David R. Ryan

This story is very much auto-biographical and writing it was therapeutic to some extent, but it was also such an unpleasant process getting it done that I might never read it again. So I’m quite happy that you and others appreciate it 🙂 Thank you for letting me know and I wish you all the best.

Thank you for reading it and for your feedback 🙂

Thank you 🙂

For what felt like a long time I had been lying on my black couch and just kept staring at a random spot on the white ceiling. The living room was sparsely furnished and decorated in a very clean, minimalist way and only consisted of the large, U-shaped couch, a rectangular glass table in its center and a black cupboard about twice the length of the big TV sitting on top of it. There were a couple of mostly monochrome, abstract paintings hanging on the walls and both windows on the right we

A man who has recently lost the love of his life is deep in denial and about to let himself starve and freeze to death, but then an unexpected visitor forces him to open his eyes and look past the all-consuming void he has been left with.

Thank you for commenting and I’m sorry, I guess? 😋

There was another monstrous firestorm approaching on the horizon and I could already feel the tremors caused by the devastating roars of thunder. I had almost made it to the last house that I hadn't searched for supplies yet, but now I didn't have a choice, I needed to get back to my refuge before the air was set ablaze again. I wasn't angry about it though, because I had less than three days worth of food and water left, so no matter what I would find in that one remaining house on the hill, it

This is a story about a man who has lost his son and is now trying to survive in an apocalyptic world.

There aren’t thousands of abuse-victims in the world. 1 BILLION children get abused every year and that’s only the number of reported and discovered abuse-cases, so the actual number is even MUCH higher than that.

Thank you so much, you have made my day 😊

Hi. I need to properly format my new manuscript, but ignorant as I am, I had never heard of or noticed indentation before yesterday and I really don't get what to do. I mean, I understand that I'm supposed to indent paragraphs, but my manuscript is very dialogue-heavy, so if I only indent the narration it looks odd, because there's just so little of it, but if I indent all the dialogue (every time a different person is speaking) then it kind of looks messy to me and also, if I indent all the dialogue, I don't indent the narration? And if I don't, do I still indent new "paragraphs" of narration though? But what if that indented paragraph is followed by also indented dialogue again, that would look odd too, right? Any suggestions? (Here's a short story of mine, to illustrate just how dialogue-heavy my manuscript is: https://gayauthors.org/story/david-r-ryan/ferociously-adorable/#chapters )

I'm not sure I agree that "anything is better than nothing", because tipping a pizza delivery guy only 5 cents is just undignified and shows disrespect, so I think in many cases too little can be worse than nothing and a lot of the LGBTQ-stuff in video games feels like a shoehorned in afterthought. That's why it's not really cutting it for me, but I guess it is a start, so maybe I shouldn't complain too much 😉

What “concept” are you talking about exactly, @Marty? Because the other two commenters called the story “unrealistic” and “avant-garde”/experimental and I don’t understand that at all. I mean, from my perspective the story is completely straight forward and if you get that the characters are coming from a place of extreme desperation and that they aren’t being serious most of the time, I don’t see why it would strike someone as unrealistic or “experimental”. In any case, thanks for commenting 🙂

Hahaha 😂 I would imagine that looking something like this: Me: Good morning neighbor! Lee: What the fuck did you just say to me, motherfucker?! Me: Good morning? Lee: That’s not what I fucking heard! Me: What did you hear? Lee: The sound of you burning the fuck to death, you disrespectful fucking bitch! Me: I swear I only said good morning. I’m sorry, ok? Lee: Yes, you will be sorry once you’re all burned to shit and I flush you down the fucking toilet! Me: Please don’t hurt me, please! *Running for my life* Lee: God, what the fuck?! It was just an innocent little joke, obviously!... Hey, stop running, you crazed fucking bitch! Ben: *Poking his head out the door* What the fuck is going on here?! Lee: Quick, shove my weed up your ass, the fucking pigs are coming! Ben: Are you fucking joking?! That’s the third time this month! Lee: Ehm, less talk-y, more weed shove-y up the ass-y please, ok?! Ben: Jesus Christ! 😜

It was almost noon on a Wednesday, over a month after Lee had moved in, and I was sitting on my desk, working, while Lee was busy taking another nap. I still felt tired, so I decided to get a fresh cup of coffee and when I came back he finally had his eyes open and smiled at me as soon as he saw me. "Hey you, do you want some coffee too?" I asked, returning the smile. "No thanks, I'm not done sleeping yet," he replied and then stretched himself, slightly moaning.