Graeme

What you are talking about is a character-driven story. Many stories are like this, and it is my preference when writing a story. There is an initial setup, and then the story largely unfolds as a result of the actions and interactions of the characters. However, there are many stories that are plot-driven, rather than character driven. Pretty much all the Tom Clancy books, for example, are more driven by the unfolding plot than the characters. The characters tend to react to circumstances outside their control more than shaping the events that drive the plot. Many action/thriller stories fall into this category, though there are certainly many exceptions. Having said that, I had to chuckle at the statement, "I believe a story plot will fall into place." If only it was that easy.... There's an element of truth in it, in that the author finds that characters will NOT do some things because it doesn't match their personalities/nature, but the author still needs to direct them to ensure the story unfolds to a successful conclusion.

I voted for "Other" because it is never a single item. Different types of stories and different writing styles can also influence the mix. A "coming out" story that doesn't show feelings and emotions isn't going to hold my attention. An action/thriller without a decent plot isn't going to work. Generically, a story without reasonable characters and settings isn't going to keep me interested, but there are always exceptions if other things over-compensate for it. A story is a mixture of characters, setting and plot. Focusing on only part of this mix as the "most important aspect" is ignoring the broad range of possibilities and requirements. Brilliant characters without a plot is interesting for a while, but gets boring when the story doesn't go anywhere. A great plot with cardboard characters can work, but most of the time it'll fall flat on it's face.

I'm sorry, C James, but you've confused me. What is the reference to the inflatable raft about? And apologies to everyone who's been reading this thread -- it appears to have been hijacked

Frankly, I'm appalled at Australia's lack of consistency! You insist on having Christmas in Summer, and July as a winter month, you even perversely insist upon having largely different constellations in your night sky, so why don't you have the sun rise in the West and set in the East to complete the package? Well, you could ease things a great deal with the DST problem. The fact that you have DST at such odd times compared to the Northern hemisphere makes for a time-table nightmare. I think the best solution is for you to begin DST in March and end it in November, in the interests of reducing the confusion. I'm sorry, C James, I really am. We tried to legislate to have the sun rise in the west, as you suggested, but there was an outcry that the American tourists wouldn't be able to cope, and tourism is still an important part of the economy. We are already being considerate in letting the northern hemisphere think they are the top half of the world (simply logic would indicate that for the Earth to be stable, the largest landmasses and population would have to be on the bottom half, but we antipodeans have been too polite to point that out), but the politicians drew the line at copying an obviously inferior DST system from the USA (evidence to support this statement: C James's original blog entry....) In the interest of full disclosure: this post is being made while I'm drunk.... Graeme

A more interesting trivia question would be how many threads are there that our resident master-lurker (the goat without a boat, which is why I feel safe teasing him) has NOT posted on.

I noticed the same thing.... However, congratulations, Kitty. It doesn't matter how slow or fast you reached that point, but the dedication required shows how much this site means to you. Graeme

G'day, darkfoxprime! Don't worry. C James is up to almost 2000 posts and he's still a lurker (at least that's what he keeps telling us). Join in the Happy Birthday threads, if nothing else, and you'll be up to five posts in no time. Cheers! Graeme

The comment about a slap in the face for all Jews is not correct, either. Some time ago a friend sent me a liberal view on homosexuality by a Jewish rabbi. I'm not Jewish, but I found it interesting reading.

Of course, if we can get the shy lurkers, like C James, to start posting a bit more, then that will also help...

The media can report these things correctly at times. We had a similar newspaper article in Melbourne a few weeks ago, regarding some personality clashes at the National Art Gallery in Melbourne. The article mention the partner of the curator... and that was it. The fact that they were a gay couple wasn't mentioned -- just that they were a couple.

Hi, CJ! The difference between Western Australia (WA) and New South Wales (NSW) is that in WA, most of the population is on the western edge of the timezone while in NSW most of the population is on the eastern edge of the timezone. The time that the sun sets is later in the west of the timezone compared to the east and so it stays light later in Perth than it does in Sydney. The extra hour in the evening is balanced against the loss of the hour in the morning. If we tried to extend daylight saving all year around then we'd have kids going to school in the dark in the middle of winter, which many parents (including me) would find unacceptable. During summer, the overall longer day means it is still light in the morning, even with the time shift. There is a proposal for the year after next to align all the states with Tasmania and start daylight saving at the start of October instead of the end. New Zealand also goes onto daylight saving at the start of October, so that would also bring more consistency to the region. They aren't talking about doing it for next year because timetables for airlines, etc., are already done out to October next year. They want to give everyone plenty of warning.

