Graeme

While I have my fantasies, I don't know if they equate to real life. After all, I'm not eighteen, any more Until I've tried something, I won't know if I'll really like it.

At least you had an option on the poll. There's no option for males who are not active homosexuals, like myself None of the options provide apply to me.

There are a number of other countries in the world, besides the USA Mystic4zn has only just stated where he lives (Canada), but before that I didn't see any reason to assume it's the USA. Using the Age of Consent site (which should be taken as a guide only, and not legally binding), a few countries where the age of consent for male-male sex is 14 includes: Albania, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, Estonia, Germany (with restrictions that may exclude this particular case), Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Peru, Serbia, South Korea, and Spain. So, it was quite possible that the age of consent could be 14. Having said that, the age of consent in Canada for male-male sex appears to be 18, though that's only for anal intercourse (according to the note at the bottom of the above website). As for the big brother thing, it is not uncommon for an early teenage boy to look for a masculine role model outside of his family. It's often an uncle or family friend, but it could be an older guy at school. This has absolutely nothing to do with sex -- it's a case of a young teen expanding his horizons outside of his family. I don't know if that is the case here, but I suspect it is much more likely to be the case than any sort of sexual infatuation. He's got an older friend that he looks up to and is, probably unconsciously, considering as a role model. Trying to read anything more into than that is just asking for trouble.

I sort of disagree I tend to be cautious about posting in the teen forum, because it is, after all, supposed to be for the teens. Posting it here opens it up for more members to respond. Having said that, I think the Members Q&A is an even better place for it, so I'm moving it there

Welcome, Nine! The Writer's Corner is a good place to visit, and to ask any writing related questions you have. For your own writing, you can also post in eFiction, if you like. Good luck! Graeme

The sentiments above reflect mine after I had read chapter 38.... This is a hard-hitting chapter.

Happy Birthday!

I use Australian English in my stories, which consists largely of British spellings, but with a mixture of American terms. However, from the examples that started this thread, I use "Mum", "Arse" and "Bum". The only time I've used "Mom" was a story that was set in the USA, so I used the American spelling. When I first started reading online, I had a few problems reading the stories because there were so many Americanisms that were assumed that I didn't understand. For example, I was confused for a while at the terms Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior that were used for both Hight School and College. They are terms not used here in Australia and I had to learn what they meant. Over time, I've learnt most of these Americanisms. However, I still don't have the cultural context to fully understand how my stories are viewed from an American point of view. As an aside, for quite a while I thought all those authors who used "Mom" didn't know how to spell correctly..... Online, the majority of authors and the (apparent) majority of readers are American, but there is a significant number that are not. I base most of my stories in Australia and use Australian terms because not only am I proud of my country, but I also want to teach others something about Australia. I do often compromise on phrasing, using American phrasing by preference when there's a roughly equal choice between American and British phrasing (as both can be used in Australia, given the strong cultural influences from both countries), but when there's no doubt in my mind that the British phrasing is the one more likely to be used, I'll use that and hope the Americans can understand from the context.

But is the way I pronounce it the same as the way you pronounce it? That's the question..... Since Graeme is a well known Scottish name, that's probably right Graeme is the Gaelic spelling of Graham... or maybe Graham is the Anglo-Saxon spelling of Graeme -- I'm not sure which cam first. So if you look up Gaelic pronunciations, you should be able to work it out. :mace: But, if it makes it easier, "Grae" would be pronounced as "Gray" or "Grey", and the "me" would be pronounced as the letter M (not the sound of the letter, but the letter name itself) In other words, "Gray-em" And just for the record, I'm not Scottish or otherwise Gaelic. It was just a name that my parents liked. It's not an uncommon name here in Australia, though both spellings appear to be used with roughly equal frequency.

That seems to reflect what's happening in the Uniting Church here in Australia. They couldn't get consensus at either of their last two assemblies (held every three years), so the current position is that it is up to the congregation to decide if they'll accept a gay minister with no official position as to whether this is doctrinally correct. The upshot was the formation of a 'lobby group' within the Church that is pressing to have the decision overturned and to ban practising gay ministers. Please note the word "practising" in that above statement. Celibate gay ministers have been accepted in the Uniting Church since the 80s.

Just curious -- how do you pronounce the middle name of the famous American Inventor Alexander Graham Bell?

Happy Belated Birthday, Menzo! Sorry, I didn't wish you a happy birthday on your day, but I was busy

Thanks, everyone! I had a wonderful night last night with one of my favourite meals (a roast, followed by cheesecake), and my wonderful family. The boys and I watched DVDs for a while before we all headed to bed (at least one person over the age of 18 was drunk ). My wife and I are heading into the city tonight to go to the theatre, stay the night at a hotel, and then back to pick up the boys from their grandmother's on Sunday.

