Comicality

Johnny Orlando??? 😮 Hehehe! Where have you been?

...Of there being more and more kids like this every single day! Sucks to be them. ::Shrugs:: Male, female, straight, gay, trans, white, black, Christian, Jew, Muslim, young, old...nobody can 'control' people who think for themselves. The only people afraid of that...are the ones who think control is all they have. Think about it.

Wow! Thanks for the multiple replies and feedback on this one! Because I have a completely different view of this problem now. And it's devastating. No author, or any creator of anything from their heart and soul, should have to deal with that. Not ever. I'm thinking that I've been pretty reckless with a great deal of my work now. I've found some issues in the past, but I had given so much of it away to so many people for free at that point, that there have always been many eyes out there who will quickly come back and tell me, "Hey, Com? Isn't this your story?" And I've been extremely lucky in having that work out for me so far. But maybe I should be a lot more careful. I'm really glad that you guys gave such detailed responses to this one. I LOVE it! Food for thought!

Sorry that I haven't been around since last week. I had some technical issues (Hardware, not software) that made it impossible for me to get online and grab my files and emails and all that. So, I was out of commission this past weekend. Let me tell you...I had forgotten how LONG weekends were without my Comsie access! LOL! Jesus, there are a lot of hours in th day! All the more reason to take better advantage of them from now on! OK!!! So I'm searching for anything that I might have lost in the mix-up (Which has been very VERY little! Woo hoo!), and emails will be sent out on Friday! And then... ...The story rollout begins on Monday, May 2nd! Which just so happens to be my BIRTHDAY!!! XD No better time to do it, right? So, love you lots! And I'l have all the kinks worked out, probably by tomoroow evening if not sooner. It's the benefit of never having to sleep! Seezya then!

You know who else grew up really fast? Johnny Orlando! He was so small! Now he's all grown and sex-ay!

