Graeme

Thank you! Neil's mother has been a challenging character to write about. She's hasn't shown it before now, but she's not simple. As you've pointed out, she's got conflicting motivations for how to deal with the truth about her son, and she's still struggling to work it out. As for Carlton, the AFL is big business. That means a certain degree of cynicism creeps in, especially when it comes to trying to gain an advantage over the other clubs. If they have to be manipulative to gain someone they consider to be a potential star player, then that's what they'll do. As part of the reading I've been doing in preparation for this story, I read of the behind-the-scenes drama involving the recruitment of one such star player in the past. What Carlton is doing is mild in comparison....

Carlton has already contacted Peter (back in chapter 16) through one of their trainers who had previously worked with Peter. Peter made the comment to the trainer (Alan Kenworth) that if Carlton consider Ty to be draftable, it would be in Ty's best interest if Peter told as many clubs as possible. So contacting Peter again would be a risky move for them. There would be too much danger of Peter turning around and letting the other clubs know, and that would mean Carlton could miss out on the chance to draft Ty. And, yes, you're correct. Doug objected to the "fag" comment, not the other guys calling Neil a loser.

Doug is a bully and a thug. He's also human, which means that he's capable of being more than one-dimensional....

The Carlton Football Club could contact Ty through the Leopards. They could also go there directly to try to speak to him. However, doing so will cause a lot of gossip, and what Carlton are trying to do is to avoid drawing too much attention to Ty. They don't believe the other clubs have noticed the change in attitude, and will therefore ignore him for the end-of-season draft. If they are seen to approach him, other teams may take another look and see that he's no longer has the attitude problem he had the previous year, and may draft him before Carlton gets a chance.

For the record, Doug didn't defend Neil. He defended Liam, who wasn't there to defend himself. That's Doug's story and he's threatened to beat me up if I say anything different

Thanks, Maarten!

“You know the plan for the day?” Todd asked as he packed up the breakfast dishes. Neil nodded. “Ollie takes me to school and picks me up afterwards. Then he’s going to give me another lesson in cooking because apparently last night’s dinner wasn’t up to scratch.” He grinned before putting the cereal back into the pantry. Todd laughed. “Only by Ollie’s standards. It was fine, as I said at the time.” “Boring, though.” Neil shrugged. “I’ll get there. But paying for the food did show up one thing

Thanks, Maarten. If you think you know what's going to happen between Neil and Liam then...well...you'll just have to wait and see I will say that I've written up to and past Neil's 18th birthday party, so you'll find out if you're right or not. As for the story finishing at that point, I'll just say that there's still a lot of the story to go. The story is current early May, 2014. The national draft day is late November....

Alf's 'coming out' to Neil is obviously coming up soon. Neil certainly has a range of possible reactions; some positive and some negative. We'll just have to wait and see....

I personally don't find bully-to-boyfriend plots very believable. Great fantasy, and enjoyable, but not very easy to believe. We'll have to see if Liam can be an exception

Colin's analysis in the last chapter of how the show was likely to turn out was accurate. There was still a risk that it would be spun the other way, but he did what he could to weigh the scales in the direction required. The show's producers would've been aware of the same matter he raised -- they didn't have an exclusive agreement with Neil.

*drums fingers angrily while wondering when this show will be broadcast on Australian TV*

Thanks, Tim! It was about time for Neil to confess the truth to Tony. He's grown up a lot over the course of the story (about six weeks from late March through to early May) and while he wasn't sure he was ready to say anything, he took the opportunity when it arose.

Patrick O’Malley called for his assistant after reviewing the video from the Footscray vs. Lilydale Leopards game. “Yes, sir?” Christopher Talbot asked. “Unexpectedly, the Leopards lost. I asked for a report on how young Flanders handled losing, but I don’t see it.” Christopher gave the old man a wry smile. “I have the report, but the scout didn’t want to write it down. He said no one would believe him if he did.” Patrick frowned. “That doesn’t sound promising.” Christopher shrugged. “It de

I'm going to go back further than what's been talked about. When I started, I had an idea (you're not going to get far as a writer unless you have an idea). My concern was whether I could transfer the emotions I felt in a particular scene into words on paper. So I wrote that scene. I looked at it, decided that enough of the emotions were there, and then went back and started the story. Whenever I got stuck, I would go back to that scene and tweak it, trying to bring out the emotions even more. That continued until the scene was ready to drop into the story. So, before you go any further, imagine a scene and try to write it. If you're not sure you've succeeded, show it to someone and ask them not only if you think it's captured what you were trying, but if you haven't, what's missing. If you want a completely independent test, try doing one of the weekly prompts and posting it in Writing Prompts forum. It's good practise and an excellent way to help yourself develop. You can post the scene that's derived from the prompt in the forum thread if you like.

It's a white dress that's got dust on it.....

Oh, wow! Thanks for posting this, Cia!

I've got no idea if the live blogging is now or not -- PST is too far away from here to try to work it out One thing that struck me with the story was how 'real' the reactions of the characters were. In particular, the part with Kyle having blacked out his room. He was hiding, not wanting to see the light of day. Was this something that just felt right for you, or was it something that you researched to see what sort of reactions there could be for someone in his situation?

Thank you!

And hopefully the next chapter resolves both issues. No promises, though

No, I heard about Arron Light (by watching that Australian Story episode) after I wrote Street Life. Street Life was inspired by a news article I read about a street in St.Kilda where young boys would prostitute themselves The general area was known for the women doing the same, but before then I hadn't realised that boys were also there. The article mentioned that the locals would give help to the kids on the street, and that's what inspired that story.

Interesting speculation. You'll have to wait to see how accurate your predictions turn out

Thank you!

After the interview was concluded and the reporter had left the boardroom, Neil turned to Colin. “What happens next?” Colin’s smile had a wry edge. “We pray.” Neil stared, not sure if Colin was making a joke. “I’m serious. The thing you have to always remember with the commercial media is that they’re there to make a profit. That means that they need viewers, so for current affairs they want something dramatic, something controversial. The situation you’ve found yourself in has, unfortunately

Thank you! It was written in a bit of a rush -- I only had the idea for it a little while ago.