Graeme

Thanks, Terry! Bobby has a lot of self-confidence, and he's desperate. The combination can result in some strange results Vince's father isn't very politically correct, but that's just the way he is.

A favourite saying of mine, that I keep repeating to my sons, is "Everyone's different". I try to keep to that in my stories, too, though I don't always succeed

I'm really interested in seeing where this goes. I was also impressed when the locker that Parker was reported as having vandalised turned out to not be Josh's. If he's a bully to one kid, he's almost certainly a bully to others, but a lot of stories miss that point.

Bobby pulled up outside the Asters’ farmhouse. “Here we are, back in one piece. Are you happy now, Shane?” Bobby asked, turning to grin at the guy in the back seat. “Very, very happy. I promise never to say anything nasty about your car again... at least not until I’ve had a chance to start breathing again. As for now, I’m going inside and having a stiff drink,” Shane said, unbuckling his seat belt. Bobby looked across at Jamie. “How about we go inside and say hello before we head off to my p

Not as compelling as the first chapter, but the characters are still being filled in so that's okay. I could especially related to his feelings about wanting to join the other teens, because I was also a loner and introvert as a teenager. I could never bring myself to go up to strangers and introduce myself, either.

“Thanks for the phone call, Karen. We’ll catch up tomorrow, then. Merry Christmas!” Vince put the phone down and wiped a hand across his brow in an exaggerated gesture. Matt chuckled. “I think that’s about everyone.” Vince’s forehead wrinkled, but his grin didn’t slip. “Everyone except Rhys.” Matt pulled Vince towards him and kissed him lightly on the lips. “I don’t think Rhys knows whether or not to call. He told me that he won’t mind if the two of us hate him for the rest of our lives, jus

I'll admit that I looked up pictures of him around the time of the last Summer Olympics. But then, I've done the same with most of the American mens gymnastic team, too. I've been of the opinion for several years now that the USA picks their male gymnasts based on appearance, as well as skill...

Depends on what you mean by "complaining". It was the Australian swimmer, Ian Thorpe, who made the comment that he didn't it would be possible to win the number of gold medals that Michael Phelps ended up getting. There are constant rumours about Ian Thorpe being gay, but he's denied it.

If I may put my moderator hat on for a moment, please do not make this a thread on gay vs bisexual. The topic is about Tom Daley and his announcement that he's in a relationship with another guy. Personally, I don't care what label you want to apply, he appears to be happy and that is what I consider to be the most important thing.

There are so many ways I could take that statement.... They're both fantastic divers, but Matt came out first (and he's Australian), so I think he should get his second Olympic gold medal

From the BBC article: No offense intended, but I hope he wins a silver, with Matt Mitcham the gold. That'll be a gay gold/silver diving combination Congratulations, Tom!

We're still only half way through the story....

Thank you! I didn't get the timing quite right, though I'm less than four weeks off

Mia was sitting in her car on the side of the road, not far from an intersection, talking on her mobile. “Thanks for all of this, Karen. I’m hoping someone will be calling you soon with good news. Until then...” Mia hung up and switched on the radio to keep her company, while wishing she had thought ahead enough to take along some food and drinks. After she finished talking to Shane, she had just acted. Karen had taken charge of organising things. She directed everyone with a vehicle to differ

We've got no fixed schedule. We don't get a tree too early because with the traditional hot Christmas weather, it would die too quickly, so sometime one or two weeks before Christmas is when the tree goes up. It usually stays up until sometime in the New Year when my wife decides she's had enough of it shedding pine needles

People are really good at making simple things complicated. Like love...

Hopefully there's still time

I try to do as much research as I can, but I'm very much aware that online research doesn't cover everything. It's good for facts, but it's not good for things that are usually just assumed the reader will know, or the reader doesn't need to know. In my case, it's the internal workings for a football club that I'm after, and they don't put that sort of detail on the Internet (at least as far as I can find). Finding someone who knows is certainly the best approach (I knew a towie for Falls Creek Lessons and a cattle farmer for Heart of The Tree) but finding that person can sometimes be a challenge

Rhys felt his anger at Matt’s obstinacy disappear. He could see how Shane’s hypothesis fit, and it also explained why Matt had gone to Mourton in the first place – even though he had said he wasn’t a close friend of Gary’s. Guilt can make people do strange things. “Does this help us, though?” Rhys asked Shane. Shane smiled, though without his normal exuberance. “I think so. It means that what we should be doing is helping Matt handle Gary’s death, and not letting him run away. To that end, thi

I know this is not the normal place to ask for a beta-reader, but I checked with the admin team first to get permission. This is not your typical beta-reader request I've started a new story that's set in a fictitious Australian Rules Football club. Unfortunately, my knowledge of Aussie Rules is woefully out of date, based on what I can find online. I'm therefore looking for a beta-reader who can tell me when I've got the terminology wrong, and who has some idea of how an Aussie Rules club works. District or state level is fine -- I'm looking for help with making sure I have the details of a semi-professional team correct. The fictitious team is in the VFL, but someone with a good knowledge of a district team or the equivalent in another state would also be great. Anyone who is interested can contact me via PM or Email (graeme@gayauthors.org). I need someone who's not afraid to tell me when I've done something wrong As a more general question, how do other authors deal with subjects in which they don't have a detailed personal knowledge? I've done a lot of online research on existing VFL clubs for this story. I've also checked out links to aussie rules coaching sites, and that's when I found out my knowledge of the game was out of date, and hence my request for help. Certain mechanical things, like the rules, etc, are easy to find on the Internet, but more esoteric details, such as the internal workings of the clubs, are much more difficult to locate. I've written what I feel is right, but I know I'm making a lot of assumptions and guesses and I've probably got some details wrong. How do other authors deal with this sort of thing?

I like characters to act in a realistic way. Their reasons may not always be reasonable or rational, but they always have a reason for why they're acting the way they are

“Is he bloody well helping or not? All I’m hearing is ‘give me some more time’, but from what he’s said, nothing’s changing,” Rhys said, waving his arms around. He was the only one pacing. Mark and Mia were seated on one side of the storeroom at The Treasure Chest. Padma and Karen were on the other side, while Bobby was perched on the edge of a table. Warren was making himself a cup of strong coffee, but with his head twisted slightly to make sure he didn’t miss anything. They had taken the opp

Okay, we know that the twins were separated. Obviously, at some stage the two will meet, at which point we may learn if they were identical or fraternal twins -- I noticed the prologue didn't say. Joshua's got a lonely life. My guess is that when he goes to the public pool he'll meet someone, because otherwise I don't see much hope for him. He's in the early stages of depression and is hanging out for the summer break. If that goes bad, I think he'll reach breaking point, which would mean either running away, attempting suicide, or something else stupid. I'm looking forward to seeing how this progresses!

A fantastic prologue, setting the scene for the story brilliantly. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next

I'm a romantic at heart. I can do depressing stories, but I don't like them.