Plagiarism It was a very very long time ago but I can remember the whole issue vividly, because when I really sat down and gave it some deep thought...I was kind of conflicted about the idea. And maybe I still I am to a degree where it's still pretty hard to decide whether or not I'd be willing to say 'never say never'. And that had to do with a few Diet Coke commercials on TV and a rapidly growing technology that was suddenly brought to a screeching stop just as it was becoming something unheard of up to that point. But...before we even get started on all that, I'm going to make the vague assumption that we all know that plagiarism is is just...wrong. And I'm talking about direct, deliberate, theft of someone's creative output for your own gain. I mean, can we agree on that? I've only had it happen to me two or three times since I started the Shack, and I can honestly say that it was a serious WTF moment, every time. I think the worst one was having someone take my entire story, change the names of my characters, and then just post it on Nifty under his own email...giving me no credit at all. That wasn't an accident. That story was re-edited and re-posted for the distinct purpose of making it seem like my story never existed at all. Luckily, I had already posted that story on Nifty, and could easily write to them with a link and a timestamp, that proved my case, and the other story was removed immediately. There's no hard feelings about it, really...but what would even make somebody think it would be ok to even attempt to do something like that? That's just baffling to me. I have had some of my ideas stolen, posted on other websites without my consent, and even downloaded and sold on a disc for their own profit and the praise of their paying 'customers'. Oh, it does happen, believe me. My one saving grace has always been that I give, like, 95% of everything I've written over the past 20+ years away for free. And everybody knows that. If anything, anybody that has read my stuff (even in different languages) will not only report back to me about it right away, but they will tell everybody who read that story where to find more of my stuff for free, and let them know who the real author was all along. So it's basically free advertisement for me and my website, basically. But people still suck for doing it. How hard is it to come up with your OWN ideas and characters? It doesn't cost you anything but a little bit of time and effort. So why not make it on your own instead of leeching off of someone else's brainchild? Just...TRY, you know? Sit down, put your fingers on your own keyboard, and stare at that blank screen until you come up with something original to say. Don't tell me that it can't be done, because I surpassed the six MILLION word count mark a long long time ago! So don't tell me those folks can't come up with one or two stories of their own every few months. That's ridiculous. They just need to stop cheating all the time, that's all. Show your heart. You've got a personal story to tell of your very own. No need to snatch one away from somebody else. It's insulting. That being said...that isn't quite what this article is about... I know that sounds strange, considering that I just made this big case about how awful and wrong plagiarism is. How can Comsie possible be conflicted about this? And that takes us back to the Diet Coke commercials that I spoke about earlier. In the early 90's, technology was doing some amazing things with computers and film composites on screen. Naturally, we had things like Mary Poppins, Mr. Limpett, and Roger Rabbit...but that was always combining live action with animation. Movies like the original Tron, upped the ante a bit more in the late 80's, and so on. But...believe it or not, the tech existed to start putting actual celebrity performances into commercials and combining the in a way that was almost flawless in its delivery. I can remember being so AMAZED at what I was looking at when these commercials first started coming out! Especially since I had such an affection of the old black and white movies growing up, even though I was still in early high school at the time. I had just never seen anything like that before. The old time silver screen movie stars had been colorized and were brought into modern day to interact with real life people like they were actually there. Hehehe, Paula Abdul and Elton John??? Really? I just thought it was all so cool! Give these a look...and keep in mind, these were made thirty YEARS ago before the...ummm...backlash... 00 You may have enjoyed those, and you should! They were awesome! Hehehe! But the question is...and I'd really love your feedback on this...is it ok to do this sort of thing? Like ever? This was in the 90's, so I'm pretty sure that all of these stars had passed away before these commercials were made. It's not like they gave consent to have their likeness used to sell Coca Cola products. This was an era where CGI was advancing at an alarming rate in terms of what it could do on screen, and there was an uproar over the idea of using some of these cinematic heroes to dance and smile and hock snake oil for whatever corporation that was rich enough to buy the rights to them. "You want Forrest Gump to meet JFK? Sure...we can do that! Just sign the check!" And once I really thought about the concept of it all...I began to wonder where the line was drawn between paying a fun 'homage' to something that you love and appreciate, and 'abusing' it for your own purposes and personal grab for attention. I think things got blurred back then for a moment back then, and questions of morality and ethics came into play. That's what I'd like to talk about this time around, because I'd love to hear your take on it. I've got more questions than answers on this one. I still find it hard to find a place where one stops and the other begins. Because I highly doubt that those commercials were done with any level of malice, nor were the people who invented the technology to make it happen. So where do you guys stand on this? Me, personally...I've always been honored, flattered, and overjoyed, to have another writer want to use one of my characters or write a spinoff to one of my own stories. That has always been a thrill for me. It brings out my ego and gives a few gentle strokes. Hehehe! I only ask that they ask me for permission, and list me as an inspiration for the original story. Like I said, almost everything that I do is for free. I'm not looking to get rich off of this I just want to make a difference. And as long as someone doesn't copy me, word for word, and pass it off as their own work...I'm cool with it. Even if they decide to publish it and make a fortune, it's like, "Don't forget me when you reach the top!" Right? Just give me a little credit, and I'm fine with that. But if someone is just going to straight up steal my idea and make it their own? I mean, I've got thousands of witnesses who will say it's not your story. And now you've got problems. But, again...I wonder where the creative license lie? Stephanie Meyers wrote the "Twilight" series as a collection of novels, and then turned it into a series of movies. Good for her. But the whole "50 Shades Of Gray" novel series, and subsequent movies, originally started out as "Twilight" fanfiction. And whether you liked those novels or movies at all...they both made heaps of money off of what was essentially the exact same idea, just with a bunch of the details changed. So is that allowed? Again, there's no animosity or malice involved...but does that actually count as plagiarism? Is that theft? Or an homage? And can it be an homage without direct permission from the original artist? Its not like it doesn't happen all the time. One of the main quotes that I always bring up from my writing teacher in college was, "There are no NEW stories since the Romans." Every aspect of life, love, betrayal, conflict, horror, comedy, war, revenge, and suffering, has been tackled before. "The Most Dangerous Game" has man hunting man. But so does Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Predator". Can you say that was a rip off? Batman is one of my favorite heroes of all