Everybody's Wounded

[Trab]

While I'm avidly following DDG, and Brittle As A Bird, I haven't stopped reading Everybody's Wounded, and I must say, it's amazingly and emotionally deep. It has touched on some serious truths we should all keep in mind, and some serious issues that might sneak up in our own relationships without us even realising it. And in regards to cliff-hangers, the latest chapter is a winner.

[colinian]

While I'm avidly following DDG, and Brittle As A Bird, I haven't stopped reading Everybody's Wounded, and I must say, it's amazingly and emotionally deep. It has touched on some serious truths we should all keep in mind, and some serious issues that might sneak up in our own relationships without us even realising it. And in regards to cliff-hangers, the latest chapter is a winner.

Trab, I'm glad you mentioned Everybody's Wounded here. This is a wonderful story, deep and dark and involving the relationships and fragile emotions of a group of college students. Here's something from a recent email I received from Duncan Ryder that helps explain the story and its title:

We're all wounded in a sense (and if you've escaped that to date, you won't indefinitely)... and we all wound the people we love, often, even usually, without intention. Even those of us lucky enough to be in secure committed relationships. The point is to figure out how to move forward, and stay loving, and muddling on, despite the fact. This is really a story about learning intimacy. It can be a complex thing. The more wounds we carry with us, the more complex it gets...

Colin

[Insomniac]

I've been following it as well and look foward to the weekly posting. I think the author does an excelent job of addressing so many different relationship issues in the same story without making it obvious. It's a great read

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

I have been reading it too, and in my opinion, it is absolutely excellent. It is so true in some respects with the relationships and emotions, that it just hurts to read.

The problem is that I always want a very happy ending to any story I read (I get too much real world, non-happy stuff on a daily basis) and I have no idea how this story can end happily or at least totally happy in my mind!

Perhaps he could add another really great character, so that there could be two totally perfect couples?

[duncan ryder]

EW is now complete.

I just wanted you to know that, for those of you who want to know what happens to ******* (just in case you're reading this, I don't want to spoil it), there will be a follow up story, called How the Light Gets In.

Also from a Leonard Cohen song:

The birds they sang at the break of day

Start again, I heard them say

Don't dwell on what has passed away

Or what has yet to be...

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

Leonard Cohen, Anthem.

[Oliver]

Duncan; great story and great news.

It is good te see that we are going to know how things went on for *****.

But first of all, this one was already great. You did a great job of describing the things that go on in a relationship and in life.

Liked it, loved it.

Oliver

[colinian]

There are chapters in Everybody's Wounded that are some of the most emotional, gut-wrenching things I've ever read. This is one of the best stories I've ever read, online or in print. As I've told Duncan before, great writing!

Colin

[Trab]

but-wrenching? Seriously though, it's a story that brings me to tears, each page!

[colinian]

but-wrenching? Seriously though, it's a story that brings me to tears, each page!

'but' is correctly spelled, but it doesn't mean 'gut', does it! Just goes to show that it's excessive reliance on the spell-checker lifestyle that's causing the decay in America's values! Where is Sally Kern when we need her?

Colin

[The Pecman]

Good story, very well-done. I kinda winced a little bit at the "HIV test results on the nightstand" bit, but this is a tiny criticism. Very well-drawn characters, and a cut above much of what I read on the net -- a really good job.

BTW, I didn't get that the title was a Leonard Cohen reference, but it's an excellent phrase. Me, I'm just a total Top 40 slut, so all I know are the hits. But I know a lotta hits.

[duncan ryder]

I'm glad people enjoyed the story.

The title is from First we take Manhattan... but I never made a point of it because really all I used was those two words; unlike How the Light Gets In, the theme of the song has nothing to do with the theme of the story.

(And sorry, but no apologies for the lab tests on the night table! It may not have been what you or I would have done or wanted a lover to do, but it was in character for Josh. He would not want to influence Scott's choices, he would simply point them out and let it be. And it had to be dealt with because it was a big issue for Scott from the very first time he was with Josh...)

[The Pecman]

The only reason I mentioned the "lab results on the table" bit is that this is a little bit "too TV" to me. In real life, one character would say, "listen -- in case we do this, I just wanted you to know, I've been tested recently and have no STD's." More boring, but that's what would happen.

But in TV, they always go for the visual. Dollying in for the test results, then showing the character's reaction, his expression changing, would do the same thing in a more visual way. Still, it's a teeny bit contrived. Not even 1000th as contrived as a lot I see on TV, but still... It's just a moment that struck me as odd.

I agree, though, it's your decision to make, and it's a good story.

[Bruin Fisher]

I just finished reading Everybody's Wounded. You want a share price tip? Buy Kleenex.

This is an emotional rollercoaster (box of tissues advised) but a very satisfying read, well-written and involving. I love the story and strongly recommend it.

Bruin

[Tiger]

All I have to say is wow! That was such an awesome story! I look forward to the sequel. :)