Rilbur

Hell, I'd probably be 'happy' to have those malicious people track me down. I'd give 'em a run for their money, and be glad that I saved someone else from their harassment ofr a while. And I'll go for the cops, preferably after I finish settling the bastards hash, but if it's the other way around that's just fine too. Better me than someone else.

Um, she was warned that would be the case prior to downloading it. And Microsoft does have the right to be paid for it's work (since it was a public beta, anyone and everyone could have gained access and used it 'permanently' otherwise).

My public school had a 40 hour community service requirement to graduate.

They also cover transit to and from school -- and from experience, that's justified. Too much bullying occurs not just on-campus, but after (and before) hours as you walk to / from it. It's necessary, and fair, to extend school 'protections' to those hours as best as possible.

I wonder... would adding a mention to LOLcode be acceptable in a LOLCat thread? HAI CAN HAS STDIO? PLZ OPEN FILE "LOLCATS.TXT"? AWSUM THX VISIBLE FILE O NOES INVISIBLE "ERROR!" KTHXBYE

But conversely, they tend to be very memorable. For example, the Dresden series by Jim Butcher is a very good series. First person POV can be hard, but very rewarding well done.

Well, you could always go read the story and then come back and post something real JDW, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far, and I hope you enjoy where it goes from here!

Hey guys, chapter 10 is out and I decided a small note was in order. While I did my best to avoid it, there may be a certain degree of stylistic or thematic shift in this chapter compared to previous chapters. When I originally started to put Redemption together for publishing, there were 9 chapters (lots of buffer) completed. Due to various interfering factors, I spent literally months between finishing chapter 9 and working on chapter 10, so a certain degree of shift was almost inevitable. I tried to minimize and avoid it -- let me know how well I succeeded, if you would be so kind! Because of the way the story is written (three separate, yet related stories that will move towards a 'merge' as time passes) the shift may be most noticeable if you read chapters 1, 4, 7, and then 10 rather than straight through all the chapters. Of course, you wouldn't have any reason to do that unless you wanted to look for the shift, so I doubt I'll get any feedback from theat perspective

Yeah, but he's an icky nasty assassin! Why can't they have any good guys for me to jump? Like Alistair... yum! Or even a 'I'm not very moral' guy (what's her name, the shapeshifter? Her, but male... ). Edit: BTW, how do you shrink a golem down? With a chisel, and a lot of nerve!

Sex scenes belong if they're part of the story. If they aren't, they don't. Don't go adding sex scenes (or details) where they aren't needed.

I can think of a few reasons, but nothing really compelling. God is considered 'above', and lightning comes from the sky, which is above, being the most compelling one. (Most of the rest revolve around that theme)

But the fundamental criteria is the fact that Dr-whats-his-face is both a genius, and at least partially insane (the first to come up with time travel, the second to push on the way he did). Without that combination, without the obsession with the subject, I doubt anyone else is going to crack the tech anytime soon.

That letter was good; that video clip reminds me why I always mean to start watching West Wing (I've seen a few other clips, my grandmother loved that show).

Eh, that article had some info in it that I missed. It passed their assembly and only failed in the senate, which means the bill is in legal limbo rather than 'dead'.

Given the dearth of (real) study in that area, it would make sense.

And we all understand that writing can't always come first.

Except for the wait a month or two thing, I've done that

While I hate to toot my own horn, Guardians has some very interesting examples of this kind of 'non-cliffhanger cliffangerism'. In Chapter 5, a 'revelation' of sorts occurs. Ronan, a person who is incredibly secretive about his past is addressed by a second name, "Justin Alfred Brown" by an individual who is established as (amongst other things) knowing things she can't possibly know. As of Chapter 21, I'm only just now revealing the meaning of that second name, and why it's so terribly hidden, to a second character (who does not react well). Yet the readers probably won't know the until chapter 24 or so. I've established several facts ranging from how secret Ronan has been, (he hasn't just hidden his past, he's buried it, going in and rooting out every trace of his existence that he can) to how guilty he feels (severe nightmares and the edges of insanity), yet I haven't actually 'shown' the characters the truth. As commented in several e-mails, Ronan's enigmatic past helps hook readers tighter... and when they discover the truth, I can only pray that they think it a worthwhile payoff. That said, overall, putting important characters in dangerous places with uncertain fates creates a kind of cliffhanger. Another kind, that is more difficult to pull off, is the 'dropped' cliffhanger. You don't hang the characters over the proverbial cliff, you just drop 'em off it and watch the readers scream. Chapter 6 represents this, with one main character dead without any hope of coming back (shot through the head).