time...but I know that the creators based him on Zorro mixed with The Shadow. Superman was a baby that had to be put in a capsule and sent away to be found by another pair of loving parents who would raise him and help him free the people of Earth. That's the story of Moses. The baby sent down the river to escape destruction and raised to free the slaves. And let's not even think about how many times "Romeo And Juliet" has been told, time and time again. It's practically woven into every romantic comedy you've ever seen at one point or another. Certainly in my own stories like "A Class By Himself", "On The Outside", "My Only Escape", "Gone From Daylight"...stories about love between two people who want to be together but outside circumstances won't allow them to be. And things reach levels of desperation where thy have to choose between staying together or staying apart, no matter what their differences may be. But is it plagiarism every time I write a tragic romance story? I mean, if I write a story called "Rodney and Julia", with a similar idea...does that come off as a shameless copy? Even if I drastically change the details? Maybe it's the intent, and not the story itself that makes all the difference. Because there ARE people out there who really do try to beg, borrow, and steal, from everybody around them in order to make themselves look good...simply because they have nothing of their own to say. Wolves among sheep. With no shame at all. And yet, I'm still on the ropes about the issue. Hell, even I would love to make "Waiting Outside The Lines" an ebook after all of the hard work that I put in to bring it to life. But that started off as a fanfic too! Between a teen Greyson Chance, Asa Butterfield, and Chandler Riggs. I even made an announcement for it last year to let people know that I was changing up a ton of the details to make it my own. But the original fanfic takes place on the acting set of "The Walking Dead", which was one of my favorite zombie TV shows ever at the time! But I had also written a zombie story of my own called, "Shelter" before even starting the fanfic, and it's drastically different. So, how hard would it be to take those characters over to a new story, change their names, tweak a few details here and there...and bring them all into a fictional "Shelter" TV series instead? With fictional actors (The main character is already fictional anyway), and a fictional boy pop star? Is that cheating? Is that...plagiarism? Or is it still my own creation, being melded together with another one of my own creations? See? This is where I get stuck in a gray area. And I need a few differences of opinion to maybe give me direction to lean in, one or the other. Because I cant say that I'm really sure. Even when I use pics for my stories on here on the site, it's never a case of me trying to rip somebody off or steal something from them. They just fit the character description that I was imagining at the time. You want credit for it? You got it. Talk to me. Give me a link if you have a site. I'm not getting paid for ANY of this. I'm broke all the time! LOL! But if you can get paid for your work, go for it. When have I ever refused to promote someone's work? It's never happened. I LOVE promoting other people's work! I do it on the site, I thank them on the mailing list, I do it in Imagine Magazine...everywhere. Every single week on the Shack, I promote movies that people may not have seen, music they may not have heard, stories they may not have read. Talk to me. You can get all the free advertisement you want. The only reason that I don't ask for permission ahead of time is because I don't know who to ask. As popular as my huge variety of "Gone From Daylight" vampire spinoffs are in the "GFD: Worlds", there are many MANY more in the 'Vampire Scriptures' section of the "GFD: Blood Bank" website, written by a TON of different writers who just liked the series and wanted to write stories of their own! And there's also the 'Vampire Sightings' section that is full of photoshopped interpreted pics of the main characters and some really talented artwork from artists all over the world! I love it! TAKE it! You know? Give me and the main story a footnote, and then go wild. People will tell you...anytime they ask me for permission to write something going on with my story, it's very RARE that I don't immediately say yes! I say go for it, and let me know where you are so I can guide people your way! The only time I might say no, is if it's a really big and important story to me personally (Like "GFD", "My Only Escape", "Jesse-101", etc)...and I kinda worked my ass off to make that my own thing, and to draw people into my site...not somebody else's. That's just a thing for me. The big stories are the gemstones in my Thanos Gauntlet! Hehehe! Those aren't for you! Write your own! But if you're writing your own story, and any of my characters happen to show up, or it's hooked into a certain mythology that I created for that story...than you're more than welcome to it. TAKE IT!!! Hehehe! I've got a lot of love to share in this life, and I don't have any plans to be buried with any of it left when it's my time to go. Not ever. So, this is the part where you guys tell me what you feel about plagiarism and paying homage to an author you like or maybe even writing a story that may be linked to his or hers out of sheer love for they're doing, and maybe seeing if you can improve on it in the long run. The last thing that I would ever want to do is plagiarize someone else's work. I think that's despicable in a bunch of different ways. But I've seen people take pictures of the MOON...and try to 'privatize' it and own it and cover it with watermarks, and it's like, "Come on, dude. Really? You own the MOON now?" I mean, spending an hour on your own personal artwork with pencils and ink and paint...I get it. That makes total sense to me. But, like...'click'...here's a picture of a tree. Five hundred dollars, please! Get out of here! I don't know...there's got to be a line somewhere where people can see a cute pic of a squirrel and use it for one thousand memes on Google, and you calling it your own specific hard work just because you grabbed it from somwhere else first. Let's be honest. You'd be a millionaire if it weren't for someone borrowing a phase from Shakespeare? Or quoting a Prince song from the eighties? What are your ethics on this? I'd love to know. Because the line gets blurred more and more every day. Hehehe, thinking back on those Diet Coke commercials seems like an eternity ago now! Imagine if the tech had kept evolving nonstop from way back then? I mean Marvel can take Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, and Michael Douglas...and de-age them a full 30 or 40 years now, with ease! We can bring actors back from the dead for movies and video games! And we can have full blown 3-D holograms of 2Pac perform live on sage in front of a crowd of thousands at Coachella! (Seriously...look it up on Youtbe! WTF???) At what point does morality get thrown out the window for the sake of something awesome here? Or is it just...something to be pissed about? Look at this! Hehehe, Sylvester Stallone as Macauley Culkin in "Home Alone"? The Avengers in the Wizard Of Oz"? (Actually...hehehe Tom Holland makes a pretty hot, 'Dorothy'! Just sayin'!) But none of these people gave any consent for this. So...is it a joke? A copyright violation? I reason to get pissed? A reason to feel used? I don't know. 00 And now we have THIS happening! Where you can barely tell what's real and what's digital! This is an actual video game right now! But the real actors are involved. And yet, if they hadn't been...would that be a violation of some kind in your mind? Maybe you'd be honored by it. May you wouldn't think it was no big deal. Or maybe it would be offensive. What would you think if somebody used your likeness and your voice to sell Ramen noodles, or Jack Daniel's whiskey, or the new ad for investing in Bitcoin, without your consent? I'm just curious. I'd like to think that I wouldn't care, personally. But after being taken advantage of in the past, I wonder if I would still feel the same way. Any thoughts?

