Jack Scribe

That cracks me up! Thanks to all of you who contributed to this forum. I agree with those who suggested that I should render a flavor of a teen's style of talking and not go heavy-duty on slang, idioms, F-bombs, etc. Those familiar with 'Cray' from Desert Fantasies are aware that he's a bright guy who was forced to grown up fast due to severe personal problems. Later, he was assigned foster dads who weren't that much older than him. I imagined the two men being terrific role models with whom Cray wanted to identify and excel in their presence. Therefore, in a 'family' environment, the teen would stretch his communication ability to please his dads. This will continue to be the case in Shifting Sands. In peers situations/confrontations, I'm going to take the approach of relaxed informality with a few 'filler' words tossed in for touch of authenticity. A long time ago, I opted to avoid to many "um", "ah", etc. Although excessive use of these utterances are very normal in speech patterns (of teens and adults), they don't translate very well in a story. BTW, I loved J. Ross' lively dialogue. Terrific! Jack P.S. Attached is a avatar that I thought was humorous...altho not appropriate for Gay Authors.

I'd like suggestions from writers or readers - younger (in my case, that's a broad range ) or otherwise, who can give me some tips about how the millenium generation speak to each other. I'm in the process of starting the third volume of the Vegas series and one of my main characters - Cray - is now 18, as are his buddies. In the past, I've been rightly criticized for having my teens' dialogue too adult and mature for their age. I have to admit that has been a problem. A good friend and author, Drew Filchak (who I hope will come over to GA some day as a Hosted Author) gave me his thoughts: Yeah, it

Thanks, Sharon. The new story will introduce another couple of characters who join the roster. Look for Oleg Petrov, a P.I. and West Coast partner of the vaulted AOI International - the security company that was first introduced in Domes and Teapots. Jack

2008 has been a productive year for me. Re-writing the first two volumes of the Splash series gave these earlier stories needed polish for continuity as we segue to the final part of the triolgy - Splash on the Web. And the guys in Las Vegas have been busy. Shifting Sands should be finished and ready for release later in 2009. I appreciate your feedback of the stories. They're an author's lifeblood.

Congrats! Ya dun good, Myr. GA keeps getting better and better. Terrific additions in the authors roster, a abundance of stories and a responsive membership. Here's to a terrific year ahead! Jack

Ditto! I'm proud - and not surprised - that you're part of the Hosted crowd. Your skillful writing continues to 'wow' me. Best, Your friend in Palm Springs

I add congratuations to the turnout of your peers and fans. Jack

I've been a fan of thes guys all my adult life. Scary to consider that Ringo Starr is celebrating his 68th birthday. Saw the Cirque du Soleil tribute show, Love, last year in Las Vegas. FUN!

This political fantasy - tongue-in-cheek, to say the least - is very timely. As the Hill/Bill/Barry drama plays itself out, I recommend this short story to those political junkies who have a sense of humor. Jack

I thought the accents were believable. The setting/hometown for the characters is East-central Texas and the accents were subtle. What is incredible is the acting. Phillippe, Tatum and Gordon-Levitt are exceptional in their portrayals of soldiers in battle action and when they return home from Iraq. The female lead, Abbie Cornish, is very effective. The lead sentence from Rolling Stone's review hits it on the head: Here's the first major movie of the new year that touches greatness... Fair warning. Fantastic eye candy aside, this is a movie with a powerful message. It presents startling images, stirs deep emotions and provokes challenging thoughts about this war. The movie touched me deeply. Go see it! Jack

I agree with the comments about David C. His ability to professionally sell a song is primo (although I'm no fan of soul patches). David A. is an awesome talent but is having problems with consistency. Forgetting the lyrics a couple weeks ago and singing a completely unremarkable song are speed bumps that may derail him if situations like this continue. I'm surprised there is not much comment about Michael Johns. This hunky transplanted Aussie has a magnetic voice. If he continues to select music that showcases his vocal power, Michael can be a real contender. He and the two Davids may be the final 'top three'. If I was a concert producer, I'd sign D, D and M - after all the AI obligations are squared away - and present a contemporary music version of what opera did years ago with The Three Tenors. It would be an awesome show. My guess is that the surviving 'bottom three' competitors will be the next to go...with Kristy as a potential of getting the axe very soon. This has to be the best AI season for talent in quite a while. I just wish I had Tivo to eliminate the excessive padding to fill the programming hour. Jack

Here's a brief comment from aintitcool: The story of STOP LOSS is a powerful modern military story. It doesn

From mygayestlook: On Thursday, March 20, 2008, Jay Leno welcomed as his guest on The Tonight Show the actor Ryan Phillippe, who, early in his career, played a gay character on the daily soap One Life to Live. During the interview, Leno hounded Phillippe, telling him to look into the camera, pretend it was his "gay lover

Terrific short article written by a heterosexual woman about the merits of having a gay boyfriend. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et...,1,441593.story Jack P.S. Have a nice Easter weekend!

Happy Birthday, Camy! All the best for many, many more. Jack

This just in: A senatoral insight committee of one, headed by the Senator from Idaho, will be visiting Amsterdam this summer. Jack

I'd even go so far as to suggest that Kit would be a terrific addition to our Hosted Authors group. Jack

Welcome to the GA madness, Michael! Perhaps you'll find time to write a short story for either the Spring Anthology or Summer Anthology competitions. Look forward to seeing what you select for an avatar. Kevin can assist giving you a Gay Authors Author plaque to go under the avatar. Look forward to reading your stories. Jack

Agree completely. Kevin, you rawk! Jack

IMHO, he (David A) sang the worst last night in all of his AI performances. As I understand it, only one person will be eliminated tonight. I'm hoping for David's sake it'll be one of the women. Jack

Yikes. I can just imagine a warning being enclosed with the water bill: "If you maintain an erection for four hours or longer after drinking water, consult your physician." Seriously, this is disturbing. Thanks, Nick, for bringing up this topic. Since this isn't in the Soap Box Forum, I won't go into the leadership issues that are needed to address this problem. Jack

Wonder where the tongue is going? Seriously, like other parts of the body, I'd find some neat adjectives to enhance the tongue - heat, texture, wetness, activeness, color - and go from there. Jack

Sweeney Todd, The Demon Goat of Fleet Street. Jack

Thanks, Tim. I occasionally do something completely out of my style as a brain stimulator. Check out the two-part story, Different Choices. I wrote it the weekend of the Katrina disaster. Watching all the government agencies bumble this made me very angry and the short story was my way to vent. http://jackscribe.gayauthors.org/choices/index.php.

Luke and Danny, bu-bye. We hardly knew ye. The finals should be excellent and the guys are much stronger this year. Listening to cutie Blake Lewis last night verified this. I don't think he would have made the cut this season. But it did look like he'd been working out.