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EleCivil

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Posts posted by EleCivil

  1. A week, huh? Well, it's getting close to the end of the semester, and all my big projects are due shortly, followed by finals...and I am always looking for an excuse to procrastinate :lol:. Still, seeing as I can only really write when no one else is around (shared computer in an open space) it'll probably take a bit longer than that.

    Oh, here's something that I added in the intro/disclaimer on Nifty that got clipped off here:

    I learned from a reader that there is, in fact, a Gordon, OH. It's some small town in Southern Ohio, much smaller than the one in L&L. So, uh...apologies to all the real-life Gordonites for my assumtion that your town was fictional.

  2. That's just fucking eeire. You live on the same block I do. Is it a two story yellow house with a white garage door? A silver tricked-out low-riding Honda? If you say yes, I'll scream.

    -- wbms

    Heh. Nope, don't scream just yet. No second stories, garages, or semi-expensive cars around here. I'm a trailor park kid, born n' raised. The engine-revver in question sits on a motorcycle in his front yard, eating beans out of a can and doing lines off of a switchblade. At least, he did, until the guy across the street got fed up with all the noise and punched him in the face, knocking him clear off the motorcycle. Endless entertainment, these guys are.

  3. If my downstairs neighbor would stop bassing my head off my shoulders and the pictures off the walls, I could maybe get some writing done today.

    Haha, I know how you feel, man. My neighbors seem to have only one CD entitled "A hell of a lot of bass" that they play constantly. Plus, they also get a kick out of revving their engines for hours on end without ever driving anywhere. I've always imagined that they're amused by watching the RPM gauge going back and forth, but that's just a guess.

    Noise-cancelling headphones are a godsend.

  4. Yeah, I know - that's in addition to the writer's block. As in, I'll write a draft, then throw it out, then not be able to write for two weeks, then finally get past it and write again, only to throw that out, too, and then not be able to force myself to write for another few weeks...ach. If it was just one or the other, it'd be done by now.

    I should be writing.

    Later.

  5. Yep, I'm still working on it. I'm just starting to get over one of the worst patches of writer's block I've ever had, and I'm working on either the 4th or 5th draft of chapter eleven (lost count somewhere along the line). I'm currently around the 50% mark.

    Oh, and thanks for asking - someone saying "Where's the next chapter?" is just the kind of motivation that I need sometimes.

  6. Great work!

    Perfect place to end it, too, in my opinion. Leaves things just open-ended enough to allow for some speculation, but doesn't skimp on the closure.

    I love to see a story get finished after being posted chaper-by-chapter. Feels like witnessing a victory over whatever anti-writer beams seem to hit so many webauthors.

  7. Er, the picture is large enough in file size (probably higher than 72dpi) that it may time out for dialup visitors.

    Right-click on the middle of the page and "show picture" or "refresh" the page.

    Ah, yeah, that's what it was. It was taking so long to load that Firefox just gave up on it before showing it. *Glares at 56k modem*

  8. (Reviving an old thread)

    One of my favorite pieces of dialogue:

    (during a paintball game)

    Mike: "This your first time, kid?"

    Businessman: "I'm 36."

    Mike: "This your first time, old man?"

    Businessman: "Yeah, I've always fancied myself a soldier."

    Tim: "I've always fancied myself."

    Mike: "I've always fancied you."

    Tim: "...Not here."

    [spaced - season one, episode 4]

  9. What I was trying to point out is the need for more stories that offer positive gay people and relationships, healthy stuff, people helping others, that there *is* a way to achieve that.

    Ooohhh...now I see what you were talking about. I think there's a lot of stories like that, though. From what I've seen, they outnumber the completely dark stories. Of course, maybe that's just because I tend to gravitate toward that kind of story in the first place.

    <aside> Getting off on the wrong track? Only if there's a train coming. Otherwise, getting off seems like a good idea. Rolling Eyes Oh, sorry, guess I'm discovering my randy campy side. :coff: </aside>

    *snicker*

  10. Personally, I think it stems mostly from the genres that most of these stories fall into: Romance and drama. I don't see any more negativity in gay romance and drama than I do in their straight counterparts. The "Big Negatives" - death, suicide, tragically painful breakups, illness, addiction, abandonment, abuse, etc. - they're all pretty universal, regardless of which way you swing. Look at how many stories, movies, and TV shows there are in which a woman is being abused by her overbearing husband - probably a similar figure to the number of stories we see about gay kids being abused by their overbearing parents.

