Krista

I have been reading through and doing small edits of this story, I doubt there are many of you that are still actively reading this. I've found some continuity errors and other things that probably happen between long down periods between chapters. If you all see some, feel free to PM me with them so I can go in and edit them. I've already re-read the entire thing quickly and I know I missed some as I'm the author, my brain knows what it meant to write, right? Also, I'm thinking about posting, "The scene," that kind of derailed the story for me. I liked the scene, but something about it just stopped me in my tracks. Now that I've read the entire story as a whole, I know why so I'm going to cut it. But if you're interested I can copy/paste before that takes place. I also have another deleted scene that I saved from way back that also made me pause and think about the story and what I wanted from it... I can post that one too. They both involve Luke's family.

The most common ones I've been around and caught people using are: "You have the sense God gave a goat," - You're stubborn and stupid. "She/He is built like a brick shithouse," - If you're a girl you're attractive. If you're a guy, you're broad and muscled. I guess since the buildings were so small and prone to tipping over back in the day, a brick one was like going potty in a five star hotel. "Bless your heart," - You've either said or done something stupid. It isn't a compliment. "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" - Talking either about a loose woman that you don't have to marry to have 'relations' with, or a scantily dressed woman that is showing what she has "for sell," instead of covering herself. "I don't sweat, I simply glisten," - High Society woman that never had to work for anything. Kind of a snooty insult when talking to someone she think inferior for having to work. I had an older aunt that was like this. She didn't Sweat, she glistened. She didn't fart, she simply tooted. It was always.. "simply," something. "Honey, you're like drinking sweet iced tea," - You're being nice/helpful. A compliment. Or a pick-up line, since sweet iced tea is cold and refreshing. Man talking to a woman usually. "You're as fidgety as a frog leg in a frying pan," - I guess you're nervous and when you cook a frog leg, as the tendons in the legs begin to get hot and cook it causes the frog leg to move. "You're a mouse fart in a windstorm/thunderstorm," - An insult for someone that thinks they're important. "You're as slick as water off a duck's back," - Smooth talker/clever. "I'm about to take you out behind the wood shed," - I'm about to kick your ass. (If you're talking to an adult), to a child, it means you're about to spank them.

I really wouldn't call myself a gamer type person.. I mean I only play, The Sims, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect - but this one looks really nice and the visuals (if they are able to deliver on those) are gorgeous.

Yeah, I hate the spacing myself. I'm currently working on that. Google Documents has hidden formatting, I think. I have to go back and delete the chapter, then replace it via pasting plain text and that seems to fix the issue. It will be a little slow at doing that since there are a lot of chapters.

I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek, there are many ways where too much dialogue can be detrimental to the story telling. A lot of dialogue isn't a bad thing, I do stand by that. I am a heavy dialogue writer. Now there are bad ways to go about dialogue. Head hopping, info-dumping, telling instead of showing, etc. Where excessive dialogue could become an issue. Writing does need to be balanced. An editor that worked for a publishing agency did a video of why publishers reject a story within the first two or three chapters. One of her main points was that the first chapters should introduce your story in a way that hooks the readers. Exclusive or heavy dialogue within the first two chapters may have been a bit confusing to the readers as to what was going on and why. Using heavy dialogue to introduce a story to readers may not have been a way to go about it? I am no expert though.

Yeah, there is no such thing as too much dialogue. Let it fly. Although, boring info-dumpy dialogue could be a problem, but that is off-topic. As an avid eavesdropper (it comes from being southern I think), I am all up in everyone's conversations until they look at me like, "What?" Then I just turn my ear to them so I can hear them better w/out tipping them off.

I've been reading and listening to an ex-book editor for an Agent on topics of writing. I also learned that Authors who dictate what their readers are supposed to think, really can derail discussion. It seems such a minor thing really, that we authors answer questions in absolutes. For example, if someone was to ask, "Is so and so possibly Gay?" Albeit in this community where most stories are about LGBT characters, the answer to that question is likely easily answered. BUT if the author was to say, "No absolutely not," where there are minor/debatable evidences that opened up a discussion they have in a way derailed and left their readers a bit outside of the community box. I forget the terminology used to describe the scenario, but authors should look at reviews with an open mind good or bad or as off-base as they seem to be. I don't think authors should tell people that reviewers are completely wrong, that I wrote a specific story, and what I wrote from A to End is how it should be viewed, nothing outside of that should be considered plausible or debatable and so on. Here I feel there are more favorable reviews because the writing is for the most part Free by what would be considered niche and amateur fiction. So there is a bit of a mindset to give uplifting reviews instead of critically picking apart the story. In a way these aren't really all that beneficial for those writers who have ambitions beyond giving out writing for free via this platform, but to look into publishing for profit. Although - with self publishing platforms on the rise, you will see these sort of uplifting yet not-so critical reviews taking precedent away from really in-depth and critical reviews. People have a tendency to not want to quash a person's love for writing/creating. So even on platforms like Amazon or Goodreads you will see more positive reviews for something you may see as substandard or bad. Also you have to take into account whether or not those reviews - especially for small publishing/self publishing are genuine reviews or plants by supporters so that they can help make a story look more attractive to buyers. My own writing, the first 3ish - 4ish stories I posted on here are rough and really bad if I'm being 100% honest. Still, they get five star reviews and a lot of favorable comments. I tell the readers they are old and rough, so maybe they go in to the stories with that expectation - maybe I shouldn't, but I feel like a fair warning for some of my early works are warranted. I have bought a couple of self-published e-books and have just outright asked for my money back because I couldn't get through the first couple of chapters. These e-books had great reviews, part of the reason I bought them in the first place. Even with that said, I did not want to write my own review of the piece in the off chance that it just wasn't my thing and/or the storytelling and editing got better as the story progressed - as unlikely as that is. I also don't want to derail someone doing something that I don't think I am good enough of a writer to do and that is put it out there for people to actually pay money for... I don't want to take potential dollars away from people by writing a scathing review of a piece of work that I myself don't think is worthy of giving money towards. As an author/creator I would want to receive more critical reviews. Although if readers give me 100% favorable comments and then smack my story with 3 stars with no indication or provocation for that it WILL give me a complex not going to lie. 😄 Here I 'only' do critical reading and reviewing if I am asked outright to do so. I do not consider myself a reader, I am here to discuss and to write. Neither of which I have done much of lately. To Add, authors need to make more of a connection to the reviews when replying to them as well. I am bad for just saying, "Oh thank you for liking my story and reading!" with no real attempt to get to know the reviewers on any level. I should instead say something like, "Thank you for taking the time to read, I am glad you liked the story, what were some parts you really enjoyed? What can I work on? Is there something you didn't like at all?" They don't have to answer, but at least you've opened the door for some sort of discussion as corny as those questions seem. 😛

I am too, I cannot sleep at night anymore.. and I don't take cheat on working from home naps either.

You're right little possum. If we're going by feet and inches it is 6'4" would be Six feet and four inches.