DesDownunder

Ok I will try to use English. :D Thanks blue. I will proof my masterpiece in the morning and post tomorrow. DesD.

So I looked at the FAQ and I am I right in thinking that to post my poem I just copy and paste it here into a new topic? Sorry to have such a basic question but I don't want to end up with funny characters all over the screen. The poems probably bad enough without that. lol Thx Des

Heaven forfend! or Heaven forefend! :angel7:

Same here, jamesavik, I am DesDownunder everywhere. :roll:

I do not share a love for "You lot" as my experience has been with management using it when addressing staff to belittle and degrade them. When used in this way it is usually spoken contemptuously in an attempt to assert authority. Obviously Paul has a different association with the phrase. :)

I am quite taken with this one. Although not completed It has captured my attention with its freshness and story telling. Four chapters have been submitted in a few days suggesting it is a finished story. "An Empty Grave" http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/beginnings/...an-empty-grave/ There are some minor style and writing issues that probably will keep it from winning a Pulitzer prize, but I am certainly hooked by the interesting plot and setting. I'll refrain from further discussion in case this is not what you have in mind for this forum. I'm interested to know if anyone else likes it. DesD

Thank you Graeme. I don't remember reading about the Melbourne boy and tossed the scenario off in a few seconds for this example. I am astounded a similar real life situation actually happened! On the other hand I have always believed that if someone thinks of something, somebody else has already done it. I was feeling a little fragile about my story having no less than three sequences I read after writing them, in other stories, but I have decided to keep going and see where I end up with it. Thanks again DesD.

Thankx writebymyself, I guess I am just being paranoid or something. :)

Hi, Would someone like to give some feedback or thoughts on what to do when you read a story which has a scene in it that is very similar to one that you have just written or are writing. Three times now, I have written in my new story, different scenes which I had not read before and thought I was being original. Ha ha! The parallels in the stories of the main characters/situations are as if the other authors and I had held a discussion and gone away to write totally different stories but with a scene or situation that was required to be included in each of our individual stories. As I say the plots are very different. It is just that the scenes are so similar. I am not talking here about the everyday simple occurrences: "Boy gets on a train and has hassle with hooligans" but more like each scene (mine and the other author's) summed up as: "Boy gets on train and is hassled by a hooligans causing him to exit the train whilst moving and finding himself, covered in blood and laying in a ditch alongside a river surrounded by weeds, where he hears voices of murdered relatives." Neither of these examples are the actual writings in question here. They are just made-up examples to try to convey what is causing me grief. No, in case anyone asks, I have not shown anyone my work and my computer is not available to anyone else. I am not talking about previous works that I have read surfacing from my subconscious. Though I guess something may have stimulated the other authors and me to write a similar scene, both of us thinking it original. Obviously our writing styles are somewhat different even though our characters are thinking the same thoughts. I understand that coincidence happens in creative activities, I just don't know whether or not to ignore them and press on or throw it all out and start again. Any thoughts would be appreciated. DesD.

Fellatio will never be the same!

Thanks Paul. Interesting to see the Scottish connection. Also fascinating to see the derivation with "gab' as in "gift of the gab." However in 1950's my mum would threaten me with a "smack in the gob" if I didn't keep quiet. So the connection to "gobsmacked" was certainly around then.

As blue says gobsmacked is used in Australia too. I thought it was Australian? "Gob" is a slang expression for mouth, hence to be gobsmacked is to be smacked in the mouth. As this is usually an unexpected occurrence in life not to mention, in polite social circles it somewhat surprises the recipient. By extension the expression has come to be used to describe a state of being surprised or dumbfounded by some circumstance or news. Another term would be to say that a person was "bowled over" by a situation. A more recent marvellous exclamation that expresses being "gobsmacked", is often used by the young with emphasis on the "up" is "Shut UP!" Which in its more usual context is what I will now do. :roll:

I love these wanderings in logic. Back in the early 1960s there was a short documentary that amongst other gems showed that if women's breasts continued to grow at the present rate (for 1960) then by the year 2000, women would have extreme difficulty in standing upright. I leave the image that accompanied this description for your imagination. lol :D Des.

I agree. A masterpiece!

Camy, what a delightful poem. You made me laugh and still feel some compassion for both the characters. I really loved the way the poem jumps to the plane verse. So unexpected, but then so was the comment about the cats. (still chuckling) Des.

I think the pulse is optional. :p

Dude, Thank You for the explanation of what caused the closure of the forums. I am sure that any reasonable person will understand and sympathise with your frustration and the difficulties you described. I am just so pleased the forums have returned and look forward to being able to contribute to our little community of readers and authors. In fact I am so happy about their return, I feel quite gay. :D Cheers Des.

Just received the email about forums to close. Was it something I said? Seriously, these forums are a breath of fresh air. I guess that recent problems with a certain participant have precipitated this action. I do not know or even want to know what has transpired behind the scenes, I just want to say that I do hope that some way can be found to keep the forums going. AwesomeDude won't be the same without them. These forums are quite unique. Dude, I will help if at all possible. :( Des.

