JamesSavik

Thanks Gabe. Naiilo - you're right. We're the fireflies on a bigger scale. Don't waste your passion filled summer nights!

Fireflies Fireflies in the magnolia trees, Burning brightly in the night, In the coolness of the evening, Firefly passion burning bright. They only last a season, Barely three phases of the moon, They have no earthly reason, To waste a precious night in June. Learn well the lesson of the firefly, Waste not the gentle season, Far too soon our winter comes, Why waste time for no good reason? Grab on to life with all its strife, With it?s joy and pain and rage. Too soon the warmth of June is gone, Just a memory, turn the page.

Ya'll jist don know. If'n ya ever heard real Kay-jon, yoh earz wood lock up.

I just finished reading Der Cowboy and for once I am at a loss for words. :smt010 It is historically very accurate. The units on both sides were present right at the time of the Battle of the Bulge. The winter of 1944 was one of the bitterest in decades. Both sides suffered greatly from the cold. What made matters worse is that units working in the front were scattered, disorganized and had spotty supplies. Congradulations for yet another great story Joey! :smt023

:smt005 :smt005 :smt005 :smt005

We look forward to it Rick! I love reading the work of British authors. You guys do something magic to the langauge. :smt023

Graeme- Ambush and Bad News, two of you most recently posted short stories are as good as they come. They don't wander around a point, they hit it like a laser guided smart bomb. Nothing is wasted. No punches are pulled- Pow, there you are. In your longer work, New Brother, very few people do chacterization and interaction any better. Don't mistake a differance in style to with quality. It just doesn't add up that way.

I know that some of y'all might trouble understanding me from time to time so I though I'd pass on a short course in Y'allbonics. Hope this helps. ;-) -JS ----------------------------- Subject: "Y'allbonics" Not to be outdone by Ebonics in California, the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools is requesting billions of federal dollars to teach "Y'allbonics" in all classrooms south of the Mason-Dixon line. Included here are some samples of "Y'allbonics." If you do not understand any of them, contact a Southerner for an explanation. HEIDI: (noun) Greeting. HIRE YEW: (complete sentence) Remainder of greeting. Usage: "Heidi, hire yew?" BARD: (verb) Past tense of the infinitive "to borrow." Usage: "My brother bard my pickup truck." JAWJUH: (noun) The state north of Florida. Capital is Lanner. Usage: "My brother from Jawjuh bard my pickup truck." BAMMER: (noun) The state west of Jawjuh. Capital is Berminhayum. Usage: "A tornader jes went through Bammer an' left $20,000,000 in improvements." MUNTS: (noun) A calendar division. Usage: "My brother from Jawjuh bard my pickup truck, and I ain't herd from him in munts." THANK: (verb) Cognitive process. Usage: "Ah thank ah'll have a Coke." RANCH: (noun) A tool used for tight'nin' bolts. Usage: "I thank I leff my ranch in the back of that pickup truck my brother from Jawjuh bard a few munts ago." ALL: (noun) A petroleum-based lubricant. Usage: "I sure hope my brother from Jawjuh puts all in my pickup truck." FAR: (noun) A conflagration. Usage: "If my brother from Jawjuh don't change the all in my pickup truck, that thing's gonna catch far." TAR: (noun) A rubber wheel. Usage: "I hope that brother of mine from Jawjuh don't git a flat tar in my pickup truck." TIRE: (noun) A tall monument. Usage: "Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, Ah sure hope to see that Eiffel Tire in Pars sometime." FARN: (adjective) Not domestic. Usage: "I cuddint unnerstand a wurd he sed ... must be from some farn country." DID: (adjective) Not alive. Usage: "He's did, Jim." ARE: (noun) A colorless, odorless gas; oxygen. Usage: "He cain't breathe ... give 'im some ARE!" BOB WAR: (noun) A sharp, twisted cable. Usage: "Boy, stay away from that bob war fence. Knowhatimean?"

This is fucking BEAUTIFUL. Might I suggest you submit it to RHF if this is an original work? I'm impressed........ -- wbms RHF? It's losely based on The Lumberjack Song by monty Python but it is original.

