Krista

Yeah, not having a firm foundation in a place where all of that matters would likely make a person feel outside that whole culture. You do see it playing out on college campuses as well. It goes well past High School shenanigans, at least for four more years. I didn't see it as much after I got my Bachelors and started my graduate programs. It was sort of laughed at during my Doctorate programs and I was too busy to worry or fuss about school spirit. I wanted to be over and done with my education. But yes... it all seems so big in the moment, school pride and all that. Sometimes small towns, aside from a bowling alley and substances that leads to bad decisions, they don't have much else to do. Although, I don't find that a slight against small towns, I just see it as a difference. I'd not give up small town living. I moved my husband out of his little city, but he never really fit there anyway. And, I assure you that Joel's face is as smooth as an angel's, thank you very much. His hair is brown, with deeper auburn tones if he gets a lot of sun. You've turned on Colt, the boy can switch bodywashes! I can't believe this. Colt is supposed to be the blond, broody, periphery hot dude distraction. I'll scrub him up and slap a bow on his ass, if you want.

Ah. that just just seems too far-fetched and utopian, I would almost have to see it playing out in front of me.

I don't start out thinking I'm not allowing y'all to have nice things. It is just funny how it seems to always end up that way. I don't know what that says about me... I wouldn't read too much into it. 😇 Joel certainly seems to like Ag Science, doesn't he? I wouldn't call Rissa a friend, more like someone that's not pulled a shiv and chased him from the table yet. That may still be coming his way if he slips up... And one day maybe Joel can stop tripping over his own shoe-laces...

Thank you, although I find the scenes tedious to write... mostly because I've lived in these stories off and on since like 2004, it is nice to know that I'm still making them seem organic and authentic to experiences. Also, if I were into betting, I think there's no odds on that happening. You don't slight the king in his castle and get away with it, do you? Colt might be scared of rational talks with his parents. He knows them, so he knows how they operate. But yes, the sooner the better. It is a little cute that Joel is giving him his own advice back to him. Colt told Joel to tell Celia, because she would be the easier one. But, he hasn't told either of his parents his decision... because it is made, seemingly. The sooner he lets people know, the sooner things may change for him.

Yeah, the boy seems to be always going through a lot of emotions. When I read over this chapter, I knew that he was reading 'mean' so I understand the prickly comments. I mean, the boy can be a full on cactus. Rigid and prickly. I just hope there's still some faith in him softening to something more like a... I don't want to say kitten... something more manly than a wee little fluffball kitten. But something that is more flexible and doesn't sting the people that gets too close. Trace and Celia have shown him grace and patience, but that doesn't mean everyone will. Although the more prickly that Joel gets the more interested Colt seems to be in opening up to him and talking... so maybe I'm wrong. And yes, I do like the prickly comments for this chapter. They do fit him and they are 'different' slightly than the last two chapters... so are we seeing growth? Maybe... hopefully... yes? Baseball is important to him, so important that he's putting a lot of weight to that decision and a lot of emotion behind it. And yeah Mrs. Finch didn't just seemingly write this off as a new student new problem sort of thing. Still yet to be seen if she follows through on the Strike 1 threat Jaxton might have received though. He only has two more.

Yeah, he's seemingly switching from 'just' fear to, frustration and anger a bit. I wonder if there's a boiling point with him, or if he's going to let the steam out, because he might have kicked Jonny's ass on the creek... because Jonny is an ass that deserved it. Jaxton may be one too... but what he isn't is the town drug dealing drunk with no future, the fallout from that rash decision would be a lot different. So hopefully Joel will walk a little bit smarter in the coming days. Yeah, Davin still wants to talk Baseball, I'm sure he will... the twins don't like taking no for an answer it seems. Which for Joel, might be a good thing if he lets them keep talking.

With him driven by fear, people can put some weight on his problems. Tempton is a perfectly okay place for him to be, possibly. He didn't allow it, because he was unwilling to tell people about his sexuality, or have them know. Then his mother confirmed that for him. He may have found acceptance there, we'll never truly know with him making the decision to spare himself from that possibility. He was in the complete mindset to run to save himself 'only after' Trace talked him off the bride. So there was a lot of rapid fire thoughts and processing that happened, that I don't think he's recovered from yet. So yeah, the waffling between old and new continues, and his unwillingness to reach out for either one of them. I hope there's a shift starting in all of what you said and I responded with. If not, there's no growth for him left to make. But there's like 40k words left in the writing... lol. Increasing mind you, because now I have a chapter titled 19.1 which makes no sense to you guys, but perfect sense to me.