    I'm not saying that there aren't a lot of gay authors who went through hell and want to relay the tale of the trip blow-by-blow and brimstone-by-brimstone, because there are. I'm just saying that their number isn't that disproportionate to straight authors who want to do exactly the same thing.

    About the "gay hero" thing...quite a few straight leads are rather screwed up, too, and there's a reason: We love to side with the underdog, the guy who can't win a fistfight or afford the nicest car or get the hottest dates. I don't think it's some kind of self-hating gay angst that fuels it - I think it's just what sells. Perfect Heroes ™ are alright for Bruckheimer movies, but when it comes to literature, I want characters with some room to grow.

  11. When I get blocked, it's usually because I know exactly what it is that I want to write...next chapter. Or even worse, I know exactly how I want to write a scene in another story all together. I end up in some kind of mental loop - I keep coming back to the same ideas, scenes, lines, but I can never figure out where or how to work with them. I'll start thinking something like "I know I can't use THIS scene, because THIS hasn't happened yet, but I don't know how to make THAT happen because THIS wouldn't mesh with it." I end up with a lot of fully fleshed-out scenes and characters that never make it into the final product, simply because thinking about them sets up blocks.

    If I'm stuck in the middle of a story, I'll try writing a poem. In fact, that's pretty much the only time I write poems. Gets me thinking in a different direction, experimenting with different phrases and images. If I'm really desperate, I'll do a few math problems or logic puzzles. Anything to get the synapses snappin'.

  12. If only I was a writer.   :shock:  

    I don't think that's a problem. :D

    Not anymore, anyway.

    You are a writer and a poet, and talented at it. You have insight and humor and you know how to write about the good and the bad in life. You know how to put words together in striking ways, with real characters and plot. Very few people can do even one of those things.

    :oops: Aw, shucks.

  13. Good stuff, once again. I love this story a little more with every chapter. With the way things are looking now, it'll probably end up as one of those rare stories that I want to turn back to the beginning and re-read as soon as I'm finished.

  14. Seems you all at least think it's okay and doesn't suck.

    There's an understatement.

    I always know a story's good when I find myself looking at how far down the scroll bar is and thinking "Aw man, not yet!" This was one of those stories.

  15. Note:

    "I'm back, Sheridan" and "stormy smile" are lines from a song called "I'm Back Sleeping or Fucking or Something" by the (now long gone) band Moss Icon. I take no credit for either one, and was simply referencing that song. I figure I could have thrown in something more generic, but I really wanted to nail all the specifics. If Moss Icon wants to get together and sue me, they can go for it.

  16. I was seven steps away,

    And you three slippery inches

    But I?d never been good with words

    And even worse with physics

    And I asked you why, asked

    ?Where were the signs??

    And you shook your head and smiled.

    You?d smiled a lot that week.

    ?I?m slick, remember?

    If I don?t want to be caught,

    I can lead you on forever.?

    And it looked like everything,

    Everything was hanging onto nothing,

    Nothing more steady than a strong breeze

    And couldn?t I make you remember?

    The way we?d scream ?I?m back, Sheridan!?

    And whisper something about ?stormy smiles?

    And mumble through lyrics we couldn?t decipher,

    Fingers operating madly on invisible instruments

    That looked more like conniption fits than musicianship?

    Wasn?t that good enough?

    But I was so short on words!

    If only I knew what to say, if only I had a writer,

    If only I was a writer.

    Or maybe a scripted sentimentalist

    With a lexicon of liberating don?t-give-ups.

    Anything but the b-movie sidekick

    With a fistful of one-liners

    And the kind of shifty grin that only works

    When in response to the Hero?s wit

    Because right now I couldn?t grin to save my life

    Or yours.

    When you turned around and stepped back down

    Ending your brief love affair with gravity

    And practically collapsing into the concrete

    All I could think about was how I couldn?t say anything

    And how it would have been my fault.

    I spent every day in the library

    Picking up phrases like loose change

    And swearing that I?d never,

    Never again be short on words.

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