FV2112

It had finally come. The shameless commercialism, advertising, shopping, decorating, and baking all lead to this one special day. Desmond looked out the window shortly after awakening from his slumber. The weather outside was positively horrible: sickeningly grey skies, an eerie fog, and brutally cold temperatures made for a truly miserable morning, but none of it mattered as it was none other than December 25th: Christmas Day. He lacked any festive shirts or attire and instead u

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the coveted holiday break had finally arrived for the students of East Brimerton High. For the next twelve days, tests, homework, and school assignments could become a mere afterthought as everyone looked forward to the festivities Christmas and New Year’s had to offer. Despite this, Christmas was the absolute last thing on Damien Marshall’s mind. Like both of the teachers he lusted after, he too was on the verge of a major breakthrough. Withou

My story isn't dead, I'm just taking a bit of a break from it for the time being.

The shimmering aurora of the golden street lights passed throughout the night sky like shooting stars as Desmond’s old college roommate Tyler, the designated driver for this escapade, made the hour-long trip from downtown Boston back to Brimerton. Desmond stared blankly into space with his face pressed against the window, having learned the hard way that he couldn’t pound back Johnnie Walker shots with beer chasers like he could in his younger days. Upon passing by the shopping center on Ch

2:45 PM. Afternoon announcements had just concluded, and Mrs. Luisa Lopez’s 9th-period Spanish class was on edge, boiling in silent anticipation of hearing that loud beep. In the distance, they could hear the rumblings of their peers in other classes making their way out of their desks, mingling with friends, and gathering by the door, ready to burst forth into the hallways once classes were officially dismissed. But Mrs. Lopez’s students knew that if they dared to even think about standin

Being made to sit alone each lunch period was a difficult burden to bear at first, having to watch people he once called his confidants looking over their shoulders from three tables down, shouting cruel jokes and making nasty remarks to try and provoke him. Damien, however, did not react. He remained stoic, reminding himself of what Mr. Mancino told him on Monday. As the week marched on by, Damien slowly found cold comfort in isolation from his former “friend” group; in his solitude, he fo

*January 2006* “I still don’t love the idea of this, Bryan.” “It’s gonna be fine, Maureen. Dr. Willoughby comes highly recommended!” The pretty blonde in her early thirties sat on the couch and nervously played with her hair as both she and her husband awaited the arrival of a special guest, a guest who could very well determine the ultimate fate of their unraveling sacred bond. “I don’t know, I just feel like once you get to the point where someone else has to intervene to s

Things didn’t improve much for Damien as sophomore year continued. After two months, it became clear that the only true positive for this year was his first-period biology class with Mr. Mancino. Afterward, the remaining six hours would be filled with nothing but disappointments and stressors. If dealing with mean, annoying, and incompetent teachers weren’t bad enough, Damien’s relationship with his quote-unquote “friends” continued to deteriorate at an exponential pace as their positions a

The more I look into traditional publishing, the more I'm honestly becoming adverse to it. All of the arbitrary rules and regulations like word limits really just seem like they're really just there to gatekeep, gaslight, stifle your creativity, and force you and your work into a box that probably doesn't fit. I think that if I were to ever publish The Scandal, I might just go indie.

I'm really glad you seem to be enjoying it so far

my book is in my signature on here, but in case it isn't showing up for you,

Believe me, I know damn well that my first draft (the Sims version) is garbage which is why I never posted it on any Sims websites. I was actually going through it a little bit the other day and all I could really see were things that I wanted to do differently. Even with the improvements I've made over the 12 and a half years I've been working on it, there's still a ton of exposition dumps (especially in the second half), character arcs that go nowhere, unnecessary graphic sex scenes just for the sake of having them, ellipses where there are supposed to be commas, probably a lot of typos and grammatical errors, the character of Damien Marshall in my early EARLY drafts was basically the male Bella Swan because my main focus was the dynamic between the two muscle bear teachers plus, I was scared of digging deep into my own high school experience and the trauma and drama that came out of it to actually make him a relatable character, he ended up being what was essentially a human plot device. I've had friends of mine read the first draft and the consensus is that it has a lot of potential but it also needs a lot of work, and that's what I'm trying to accomplish with the draft that I'm posting here in dribs and drabs, I'm trying to make this unpublishable mess that was my first draft into something potentially publishable.