Damn! Someone noticed.... Yes, Mark, May birthdays are great But, Sir Galahad, I'm not 46. I'm celebrating my second 23rd birthday, that's all....

Helicopters? I'm not sure of range, but could they send some from Europe? I know the USA has bases in Europe -- do any of them have helicopters, and do they have the range (maybe refueling in Gibraltar) to get to the Canary Islands?

Happy Birthday, Mark!

Happy Birthday, Kevin! I've missed our chats. I hope you have a great day, mate!

Happy Birthday, Tom!

I just came across this in the New York Times: Is My Marriage Gay? An interesting read, and quite thought provoking.

I'd personally go with paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde, with a gaelic accent. Or maybe even burst out with the song of the same name.... Yes, I was heavily influenced by Isaac Asimov when I was younger, both his fiction and non-fiction.

Personally, I have an ending in mind, and a few events along the way. I then just write. I don't usually have a written outline, though I'm thinking I may need to, if I'm going to write anything more complex that the only third person novel I've written so far. I'll have a detailed idea to start with, but it varies from story to story. Sometimes it's the opening. Sometimes it's a scene in the middle of the story. Sometimes it's the overall concept, with the fine level detail still to be worked out. For short stories, I usually have the complete scenario in mind when I start, and it's just a case of transferring the image in my mind into words (not always easy, because a scene that plays out fine in my mind doesn't always translate into written words). But the key for me is to have the ending in mind, because that gives me the target to aim for, and keeps the whole story in check. I won't start a story now unless I know how I want it to end, or have a handful of options on how it will end. They don't usually get written down ahead of time, but I have them in mind throughout the writing process.

Welcome, Indigene! Don't worry about learning the ropes -- we've all been through it so we understand. If you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to contact myself or any of the other moderators. In the meantime... Enjoy! Graeme

I'd go along with that. Indeed, I think it can be very effective if done well. I've never done that myself, but I've read a handful of stories that have done that, now that it's been pointed out to me. That's like saying that the sports writer who shows a good understanding of the game should be deserving of Most Valuable Player for the season. There's a big difference between an academic understanding of a skill and the ability to use that skill expertly. Jan, you haven't mentioned what story that is. I'm guessing it's The Scrolls of Icaria, but that's a guess.

Australia's population is too heavily concentrated in a handful of cities. If someone wanted to take us out, they only need to destroy Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and maybe one of Perth or Adelaide. What's left would fragment because I don't think there would be enough infrastructure to keep a country of our size going. The people living in the rural areas would almost certainly survive, but the nation of Australia probably wouldn't. New Zealand is the traditional survivor in Science Fiction stories -- way too small to worry about, but a sizeable nation in an out-of-the-way corner of the world. The only danger would be nuclear fallout from the attacks on Sydney and Melbourne. As for the poll, who starts it is a generational thing. Go back a generation and it would have been the USSR as the main culprit through malice, with a chance of the USA starting it accidentally. Today, it's more likely to be a terrorist organisation, or an India/Pakistan conflict getting out of hand. Iran and North Korea are the wildcards, but because they are wildcards, they are just as likely to smaller scale wars, rather than a world war. In another generation, it could be the Lunatics who want to throw off the yoke of Terran rule that is the most like starters of WWIII. Another generation after that and it may be the Martians. I don't see WWIII starting without weapons of mass destruction. Without them, the conflict would be contained (somehow). With them, the war goes global very quickly. Just my opinion

Something I posted a long time ago at another site: The "Cliffhanger" is something that is largely only relevant to serialised work. It doesn't make a lot of sense for a story where the reader (or viewer, in the case of movies/TV shows) can just skip to the next installment. Now, I've read stories where every chapter ends in a cliffhanger. It's great for building tension, but I find it becomes incredibly annoying, especially if chapters take time to be published. Graeme's Theory on Cliffhangers: 1. Used early on in the story, they help bring the reader in until the story gets well established. 2. Used late in the story, they help build the tension before the story conclusion. 3. Don't over use in the middle section of the story. It's a case of overdoing anything can be bad (eg. too much water can kill you -- it's known as drowning). Moderation is important. Since that was originally posted, I'd like to refine it. A non-serialised story can use cliffhangers to keep readers reading by ending one chapter on a cliffhanger, and then have one or more chapters on a different part of the story. The reader then keeps reading, waiting to find out what happened after the cliffhanger.