JamesSavik

The next award is for the 2005 GAC of the year, and the winner is:JamesSavick!!! I got an NJ!

Story Structure Architect Victoria Lynn Schmidt Within these pages you will find 5 dramatic thought-lines, 6 conflict types, 21 genres, 11 master plot structures, 55 master dramatic situations, and several research guidelines. -from p. 4 What is it with Ms. Schmidt? Like a Teutonic master librarian cataloger, she is hell bound to organize, categorize, bend, fold, staple and mutilate the entirety of dramatic fiction. How useful is this book? Frankly, as useful as you want to make it. There is good stuff in this book. It is not going to blueprint your plot for you but it does give you tools to build your own. One thing that I resist is the formula. Sure- there are formulas that work. Clancy has one. So does Spielberg and they are fantastically successful. However, if you read enough of these books by formula, you can see the x, y and z of it all. Thankfully, while this book could be used to construct a literary formula, it is more useful as a reference. Part 1: Drafting a Plan How to Use This Book The 5 Dramatic Thoughtlines The 6 Conflicts The 21 Genres Part 2: Building the Structure How to use the 11 Master Structures The Roller Coaster The Replay Fate The Parallel The Episodic The Melodrama Romance The Journey Interactive Metafiction The Slice of Life Part 3: Adding Stories Introducing the 55 Dramatic Situations Supplication & Benefaction Deliverance & Sojourn Vengeance for a crime & Rehabilitation Vengeance taken for kindred upon kindred and Appearance of a new kinsman Flight & Pursuit Di aster & Miracle Falling Prey to cruelty & Becoming Fortunate Revolt & Support Daring Enterprise & the Healing Journey Abduction & Reunion Enigma & Invention Obtaining & Letting go Enmity of kinsmen & Hero of kinsmen Competition and Concession Adultery & Fidelity Madness & Genius Imprudence & Caution Crimes of love and Sacrifice for Love Slaying of a Loved One & Conviction Self-sacrifice & Self-preservation Discovery of dishonor & discovery of honor Obstacles to Love & Unconditional Love Conflict with a God & Supernatural Occurrence Mistaken Judgment & Intuitive Judgment Remorse & Empathy Loss of a loved one & Rescue of a loved one Odd Couple & Fish out of Water Part 4: Research My rating: ***

My guess is Seth. In order for there to be love, there must first be passion. Passionate hatred will do for a start.

My theory on Aaron: sure at this point in his life, he a putz. He uses people and is too self-centered to care about who he hurts. He's never been in love before. That is until he met Rory and completely screwed that up. I think that the pain of falling in love and knowing that he screwed it up is going to transform Aaron BUT it could go either way. He may decide to change for the better- possible but unlikely. More likely is that he is going to come unwrapped in the old fashioned way by loosing his grip on the booze.

Happy Holidaze!

Dom might have to change the name of the story to Desert Dumping.

The NJ awards- I kinda like that. Would it involve wearing a tux? Happy Holidays

What if the package was marked for Rory by mistake? It could be: > A package of Depends Undergarments for Grandma Alice > A ancient fruitcake that Mom meant to mail to the next victim > A copy of Sex and the Single Mom: or How to be a Slut and pull the Wool Over Your Teenagers eyes and pictures from her German schizza video. > The six-pack she won from her friends that bet her that Eddie wouldn't sleep with her. > Copies of the best adult films that she starred in.

That's just so twisted. My hero!

Shadows! I'm surprised at you! That's diabolical and I like that in a person.

45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt I'm not sure that I buy Ms. Schmidt's theory of archetypes. It sounds a lot more like standard character stereotypes 101. Is this book useful? Maybe, however I don't give it high marks. Good characters don't really fill any one of MS. Schmidt's 45 something profiles. They are a composite of several. If this book is useful for anything, it makes you think about the complexities of various personalities. I did NOT buy MS. Schmidt's Theories about "the feminine and masculine journey's". I would call them the formulas for mediocrity. I. Getting Started 1. What are Archetypes and Why should Writers use Them? 2. How to Use the Archetypes II. Creating Female heroes and Villains 3. Aphrodite: the Seductive Muse and the Femme Fatale 4. Artemis: the Amazon and the Gorgon 5. Athena: the Father's Daughter and the Backstabber 6. Demeter: the Nurturer and the Over-controlling Mother 7. Hera: The Matriarch and the Scorned Woman 8. Hestia: the Mystic and the Betrayer 9. Isis: The Female Messiah and the Destroyer 10. Persephone: The Maiden and the Troubled Teen III.Creating Male Hero's and Villains 11. Apollo: the Businessman and the Traitor 12. Ares: the Protector and the Gladiator 13. Hades: the Recluse and the Warlock 14. Hermes: the Fool and the Derelict 15. Dionysus: the Women's man and the Seducer 16. Osiris: the Male Messiah and the Punisher 17. Poseidon: the Artist and the Abuser 18. Zeus: the King and the Dictator IV. Creating Supporting Characters 19. Introduction to Supporting Characters 20. Friends 21. Rivals 22. Symbols V. The Feminine and Masculine Journey 23. Introduction to the Archetypal Journey 24. Plotting the Feminine Journey 25. Plotting the Masculine Journey My Rating: ** 1/2

Happy Holidays DOM! Thanks for all of your most excellent work.

