Hudson Bartholomew

Swish, swish. Ryan had almost forgotten how good it felt to push off against the ice, the feeling of his blades biting into the slick surface, and the chilly air blowing across his cheeks. He did a couple of laps around the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, crouching low and swinging his arms to build momentum. He wasn't sure how Gary had managed to get a permit to film here, but sure enough, here they were, with Ryan doing his laps while Gary and Erik conferred with a camera guy by the boards.

Thanks for the mention!!

The prompt sparked a bunch of ideas, and I'd like to develop it into a full length story. So we'll see where it goes! Thanks!

Thanks so much!

Thanks! I think he will come back to the clearing, although maybe not the way we'd expect?? I'm plotting out a full length story from this, so we'll see!

You're right, I think there is more to this story. Now, I just have to figure out what that is!

Good point about the Quebecois Spoiler Alert: Ryan's technically only half French Canadian, the other half is just plain Canadian, unfortunately.

Thanks for the review! I love your comment about Ryan talking to his cat, because I'm pretty sure he does

Prompt #559 – List of Words: Pine tree, toy soldier, a book, a full moon, and a blanket. I am a creature of the night. I mean, I’m not a vampire or anything. I just really like the night. It’s quiet. Everyone’s gone to bed, and I’m all alone in the world. There’s no need to talk to anyone because there’s no one around to talk to. Perfect. One of my favorite things to do at night is to drive out into the vast wilderness that lies beyond the boundaries of my small town. There are turnoffs from t

Interesting point. I'll have to go back and reassess that. Thanks!

I think there's a difference between not connecting with a story (which is completely understandable, there are plenty of stories I don't connect with) and having constructive feedback. I'm just saying that I appreciate constructive feedback just as much as I appreciate the positive feedback. If a story just doesn't speak to you, that's completely fine!

True! I tend to assume that people default to polite, but I guess that's not always a reasonable assumption to make.

I've recently received some comments on my writing that I loved. And no, they weren't about how great my writing was, they were about things the reader didn't like. Don't get me wrong. I love getting positive comments and knowing that people enjoy my writing. But I found that I liked the constructive feedback a lot, too. They were written respectfully and politely, explaining why the reader didn't like a particular character or why they disagreed with some aspect of the story. All very legitimate points that I found myself nodding in agreement with. As a writer, I go through multiple rounds of editing and rewriting until I feel like I’ve polished away all the blemishes I can see. But I by no means believe that just because I can’t see any more blemishes, that means blemishes no longer exist. Even stepping away from a story and revisiting it with fresh eyes can only bring it that much further. There comes a point when I’ve done all I can, but the story isn’t quite there yet. And that’s where other people come in. I’d love to hear honest reviews—maybe brutally honest—that explain why something I wrote isn’t working. Pepper it with niceties, sure, but I’d like to think I can take some negative reviews and constructive criticism. So if you’ve ever read anything I’ve written and thought, “Gee, I wish this were different,” or “I really didn’t like that,” or “That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever,” please do let me know. On second thought, maybe I should be careful what I wish for…

That website has been the inspiration for quite a few stories Good point about the tension, and I can see where it would fit. Thanks for the review!

Throwing a Canadian perspective into the mix... from my experience linguistic differences between Canada and the US are fairly minor since so much of our media comes from the US and a lot of Canadians travel in the US. What's a little more challenging, I find, is the spelling. It's not really the extra "u" that's we've inherited from British spelling--all Canadians will use "favourite" rather than "favorite." But the use of "er" versus "re" varies; for example "center" or "centre"? The same thing for certain past tenses: "spelt" versus "spelled," "dreamt" versus "dreamed." I always switch back and forth between British and American with these things. The other interesting thing with Canada is the regional similarity we have with parts of the US. I find that people from the West Coast of the continent (I'm thinking Vancouver and California) speak more similarly than people from Vancouver versus Toronto, etc.

I agree with what most people have said: describing underwear should further the story, just as describing anything else should further the story. Whenever I get to scene where the topic of underwear comes up, I do spent a minute considering what type of underwear the character would prefer. I don't always go on in depth about what kind he's wearing, but I do feel like it gives me a bit of insight into the personality of the character. Underwear is such a personal thing that I almost feel like it gives me a little window into the character's psyche. So knowing what underwear he likes helps me understand the character just that little bit more. Who knew underwear could be so profound?!

Thanks for the encouraging words!

He is a really nice guy A little gruff on the outside, but a teddy bear on the inside!

Thanks!!

Thanks!!

I think I love drunk Erik. I need to get him drunk more often so he can do more cute stuff.

I really don't think Ryan finds Amanda annoying, it's more just the dynamic of their friendship; she teases, he pretends to grumpy, it's kind of their shtick.

Ryan's a reserved guy, so he needs a little push to come out of his shell. Sometimes a little push is a good thing

Thanks so much!