Krista

I mean, I know the primary character study and most of the major plot devices and twists I pulled with this story. So, those are familiar to me, but I can't remember every little detail. The finer points and nuances that I could possibly find. But I do remember 'most' of this story, just not scenes within chapters and when exactly they happened. I know he has a perfect angel of a dog, Sadie is her name, I'm thinking.

It may come down to the fact that reading comprehension differs dramatically, and they're attempting to be more universally easy. Dialog tags are easy. You know when someone is finished speaking for the moment when you see them. Even if 'said' becomes distinctly invisible to most people, some people may need that roadmap to make it to the next sentence. Editors and Publishers may insist on tagging dialog a certain way, it could be a preference. Or, they may have run into a lot of writing that has 'talking head syndrome,' where they adopt a policy that requires edits be made to include more dialog tags. Dialog tags and how you do them is mostly stylistic. People will have differing opinions on them all day. I like dialog tags, simple, and repetitive. Said, countered, asked, etc. I would much rather the tone and what information be perceived more in the writing within the dialog, and in the writing leading up to and following it. If you have to convey emotion through dialog tags, then you lose me. I should know the character is yelling, screaming, joking, asking, telling a lie, crying, etc well before the.. "he cried..." told me. And you don't need to be double-barrel confirming it either. If the character is obviously shouting, swearing, crying, etc, you don't need to follow that up with, "he cried..." We already know, or should know. But that is opinion. I like Said because it does disappear. I don't notice it when I read. Being there is a comfort, sure, because the brain sees it, but it doesn't fire on it. It's like the direction on shampoo bottles, the brain knows it is there, but we all know how to wash our hair, surely.

I think I remember Tania. Tania I loved. Who is Lexi? Adam's sister, I want to say?

You wouldn't be able to behave yourself in that Cottage. (you have trouble behaving anywhere, lets be real) I need to send them your name and tell them to put you on their decline list.

I'll take your word for it, because I thought the names for this story were Rhett and Jason.. lol. Jason I remember, because I very much liked his character study. I guess it is Adam though. I want to guess on where you are in the plot, but my guess may be wrong and further down the line. Sigh... these older stories they're so forgetful for me when I've been so far removed from them. I'm happy that people take the time to read them, although by the looks of the comments, I didn't feel the need to respond to them back then. No wonder I'm paranoid about engagement now. I saw myself not engaging all over the place.

I remember the mother being a piece of work this story. This is a soap opera sort of story, the pacing isn't slow, if I'm remembering correctly. Also, I must've just made up my mind to not respond to comments with this story? Or what is this... lol.

I love how all of these Social Media meteorologists all have the same thumbnail and presentations. When I clicked on the link I expected to see one of two that I sometimes follow whenever severe weather is happening somewhere in the States. Weather, forecasting, and general meteorology has been an interest of mine since I was about ten years old and we had a near miss with a tornado whilst in elementary school. But anyway, calm down and let the guy talk about the snow storm and whatever else he has to say.

It's been a bit of time between this story and my other ones, but I do remember the ring. The hand crafted gift, and yeah, I can see why Abigail Henry wouldn't want Elias walking around, a living reminder.

There are a couple of streaming services dedicated to just LGBTQ content. I'm not going to link them, as I think some of the content is borderline too adult and I don't know where that line is. If you're American Tubi has stuff. Dekkoo? I want to say is the streaming service Here TV -- as well. That is likely why other streaming services don't have a large catalog, even if they are smaller streaming services than the giant that is Netflix, they likely have bought the streaming rights for films for extended periods of time simply because Netflix doesn't have a vested interest. I also have no idea what either of those offer and whether or not the price for their streaming being worth it.

If sports balls have you feeling bogged down, I guess writing filth is a good medicine for you. I wish you good luck in that endeavor, although I think you manage doing so rather well.

And I wish I could "love" react to this twice.

It also comes down to preference. Some people cannot overlook the word, "said," either. They see it as a glaring stop sign, and they prefer more drawn out dialog tags. I was told not to use Said repetitively once or twice. Then others have told me they prefer said, because their brain glosses right over it and allows the scene to play out without the prodding of more stylistic or intrusive dialog closes. It honestly has to be excessive before I pay it any mind. Unless it is something that I found clever early on in the writing, and it keeps popping up time and again. To the point where it loses the punch or wit. I can see where repetitive words can be intrusive and immersion breaking, but if it is a mind counting the words issue, and nothing truly disruptive my brain probably won't care. I am much more invested in characters than I am the words getting them there. I can forgive flaws in grammar and writing structure, I can't forgive character decisions. Looking at you Bridgerton Season 3. I use Was a lot - I'm southern. I change tense a lot as well. I've been told the switching of tense is an issue, but I can't be bothered correcting it this far into the game. The only thing that would accomplish is me being so self-aware I've done it, that I get nowhere. I will be in editing purgatory and I simply won't write. Which is why I do my writing here, where it is more forgiven than having my hand constantly swatted elsewhere. Mind you, it would take a brave person to do so.

Hopefully it was ugly yet happy crying.

Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Glad you liked it.

Might be something we'll try if we ever set a couple of writing days where we can discuss this a bit further. I've not written anything in over two weeks. Sometimes fun shits-and-giggles writing can spark creative energy elsewhere. I'm thinking about tackling the Prompt idea from a couple of weeks ago just to see if I can pull off the idea and keep it short and sweet. At the very least under 30k.

Also south and I've never heard that one. As for @Jason Rimbaud someone has to keep you behaving. The poor dear husband, bless him and his heart. Also, that chili sounds like death in a kettle. Good gracious me.

Get it together!

They would have this argument whilst attempting to steal yet another vehicle.

You wasn't supposed to call my bluff. Sir, I am nearly 40k into "Ellis" that still needs to be renamed to something else, but likely won't be. What are you proposing? A double blind collaboration? Are there character/setting/plot parameters to be set? Or are we just going in completely blind, to the point where I could be creating this wholesome little story about two men in love... followed right up with you writing complete saucy filth to out-do me...

Nah, we'd have to lock in for at least 30 chapters and 350k.

These are almost private clinic start-up numbers.

I can't wait for the response to this.

Technically, as in... "not really..." but there are things called total knee replacements. They just put you back together with components and the parts of your knee that are still functional.

I don't know if we should slap that chaos on people. But it sounds interesting.

I have to say, after posting, Learned to Lie for most of 2025... I miss posting chapters. Although I do try to engage with GA on some level within the forums... there's nothing that compares to posting a chapter. Anxious as I get about those little boogers though. I might invest more time in doing prompts. I might lock myself into the "Where the Red Fern Grows," romance idea I had for the prompts. I keep saying I'm interested in these things and I never follow through, thinking I 'need' to write what's on the table and not much else. I will say I'm about halfway through chapter five of, "Ellis," as well. Remind me to change the title, because I don't think it really fits the, 'First name one word story' set I had planned to do. It is too close to the name Elias, but I've always thought this character's name was going to be Ellis, so I plan on sticking to that. I suck at titles, which got me into this mess too, but to adapt to messes making a 'thing' out of it is easiest. I am giving titles to chapters as I go though. Another win for a certain someone. I wonder if it is safe to post the 'working' titles so far. Nothing is set in stone and since I've already changed some chapter titles slightly, changes may occur. I also don't know how long I can keep up with it as well. Five may be a drop in the bucket. If this story has 10 - 30 chapters *whistles* I don't know how I'll manage. Might also be a job for wildthing.