Someday Out Of the Blue

[LittleBuddhaTW]

Chapter 15 is up:

http://members.gayauthors.org/littlebuddha...tw/SOOTB15.html

[JamesSavik]

I just wanted to drop a line into this thread and let Little Buddah know how much I'm enjoying this story!

-JS

:geek:

[jack scribe]

Triple WOW! :D

I just had a chance to check out this delightful story...actually read through the first seven chapters.

Most writers probably were silently thinking, 'I resemble that remark,' when LB did a little editorializing in one of the earlier chapters on many writers who re-cycle a worn story cliche, trot out stereotypical characters and simmer tired plot lines that re-appear on the Internet.

Although I think the story dialog sometimes stetches a little to match the actual vocabulary capacity and emotional presence of an early to mid-teen, the pathos and stark inner emotion that is in the balance more than complensates for any short coming. I know...picky, picky picky.

The love triangle of the young guys, as construed by the protagonist, is very original. That this is LB's first story is further proof that the author has a talent to watch and follow.

[LittleBuddhaTW]

Thanks, Jack ... that means a lot! I've had a lot of fun writing this story, and even more fun with all of the comments and interaction with readers! :D

*Hugz*

Buddha

P.S.- BTW, that little "jibe" in Ch. 5 was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, since I admit that I'm guilty of the same thing in a few instances ... so, in a way, Connor was poking fun at me, too!

[jack scribe]

Well, ya got me hooked. I won't give away anything, but talk about a heavy-duty cliffhanger at the end of Ch. 20! =D>

BTW, I've joined the fray at GA. Check out my official story site:

http://jackscribe.gayauthors.org/index.html

Look forward to Ch. 21...big time, dude. :D

Jack 8)

[DesDownunder]

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.

[Guest Brandon T.]

So! Yay. I didn't know this story was hosted here. I read it a while ago... for the fourth time, I think. I feel about the same about it now as I did then. I liked it great deal. However. That sounds so ominous, right? HOWEVER. Anyhoo. I didn't so much like the characters. I felt that they were all little... Hm. Connor. I disliked Connor the most, definitely. Just the way he talked to Maggie when she was trying to do nothing more than help him really left a sour taste in my mouth. And his wounded, angry routine that dragged for chapters at time really made me want to trip him and sprinkle daisies over his head just so he'd relax or something. I actually preferred the Connor who suffered in silence to the Connor in later chapters. Because after his mother dies and he is effectively freed from that life, he becomes someone who's emotionally erratic. That freedom is tainted, I think, by the trial by fire he goes through to get there. The rape, losing his mother, and by the end of it, he's unable to be truly free. Because he's got this warped sense of freedom and independence anyway, it all sort of classes and leaves him stranded in the fray and frenzy of his rapidly changing life. And I can understand the need to act out when you've been through all of that, but he takes it to the extreme.

I quickly grew tired of Connor's attitude and Connor's problems and Connor this and Connor that. So used to thinking about Connor. Even when he was worried for Toby and how Ryan was treating his brother, I couldn't actually believe that he was worried about Toby because all I could see was Ryan doesn't love me anymore flashing through his head. I felt that he was already reaching for that idea as Ryan began to distance himself from them all. The only times I liked Connor were in the beginning of the story and the brief part when he's with Ben. Those were the ONLY times. Because his emotions were contained and he wasn't feeling sorry for himself as much. The self-pity was relegated to small undertones that I felt free to ignore. AND THEN. HERE WE GO. No more Ben, hello annoying Connor. =/ Connor in the end just left a really bad taste in my mouth. He is quite possibly the least likable character I've ever read in online fiction. Really. Just... Ugh. Most of the time, he was like a bad sore that wouldn't go away.

