Talo Segura

I suppose I am in danger of labouring the point about a synopsis being good for a story and helpful to readers. I can't help this because some responses are full of contradictions. This is not about Cole, but all authors, and online publishing is still publishing,. Besides Camy, sometime back around 2011 you wrote your own blurb for your own book, Hellion. Far from the hustle and bustle of London, way to the west of the madding crowd lies Hellion, a Cornish village that has almost magically remained apart from the modern world. The Hellion Arms has been run by Moon’s for generations. Now, though seldom seen, Talek Moon is the landlord and the pub run by Kenver, his son. A strained meeting with the family solicitor and a wax sealed envelope gifts Digory Olver with news he has inherited his great aunt’s cottage in Hellion, a place he can barely remember from his childhood. Excited at his windfall, Digory sets off for Cornwall. But the nearer he gets to Hellion the stranger he begins to feel.

It is not easy to write a good synopsis, I looked around for advice sometime ago and to a certain extent used the guidance below as a basis. I use three paragraphs usually, in this pattern: (1) About Character #1 / about the tension in his/her life. (2) About Character #2 / about the tension in his/her life. (3) What they face together in this book, and a sentence to sum up the story in its entirety. Your blurb should address: The genre (romantic suspense / romance / crime / paranormal etc).Your main characters / protagonists.The overall mood of the book (hard-boiled / sweet / erotic / thrilling).The critical issues in the plot (though not in detail). Spoilers?? Definitely not! We’ve all read blurbs/ reviews and seen movie trailers that show so much, you don’t feel you need to see the whole thing. Intrigue the reader, if you can, though try not to manufacture needless melodrama. Will self-employed accountant and author Clare ever manage to escape the rabid robot werewolf and paddle up the Amazon in time to save the world? Don’t lie! How annoying is it when you buy what appears to be a thriller but the drama is wrapped up in 3 chapters and the rest is steady plodding? However, look on it as a sales pitch in itself – as a mini story. Use it to showcase your style, with a thrilling race against time rather than a trip to her auntie’s. If your character is snarky, reflect that in the blurb. If s/he’s under pressure, use a clipped tone. Should it end on a question? It’s a familiar technique. Will he or won’t he? Can it ever…? Who’s the person who’s…? I use them less myself nowadays – it feels too contrived. Your mini-story should create enough of a gateway to the book that you don’t need more teasing. Good luck, and good blurbing! (yes, it’s a word, I just invented it ) I think it's very hard to do everything you have just read there. For Cole's short story I simply jotted down what struck me as the essence of the story, used some and discarded other bits, wrote it as well as I could. Were it a book, and my own story, I would spend more time getting it right, but for a short story a synopsis is not essential. This is what I noted and used to write the summary: Small safe Midwestern town the kind of place people like to bring up a family Celebration upcoming A shy boy Derrick Given his chance at the front of the band Talented player Chance to fulfil a wish to play with his granddad Parents disinterested Granddad grandson complicity Environment description reflected their emotional relationship Sharing a secret The band leader Tad and his partner I hope this little exercise inspired by Cole is useful and encourages authors to add a synopsis. Rather like having someone read the story or getting the book edited, it is not an absolute requirement, but it does improve the finished article.

Sorry about that (I changed the summary), I think like Derrick I was distracted by Brandon 😉

Here's a bonus cover...

Haha, I'm always up for a challenge @Cole Parker or was it a ruse to get everyone to read your short story 😃 In a small Midwest American town everyone is preparing for an upcoming celebration. Derrick is a rather shy boy, but a promising musician who holds his place in the school band as a soloist. He welcomes the chance to share the school's performance on the big day with his grandfather, because parents have been invited to play alongside their kids. Derrick enjoys a wonderful complicity with his grandfather and they are perhaps closer than he is with his parents. Playing in the school concert together is not the only wish Derrick might like to see fulfilled, the two of them also get to share some surprising secrets.