Not so long ago...

Look at how TALL lil' Mason Ramsey has gotten in the past year or so! ::Cuddles::

I did get to see episode 4 of "Moon Knight" tonight, and ugh! It was awesome! I just...sometimes I wish I could get my ideas out of my own head fast enough. Sigh...I need to buckle down and write faster! Work harder! Not enough hours in the day... https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/gfd-persona/

Oh wow! My heart! 😮

https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/ A brand new chapter of Imagine Magazine was posted online for your enjoyment, albeit a few days late while dealing with a few technical difficulties behind the scenes! So, if you haven't read it yet, rush on over and check it out whenever you get a chance! And be sure to click that green 'Up Vote' button to show all of our hard working authors some love! K? You're already at the bottom of the page. The button is right THERE! Just click it! 'Click'...done! Come on! Hehehe, you'd have to deliberately NOT click the button by that point. And that would be a dick move! Think about that! Hehehe! Love you lots! And enjoy the mag!

Hehehe! I never thought a commercial like this would be so darn CUTE!!! LMAO!!! But they pulled it off! Congrats!

No worries. I didn't take offense to it. I just wanted you to know what was going on in my head as far as storylines and character arcs are concerned. Like I said, all of these stories look different to me, personally, because I have access to the completed story in my mind. Other people don't. So I hope it provided an extra bit of context. But Scotty's not getting written out of the story. Hehehe! If he wasn't an important part of the story, then I wouldn't have written him into the plot in the first place. You'll just have to skip those parts, I suppose. Hehehe! Thanks for the feedback!

"Asgardians Of The Galaxy...Back Again!" They made this trailer look...really lighthearted! LOL! Because the female Thor story is DARK! Like...like DARK! Like death and crying and cancer and just...dark! But...ok! I trust you, Marvel!

I wanted a little bit more...but still...it's Stefan! Sighhhhhh... My heart...

I saw this! Wow...they've grown so much! I'm really curious as to where the story will go from here!

I knew Ryan Buggle was on the show, but I didn't know he was a regular! Awww...sweet moment!

Thanks for the comments, you guys! Sorry for the malfunctions earlier. The site was having a few technical difficulties...

Listen, I really do understand the feelings surrounding this series, and one of those negative feelings is my fault. A lot of people read my new chapters with this feeling of, "EVERYTHING that I want to happen had better happen in this chapter! Because it'll be months before I get another one!" Please don't do that. K? Trust me...if I never ever had to sleep...I wouldn't. You guys know that. So the progression from chapter to chapter may not be what you want, but try to believe me when I say that it's necessary. I know you guys can't see the full picture like I can as the author, but I'll give up this tiny bit of info so that you might be a bit more understanding. Why did Tristan take so long to talk to Jesse? Why was he so scared? TERRIFIED even? It was because someone that he thought that he truly had feelings for turned his back on him, dumped him, and broke his heart in two. Jason Fixx is the reason that Tristan was having such a difficult time trying again. I mean...do you get it? The parallel is...Tristan (In terms of Scotty Lynch) has, in fact, become his 'Jason Fixx'. He's beginning to realize what it's like to be on the other side of the equation, and what he's doing to prevent Scotty from being happy with anyone else. The question is...what will he DO with that knowledge? I don't like to give major plot points away like this, but PLEASE just be patient with the story. Ok? I don't write this stuff as fluff or to frustrate you. Give me a chance to tell the story in full. Maybe some spoilers will get folks to calm down a little bit. ::Shrugs:: Nothing that I write is by accident. There's a purpose and a reasoning for every word. You just have to keep your faith in me. No matter how long it takes.

