, but haven't had a chance to watch it yet. I'm all wrapped up in "Moon Knight" and "Arcane" at the moment, so I need to catch up. Also, if you get a chance...check out "Love, Victor"! Excellent show! ::nods::

Ahhh, gotchya! So alternative rock, then? Or, at least, that's what we called it back in college. I'll zero in on your particular flavor eventually. ::Giggles:: That being said...you're missing out on a LOT of cuties dude! Im thinking that I need to make a whole other discussion for them some time soon.

Hehehe, sure, it'll WORK if I'm reading and stuff. But, unfortunately all of my files/stories/links/etc are on my laptop. I have them saved to an external hard drive, but they don't load to stuff like that, unfortunately. So, I'm kinda screwed, either way.

@Cscampbell Aww, man, you would have LOVED it back when we were doing the annual "Teen Pop Nostradamus" contest on the Shack forum some years ago! ::Giggles:: There were more cuties than you could handle! X)