Krista

Lol... I was a lot more stone cold in my younger years. I've softened with age... Also, this sounds like a hard hitting story, I'm a lot more comfortable working with someone that is writing in 1st person though, I see this one is going to be in third. If you wish, you can discuss this privately with me, or you could always advertise your need for a Beta reader in the forums. Are you taking on 'most' of your writings alone? I wouldn't be able to write and live with any semblance of sanity without Wildthing... (and I think he knows he has that burden to bear)

This makes me so thankful that my kids were paw patrol kids growing up. I can't handle Pokemon or Spongebob.

I suck at beta reading really. How large is this unpublished project though?

Yes, I know they are trying to send the message that gay people are human beings, that hate is very real and can be dangerous. That it does lead to murder, suicide, near death beatings that leaves the character a lot less of themselves than they were... etc. And, people want to tell their own version of that story. It is no different than all the Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet mirrors floating around in romance films all the way down to the Hallmark Christmas movies. It wouldn't be fair for anyone to say that only a handful of similar films can be made and we all have to collectively move on. I just would like to live in a world where trends don't lead to plagues where everything coming out is a copy of what is popular at the time. Also, don't get me started on remakes. We're in the decades of unoriginality as well. Not every show has to be remade for a new audience. A lot of them ruin the greatness of what came before it in the process.

I'm mostly joking, do behave yourself and post on your own terms. I know you're like me and want to show the world your work as soon as possible, we don't need more enabling in our lives. We need the few party poopers that tell us to calm down, patience is a virtue, make them want it more by not giving them too much all at once.... all that gibberish nonsense. 😮

First, if I were in Skylar's predicament at lunch, I would have had to shove something large and difficult to chew into Lex's mouth. A roll or bun maybe? Tell him to chew it carefully or risk suffocation. I laughed when you referred to Ryan as "the other one," so off-handed. There was a lot more depth to Skylar in this part, this thing with Ryan has had wings for awhile. Deeper than a puddle as well. I mean for the story to continue, it kind of has to be something more than just eye-fucking someone all the time. Then Ryan shows he has a bit of his heart on his sleeve, enough to cry about the weight he was feeling for this 'unknown person.' His predicament/trap with Madison, and how he's already planning his escape route, hoping he can get out of it and wondering if he's in too deep already. It almost makes me feel like he needs to be protected a little bit. Maybe even from trust-fund jawline and whatever business he's about to bring to the table. Would it trouble you horribly if you posted the next chapter now? As an author who doesn't get many chances to read stories on here, this is all new to me and I don't like it. Not one bit. 😮

Her saying that, she looked right at Joel to say the words. Trace is a more restrained person than me, because I would have been walking my happy ass out of there in handcuffs and Lisa would be holding ice on her face wherever my punch landed. I'd be smiling the whole time I was booked and my mugshot taken and I'd be telling that judge he best believe I'd do it again.

It use to be strict here. You 'had' to live in the county to play for that school. Couldn't be neighboring, if you lived on the county line and bus routes and pick-ups were right there... no. If your address was listed in a town in that county, you couldn't play for anyone else. That doesn't include travel teams, of course. When I played travel or skill leagues I played for a team based an hour away, as I was stuck in nowhere land and no matter where I landed on any of those teams it was going to be a drive. When I chose the travel team for basketball, I had to quit Softball entirely my sophomore year, it was becoming too much. Now, they openly recruit players, pay for their commute and if it is too far away, room and board with a host family so they can be closer and play. Boosters are selling their souls to get some of these athletes, and it is mind boggling at the high school level. It is getting far too involved for me to keep track. I like to live in the simple, especially if there's more important plot points to make in the meantime. PS, I'm not touching that PS.

Fringe culture. Hollywood is too intrenched in it. It is too fleeting most of the time to stay relevant and it never is to most audiences. I mean, Marvel films aren't doing 'that' well anymore, because people finally caught on that if you've watched one, you've watched them all. Most of the world does not want to watch the same stupidity time and again, because when something is popular 'in a moment' then everyone wants on that cash cow bandwagon. Why do most modern gay films have an open relationship, cheating, or the 'bored' lover now? Because fringe Hollywood says monogamy isn't fun anymore, or problematic because it is too heteronormative. So instead, they depict gay people as horny, bored, or too toxic/immature to be in a stable relationship with anyone. It is the new, "The gay has to die in the end," edgy that annoys the hell out of me. Before that it was every gay character was a sex worker, or infatuated with a sex worker. Mind you, I can watch films with all of that above if they weren't carbon copies of one another. It is the same set-up, the same similar characterizations, and the same tropes doing the heavy lifting. There isn't much of a fresh take. That is why I will happily read subtitles, fighting the eyestrain to watch a foreign film, most of the time they do it 100x better than Hollywood ever could. I will die on that sword all day.

Listening is an invaluable tool. You can learn a lot from the person talking if you sit back, clear your mind and listen. Most people will 'tell' you who they are far quicker than showing you.