Now, I know that there are people out there who hear me talking about planning and plotting out a story, and they might gloss over it and think that this is a simple part of the process. But it isn't. In fact, it's one of the most important parts of the writing process that there is, and it's something that we all need to really concentrate and focus on before we even begin writing all of the other elements of our story. It will tell you what you're most excited about writing, how to connect one event to another in a thoughtful and realistic way, and how to get rid of some of those scenes that you can probably toss out before you waste time even writing them out beyond a few notes. I wish that I could tell you how my brain works when it comes to expanding on an idea and putting all of the experiences together in a sequential order that will make sense and draw in your readers to follow your story all the way to the end. But the truth is, I don't really know how I do it. I just gather my thoughts, look at the blank screen and the keyboard, and it just makes a certain kind of sense to me. It would be like asking someone how they're able to play the piano, or ice skate, or dance. There really isn't a science to it, but you can develop instincts that will make things easier and easier over time if you keep practicing. As always, practice is everything. Putting a story plot together isn't always easy, but it's essential to know how everything is structured from beginning to end. So don't downplay its importance when you get started. For this article, we're talking about story plotting, and how to make it work for you in the most effective ways possible. You see...most people go into a story with a very vague idea of what they want to accomplish by the time they finish writing their story. Nothing wrong with that. I used to do that too when I first started out. But over time, I learned how to sharpen that focus and become more detailed in guiding my ideas in certain directions when writing a new project. Or even just a single chapter in a much larger series. I truly believe that it makes a difference in the overall presentation. Think about it like the difference between walking towards a specific tree in the middle of a wide open park...and wandering aimlessly through an entire forest of trees at random. It just helps to know where you are, where you're going, and what your goals are, ahead of time. Done right...you can use that as a literary compass to create an engaging experience for all of your readers, and really use your fiction to make a significant impact that will last long after the story ends. So...buckle up, folks! Let's talk about story plotting! On the site, I have a story called "Jesse-101: Online Celebrity" that I want to use as my example for this particular exercise. Now..."Jesse-101" isn't finished yet, so...to avoid spoilers for future chapters...I'm just going to throw in some ludicrous bullshit along the way to fill everything in and make it sound like a completed story, even though it isn't...YET. Hehehe! K? Now, for those of you who don't know, I once had a week long contest on the main Shack Forum (https://www.voy.com/15900/), because we love to play games over there! Hehehe! And I decided to test everybody's 'gaydar'! I posted videos of really cute boys doing vlogs and skits, etc...and I asked everybody watching whether or not they thought the boys were gay or straight. Just by watching their mannerisms, listening to their content, and getting a feel for who they were in a series of videos. I knew the answers ahead of time, of course...but I kept it a secret. Just to see what my readers would guess for themselves. Some were a little off, and some did better than they thought they would. Anyway, it was this exercise and these Youtube channels that led to the creation of "Jesse-101". It's a story about a teen boy that develops a huge crush on a big Youtube influencer, and discovers that he's not only openly gay, but that he only lives a quick bus ride away from him, and is definitely within reach, if only he could find the courage to go for it and take a chance at finding that dreamy boy that he randomly saw online. So...how do I plot this story out? I know what I want to happen, and I have an idea of how I'd love for things to play out, right? I get some ideas in my head, and I come up with some kind of basic idea of the story that I want to write. I'm creating a daydream scenario for my readers...and I want it to really touch on things that makes the whole fantasy feel real and enjoyable. So I begin taking notes. Nothing too specific...just notes. Where do I want to start? Where do I want it to end? And what am I trying to say? It's all about emotion. How would I feel in this particular situation? It's important to think about this stuff, because I'm trying to get my audience to feel the same way, right? And that means making a game plan that I can look at and actually SEE in order to complete my 'mission' of putting a good story together. There are people who don't need to type their plans out for their story...but I, personally, like to see the words on the screen. I like to take handwritten notes on paper. I want to have a visible document of what I had in mind when I was trapped in the moment and locked into the creative process. Even if I don't use half of those ideas in the actual story, I like having a representation of where my head was at during the creative process. So I suggest that you keep a 'junk file' somewhere in whatever word processor you use to write your stories. If you get an idea online, or a witty 'back and forth' moment of dialogue, or an idea or concept for a new story and you decide not to use it right away...open that junk file and save it for later. You'll be surprised at how many random and fleeting ideas just hit you out of nowhere...and have the potential to be seen as an absolute GENIUS choice for this story (or possibly another one, entirely) later on. So keep that junk file close and ready to go. Label you random thoughts, and save them to come back to another day. Or month. Or year. Hehehe! They matter! Trust me! This doesn't just mean a whole story, or a chapter. It can just be a sweet scene between two characters. I remember one moment that I thought up where I was like, "Wouldn't it be cute to have two boys make out while going through an automated car wash? Almost as if in desperation, because it was the only privacy they could get away from their parents and friends?" I wrote it down in my notebook, and didn't use for the story that I planned it out for, but got to add it to a different story later on, and it worked remarkably well. It went from a random thought to actually being a truly tender moment in one of my other stories that I didn't write until a long time later when I probably would have forgotten about it. And that's what 'plotting' is all about. Taking specific moments...emotionally impactful moments...and stringing them together between your main characters, in order, to tell a great