Also, my second favorite Disney villain.

Social cohesion? What the hell even is that? Small town tribalism, hmm... at its finest, I guess. There seems to be some hard lines drawn in the sand with some of them. A lot of schools have adopted a zero tolerance platform for bullying. It is a lot more difficult to get control over though, with social media giving such easy access and a screen and a bit of anonymity to hide behind. He is prickly with the wrong people right now. He has softened with Colt a bit, but to be fair Colt does pick at him some so some of that is just retaliation. But it is good to see that Colt is taking the time to pick at him and not ignore him with mostly indifference.

It might be a little late by social media standards? They waited for like half of a whole second day? And, I think Gavin had already started. I don't think he was the one that started the whole mess, not intentionally, but who knows. Rest assured I didn't write it that way, I couldn't do that to Gavin. It would be yikes for Joel to break the QB's arm in a fight. I don't think Fletcher would keep a kid that's two days in and already being this much of a concern. Hopefully Joel can smooth out those thoughts before he messes more stuff up. But also, if he were to take over and lead them to a District championship... Seven is late when you wake up around 6am. Or during a hunting season when your husband lets his damn alarm go off twice at 4:30 after you stayed up clucking and editing and writing with a certain Wildman until after midnight. I didn't know who I was wanting to murder this morning, but I hope one of the two felt something tingling in their bones that made them look over their shoulder.

Oh no... this is the first time you've posted one of these and I don't know how to respond when I go to search out a .gif. It is slightly terrifying.

After setting up my Chromebook, I couldn’t sleep. Instead, I stared at the ceiling as the hours slinked by, my heartrate ticking up then calming down as thoughts raced through my head. Davin being a hallway down annoyed me. I wasn’t done talking to him, but it never felt like we had the space to do any of that, not without making things weird. I wanted to tell him that my heart wasn’t with Fletcher, that it never could be. I spent three and a half years at Tempton High, but nearly eighteen in Jo

Oh gosh *hides eyes* I can't be here in the comments section until I've settled in and read the story. 😮 Dangerous! Also, "sports ball teams" I don't know if my mind should be in the gutter with the way it was worded, but it tripped right in there anyway.

17x1 would also be clever.

Yeah, I'll dodge that question, for now.

That's the POV of first. Unless the character tells your narrator what they're thinking, you just have to assume right along with the narrator based on underlying observations, evidences... until proven out. You have to think about Davin's nature, is he reliable, does he have hidden motives, etc. Joel isn't the most reliable narrator to be fair. He waffles a bit based on his fluctuating mindset. He thinks things in moments and then backtracks on those thoughts. I do want to write a character that goes either way and in doing so is also far more open to threesomes.

Woops, did I forget one? lol... because I didn't actively dodge one. Let me go back and look...