It's not a summary of what your story is, but an introduction, like the fly leaf on a book, or in TV listings, not so much the trailer for a movie, but an idea of what the story is about. Is it fantasy, apocalyptic, teen romance, sci-fi. I certainly don't want to know the story in advance, I detest some movie trailers which are virtually the film in five minutes, but suppose your story is about werewolves or zombies, I'm not into those kinds of stories. If it's a sexual fantasy about schoolboys in shorts, like something I read on another site, that doesn't interest me either. I suppose I sound very picky, but I don't mean to. It's simply nice to have a little idea of what type of story it is. I like a broad range of genres but I tend to choose books from another site because the authors give that little info up front and there are tags to give more indication. I rather feel here that readers are locked into authors they know and like. If I look at my own story posted on a number of sites, basically, I have only one story. On here for example and another site with no summary intro I received one email from a reader. On the sites with the summary, which include non-gay sites, I got more reader reaction. It sort of indicates more readers picked up the book to read it, because they were interested enough to start chapter one. Then it was up to my writing. Honestly, I do tend to ignore the new stories on here unless someone writes a recommendation. I've read great stories here by recommendation, but for others it's too much like gambling on what you might be getting. I don't know if I am odd saying this, but lots of authors mention not much feedback and it seems to me the more you can do to encourage/sell your writing the more readers you might get. My ideal is to know the genre, an intro, a cover, and a nice to have is reviews, but that's for completed stories. I wonder how other readers choose which books to read? At random I picked an example to indicate what I am saying. Story Title Action Adventure Fantasy After spending his entire adult life going from battlefield to battlefield as a soldier, Trian is dealt a crippling blow and has to find a new path for his life to follow. Its not the best intro, only a couple of lines, but it does give an idea of what I will be reading.

I wrote exactly this to another site owner, there is something missing, and it is a story summary/synopsis. New stories get put up and the reader has no idea what the story is about. Perhaps it would be possible to put a synopsis with the cover or before chapter one. Who starts reading a book, watching a film, without first reading what it is about? And that is something seriously missing here.

Films from the Seventies and Eighties. There are films from the Seventies and Eighties you might loosely label "art house." They break boundaries, are innovative, and out of the norm. Often produced on a budget and frequently with non-professional actors, these films can be interesting. At the same time, they demand you approach them with expectations somewhat reduced, these are not the same as you might usually expect from the cinema. Anthony Aikman, an interesting person in himself, produced one such film in 1972, titled The Genesis Children. It premiered in August of that year in Los Angeles, but was withdrawn a few weeks later because It was deemed unacceptable by the public at large. It remained controversial due to lengthy scenes of full nudity showing teenage and preteen boys. It was felt to be "very benign" by the US ratings board and given an X rating. The film expresses a mystical naturism and is a very earnest expression of naturist philosophy. The script is non-linear and a little difficult to follow. It is summarised here: The plot, such as it is, concerns eight American lads (ages about ten to sixteen) living in Rome, who are lured to a small Italian coastal town by a newspaper ad calling for boys `to act in a play.' Along the way, they encounter a man (played by Vincent Child) who appears to them in various guises: a priest; a teacher; a policeman; a politician. Directed by him to a secluded beach and finding themselves alone, they hang out for several days, swimming and sunbathing au natural. Indeed, this may be the ultimate skinnydipping movie. While there, they have some adventures. They explore a cave. They raise and repair a sunken rowboat, only to have it sink again. They attempt to steal food from a local farmer. They drive an abandoned van and end up wrecking it. Much of Genesis Children is Tom Sawyerish, but ends more like a milder `Lord of the Flies.' On the surface, it's quite innocent except for an act of vandalism near the conclusion, which causes the boys to argue and breakup, some returning to civilisation and some choosing to stay. Also, there is a brief, ambiguous conversation between one of the younger kids and an older boy implying sexual activity. On the downside, the production is rather amateurish and the acting a bit wooden. The cast is obviously made up of nonprofessionals. On the upside, the color photography is outstanding with gorgeous shots of Rome and the Italian towns, countryside and coast. There is also a catchy musical score. It must be said that Genesis Children is not intended for all audiences. Many would be offended by the extensive nudity parts of the film. I would think its appeal would mainly be for those interested in naturism and lovers of unconventional movie making. The film can be viewed online for free using the link below. There is another site, but they require registration, so I haven't included it. https://m.ok.ru/video/88935631530 Link to Anthony Aikman: http://www.anthonyaikman.co.uk