story. I'm guessing the we all have a grasp on the 'three act' structure of writing a story (Beginning, middle, and end), but I'd ike to go a bit more in depth with that idea today. There's soooo much more to it than that when you really stop and think about it. There are a lot of moving parts in a single project, and while the three act rule still applies...I personally go further than that when I'm putting things together in my head. What you want to do is put many different events in their proper places and design them in a way that will work to highlight the emotions and situations in your story in the best way possible. Peaks and valleys, conflicts and rivals, surprises and plot twists. That's the secret to good plotting, in my opinion. Hmmm...now this is where I stumble around trying to explain things in words that'll make some sense as I think about them. So bear with me for a bit, k? I saw something in a writer's magazine many years ago, where the author actually used file cards to plot out their story. They were using pushpins on a board, but I gave it a try by just laying them out on the floor. Hehehe! I can honestly say that this method really helped me to think about plotting a story out in a very vivid and professional way. Basically...you get an idea for an event or a conversation that you want to take place in your story...you write it on a small file card. Just one idea. Then...when you get another idea that takes place at any other point in your story, you write it out on another card. now you've got two. You just keep going until all of your current ideas are now written on a collection of small file cards, each one separate from one another. Still following me? Ok, cool... Now, what you want to do is take those same cards, look through them, and put them in an order that makes some kind of logical sense in terms of your narrative. I can do this in my head now, but sometimes a visible, physical, representation of your thought process can be really helpful in developing those instincts that will come in so handy later on for those of you who decide to keep writing as long as you've got that creative bug under your skin. Hehehe! Especially if you're writing this story over multiple days or weeks. You don't want your brain to get all jumbled up and concerned with keeping it all in order. Give the note thing a try. It worked wonders for me. So...the question is...how can you take those engaging random events and put them into an order that won't feel awkward, boring, or confusing? Well, you do that by breaking your story down into its individual parts, and understanding what each one of those parts mean when it comes to storytelling. Having a knowledge and building up a gut feeling about the purpose and reason for each of the scenes that you've written down, will make plotting a whole lot easier than you may think. It's all about what the events mean, and what their purpose is when it comes to the art of storytelling. Think of it in measures of ten points, like this... - The Hook - The Inciting Incident - The Goal - The Plan - Obstacles And Challenges - The Build Up - The High Point - The Low Point - The Climax - The Future Now, this is a tried and true story structure that I usually use with my own work, and I often use these ten points to sort of contain and control my writing ideas, occasionally deviating from the script whenever my personal muse gives me the appropriate nudge. Hehehe! Again, I'm going to use the "Jesse-101" story to demonstrate my point here. But don't worry, I'm not giving away any spoilers about Tristan and Jesse here. Promise. So, let's say that I'm taking random notes on what I want to happen in this series. Write your notes down on your file cards and spread them out in front of you. They might look something like this... Now, I'm just sort of brainstorming at this point, but I'm trying to think of some major plot points here, twists and turns that might happen along the way, and a possible outcome. So now the question is...how do I begin putting these in order? They're there for you to play with. Rearrange them into some sort of system that works for you, and read through your story plot from beginning. And if you still feel like something feels a bit awkward about the main order of events, keep switching them around until you find something that you can be happy with. If you keep stumbling on one of your cards, and it doesn't feel like it really fits in anywhere, see if just getting rid of it will solve the problem. Sometimes I try to hod on to something that I think would really be cool...but no matter where I try to add it, it ends up coming of as clunky, or it distracts from the main plot and the characters. So I have to ask myself, if I just got rid of it altogether, will my writer 'flow' seem much smoother in its delivery? If the answer is yes...then it's gone. 'Junk file' for now, and maybe I'll update it and write it even better later on for something else. When putting events in order, think about the ten points above. You don't have to have all ten right away. Just try to see where the notes you have so far fit into your story. Ask yourself...what is the 'hook' for my story? That's the first part of the equation to figure out. For "Jesse-101", it was the fact a high school boy who's in the closet, was lucky enough to find another boy to be with and satisfy his need to find someone special to be with...only to have his heart broken later on as he discovers that he's been used and then tossed aside by the first person he trusted his heart to. Anyone reading the beginning of this story is going to immediately find themselves drawn in by the very idea of it. I'm starting off with an event that will immediately create an emotional understanding between my readers and the main character. So let's move that up to be my top card, and shuffle everything else around accordingly, like so... So where do I go from here? I've got four file cards left, but they don't really seem to 'connect' just yet. Again, I have to ask myself where these situations should land next in the story. The idea is for each event to have some sort of an end result due to the scenes before it, and an impact on the scenes to follow it. It should heighten the emotions being presented and increase the stakes. Looking at my last four cards...I can already tell that I've got a *LOT* more work to do. Why? Well look at them for yourselves... Here's why... - We've got 'Lori pushes Tristan to talk to the boy of his dreams'. Well...who is the boy of his dreams? Jesse? But we haven't even met Jesse yet. We don't know anything about him. It's safe to assume that he's cute, but nothing has happened yet to get the readers invested in him or his personality in anyway. Not only that, but that completely undercuts the pain of having heart broken if he can just go out and fall in love all over again with somebody else. So that wouldn't be the way to go. We can set that card aside for now. - Next, we have Tristan meeting Jesse for the first time and thinking that