HOWEVER. Cody and Toby were amazing and almost made up for Connor. Not just together either. I was really moved by Cody. So ethereal and so gentle and aloof. But warm and soothing and friendly. Yet he didn't feel too old or too mature. He felt like a young man, infinitely youthful--one of those people who even though they'll get older, they'll always have fresh energy and this calming vitality about them. He was one of the most resonant characters in the story. Toby was energetic and hopeful and young in the way that we're all young. That tenacity and boldness that slowly gets beaten down over time and I think the cancer was a really big part of that. But at the end, the authors offers a little bit of hope for that youthfulness. Toby recovers, his energy returns, and we're free to brash and bold again. Adventurous and loving. Well-crafted characters, I felt.

I didn't like how he did away with Ryan. =/ He was just sort of gone! Just like that. After all of the build up and the angst and the anger and pain, he's just gone. And then he returns and things are free to pick up where they left off. WHich irks me. I hate those kinds of things. BUT. It suited the story, so I won't complain too much. BEN. I loved BEN. And everyone else, mostly, even Cody's mom. Just not Connor. I was curious and interested in Connor's mother. There was just something there. She reminds me of my own mother in A LOT of ways, and they're not necessarily indirect either. So, maybe that's why she was a bit more human than Buddha wanted her to be for me. OThers, I'm sure, hated her. But she's a mother, you know? I don't think that they can ever fully be made into monsters. Just their capacity to bring life into the world puts them just at the cusp of redemption, bringing some sort of new chance to the world and---yeah, mothers are interesting to me. Despite their faults and their shortcomings. BUT ANYHOODLES.

I like this story, but I LOATHED Connor. And characters like him. They infuriate me to end.

[The Pecman]

I think Little Buddha can be congratulated by creating a character (and characters) that provides so much response.

To Brandon, I'd say, sometimes it's more interesting to create a character with flaws -- even one that the audience doesn't necessarily like -- just to put the character through changes over time. To me, it's the flaws and the changes that make the character interesting. Perfect characters are very boring. Characters you hate... those are interesting, especially if the author has the skill to turn them around and make you empathize with them, even if you don't necessarily like them.

[Cole Parker]

I think Little Buddha can be congratulated by creating a character (and characters) that provides so much response.

To Brandon, I'd say, sometimes it's more interesting to create a character with flaws -- even one that the audience doesn't necessarily like -- just to put the character through changes over time. To me, it's the flaws and the changes that make the character interesting. Perfect characters are very boring. Characters you hate... those are interesting, especially if the author has the skill to turn them around and make you empathize with them, even if you don't necessarily like them.

Amen!

C

[Guest Brandon T.]

I would agree in most instances, Cole and Pecman, about characters you hate. But this time, I wasn't interested in Connor. I didn't want to hear anything else he had to say. It would have felt like more insipid, self-centered whining and would have served no purpose. Connor wasn't interesting character, I felt, and in the end, I think he hurt more than helped the writing because about half-way through, I started ignoring him completely. If I hadn't, I would have just walked away from the story. And I didn't want to do that because it was such a well done story. So I detached myself from it whenever I read Connor's parts. Or Connor heavy parts. It makes me sound terrible to say, but I truly felt nothing when he was raped. =/ And I wanted to feel something, I really did, but by that point, I just said, "Oh, boo hoo, yet another terrible thing in your life, Connor. Let me fetch you some tissues and watch you come completely undone YET AGAIN." And I just KNEW that Ryan would be there to save him--maybe that contributed to my lack of response to COnnor's plight. There's always someone there helping him, saving him, and what doe do? He bites their heads off. Pushes them away because he's a victim with a Napoleon Complex.

He was really just an unpleasant person, I felt, and I didn't want to know him better. I definitely preferred his mother. She was a character you wanted to hate, just WANTED TO. But because you didn't know her side of the story, she was intriguing. I mean, what could motivate a mother to behave that way? Questions like that drive interest. Because was really terrible to him. So. That's an example of a bad person I was interested in. Someone who isn't likeable, but you're drawn to. Connor's just repulsive to me.