The Drunken Idiot Song I'm a drunken Idiot but that's OK, I drink all night and I sleep all day. chorus: He's a drunken Idiot buts that's OK, He'll drink all night and he'll sleep all day. I drink beer and I drink scotch and occassionaly even gin. I go to the lavatory. And barf and drink agin. chorus: He drinks beer and he drinks scotch and occassionally even gin, He goes to the lavatory, And barfs and drinks agin. He's a drunken Idiot buts that's OK, He'll drink all night and he'll sleep all day. I drink in pubs and I drink in the park. I drink from the morning till well after dark. I wake up hung over and wearing high heels, I guess I lost a bet or made a bad deal. chorus: He drinks in pubs and He drinks in the park. He drinks from the morning till well after dark. He wakes up hung over and wearing high heels, He supposes he lost a bet or made a bad deal. He's a drunken idiot and that's OK, He drinks all night and he drinks all day. I wake up in strange places with strange people with strange faces, They say I'm friendly when I'm drunk and apparently nearsighted, Waking up is an adventure hung over in strange spaces, Now my favorite organ has a rash and is blighted. chorus: He's a drunken idiot but it's OK, He drinks all night and he pukes all day, He wakes up in strange places with strange people with strange faces, He says he's friendly when he's drunk and apparently nearsighted, Waking up is an adventure hung over in strange spaces, Now his favorite organ has a rash and is blighted. chorus: He used to be a drunken idiot but its OK, He sobered up and he joined AA, He's still and idiot and makes mistakes, But now he can remember the promises he makes. --------------------------- my appologies to Monty Python

This link is useful and connects to a number of valuable resources. The admin there claims that it will soon be replaced with a newer, page with more links and local content. http://writers.gayauthors.org/author-resources.php

All hail AJ, editor of Icaria! *bows to royalty*

Jamie asked lots of good questions and I'll take them on one at a time: 1) How did the project start? And who conceived it? When the Eggman left the net, I was deeply saddened. I loved his work and amazed that he did not know how much he meant to the community. I wanted to find a way to bring our little community closer together and build some bridges. There is no better way than working together to get people to know each other. Round-robins had been done before so I talked (emailed) some participants in past R-Rs about how they worked. Their input was critical as I was able to use their experience to better form and focus the Collision effort. Early on Robb (the CRVBOY) suggested that I "start something" and Graeme signed on. I posted open calls for authors at my three favorite sites: Awesomedude, Deweywriter and CRVBOY. Jan (talon_rider) was also very supportive of the effort and signed on as Project Editor. My first task was to design a process that would give general guidance to our authors but would allow room for their own creativity. I created the setting; characters and basic assumptions, wrote the first chapter and then let the process begin! It was a process that we could trust because the cast easily had the talent to pull it off. Robb immediately offered forum space and hosting for the project while I was still trying to figure things out. Even better, the CRVBOY himself dusted off his long idle word processor and signed on to do 2 chapters himself! Truthfully things moved TOO fast as communications glitches and issues plagued the project at the beginning. I neglected to include Mike (the Awesomedude himself) in the early going much to my horror. Thankfully, he understood that I was a rookie at this. He is THE Awesomedude after all. I was ELATED to get the volunteer authors that joined the effort. We have a TON of talent. It reads like a who?s who of gay fiction with established stars like Graeme, CRVBOY, Ryan Keith and Tragic Rabbit plus up and coming talents like Blue, Codey, Nmos and Plastic Reality. So far it has worked out beautifully and we?ve all had a whole lot of fun. 2. Who decided what chapters would be written by what authors? As project agitator, coordinator, instigator and annoying gad fly, I felt that I had to put my money where my mouth is and post the first chapter. Beyond that, I randomized things, patched things and made a few decisions on the fly with the consent of my co-conspirators. 3. How were the authors chosen, or did they simply volunteer? (and why wasn't I asked - hahaha JUST kidding on that one - honest!) I posted an open call for authors at Awesomedude, Deweywriter and CRVBOY. Our lineup has changed slightly as some folks have had scheduling conflicts and others have volunteered to pinch-hit or switch-up. 4. Is there a general plot line that was created that all the writers agreed with or is everyone writing by the seat of their pants, simply picking up where the last author left off. There is a document called ?The Game plan? that establishes a number of elements: Setting- our setting is the city of Springfield. We use ?Springfield? like the Simpson?s use Springfield. It is your basic mid-sized generic American city and has most things that American cities have like a crappy cable company, a Home Depot and a Wal-Mart. Characters- the characters are named and relationships established- who is family, friends, etc. This is done in some detail with the central character but I leave the others for the other writers to flesh out. Situation- the situation is explained and some basic assumptions are made. Authors have wide latitude to develop the characters, setting and nudge the plot along. We keep things on track by having a weekly chat session where we hash things out and distribute a transcript. This is important because not everyone can attend as we have Americans and Canadians and Australians Oh my and stretch across all known time zones. 5. How is it going so far? Are deadlines being met, are chapters flowing back and forth between writers, project director and editor. So far, so good. We?re chugging along at about a chapter per week. One of the happy side effects of the project so far has been the cooperation and participation. Everybody has been so nice, people are establishing accounts at all the sites and we are seeing a little buzz for the project. 6. Is each author waiting for the previous one to finish, or are the many authors all currently writing away? Every author is free to approach his parts as he sees fit. Some start as soon as they see the draft of the chapter ahead of them; others have been outlining what they are going to do for a while. Everybody has their own style and style of work. Things just work better all the way around if we don?t cramp that style. 7. How do you all feel about working with each other? I feel like I?m a player-coach on an all-star team! Any one of these guys can really write well. Together, we could easily blow away the staff writers for any one of the networks. (Yes CBS, ABC- yo mama). 8. And what about the editor? How it going from that end? What does the editor think as he gets works written by different authors? Does it go well or is he putting in lots of work and effort to smooth things out? For the editorial questions, Jan answered: Jamie, Thanks for your comments. The original idea for the story is James. He posted at several sites about doing the round robin story and he asked for volunteers. We started out with quite a list of authors in the beginning. But unfortunately one or two of the original's had to withdraw. And I'm not going to name them; I have too much respect for them to embarrass them. As far as the editing for the story, I volunteered to do this as I have been doing some editing for James and his story "Broken". It was understood at the beginning, that if an author wanted to use his own editor, they could. If an author chooses to so, then their editor is sent copies of the story so that they know what is going on. Some of the authors even send their chapter to another of the authors to go over for them before it is sent to me. This helps me as well. When I finish my part, I send it back to the author, and the rest of the Collision Crew. This gives the next author the opportunity to start work on his/her chapter. No deadlines were set that I am aware of. Most generally, a chapter is done in about a week. And sometimes, more time is needed. I don't think we would be as far as we are if it wasn't for the behind the scene support of several hosts, in hosting the story for us, or in providing space for us in their forums to work in. So to Awesomedude, CRVBOY, and Deweywriter, I say Thank You. And at the risk of blowing my own horn, I also provide space for polls to help settle issues and I host the weekly chat sessions. I've also suggested to James that when we wrap up the story, that each author be given the opportunity to express any thoughts they may have about writing the story. Jan