he's beautiful. Okaaaay...so? So what? He's at the mall on a Saturday. There are cute boys everywhere! What makes Jesse so special? This scene has no set up. It's right there with the second card. So let's put that one aside too. And if they fall in love right away and have a first date...that falls flat as well, because nothing was given to your audience to have them earn that special moment. Even if I'm writing a short story, I try to give some backstory to my characters and their interactions to make it seem like this moment has been a long time coming. Otherwise, it carries no weight. No stakes. So we can put that aside for now as well. - One card left. And that says Tristan comes out to his mom. Well...that was anti-climactic, don't ya think? If him telling his mother that he's gay was going to be that easy, with no real reward, or real consequences...then why even take the time to suggest that it would be a problem in the first place? I could have just had Tristan be out and proud from the very beginning and saved myself from wasting time even focusing on it. If there's not going to be a significant payoff to this reveal, then it's a distraction. Either build up to it, or toss it aside. You know? So...it looks like I've got a 'hook' for my story, and a handful of situations that don't really have any meaning or substance yet. I still want to keep them in the project, but let's work on a few things that we want to happen between these events to make them a little bit stronger. K? Don't get frustrated. This is how it starts. You've got to temper and fold that sword to make it sharp! It won't start out that way. Keep going! Let's say I think things out for a few minutes, examining what I've got so far, and I add another file card like this one... Ok! Now we're getting somewhere! So now I can introduce Lori into the beginning of the story, slip in some exposition about who our main character is, what he wants, and what happened between and his former jerk of a boyfriend. We get to see what their relationship is like by demonstrating it through their dialogue and sense of humor, as well as their real affection for one another. Also, we get a solid introduction to the story's love interest, and we get to see him in action as Tristan laughs along with his videos, blushes at his comments, and begins to obsess over the idea of taking the time to watch them all. Now we've got a few block pieces that actually 'fit' together without having to guess as to why they should care. The connection begins! What next? Do I want to jump forward to Lori finding out about how much Tristan likes this random boy on Youtube and then just have them drive out to the mall to seek him out? I could do that, sure. But I think I can make things a little more potent by extending that anxiety for a bit longer while taking my readers along for the ride. Maybe I let him sigh dreamily to himself for a while and then readdress some of his issues to explain he doesn't just run out there and tackle the poor boy in the mall. Maybe he thinks about the fact that he's in the closet still, or that Jesse is just too far out of his league. And keep the idea going that he's afraid of making the same mistake that he made with his first boyfriend when he went charging in blind without thinking about the heartbreak that could follow. These are all details that can add depth and emotion to your story as a whole. But...since we're just in the plotting stages right now, how about we add a moment like this one? Now we have our 'inciting incident'! This is what puts your story into motion. For anybody who wants to know, "What is this story actually about?" This is the time to show them. Put it right after the set up. Don't let it linger for too long, or it begins to get boring. This introduces elements of hope, excitement, confusion, and joy. You readers have something to work with and can start cheering your main character on as a definitive goal is brought to light. And this would be a good time to bring in one of the cards that you put aside, where Tristan's best friend, Lori, pushes him to go chasing after the boy of his dreams. We know who she is, we know who Tristan is, we know who Jesse is and why he would be so alluring to our main character. We have a goal in place, and we know why Tristan would be so hesitant that he would need encouragement to move forward. Is this starting to make sense now? I could have things move forward from there, but you guys know me and my need for teen angst! He's never been this much in love before, he's coming off of a heartbreak, he's not 'out' to anybody at school or at home, Jesse is famous and could find another boy at any moment...forcing him back to square one all over again. He's got a lot to worry about. And angst is a weapon that I wield like a battleaxe when I have to! Hehehe, so my personal choice would be to have Tristan panic and freak out and crawl back into his shell almost immediately. It's much easier to be infatuated someone when you don't have to worry about them ever finding out about it, meeting them in person, or having to actually find the courage to give them your heart while asking for theirs in return. So I might add a file card that says... Now I've got conflict involved. What's in my main character's way of finding true love right now? He's been given something to overcome. That's important. From there, you keep rearranging your ideas, finding the gaps and holes in between them that need to be explained, and seeing what you can add or take away to strengthen your most important moments so they really get to shine in the story's spotlight when you need them too. Keep adding notes, and before you know it...you'll have a whole story plotted out from start to finish. It should look something like this, with labels beside each scene to describe their meaning and purpose throughout the narrative as a whole. 00 Now, this is a bare bones plot of the "Jesse-101" series, as there is a lot of other stuff that happens, more characters, more big moments, etc....but this is something that I can use as a map so I don't find myself lost at sea with nowhere to go. Take notice of how every scene on the list is both a result of the actions preceding it, and a build up of the scene that's next to come. That's exactly what you want. It makes your story read as one cohesive piece, and not like a 'bunch of disjoint things that just happened'. I can add more notes along the way as I think of them, I can change them any time I want, and I still have the total freedom mold things the way I want to, even in a spontaneous moment of delight. You can make as many notes/cards as you want. Make thirty! Make one hundred, if you're feeling ambitious! But I think if you can come up with enough quality events to hit these ten major plot points in your writing, everything else is a pleasant bonus in the long run! Whew...that was a lot! Sorry for talking so much! Hehehe, but, as always...I hope this made sense. And I hope it helps. Cool? Have fun! And I'll seezya soon with more!