I don't know if this is the right place to post but when I looked at my author name on CodeysWorld home page, the link to my story is dead. I found other links which are also dead including the email address link webguys@codeysworld.org If the same people who run this site also run CodeysWorld then maybe you could take a look and fix it. The site looks in need of an overhaul.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt10457128/

Sometimes email does not work. Someone sends you an email, you don't get it, maybe it goes in your SPAM you never look there. So cruising the net I saw someone got no reply to their emails, I flagged it. If you never went to the GA site, all the emails were going to SPAM or you just forgot to answer, you would never know if someone doesn't tell you. That's the point of the thread. It does raise other issues, but those are as you say not my business in every sense.

Yes, Mike is posting my story, but I have no idea how the site operates. Is it one person or a team? Really I don't know his situation and saying everything is okay when millions of people in America are getting sick... well I would feel terrible if I said everything was okay without being certain. Which is why I started this thread so he could read and respond.

No, I didn't respond to the post on GA because I do not know why the author is not getting replies to his emails. I would be adding to the speculation. Besides, it looked to me like the author was pissed at being ignored. I posted a copy of the thread here so that it gets sorted between author and site owner. Rectify the speculation, sort out the problem, and check the author's / site owner's email addresses are working.

I was on the Gay Authors forum and read a question from a new author there. The author John Lloyd seems to have been an AwesomeDude regular contributor. I see you here on the forum so I was wondering how come this guy didn't get any reply to his emails? Now everyone reading this will think you have been struck down with the virus. I hope that is not the case. I have published over 15 novels, novellas and short stories on awesomedude.com. I am no longer receiving response to my emails from the site owner so I presume the owner has been negatively affected by COVID 19.

You can't tax a person on minimum wage, by definition this is the amount required to live. See how the US compares with the rest of the world. You know the saying: "You get what you pay for!" But is it true? I live in France. Some very rich countries can afford low taxation, but there I'm thinking Switzerland. I guess we need another graphic comparing quality of life, number of people living below the poverty line. That's 1 in 8 Americans or 38.1 million in 2018. 1 in 7.5 French or 8.8 million. So France taxes at at an incredibly high rate and has practically the same percentage of poor as the USA. You got to ask yourself, "Where does all the money go?" Maybe taxation has got nothing at all to do with poverty?

That is true, but different propositions exist. The government could take equity from the property, thus a house worth £100,000 the government would take 1%. The 1% equity would be cashed with the sale sometime in the future. The argument for the one off wealth tax goes like this: wealthy people today have made their wealth through a thriving economy, it is not right or beneficial to ask businesses hit by an economic recession to pay the cost of the present situation when they will be struggling to recover. It is also not fair to impose the economic burden on future generations. Hence, the payment should come from today's wealth, those who have benefited from an economic boom before the crash.

Some countries, Germany amongst others, are seriously considering a one off wealth tax. You won't have a choice, it's a tax, and rich people who don't like it, won't have time to change their country of residence for taxation. So if it's voted, you"'ll pay it, straight from your bank account. Camy and Cat - Barclays Bank current account - September 2020 - Debit £1000 wealth tax. But looking on the bright side maybe you're just as poor as the poor old cat 😊

£1000 one off wealth tax on 14 million richest people and you've paid off that debt. There's billions sitting in bank accounts, everybody will have to contribute... or you can leave your children's children to pick up the bill. There is also an opportunity to stop rampant capitalism, otherwise known as speculation.