At least here, they just dropped the law that required students and student athletes to be residents of the county they go to school at. Even districts, for larger schools to openly recruit high school aged kids to transfer to play for them. I don't know how common that is in other states, but it is an interesting point to make. With him living three counties away, then he would definitely become a 'special' case to consider...

Aww. The first two chapters are really heavy handed, especially the first one. There's also not a lot of time spent between them story-pace wise, so feelings, and such are stagnant and there for awhile, like a storm cloud that refuses to move. Sadly they are. I also find that if you really sit down and ask men if they ever opened up to someone, they could list you the person, relationship, date, and time, and tell you they were shut down, made out to be the villain, or ignored completely. As a woman, over the years I've become hyper aware of this. I find it so disheartening when I listen to male mental health speakers share their stories. More often than not, other men will uplift men in crisis, a woman will do the opposite, especially if they're in a heterosexual romantic relationship.

I also forgot to mention, that as I try to envision myself writing a story such as this, I honestly don't know how long I would be able to maintain it. Not long. I live in large paragraphs of retrospection and moods with my characters. So much so, that sometimes it does some of the heavy lifting for me, maybe to a fault at times. But your characters are so vibrantly living in 'now' thoughts and doing it in sentences before moving along. They may say something that has an element of retrospection, but then it comes and goes in passing and it is the reader's job to file it away and keep it for whenever it will be needed again. It is done in ways that allows for us to remember important information, whilst the unrelenting flow from short paragraphs keeps shifting where our minds go with this story. That is why I said the writing is subtly very, or low-key challenging, because it doesn't 'seem' like it would be, but I'd be scratching my head after three chapters, if that... So, you being able to maintain this style, pace, and such and return to it after short respites is truly something. At least tropes do give you an assist, you're still making everything feel freshly baked. Also, I hope I've not put undue pressure on you... lol.

Are you enabling me?

...

Maybe you need a Wildthing hovering over your shoulder saying, "No," before you hit the publish button. And your comment made me squint... underlying reason, you say? 😮 I'll just help myself out, and actually use the "follow" tool... and act like it hasn't been here since the damn implementation of the new story archive all those years ago. You can't be sneaky now.

The comment read very story-telling, narratively to me. It flowed nicely. I loved it. You almost made me sad how you described the selling off of the unwanted land piece by piece. Maybe they needed to be more appreciative of the place built on the land they sold away. Phil took a different path than his father, who farmed. Living in an area where "lot sales" are becoming the sad truth of the landscape, I felt it. There will be five or six families buy those lots, they will claim it as their own and then before you know it they're backed up on your doorstep and there goes your peace, because no one wants to inherit land anymore, to work it. Just to sell it. I like these characters. I want people to believe that there are people walking around just like them, that's why I write the characters that I do.

I laughed loud enough that I had to explain how something could be so funny to my husband, who was only half paying me any attention because College Football 26 came out this month and he's been engrossed in that. I'm also annoyed that I hadn't noticed this new chapter until today. Don't be sneaky, now. So, the jock isn't dumb, just a bit academically disorganized. What happens after Skylar gives him the tools to bring him up well past the "dumb jock," level to a more even playing field. At least, with his unapologetically biased playing field. 😮 The guy also didn't blink with the whole sleeping with Lex thing, completely unbothered. Almost as if he didn't believe that for a second and knew Skylar's mother's interrogation was pointless. Or, he just doesn't care who Skylar may be accused of sleeping with. But, he's also horribly bothered with his girlfriend, to the point of a near end with her. Even on my worst cranky days, if I got that response back, I would have ended it there. We'll see if she has any dignity for herself, because even if she's being a bitchy controlling girlfriend, his response to that wasn't a good one. Just entirely too toxic and high school all around, those two. In it to be Homecoming and Prom royalty, with the bonus of sex, I'm guessing.

Not exactly Gay TV/Movies/or Books... But, "The Summer I Turned Pretty," season three's two debut episodes were a complete and total letdown for me. Mind you, most of season two annoyed me so much that I attempted to read the books. I got through the first half of one. So, I'm not all that invested in the source material, but if the source material has the scene in the second episode play out like it did, then I find it a major fault with the writing. The writing took a step back in season two, but it seems worse in these first two episodes. I'd have to look and see if there was a change in writers or not. I know the author has a significant role in the adaptation, and has since tweaked a lot of it to be more... current. Yes, people can make mistakes. There were just too many excuses made for poor behavior, that should have carried a lot more weight than it has so far. If there is 'less' of that weight in the following episodes, I may DNF it and retain my title of picky to a fault.

I think the next piece of writing will move along the story a bit better. Know that I am soooo tempted to post it. I wonder if I can sneak it in without Wildthing catching me... might dangle a basket of fish and chips in front of him, a cold pint too just for good measure.

I'm glad you did, because I just noticed that I called poor Simon a Clam. lol. Yeah, I think seeing people be accepted, specifically for being like you is something people whole a lot of weight on, before they make up their minds about things. If all you're living on is unknowns, it makes the decisions far more daunting.

I was thinking, aww this comment is so cute. Then you threw a shor'nuff statement at me and it sent me.