Learned to Lie wasn't my idea to begin with. It was an idea given to me by, @wildone. I think he was writing it for an anthology story. I got to read the portion of the writing. Then he lost motivation to continue it. So, I told him that I'd like to run with the idea, because I liked it. I changed a lot of the writing to fit my own personal tastes, but the beginning idea was his. The first chapter leaned heavily on that. It was also a bit of a seat of my pants decision to write it for the Secret Author contest. I knew I was rushing head-first into a deadline and a wordcount that would leave the idea a bit lacking with readers. It took some prodding and the completion of, "The Best Year," for me to start working on this story again. To answer your question. I do not outline my story from beginning to end. The most I do is character descriptions. I embed a few plot important aspects tied to those characters. For example for, "The Best Year," Jackson is a character study of someone who isn't serious, he is unapologetic, careless, and I wanted him to test the limits of readers on whether or not they found him worth reading, based on him not being likeable off the bat. I knew within the writing to make him end up being worthwhile that he would need to show growth. That's as far as I went with him though. I do plan out endings for some stories. I don't with others. I have an anxiety about ending stories. I never think I do it with the most conviction or in the best of spots. I knew how I wanted, "The Best Year," to end. I also knew how I wanted "Elias" to end. I did not know how I wanted "Ridley" to end, and most people would have much preferred that I continued that story a lot farther than I chose to. This story, I didn't not have a sought out and planned ending. I just knew the variables that I needed to work on before I could allow the ending to come. And it is absolutely true when I said that I didn't know going in who of the characters that I wished to write would be Joel's partner through all of this. I eliminated Colt at the beginning. I knew how I wanted to depict Colt, Davin, Gavin, Roy, Jonny, Lorianne, etc. I did not know who would be the best fit for Joel. Who I liked him with and who I thought readers would connect the best within the make-up of all of those dynamics. So, no it was not planned. I had a little * followed by 'Possible love interest' in their character descriptions and there were multiple names that had them. I knew Joel was going to remain with the Connley family though. That was the bigger plot aspect that should have read as obvious as soon a Trace met him on that bridge. I had to build tension in that decision, if it was too easy of one, then him being there wouldn't have landed. I knew that, but as far as him attending Tempton High, or Fletcher High, that was up in the air in the beginning. And since that idea was slightly up in the air, then his love interest naturally followed. Proximity is the best way to create chemistry with characters. If they never see one another, they can't form the chemistry. So, with that said, that eliminated anyone that I knew would be staying in Tempton. It also eliminated some characters completely, that never made my character sheet to begin with, truthfully. Anyone he meets after attending Fletcher hadn't been added to the character sheet either. ***To clarify - The decision for him to attend Fletcher came earlier in the writing. I want to say just after the fourth or fifth chapter. My mind was made up, but I allowed Joel's not to be. So, this very well could have been a bit of a different story, the constant being Joel and to a point the Connleys and Kepler twins. The ending is what I'm still struggling with. I'm being told by my brain that I need to work on it still. Or up to it better.

I'm guilty as charged about not deleting things after I've posted. I did it one time recently, somewhere, and it backfired and now I wished I left it for the person that needed to see it most. Prompted a mood change to uninvolved and everything. That mood didn't last long, it is one of my 'never going to change' faults. Again, guilty as charged. lol. Yeah, I did unintentionally belittle poor Davin. I mean I do write him with a little less care than I do Joel, so some of him is lost to the back of my mind and I let him fall where he does. Organically. So if he reads as you've pointed out, then I feel him a stronger character for it. I just didn't set out to make him that way down to the letter. His character sheet is actually almost mirrored to his Brother's in my character sheet descriptions. The rest came about through my mind at the moment. Which, I think happens with most writing. Putting flesh on a skeleton. Sooo.... Colt smelling like Sandalwood, does that change your mind on him a little bit? Or would you simply bathe him in the soaps you preferred. Thoroughly.

I give you permission, make it feral and filthy - and you don't even have to wait and post it April 1st. If you need notes on character descriptions, I'll supply them for you. If we could talk about all the guys and my thought processes without spoilers, I'd explain the false hope feeling. I did a little bit with Colt. But he was on the list. He just happened to be the first one cut from it. I broke many people's hearts and no one knew I was doing the breaking until I started posting the chapters.. lol, because I do think Colt was a heavy favorite early on. It is a bit of a surreal thought for me to have, because I was very much on the fence at who to find for Joel. And that list included "Unknowns" if he chose to go back to Tempton, because during the time I was considering pairings for him with the characters I had... my mind wasn't made up on that either.

Oh gosh... went from zero to ten with the watersports fetish. I can't even. The fact that in my early days of Nifty reading as a wee teen too young to read it... I had to look up what it was... Yahoo being the go-to tool back then, and I was far too young for it not to scar me for life. And I was on dial-up, so it was a slow scarring. For me, this writing is a hobby that I do. I do wish to learn and discuss technique and all that. I think it is fascinating, and important discussions to be had. But, I also feel that at least here, hobby writing can be celebrated and not shunned due to incorrectness. So, it gives creativity more freedom where otherwise it could be stifled and bogged down. Mind you, editing is important. Effort needs to take place and the story needs to read and function as a proper and clean-as-you-can-make-it story.