Just read chapter 21 of SOOTB and was able to retain my composure, until I read, "If I could take the burden of all of those people's grief and carry it on my shoulders for just a few minutes, then that was my responsibility, my obligation to Mikey, and my tribute to him." ...and then I lost it and wept. It wasn't the funeral itself or even the character's reactions, it was the daring in the author's expressing the humanity and insight of caring for others by Connor, that got to me. Well done.

Dear blue, I sympathise with your situation. We all react differently to these moments. My mother was very upset when she thought I might be having a relationship with another man. However in the sixties you never admitted anything. (Homosexuality was still illegal then.) She knew but didn't talk about it. She just wanted me to be happy, she said. I remember many years ago, my grandmother was living with my partner and me as she was convalescing from a broken hip. We thought she was bed ridden, but early one morning the bedroom door swung open and she stood there leaning against the door frame looking at us cuddling in bed. "Aha!" she said, "That's what I thought." She turned and went back to her bedroom. My partner asked me what we should do? I was lucky enough to have a moment of insight and told him, "Nothing. If we respond to her, we have to have an argument. If we do nothing then nothing will happen." We looked after her till she died many years later in her own home. (We lived in our own place.) She never mentioned it again except for a brief reference once, to how she did not approve of my having a boyfriend, but that he was a kind man, obviously good for me, and she did not want to know (any more). She added that she would have liked grandchildren. I told her it didn't seem likely. To my surprise she burst out laughing, saying, "That seems obvious." I know that my experience is not really what you are facing and it is from a very different era, but please be careful. Sometimes it is not necessary to or even needed to be out to everyone. My partner still plays it quiet. Me? I am out there like you wouldn't believe, like only you can when all the close family have gone. "Hi I am Des and you should know that I am the man my mother warned me about.", has been my statement to all my trainees and new co-workers at work. My workmates all hide around the corner to watch the reactions. I know what it is like to be ostracized. I was invited once and only once to a primary school re-union when I was 45. Now primary school was hell on Earth for me. My red hair and pale skin was enough to ensure that I was bashed every day at school and even the teachers berated me. I was called a sissy and poofter all the time. (How did I ever survive?) I was seven - twelve years old. Well, at the re-union one of the now obese bullies came over to me like I was long lost friend and slapped me on the back. I momentarily thought the re-union was just an excuse to bash me again. "How are you?" he inquired, "Did you bring your wife and kids?" I was furious. "No", I told him, "You all told me I was a fag so often at school that I thought I must be so I would like you to meet my husband." He ran from me and I never got invited to a re-union again. I wonder why? Oh dear I have got carried away, haven't I? What I am trying to say, blue, is that sometimes it is right to come out and other times it is best say nothing. Only you can know which is best and when. From your post You seem to understand your sitution very well. When I have put pen to paper to let off steam, I have often found that was all I needed to make me stronger and realise my detractors are not worth it. Other times, of course it is worthwhile to stand up for what we believe in. Your intended letter sounds well thought out. These are very different times, and I am sure we will all be thinking of you. I certainly will. Best Wishes, Des.

Not if he gets me Codey. lol :p

Thanks Dude for your informative, "rambling" but reassuring reply. I am particularly relieved to know the overall number of visitors is so high. I guess I too, lurked a couple of times before I decicded to join in the forums. (I always was however a bit of a lurker. ) I understand the trepidation of making oneself known, but in any case it seems that AwesomeDude offers really good anonymity for those in need of that reassurance. Of course being a "would be" story-writer I was pleased to receive some helpful thoughts from the forums, and All I had to do was read them. Joining in a couple of times was great fun and very instructive. The forums are also a great place to let author's know about your reactions to their stories. There is no doubt about AwesomeDude having some of the best stories on the net. Well back to my poetry writing, the story will have to wait. :D

Awww Dude that is not good. I really enjoy this site and wish I could help but I too am working and dealing with the fascist boss from hell. I'm also trying to write a story and have little enough time for that. I hope to submit it one day for inclusion at AD. The forums are really great and I think they deserve better participation from net users. I find it difficult to understand how a site of this quality only attracts around 240 registered members. Surely there must be more than 240 gay people on the net. Perhaps you could have a competition for registered user activity. First prize could be a night with Dude. :D Hope it works out Des

I read it as a simple observation of an entertainer and thought it was indeed quite "fun". As for son being a term of condescension, in my experience it is not restricted to race issues as older white folk address young white males with it all the time usually to assert a postion of dominance. I sufferred it all the time when I was growing up. "Dont call me "son", was almost always a phrase of the day for me. Blue's rather innocent use of it in the poem only caused me an ire factor of 4 on a scale 10. :) The movie by the way has been removed from Youtube. I like dude's idea of it being an attempt to"swing loose".

Thanks blue and I would probably add that the author shouldn't expect too much from the use of symbols, but I like seeing them as long as they are motivated by, or relevant to, the plot/character situation. Paul and vwl -thanks guys you have been very helpful with your thoughts and suggestions.