Graeme

Thanks, Drewbie! I've booked my flights and I'll be off to the USA tomorrow. If you don't hear from me for the next week, it'll be because I'm trying to track CJ down.

No, it doesn't matter The idea is to inspire writers, not to win the Archibald Prize. Go for it!

:2thumbs: LOL! LOL :2thumbs: Happy Birthday, Excuse!

Here's the link to some Q&A on numbers from the Chicago Manual of Style I think the follwing two Q&As sum things up:

I'm sorry to hear this My thoughts go out to Dan Kincaid's family.

Steve, it might say Methode Champenoise, which is what several of the Australian sparkling wine manufacturers have done to get around the restriction on the term Champagne. However, I've just read that this term is outlawed in Europe, so the European labels are probably different. The term is not, to the best of my knowledge, outlawed in Australia, but we respect the view that it should not be labelled 'Champagne'. While the European Union has gone overboard at times with their restrictions on items with a geographically based name, I understand and support the basic principle. If someone buys a French wine, they expect it to be French. If someone buys a Burgundy, there's a reasonable expectation that it comes from Burgundy. Where the idea falls down is where the geographical name is so wide spread that it's treated as the generic name for the product (such as champagne). However, I don't believe the USA has tried to do the same thing with Bourbon. Since I suspect the majority of people don't associate the drink with the county, trying to say it is not really bourbon if it doesn't come from the county is unnecessarily anal

I want a quarter! There are different types of breakups, and they are approached in different ways. There's the slow breakup, where they just start drifting apart. They start doing different things, and mixing with others as individuals, rather than as a couple. Eventually, they find they just aren't spending time with each other and they'll either fix that, or acknowledge it and separate (or maybe one will try to fix it and the other will try to acknowledge it....). From a writing point of view, you can introduce this one early -- having each character do different activities, and then have those activities start to take more and more of their time: "Joe, how about we go see a movie on Saturday night?" "Sorry, Rick, but I've got to help set up the stage for the drama club's play." "You've been working with them for the last three Saturdays. When are you going to spend time with me ? "Hey, I know we haven't been going out much recently, but it's a big thing for them. They're depending on me!" There's the traumatic breakup, where something happens to tear them apart. Usually, it'll involve one person break trust, or appearing to break trust. If you want them back together, you have to make sure that it's all a big misundertanding, but a lack of communication stops them from working that out. Then there are lots of variations in between. The couple that starts to drift apart, and then a misunderstanding occurs that rips them apart.

Just change the references to bourbon to alcohol.

While I may be wrong, I think there are a lot of Scots and Irishmen who may disagree.... I checked Wikipedia and since the name is derived from the Gaelic word for water, they could certainly argue that if it's not made in a gaelic country, it's not a true whiskey Having said that, the article has the following: ie. The USA government says that Jack Daniels is not bourbon, even though it is made in a very similar way. Of course, it could be argued that when was the USA government right about anything, so the fact that they've said they are different means they maybe the same... :wacko:

But if I had mentioned him, we'd never see gnanow again! Comie has so much stuff that it would take forever to read them all....

Just a reminder to all the artistic members If you're capable of drawing (like I'm not), but aren't sure what to draw, just send me a PM or email (graeme@gayauthors.org). I've got a number of ideas, but I lack the talent to turn them into something decent

Welcome! You've asked a difficult question. I certainly haven't read everything on the site. I haven't even read all of the hosted author stories! My suggestion is to start with the list of authors. I'll let some others weigh in with more details, but if you like Science Fiction and/or Fantasy, you can't go past dkstories's stories. For adventure/thriller, check out C James's stories, and Don Hanratty has one of the classics of the Internet -- Working It Out. I'll let others suggest other genres -- I'm sure we have at least one horror writer, and lots of relationship stories (my favourites). And, before I get lynched by the Domaholics, Dom Luka should be high up on your list of authors to read

Feel free to use it in dialogue, but try to avoid it in narration, unless it's first person. That's my suggestion

There are two print novels (both trilogies, by coincidence) where I was disappointed with the ending. In the first, the last novel went off in a tangent, bring in things that weren't even hinted at (at least not as far as I could see) in the first two novels. It ruined the ending for me, because it wasn't consistent with the previous parts of the story. It was almost as if the author had written themselves into a hole and needed a deux ex machina to get them out of it. In the second, the last novel didn't really resolve much. Yes, it was an ending. The story, as written, was complete. But it wasn't a case of a few loose endings -- it was a case of practically none of the endings were tied up! These are extreme examples, but they show that you need to be both consistent, and not bring in the "identical twin brother who has been missing for the last ten years, and that means that the love triangle gets resolved satisfactory" type solution. You also need to have some resolution. You can leave loose endings -- real life has them all the time -- but whatever has been the main conflict has to be resolved, and preferable by the protagonist(s).

Don't worry about it. I'm sure none of the readers will mind a week's delay in the story. It is, after all, in what is known in goat circles as 'a quiet, restful period' (for those who don't understand goat-speak, that means that at least one hero is in desperate peril, and there's a disaster looming over everyone).

I believe the problem is in the method of publication, not the stories themselves. By posting stories in a serialised form, it changes the relationship with the reader. They no longer control how much they want to read at any given time -- they are forced to stop at a particular point, and the author is semi-forced to do something try to make sure the reader will come back later to find the next part. That is a very different paradigm to a print novel, where the entire novel is available at once and the reader chooses the point where they'll take a break. It is that different paradigm that introduces changes, not the electronic media. It's not the changing reader habit, it's the changing publishing habit.

:king: :king: Happy Birthday, corvus! :king: :king:

:king: :king: Happy Birthday, Dom! :king: :king: No matter where you are, I hope you have happy and healthy and having an absolution fantastic time.

An interesting statement, but you haven't justified it. Of course, you haven't defined what you mean by 'sadness', either I suspect your definition is broader than mine because you seem to imply that you have to be sad or happy and that there are no other states. I can be angry, mad, upset, annoyed -- none of which equate to happy, but I don't consider them to equate to sad, either. Happiness and sadness are two emotions in a broad tapestry. I don't see emotions as being a spectrum from sad to happy (which is what you imply), but see things as a lot more complex than that.

Happy 23rd Birthday!

Happy 21st Birthday! Do lots of things that I can't do anymore

The victor: Outwardly trimuphant, inwardly alone.

My response was a little different. I had to smile, because there had been quite a bit of speculation as to whether The Scar has survived, and that speculation had turned out to be correct. I suspected CJ had expected it to be a surprise, but some readers were able to see the possibility through the clues that had been left.

Don't look. Just keep your memories.

Happy 23rd Birthday! Have a great day!