The story is not completed. You'll get a new chapter Friday or Saturday. Sunday if I'm lazy, or Thursday if I'm wanting to piss @wildone off by posting a day early. We'll see what happens when we get there, it is always a surprise to me really. Colt seemingly smells like Sandalwood. Which, is a decently good scent, but it is a bit overdone. Mac-and-cheese stinks, delicious, but I hate the smell of cheese and I don't like the smell of pasta in general. Whole wheat pasta smells worse than the processed stuff though. And yes, sex usually is rather convincing. It leads to bad decisions all the time, the promise of it, and the after-orgasm-glow. They are both closeted. I think that's a running theme with me. I typically write my characters in a love-type-thing both closeted, but different reasons as to why they are. Joel is closeted because he knew he had to be in order to keep his family. Now he's just scared out of any mindset that would ever allow him to come out, until that changes. Davin seems to just be closeted for the hell of it, because he hasn't shown a ton of fear or anxiety about people knowing him... there was possibly a little bit of that when he talked about his reluctance to follow Joel when Joel bolted from the baseball field. But who knows. I think if Joel was to come out fully, Davin would simply step through the door with him though or that's what he's giving off to me in this stage of the writing. I couldn't say if that is going to be a true experience or not. *whistles* If anything he'd stay in the closet so he could keep sneaking into Joel's room and no one be the wiser. Fox in the chicken coop, so to speak.

Well in Roy's defense, his first name is Grady. But then, I have no damn idea why he'd prefer to be called 'Roy,' when Grady is far superior, but here we are. That is my doing, of course. Sometimes the way my brain functions, confuses me. I like the name Grady. But yeah, he has a very southern sounding name throughout. Grady Roy Mason. Probably less so than Jonathan "Jonny" Lundst Jr. And Roy is cute. I like Roy. I don't know about your cousin, he is your problem. But this fake Roy is cute at least. And he does come with baggage. Jocks are ridiculous. Some of them so superstitious that they cannot change their socks, foot fungus be damned. Joel is not that, he's ridiculous in a lot of other ways all on his own. So, in your Jolt scenario, which one would be the bottom? You want Joel to bottom for Davin, but would that extend to the Jolt pair? Well, to be honest the first chapter did fit the title. Learned to Lie. It was all his small omissions and careful lies to save face that led to the fallout. But me continuing the writing, made the title hit and miss throughout the changing themes and maybe Joel's growth. So for a small gift to me we'll just go with ironic, instead of erroneously titled. Because I know I suck at titles. lol.

Past and present tense is the bane of my existence. It is a bad habit that I picked up really early on and no one corrected me on, so now of course I am too engrained in it to catch myself, let alone correct it. Then you look at 5k - 30k words, whatever mood I'm in to write that day, and it becomes more than a chore and motivation killer for me to think about correcting where it needs to be corrected. That and dialog structure. But yes, bad habits die hard, so why make the attempt to kill them. *whistles* Actually, if I was to take this writing thing a bit beyond GA, I know I should. So many of you either thought them dumb, or the fact that they were in now wet underwear wasteful. Not a lot of you appreciated the imagery of clinging wet fabrics on toned asses. Sigh, I thought I was doing some of you favors. But it missed the mark, I guess. And yeah, they didn't end up Only fans stars, did they? So... contained, these two. and there's a sentence in the writing of the chapter I just read, so that I can... do what needs to be done, that I hope you catch and appreciate. Because having read your comments, it surprised me when my mind caught it. Completely unintentional, but since your mind is focused on Colt, it might be funny to you. I am so cringe with writing sex. I write it, because for some reason my mind cannot function with 'fade to black,' but it isn't a comfortable area for me to write about. I mostly try to not make them into elastic people that smooshes bits that shouldn't be smooshed. If I achieve not doing either of those, I think I'm doing good enough. I have a story idea that requires more bunny action than what I'm used to... which is probably part of the reason why I've been stuck on chapter one for over two months now.

I have five more chapters tucked away. But, I'm still on the fence if I'm wanting to write one or two, three maybe? More chapters leading up to the ending. Hmm. These chapter counts are confusing, because I only have 20 chapters written in my documents. I split up some of the earlier chapters, so we're at 21 here. We're working on chapter 16 to post this week. Which will be chapter 22. Yes. I could have easily renamed all the chapters to where they match... but since I'm too lazy to give chapters names, you best believe I am too lazy to go back and change the numbers to line back up. Rest easy though, as of the posting of this comment there's still quite a bit of writing left to see.