I'm Sticking Around for a While by Colin Kelly

[dude]

Colin Kelly has posted the final chapter of I'm Sticking Around for a While at Codey's World.

For those of you who wait for a serial story to finish posting, HERE is where you want to go!

Nice job, Colin!

[Lugnutz]

Be warned, it's a roller coaster ride from the first chapter. You don't know when the next turn or drop is coming. Highly recommended.

[Gee Whillickers]

I've been waiting for this one to finish so I could start reading it. I like the story idea. Looking forward to it.

[colinian]

Thanks for the plugs, Mike and Gee, and the compliment, Lugz.

Colin

[Merkin]

I've finished it, and it is a rollercoaster ride, with a plot that makes sense and characters that live. Colin is an excellent writer and he manages to tuck a subtext under his fiction wherein he explains to youthful readers a great many things about how the world works; in this case, the criminal justice system and how medical systems work. A great read.

James

[colinian]

Thanks, James. I love your description of what my story and the subtexts that I "tuck under" are about. I love "tuck under" and one of the subtexts that I did tuck under is that some kids don't begin to realize that they are gay right away. There are some kids who know at around 11 or 12 (or maybe even earlier); and there are kids who don't know until they are 15 or 16 (or maybe even later). I think it might be more difficult for older teens to come to grip with their sexuality.

Colin

[Lugnutz]

It's more interesting when you're in your 30's or later.

[colinian]

It's more interesting when you're in your 30's or later.

I don't see why that shouldn't be possible.

Colin

[Lugnutz]

Colin was bluffing, there is more to this story. Yes, it continues.

[The Pecman]

Mr. Pedantic here: I would quibble that the first few chapters are written in present tense, and then it suddenly shifts to past tense.

One of my pet peeves is present tense, which just seems real obvious and "showy" to me. No question, a lot of people don't care; hell, Hunger Games is written this way, and I think it sold about 10 million copies. But to read page after page of, "I look to my right and see a woman. She looks up at me, then walks by. I get off the bench and walk down the sidewalk..." Oh, I wanna pound my head on the sidewalk after reading that ponderous crap.

The only thing worse: stuff written in 2nd person present-tense. "You're dressed in a red cape. You walk down the dimly-lit alley, barely glancing up at the shadows that loom in the distance. You hear a sudden noise beside you." Kill me now...

[DesDownunder]

Oh, I do agree Pec, my pet hate as a kid was the action comic books that tried to put me, as a reader, into the action by captions that read, "You know that you are the target for the mob as you walk down the street." Aaaargh!

The first person present tense is very difficult, it demands strict confinement to the plot with no extraneous descriptions, or everything has to be a thought in the protagonists head to make it work, but without every thought in his head. Not easy.

The example you give is the equivalent of the mundane micro-descriptions that drive me crazy, even in past tense; descriptions that do nothing to further the plot, the drama, or add to the mise en scène. Most of this stuff falls under the category of shopping list stories. "I went to work. When I got there I got my coffee with two sugar and milk in my favourite mug. I took it back to my desk. Harry was waiting for me. I sat down on my office chair which I had covered with a lovely soft furnished pillow that had small yellow tassels at the corner. No sooner had I sat down than a bomb went off and killed everyone to pieces."

Hopefully that was the end, because I couldn't have faced writing or reading any more of that drivel.

[Merkin]

Caught between snorts of amusement and nods of my head in agreement, I experience deep regret that this developing discussion happens to be linked to Colin's very excellent story.

[DesDownunder]

I know what you mean Merkin, I have been remiss in letting Colin know how much I am enjoying his story, so I will do so now.

Great story Colin...I just caught up with the latest chapter and I'm busting to know what happens next.

[bi_janus]

Just finished 28. The story got better and better with each chapter. Very nice read, Colin.

[The Pecman]

The praise here has inspired me to read it to the bitter end. At least at some point in the story, the present tense got abandoned and went to past tense.

And I'm not judging the writer or the story itself. God knows, there are huge best-selling novels written in present tense. It just makes me grit my teeth...