Graeme

Yes, there's lot of story arcs. The prologue sets up two of them, but as you saw with Dave, there are others along of the way, too. It makes the writing a challenge, but it also makes it fun

Eddie MacGuire really is the president of the Collingwood football club, and has made public statements in support of the Pink Magpies (also a real group). He's was previously the CEO of one of the major TV stations here in Australia, and is still a major media personality. So, yes, he'd love it if Collingwood had the first openly gay AFL player. You'll see more information regarding Dave in the upcoming chapters. I don't see the need for a poll, but if you want to set one up, feel free

Actions have consequences. Jim's coming out is an action.... There are often unexpected consequences for our actions. Sometimes they're minor and sometimes they're not.

LOL -- my son has flight simulators and train simulators. He also has a 'build-your-own-theme-park" game, but somehow I don't see him spending $10 to own a goat simulator.

At a minimum...so far As for people feeling uncomfortable, there are a lot of nuances. Does it really need to be combated, or is it something that is just part of life -- some people will always be uncomfortable in certain situations. That doesn't necessarily make their feelings wrong. Unfortunately, that's a subject that needs a discussion, not a simple review and reply I've spent the last few minutes trying to word what I wanted to say as a reply, but I can't do it succinctly. Sorry

Thank you! You can now see why Deon's father kept getting mentioned in the last few chapters of Leopard Skin Cover

Jim Henderson stared up at the large red 7 that still glistened from the earlier light rain. He was outside of Channel 7’s Melbourne broadcast studios, just next to Etihad Stadium at the Docklands, and he didn’t want to go inside. “Come on, Dad. You’re supposed to be in there by eight to get ready to go on TV.” Ty Flanders grabbed Jim’s arm and yanked him a couple of steps forward. Jim frowned as he pulled his arm away. “Ty, you’d better cut out calling me that while we’re here. Some people ma

Neil Rosewood glanced at the large plasma screen that was his father’s pride and joy. He watched for a couple of seconds, trying to sear the images in his mind before returning his attention to his book. He didn’t want his father to know that he had more than a passing curiosity in the news report. Phillip Rosewood glared at the screen. “Why is this a news story? Some guy prefers to fuck other guys instead of girls and it takes up half the news!” Neil kept his opinion to himself. His father wa

The ongoing story of the Lilydale Leopards football club. Though the club has been saved, there are some unexpected consequences that needs to be dealt with.

Where I live doesn't have a gay 'life' as described (though the local secondary school has rather prominent posters against homophobia and saying that being gay is okay). Where I work (when I'm in the office) isn't far from the heart of Melbourne's gay 'life'. I heard the area described once on the radio as the 'Pink Mile'. There are bars, nightclubs, at least a couple of 'sex-on-premises' places (one's a sauna -- I got propositioned once when I walking past it. The guy wanted $20 to give me a blow job), and I've (occasionally) seen gay couples walking down the street holding hands. I go to the local supermarket on Friday nights after work before heading off and there are often pairs of guys there that I'm pretty sure are gay couples. There was a gay and lesbian bookstore there, but it recently moved to somewhere else in Melbourne (I haven't bothered trying to find where). There's also a couple of adult-only stores selling 'adult' products (including porn) that cater for both straight and gay customers. The local store selling 'mainstream' DVDs and Blu-Rays has a section for "Queer" movies/TV Shows. Overall, the area is very gay friendly.

I had the 'pleasure' last year of accompanying a group of primary school kids going through the Australian National Gallery. Happily, I wasn't in the group that went to see Jackson Pollock's 'Blue Poles': The comments from the kids who did see it, though, reflected the opinion of TetRefine above -- they wondered what it was and why was it art. I'm old enough to remember the controversy when it was originally bought (for a rather large sum of money), but looking at it, I can say that I'm not capable of doing something like that. It's not just a random splash of colour. Those apparently random splashes are such that you can almost see something in them. That's art. What you can sense is there is something personal and unique to each viewer, and for some people it may be profound. Having said that, I still don't 'get it', but I recognise it as art. It's not something I personally would want on my wall, and maybe it only appeals to a small subset of the population, but it's not something anyone can do.

Thank you! I was afraid when I started that I had too many characters, but they all exerted themselves and developed their own personalities. I'm really pleased with how everything came together.

The players are like an extended family. That shows in many ways, and covering for Paul is just one of them.