As it is 3am and I'm shot, I've got to wait to take this essay on until I'm rested. I will over the next few days but I have to have a word with my co-conspirators before I give away too many of our secrets.

*Happy Happy, Joy Joy* My favorite angle Cody has a friend! :smt059

Come to think of it, gays in the military refur to themselves as family. If you hear someone saying that "sorry, this party is for family only", unless you KNOW what the deal is, most people probably wouldn't give it a second thought. I like the use of family as a code word and wish it would spread. :smt049

Some symbols are universals. Many writers use them without giving them any thought. Colors, flowers, even words themselves have symbolic meanings that go much deeper than the surface. Origins of words and their use, allusions to myth, the use of color are all powerful tools that can be used to evoke feelings. I don't know if many writers think about the use of symbols in their work but I do. It's like taking a prod and poking the reader in exactly the right emotion. I deliberately used symbolism in the Cool Green Sea to heighten the feelings of isolation, alienation and general creepyness that the primary charater was feeling. And NO, it's not about playing head games with the reader. It is about pushing the right buttons to evoke the emotive response in the reader that you are looking for. With a little study, it's possible to learn to use symbolism skillfully to add extra dimensions to your work.

Yes- It is an original. Off the cuff as it were. I have a question for you: "Why do you write?" Have you watched TV lately? They *paid* some smuck to write that slop! I know I could do better with my compter tied behind my back.

Campy Dialog. "So what do you think of Sean?" "Oh he's just a big girl ." "HeHeHe. He' a CD though." "You have got to be kidding girlfriend! He shops at Walmart for God's sake." "Well, even if he shop's at Walmart, it looks good on him." "Oh my God! Are you falling for Sean?" "He's the MOMD!" =================================== OK- what's wrong with this conversation? Besides for needing the secret gay decoder ring, nothing. Who talks like this? Yeah a few left over club kids maybe but jeez!

EleCivil: that's never mentioned once in the movie (except in some quick flashes of text in the director's cut version). There's a director's cut of that piece of crap?! Here's a good object lesson for authors: if most of your plot is off camera and you don't tell people whay there's an evil bunny on stage, lot's of people are going to hate it.

Excuse me?? TR :roll: The evil bunny from "Donnie Darko", not you TR.

Thank goodness for Editors! They help keep my prose on the strait and narrow, spelling clean and punctuation marked with blue arrows, They don't fix whut ain't really broke, They back me up when I choke. My editor is a mighty fine fellow, His eye is sharp and manner mellow, Mistakes of grammar don't get by, Or sentence fragment left to lie. He is so fast that I can not believe, When my edited manuscript I receive, That he made it though my draft so crude, Without even becoming depressed or rude!

that this message is generated because there is no notification email going out perhaps?

What can I say about Donnie Darko? Oh my God! Note that I colored the name of this flim BROWN like the stain that this movie is. With a real cute lead actor, the director and writer should be shot for inflicting this steaming mound of manure on the public. This movie was so bad the lead actor had to take drugs on camera. And WTF was that damned evil bunny rabbit about anyway?

When sending PMs, this message apppears: Failed sending email :: PHP :: DEBUG MODE Line : 234 File : emailer.php Don't worry- the PM actually does go through despite the error message.