I picked a book at random, or rather an author from the long list on the site, and one of his stories. There were a lot of reviews for the book, mostly good, but not all. Reading the story raised several issues for me about writing and review comments. Perhaps the most important concerns something I have always wondered about - how do some readers rave about a story that others slate? I think I found the explanation and it is this - some readers comment on the story whilst others comment on both story and writing. This was evident from the book I picked at random. The story was a trope, the abused runaway saved and brought to a happy ending. The majority of reviewers were positive, more than positive, it got some rave reviews, the like of which stated, "You have GOT to read this book gay...straight...12, 15, or 120 years old it's for everybody...children, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, communities...everyone. I wish this was a movie. I wish this was required reading in schools lit programs. " I did read it, but gave up halfway through, I had to agree with the more critical reviewer, "The language was stilted and false throughout. The descriptive passages were often amateurishly phrased and the dialogue was, now and again, untrue to the character's rhythms and speech patterns." I perhaps wouldn't go so far as the reader who wrote, "This book was so poorly written I would have thought a 14 year old wrote it. I got to about 55% complete and shut it down. This is one of the worst written books I have ever tried to read. It is a shame because I really wanted to read it." It was not the worst written book I ever tried to read, but I did stop halfway through. So why such polarity in reader comments? I think it is as another reviewer commented, "The only qualm I have is that it is indeed somewhat clumsily written. The plot and the emotions the story brings out, however, more than make up for that." The majority rated the story on the tale being told whilst some others could not overlook the poor dialogue and not so great writing. The poor dialogue raised for me the obvious point that it is difficult for an author who is sixty plus years old to write teenage dialogue. If they can, they have a good memory or are great life observers. However, simply recalling one's own youth does not allow you to easily set a story in modern times. If you are an author in your sixties or older, you certainly never had a mobile/cell phone and sent text messages all day long! I personally can't totally ignore the writing for the story, because there is pleasure in reading a well crafted novel which lies not only in the story but the use of language. I can forgive poor grammar and not so great construction for a good story, but I can't forgive a novel that attempts to create a real life drama and fails because it is unbelievable. We, the readers, can be asked to suspend belief for the sake of fiction, but not to the extent that the characters are rendered unreal because the teenagers speak and even act like adults and not teens. There are after all hundreds of stories with the same theme to read. Why are so many readers happy to read what I and a few others find problems with? They identify with the situation, they enjoy the emotion, and the rest doesn't matter. They have a point, which is why I got halfway through, I just couldn't make it to the end, despite the story.

A fantasist is a crafter of fantasy and this was a nice voyage into the world of make-believe.

Best to avoid pulling the lever on the slot machine or as it's otherwise known, the one armed bandit. Stay at home, keep your distance, and wear a mask. You have to think of the numbers: 5% get those three lemons and die. Do nothing and in America that's more than 16 million deaths!

I can recommend his latest: And Time Stood Still https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/incest/and-time-stood-still There are picture albums to accompany these stories and he will gladly send them to you. Apparently he is Italian and was brought up speaking a regional language: Venetian (vèneto). Venetian is a Romance language spoken by about 2 million people mainly in Venice and the surrounding area, and also in Trieste, Croatia, Slovenia, Mexico and Brazil. The language is more closely related to French and Spanish than it is to Italian. He also learnt English, French, and of course, Italian. An avid sailor who as cruised the world.

Nigel, You say, "even on my iMac" so you have tried this on different computers? If yes, do both computers use the same browser/operating system? I can confirm the buttons work normally using Android and a Samsung browser. I suggest you log the problem in the HELP section of the forum. You need to state computer, operating system, and browser. They reply quite quickly.

That I am sorry to say is America. They also uphold the right to bear arms so they can shoot people. However, although of little comfort to anyone, those demonstrations are not restricted to the US, right wing Germans have taken to the streets to demonstrate against restricting their freedom.