Happy Holidays to you Green & your family of choice. All my best wishes to Green, Chaz, Selene, David, et al. May 2006 bring you health, happiness and success.

Oh my god SB! I'm laughing my butt off. THUD! I felt the same way about Rory but there are some people you can't tell anything. They've just got to screw the pooch and find out for themselves. Well... in Rory's case the "pooch" was Aaron and everybody in town tried to tell him that TLS was a leg-hound. If you give up on a story, you forfeit the chance that it will take a turn- or in this case Rory might learn a thing or two.

The boy now hates me because his lying led me to accidently out him to his homophobic mother and he's now staying at my mothers house because his mom can't deal with him. She thinks he's lying again, sadly this is the truth. Green You shouldn't lose any sleep over outing this guy. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Given the many, many lies this kid has spun around himself, how were you supposed to know? This bit where he lied about Chaz- I've heard it called wishcraft: that is where a person has lost his grip on reality. His truth is what he wants it to be. This poor guy has likely NEVER had anyone that he could risk being honest with. You should caution your Mom that when this guys "reality" does fall apart, it is likely to be very dangerous for him. -JS

I'm not really evil per see but, when others play rough, I can play that game too. In fact, being bright and creative offers one the opportunity to really and truly bumfuzzel and brutalize the moutbreathers that think that they can mess with us gay folk without consequence. DO TELL us about your favorite dirty tricks! It is soooo much more fun getting even than it is getting mad. Of course, I'll start: Visine (standard visine, not allery relief) has a ingredient that makes the bloodshot vessels of your eyes chill out. A drop of it in a cup of coffee will cause your prey to rather messily crap their pants. JUST a SINGLE DROP, NO MORE(!) It is very difficult to assume an arrogant air of superiority when you're walking around with a load of crap in your pants. Sooooo... tell us your dirty tricks.

HCG- Dom-a-holism is a harmless addiction. Unlike scotch or crack, it won't destroy you. Relax! Dom's work is one of the few addictions that you can enjoy without needing a 12 step program or rehab. So, Enjoy! -JS PS- good to see you again! Hope things are going OK.

I ask him if he goes to a therapist and I tell him about mine but he says that his family doesn't believe in shrinks and walks away. This is when his mother omes to me and tells me that she's sorry. Her son apparently has a tendency to lie, To lie alot and he can't help it. I ask her about a therapist and she says that he's been to so many and none ever work. Green- What you have seen is the dark side of being gay and living in the closet. Lies become so many and complex that some forget where the lies end and the truth begins. It becomes second nature to lie and eventually they lie when it would be just as easy to tell the truth. This is one of the common troubles that some gay people experience when they live in a family in which they receive the message being gay is completely unacceptable. I have seen this occur in several variations among Southern gay people. Growing up gay is a psychological gauntlet that few escape undamaged- some more than others. Please understand that what you are dealing with is a person with problems not the incarnation of evil. He may well cause you a lot of annoyance and trouble, it is a a test of your character as to how you deal with him. You can simply cut him off and chose to be annoyed or listen to your better nature and try to help him. This will be very difficult. People who get in this pattern have a hard time getting out and often cause chaos for everyone around them. This may well be something you might bring up with your therapist as to how you might proceed. This mission, should you decide to accept it, will be long, painful and confusing. Should you be captured, killed or go insane, the director will disavow any knowledge of you or your activities. Good luck Mr. Green. This blog reply will self destruct in 10 seconds. :nuke: POOF! :nuke:

There is a poll going on for author and story of the year! Of course the Doma-holics are all over the poll but our beloved Comicality is in the running for author of the year and his story Gone From Daylight is up for story of the year. go here to vote

Nick- The closest thing I can relate to this is being a good player on a bad team. There is some satisfaction in the other team running away from your side but you can't do everthing. When they do run your way you can make them wish they hadn't. :2hands: I don't have any experience with the stage. If it wasn't done with some kind of ball at my HS, it simply wasn't done. -JS

Hey Dom- People have to understand that it is *fiction* and that stories have plotlines for a purpose. If a writer did whatever his fans said, he wouldn't have very many fans. Rory could get hit by a falling comet in the very next chapter and DD could still end up being a great story. You never know until you read it. In other matters, I hope that you find someone to keep you warm and raise your spirits- Christmas and otherwise. -JS

Happy Birthday Kitty. Hope you are Queen of your new territory!

If you have tequila, they are all bi.

AFF- I am fellow Southner who decided to stay. If I had it to do over again, I would have left. People in the South are two faced little b*tches. If they know that you are gay, they will be one way to your face and screw you over behind your back. They have been indoctrinated by generations of religious fanatics. Even if they don't go to church, it is part of their culture. They know that gay people are evil and feel nothing about betraying you, screwing you over or using you. To them, you are not quite human. It doesn't matter what they do to you. Get out while you are young enough to build yourself a life in a place where you will be allowed to have a life. -James

What a cute puppy! Is he a yellow Lab? I had a black lab for a while named Spook. In the dark, all you could see of him was his teeth and eyes. My boyfriend said that he looked spooky and it stuck. My Mom used to say he was smarter than me. A euphamism for being neutered is having your dog fixed. It's really the responsible thing to do with all of the stray and homeless puppies and kittens that have to be put down. It is a sad necessity. However, let me be the first to say: "Yarp, yarp, yarp, yarp, yarp..."