With his recent predicament in mind, Desmond was more grateful than ever that unlike the other conservative, old-fashioned Italian-American families in his hometown, he grew up with very liberal and open-minded parents. The weekend after Desmond walked in on Bryan, leading to a shocking and unprecedented revelation about himself, he decided to make the four-and-a-half-hour drive from Brimerton to his hometown of Grasmere, Staten Island, to visit his parents, Oscar and Lynda Mancino. Desmond

Nah, I'm not offended in the slightest. I'm really not under any illusion whatsoever that I've written the next best American novel, this is simply my story, and I'd like to feel like because I've been writing for almost 15 years, the improvement between my early rough drafts and what I hope to soon be a finished product would be palpable. In all my years of reading and writing, I believe I've learned a lot about how a good story is composed.

I can relate because my own passion project is a two-part novel with over seventy chapters that spans a multitude of different genres from drama, to slice-of-life, to romance, and even legal thriller. In short, it's a story about life and all the aspects of life, both good and bad. People have even told me that this is a pretty ambitious project for an unpublished amateur writer like myself, but it's something that I really am genuinely passionate about and I really want it to be the best it can be for what it is.

A question for my fellow writers, is it normal to go through cycles of extreme self-doubt about your own abilities and skills? I like to think that in the years I've been working on my novel on and off, I've gotten better at my art and have managed to learn and retain what to do and what not to do as a writer, but there are still these times where I feel like if my book were to get released, it would get shit on mercilessly on Goodreads and other places and have people on TikTok and youtube find out things they don't like about my book and make me feel like I'm a bad person for even thinking I could release it. Sometimes I feel like there's just nothing I can do to salvage my first draft and wonder why I even bother writing a second draft of it in the first place.

You know what they say...the only way youll get better is if you keep on doing it. My early attempts at writing were My Immortal and Sonic High School levels of bad lol.

I feel like it depends on the context of the scene. The way that I write, I naturally tend to spell more things out, but every so often I'll re-read something I've written, whether it's a line or a paragraph or even whole sections of a whole chapter, erase some of the more excess details and be like "holy shit this sounds so much better"

Bryan exhaled a harried sigh of relief at the absence of a certain teal Bronco in his driveway. "He must be out running errands," his racing mind spoke through the din. As he exited the Toyota, Bryan still couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, prompting him to look over his shoulder for the hundredth time today. Yet again, no one was around. Thank God. His blackened aviator shades obscured the light of the beautiful cloudless day and hopefully obscured his identity during hi

I see your point...It's just that sometimes I feel like the story I'm writing just isn't good enough for any reputable publishing house and that self-publishing is really the only way to go, even if it's getting a positive reception from the people who are reading it. Then again, sometimes I figure that if universally hated authors like Anna Todd, Colleen Hoover, Stephanie Meyer, or EL James got big book deals, theres no way my book could be so bad that it couldn't happen...

Honestly, as a writer, what do you feel is the best way to go? If you ask me, I think that self-publishing is the most appealing to me because I still retain total control over the kind of story I want to tell, I don't have to worry about a bunch of stuffed shirts wanting to fundamentally change every aspect of my story in order to publish it.

“—I kept trying to explain to this woman that if she’s so worried about budget, lobster thermidor for fifty-two people was going to cost WAY more than the chicken or steak dinner, but you know how it is…Client wants, client gets.” After years of contending with bridezillas, in-laws from hell, budget issues, and uncooperative venues, Charlene Marshall strongly felt as if professional wedding planning should be considered an X-treme sport rather than a career. Even when taking the time out of

With late spring and the early days of summer defined by weeks and weeks of rain and cooler-than-normal weather, the temperature finally breaking eighty degrees with sunny skies at the tail end of June was a welcome change for both Bryan and Desmond. Despite only being on a nine-month contract, Brimerton’s school district gave teachers the option to split their salaries over the entire year, ensuring income during summer vacation—nothing extravagant, but income nonetheless. With the warmth

“Milan was known for manufacturing weapons, but was also known for manufacturing silk and textiles, and even in the modern age, Milan is still considered the fashion capital of the world! However, the most important city-state in all of Renaissance Italy? It’s easily gotta be Florence. SO many brilliant artists, poets, architects, and scholars all came from Florence and it’s really no surprise when you realize that they were all funded by the Medici, one of the most powerful banking families in

Even before he got the job, Desmond always made it a habit to be an early riser, usually for his morning jogs or to hit the weights before the gyms got too crowded. Still, having to wake up at 6:00 AM sharp every Monday through Friday proved to be a much more difficult and inconvenient task than he’d anticipated. The muted yet noticeable sawing sound of a man snoring could be easily heard throughout the house as Desmond got ready for the day. After showering and getting dressed, Desmond sur