I've brought this up before, but since it's relevant, I'll post this again. The following is an essay I did a couple of years ago for The Mail Crew. In it I talk about my marriage and give advice on the subject to anyone considering getting married: http://www.themailcrew.com/graeme.html I have also recently read that some conservatives define homosexuality based on acts, rather than orientation. From that point of view a homosexual who is in a heterosexual relationship is no longer homosexual, and hence "ex-gay". However, from the comments made above, the "ex-gay" speaker being talked about is still homosexual and is struggling with those feelings, but is doing what they can not to act on them. I happen to know this well since I'm in the same situation. The essential difference is that I've finally accepted I'm gay (which I did just before I turned 41) AND my wife and I co-operate in the matter. She's only really asked one thing from me -- to stay true to my marriage vows by being faithful. In return, she accepts that I spend a lot of time on the internet interacting with my gay friends and writing gay fiction. She's still uncomfortable with the idea of me meeting anyone in person, because she has an irrational fear that they are "going to steal my husband." She knows it's irrational, but that doesn't make it less real. So, I make sure I don't meet anyone. She's soften her stance enough that I might be able to meet gay couples, but she still has a long way to go... and I'm happy to give her time. Getting back on track -- there is a pressure on married gay men that only someone who has been in that situation can really appreciate. It's like being gay in the first place -- your straight friends may appreciate and accept, but I don't believe they will ever really understand what it's like to be gay in a straight-dominated society. I can appreciate that the "ex-gay" struggles daily because I have "gay thoughts" daily, too. In my case I accept them, and simply refuse to act on them if it would damage my relationship with my wife. If I have trouble with that, then I discuss it with my wife so we can work out TOGETHER what to do. In his case he feels that they are "wrong" and that is (in my humble opinion) making things worse for him. He may be strong enough to cope, but he may be heading towards a breakdown, as has been suggested. This post is getting a bit long winded, so I'll stop now. If anyone has any questions on the issue of being gay or lesbian and marriage with someone of the opposite sex, please don't hesitate to contact me. This is a topic that my wife and I both feel strongly about. We don't want anyone to go through what we did.

The Australian state (pun intended) of daylight saving: Queensland, Western Australian and the Northern Territory don't do it. The rest of the country does, but Tasmania goes onto daylight saving three weeks before everyone else. Now, normally, Australia has three timezones: GMT+10: Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, Victoria and Tasmania GMT+9:30: Northern Territory and South Australia GMT+8: Western Australia When daylight saving comes in, we have five timezones: GMT+11: New South Wales, ACT, Victoria and Tasmania GMT+10:30: South Australia GMT+10: Queensland GMT+9:30: Northern Territory GMT+8: Western Australia Yes, you're right -- when daylight saving starts, South Australia goes from 30 minutes behind Queensland to 30 minutes ahead of Queensland. There are good reasons for Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia not to go onto daylight savings. In Perth (the capital of Western Australia), it is already light until 10pm. There is no need to extend the light by another hour. In Queensland and the Northern Territory it is still warm in the evening. Extending the time before it cools down by another hour will make sleeping that much more difficult. For the rest of the states, that extra hour in the evening for other activities is useful. If you like, it's a social enabler, by allowing more social activities in the afternoon and early evening than would otherwise be possible. Even if you can't put a monetary value on it, the intangible benefits are real. It makes timetabling crazy at the changeover times, but I wouldn't want them to cancel it. Just my opinion....

Happy Birthday! May you have a happy, prosperous and healthy year ahead.

WOW! Can I stick my hand up and ask for the same treatment to one of my recent stories? This is the sort of thing I keep looking for -- the outside eye to help guide places where my writing can improved. Don't bother doing it for my anthology entry because I didn't really spend enough time on it to refine it properly. My Black Swans short story would be good, as I think it's one of the best things I've written.

Did I make a post? Sorry, I thought I was just writing some random musings for private consumption. I didn't expect anyone to read them....

It's not difficult to be a writer and a car guy. Check out the author Lugnutz at http://www.deweywriter.com who combines the two and writes about car guys. If it wasn't for the emoticon, I would've thought this was an unfortunately choice of phrasing, but I suspect it was deliberate. As such, I refuse to rise to the bait and I'm not going to mention it.

Congratulations to the WHOLE community. I did some checking and there are nine members with over 1000 posts, and they make up approximately 25% of the total. I also noticed one particular shy, retiring lurker on that list (not that I'm mentioning any names, C James), so that gives hope to all the rest of us shy, retiring lurkers that we, too, may make a difference here Seriously, congratulations to everyone because it is the sum of ALL the members that makes the site what it is. Special thanks for Myr for providing the site and all the administration team for keeping it going.

I haven't seen you around recently, but Happy 20th Birthday No longer a teenager! Graeme

John Tucker is the author of Alan and Bryan, Ron and Bryan, Ron and Matt, Empire, Super Jeff and (with Cody) Ciao. You can find them all at CRVBoy under the name JET. I had an email from him only a few days ago

I read through the entire thread, and one of the points the original poster was trying to make was that too many people will accept a "quoted" extract from a reference without verifying that the extract is accurate. He gave a links to legitimate websites and either referenced them out of context (eg. the ACLU involvement in gay cases -- the link was the ACLU defending the rights of an ANTI-gay case) or actually making something up that doesn't appear on the referenced sites. It's a common issue -- many people will just assume that if a quote is given and a link to what appears to be a legitimate site, then the quote is accurate and relevant. As the original poster said at one point: he was employing a little-used debating tactic where he was trying to make the "opponent" do their own research and come up with HIS conclusion.

I'm still working my way through the anthology... but thanks everyone for all your work!

Thanks, Myr. My only regret is you didn't start this site the day you were born -- because then I might've been able to come to accept myself a lot earlier than I did. Graeme

Just curious -- Cj, did you realise that you managed to keep your story thread alive all the way through to the next anthology?