That poor cat! It's almost as bizzare as a Chimpanzee Riding on a Segway http://www.youtube.c...h?v=xp9Gm-aRe5A

Unfortunately, I don't know of many 'gay romance' stories that aren't all fairy-tale like, I'm not sure why. (Then again, maybe that's why I don't like most of those, they've turned into a bit of a cliche... boy meets boy and lives happily ever after works once, not three billion times.) But given your statement... Well, I know a few that start as teens and move on that avoid that whole 'innocent and fairy tale-ish' thing, if you're interested: Fish out of Water -- Definitely seems to start out fairytaleish, but there are some real trials and tribulations for the couple involved. Altimexis created my favorite story out of the novella contest. Because of the way the site's setup, a direct link doesn't work very well, but the Cracker's Den has a truly touching story that is directly responsible for me taking writing up again. It's called Two Boys by Rocco Paperiello. It starts from child-hood, and and moves well past college, and is anything but a 'fairy tale'. There is a fairly nasty scene somewhere around chapter 65 involving rape, so you may not want to read it, but I deeply enjoyed and was moved by the story. If my brain weren't fried by sleep, I'm sure I could think of a few more. Oh, and if you're looking for the development of romance as one aspect of the plot, rather than the 'core' aspect of the plot, there are lots more stories out there. Heck, most of the stories around here seem to have gay protagonists who 'get the boy'

Yeah, but even LOTR could be chapterized differently. He could have made chapters half the length, or twice the length, by simply adding / removing chapter breaks. The actual division of chapters is a fairly arbitrary measure in most cases. So... who a given chapter length? And how do you end it?

I've been thinking on the subject for a while, and I grew curious as to other people's opinions and preferences. I tend to prefer shorter, quicker chapters that occur on a fairly frequent basis. I don't feel it necessary to end every chapter with a strong cliffhanger, though many do end up that way. I also use chapter breaks as a 'pause' or scene break type effect. Taking Guardian's as an example, I tend to have three categories of endings: Cliffie: 6, 8, 9, 14, 15 Mini-Cliffie: 1, 3, 11, 13 Non-cliffie: 2, 4, 5, 10, 12 Chapter 7 is an oddball and doesn't count, but would fit best in the third category if I had to. Full up cliffies include dire events that, technically, aren't actually cliffhangers; as an example chapter 6 ends with the death of one of the characters. The 'cliffhanger' nature is because I leave off in a very dark situation. If you wanted to be technical, it's more of a 'strong hook' than a real cliffhanger; in fact, 'strong hook, weak hook, and continuing hook (i. e. "I want to see how this comes out because I've liked the entire story so far, rather than this ending has me on the edge of my seat) would be a better description of the three types. Mini-cliffies are places where something happens that makes you want to see what happens, but aren't strictly speaking 'disaster situations'. For example, the end of chapter 1 has a character poised over a toilet, puking his guts out in reaction to the just-ended flashback, while another character tries to sooth him. Another example has the main character going into the police station to report his rape; yes it's a major moment but it's not a full up 'so what happens now' ending. Finally you have the non-cliffie, or 'continuing hook' category (which is the category that prompts this). There's generally a tag of some kind at the end, something that needs / deserves a pause after it, though not always. A particularly interesting or important thought or statement might be an example of this 'tag', or a joke (at the expense of one of the characters). The question is... how strong a hook do you need at the end of a chapter (especially with a story written in serial format). Can you really get away with a 'non-tag'? Then of course there's length. I tend to prefer shorter, quicker chapters for several reasons. For one thing, it's (relatively) easy to keep 'up' with with them, putting them out on a regular basis to keep the readers going. (If you save up and then release all at once this can be ignored). There's also the fact that smaller chapters are easier to 'digest'; after about 20K words, a chapter becomes (IMO) a bit unwieldy to read. It might be a fun read, but it takes too long to guarantee it can be done in one sitting. This can be annoying to readers if, for example, they lack the ability to 'save' where they are in the page when the chapter ends (or if they have to find their place again because somebody hit the wrong button). Shorter chapters also help to keep things 'moving' along in the story, which can be a benefit or a handicap depending on the story (some stories prefer long-drawn out approaches, others need to be short & sweet). So, anyone else feel like discoursing this subject?

I'm sorry, but that sounds too much like ... ROFL!

Yet, at the same time that very mentality can create a great villain. I'm referring, for those that follow gaming, to "Kefka" from Final Fantasy VI (III as originally released in US). He was a villain's villain... and he just didn't have any 'reasons' to be that way. Yet he's one of the greatest villains of final fantasy history (heck, IMO of any story ever). Why is he such a great villain? Other's have tried to tackle that, but I think it's the combination of humor and sheer 'love-to-hate' he gives off. You just love to hate him... and he's funny (mostly) as he goes around being hateful. By the end of the game, he reaches the point where he's wanting to destroy everything... just because he wants to destroy everything. He's cruel, ruthless, silly, and absolutely not to be trusted. Like, at all. That said, most people are better off trying to create more 'real' villains; Kefka works because he breaks the rules, but the rules exist for a reason. Most of the time, you just aren't going to be very successful if you try breaking them.

Sounds like me, lol!