Thank you! I always try to give my characters a consistent motivation. If it's not obvious, the other characters usually indicate that they find it strange, too, but hopefully it's explained in the end

Eventually, I expect it won't be an issue, but during the interim period between no gay athletes and when they're just another teammate, there's going to be some friction. The closest analogy would be how long it took race to become a non-issue in professional sports. It didn't happen immediately....

Best of luck! I have a beta-reader who uses software to read the story. He picks up several errors that way. My favourite error of this type is when I was beta-reading for someone and I had to point out to the author that in the processing of getting ready for sex, the main character had taken off three shoes.... I had the same problem recently. I had characters arriving into Melbourne on a flight, and then I had to fly into Melbourne myself about a week later. That's when I realised I had the gate number wrong and, worse, the coffee shop that they bought coffee from was closed.... I fixed the gate number and decided that in my alternate universe, the coffee shop owner was more amenable to story requirements

Because I don't have any plans to professionally publish, my process is a cut-down version of what Cia does. I little trick I use is to make sure the word processor I use has the language set to the appropriate one for the story. Usually that's Australian English, though I've written stories set in the USA in which case I use the American English dictionary that I've downloaded. After writing the story, I usually sit on it for a day before going back and reviewing it. I tend to review while I'm writing -- or, technically, when I'm stuck on what to write next, I go back and review what I've written so far. It's amazing how much that of a different that day break can make in spotting flaws. Once that's done, it goes to my first beta-reader. That's the one that I can rely on to always give a critical opinion of what's there -- picking up a few typos along the way, but also pointing out the things they think do or don't work. After making appropriate adjustments, it then goes to my other beta-readers for comment, usually with some explicit questions in the email. It's only after that does the the story go to my editor. When I get the time, I like to print off what I've written to review, because the different presentation allows me to see more than reviewing it on the screen. I don't always so that, but I like to if I can. That's it for me. Fairly simple.

Sorry, but that was accurate. I'm an early morning person and if I'm working from home, I start at 6am. If I'm not, that's the time I usually head out to whereever I have to go (unless I'm catching a flight, in which case I'm often up at 4am so I can catch the first flight in the morning) Thanks for the comment about my story! That's my first novel for several years, so I'll admit I was nervous about how it would turn out. Thanks, Cole and Mike, too! Cole, I struggle with mysteries, too. It's not something that comes naturally to me.

As I keep telling my kids, everyone's different. That applies to how they react to someone coming out, too. Some people accept it easily. Some people take time before they accept it. Others never do...

Thank you! I'll admit that I was concerned at the number of characters, but I tried to make sure they were all distinctive. I always try to write on the assumption that the story will be read right through. Even though it was posted serially, most people will be reading it once it's completed, and so the story needs to be able to read in a single sitting, too.

LOL -- thank you!

Thanks for giving me a chance to know you, Joe I think you were an extremely level-headed eighteen-year-old when I first met you here and I've never had a reason to change that positive opinion. Good luck with whatever you intend to do next!

The following link has been advertised in one of the local newspapers: Out on the Fields: The FIrst International Survey on Homophobia in Sports The survey ends on the 15th June (I believe), though I don't know if that's Australian Time, so I'd advise anyone responding to do so by the 14th to play it safe From the newspaper article: and Dr Caroline Symons from Victoria University says the survey is the first comprehensive study of the "under-researched area" of lesbian, gay and bisexuals' experience in team sport. "The main aim is to get high participation numbers to get strong data on the prevalence and nature of homophobia experiences in sports of each of the countries and do a comparison," she said.

Well, you've certainly picked the right place in that case If you've got any questions, please don't be afraid to ask myself or one of the other staff members. A list of staff can be found here. Also, the Writer's Corner and Editor's Corner are great places to ask about matters to do with writing. Best of luck!

Neat! Coincidentally, the following article appeared in one of our major local newspapers on Monday. In fact, the newspaper had the teaser for the article as the major item on the front page of the printed paper, with a large photo of the guy in question covering almost half the page I'm gay and I play footy. What's the big deal? He's not playing at the elite level -- he's one of the grassroots players, like Jason Ball who came out a few years ago and has been influential in getting the elite level of the sport to recognise and do something about homophobia. People like Jason and Rhyian can make just as much of a difference as the elite athletes, because they're local -- they're there in front of the rest of their team and opponents and can show that being gay doesn't change who we are.