Hahaha! Oh yeah, that totally happened! ::Giggles:: Yep! That's all the boys that I went to school with!

Really? Does it come off that way? Because I took special care to NOT make it seem that way. In fact, on the bus ride over, he was trying to hold back from leading Scotty on, remember? Even at the house, it was like "Don't lead him on, but don't ruin his confidence." I didn't mean for it to read like that. Maybe my balance was off....

Yep! Spring Break continues with a brand new chapter of "Jesse-101" today! So I hope you guys like it! And look forward to more soon! Cool? K? Because its coming! Better believe me! Have fun! MWAH!!! Love you lots! And thanks soooo much for loving me back! https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/jessie-101onlinecelebrity/

"Jesse-101" Online Celebrity Chapter Thirty Six: "The Wall Between Us All" Scotty was quick to go back to dead silence after saying the words out loud, and after he ran out pages in Artie's notebook that he had brought over to Jesse's house, he nervously thumbed his way back to the middle and start looking through some of the pages again. I mean, it was totally clear to me that he was just trying to avoid talking about it anymore, and I really really

Another chapter of my GA Premium exclusive miniseries, "A Fresh Start", has a brand new chapter for you guys to jump into So I hope you guys like it! And thanks so much for the comments you left behind to let me know that you're having a good time! MWAH! Love you lots! And grab yourselves a Premium membership for even more goodies to come! Cool? Have fun!