Back to Part 28

It’s fitting that this last commentary falls on Bastille Day, and it has everything to do with the story Jon tells Furball. That’s a true story, by the way, of the guitar player who sat down to keep Jon company, except substitute me with Jon. This event took place almost exactly nine years ago, at Drury Leadership Academy in Springfield, MO. The reasons are almost exactly the same as well. I was hiding, and the guy wandered in to my room, sat down, and started playing guitar. Word for word, that’s exactly what he said to me, and it so profoundly changed the way I interact with people, it makes me tell the story over and over again.

Bastille Day always makes me think of DLA, and it’s little sibling, SummerScape, because of a camp tradition. Starting about a week before July 14, during lunch, a girl, or collection of girls, stands up on a chair and belts out, “HEY EVERYBODY! GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS? It’s the day before the day before the day before the day before the day before the day before Bastille Day! ALL RIGHT!” And then they sit down (for the full effect, pronounce ‘Bastille’ as an American would, not a francophone). By day six, as you could imagine, most people are more concerned with eating than what day it is, but it’s still a fine tradition. As for Bastille Day, I don’t know why it was chosen, but there you go. Tradition.

SummerScape and DLA were both places that encouraged me to embrace my nerdiness. Keep in mind, I started going in 1997, back when most people got on the Internet via AOL, and geek chic were not too words usually put together. In other words, it still wasn’t cool being a nerd back then. Except for at camp, where I met nerds that were also future rock stars, artists, writers, the general spaz and the cool kid. SummerScape and DLA had such a broad range of people that it helped me realize liking computers wasn’t a bad thing, nor was drawing and talking about all these talking aminals (not as as big a deal in 1997 as it tends to be now). And I made some lasting friends from camp, too. Which is really the best part.

Anyways. The story’s over. Next week is the beginning of Boat Story, something entirely different, and yet so, so familiar.

So there it is. 29 weeks later, and it’s over. It’s a weird feeling, doing something for more than half a year, and finishing it. All the same, I’m glad I did it, and I hope everyone enjoyed getting the know the characters and much as I did sharing them.

As always, any questions and/or comments are totally welcome.

ONE MORE THING! If you enjoyed this story, it would mean a lot to me if you could take a moment of your time and write a review over at the Web Fiction Guide. Registration is free, and it only takes a moment. Thanks!

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Back to Part 28

Back to Part 27

At this point, we’re just cleaning up loose ends. Jon got to come home (Bet you didn’t see that coming! Or, you know, you did… cause it was obvious), got to say his peace about being a teenager that messes up, and how his authority figures would react to it. Farly calls him out on the promise he made in Part 21, back when Jon was in the hospital. So, if you’re following along at home, that’s two broken promises by people Farly loves. Horray.

I almost pulled a Stephenie Meyer here with Seattle. Jon came to Seattle before I did, and I knew nothing about the city, other than it was a place I really wanted to go. I mean, this was the city that spurned MTV when MTV brought the Real World here (and MTV threw a hilarious rich-kid brat fit over it: “they’re just jealous no one likes their music anymore.” Well done, MTV). So much like Meyer had never seen or been to Bend, WA, I had never seen or been to Seattle, WA. In Part 4, way back in the first few drafts, Jon went to Vancouver from Seattle by ferry. This is doable, but it’s a long, expensive trip. I had my geography all wrong, so Vancouver got replaced with Bainbridge Island, which makes a lot more sense. Also, I’d like to take this opportunity to point out, it doesn’t so much rain here all the time as it does mostly in the winter, and it’s mostly a fine mist. That’s all well and good for Meyer’s vampires, but summer would be hell here, as it’s bright and sunny for most of the summer. Bend is no different.

Anyways, after a visit and a move, this little detail changed. But this is a great example of how not doing your research can really make you look like an idiot. And typos. And lay versus lie. And so on.

As always, I welcome any questions you might have.

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Back to Part 27

Back to Part 26 – Forward to Part 28

…In which Bryan preaches your face off.

I almost feel compelled to apologize for how preachy this chapter is. However, it fits with Bryan’s struggle with his parents’ money: it’s not something he’s comfortable about, nor is it something he’s proud of. With Ty, he saw a part of the city he had been effectively removed from, and he’s been shaken up. Which is good for him.

This is also where we get a better idea of what the Collective is. They’re often referred to as anarchists, which is only a small part of who they are. Their storefront down the Strip is a home to a lot of left literature, books about socialism and communism and anarchism, and all the -isms that make folks in the suburbs squirm, but their main focus, more than anything, is social action. They’re not looking to lead a revolution to overthrow the suburbs of Gateway City. They just want to foster social change in the area. So there’s a lot of literature from groups that seek social change (again, socialists and so on), but more often than not, they’re really just the twentysomething kids on the street with clipboards trying to gather signatures.

Ty knows the Collective because of TJ, who sent her their way because he knew some people that would teach her how to skate. From there, Ty started hanging out more regularly after school. They taught her how to fight, how to protect herself should she find herself out on the street alone at night, but more importantly, they taught Ty social activism. And so, Feldman Skatepark.

The story is this: 13-year old Ty gets harassed by a cop for skating out in a parking lot. Ty heads back to the Collective to complain and Jes (a woman we’ll likely never see, but I really should put her into the next Java story, dammit), Ty’s mentor, asks her a simple question,

“What are you going to do about it?”

So with the help of the Collective, Ty organizes a group to go to city hall, design in hand, and with the names of three hundred teenage skaters in the area, and convinces them to build a skatepark in Feldman park. So Ty’s first taste of social activism got results.

She’s embarrassed and proud at the same time, so that she keeps a flier for the opening of the park, but won’t tell Bryan why. She doesn’t want the attention, but at the same time, attention goes along with activism. And so, for right now, she has soup kitchens and a poster on the wall, until something comes along again.

As always, any questions you have are always welcome.

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Back to Part 26 – Forward to Part 28

Back to Part 25 – Forward to Part 27

If I had been thinking last week, I would have probably noticed that last week’s post was the end of Bourbon and Farly’s story. There used to be a little bit about Farly worrying about Jon, but it was too conveniently placed, and it got axed a revision or two ago. So, Bourbon gets to rest easy now, until the next time I decide to go fuck up these kids’ lives again.

Sorry I swore.

I realized a while back that most of these chapters, the days themselves, start with someone waking up, or lying in bed, and this is another case of “if I had been thinking.” If I had been thinking, I would have started each day like this. Right now, it happens enough to be noticeable, but not enough to be a conceit of any kind Which means it’s sloppy. Which, whatever. Given the amount of time spent in homes and rooms in 7 Days, I suppose it makes sense a lot of those chapters would start with someone waking up. I just feel like I could have done better. I guess.

The Collective keeps getting brought up, and if you’ll bear with me, we’ll talk about them next week, at which point we’ll set phasers to full preachy.

At any rate, that’s all I got this week. It seems my mind is elsewhere, which is no excuse, but there we are. And I know you have questions, so ask away. As always, you know how to get in contact with me.

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Back to Part 25 – Forward to Part 27

Back to Part 24 - Forward to Part 26

So we’ve hit the home stretch. It’s weird knowing this serial has been running for over six months now, and now it’s on its last few chapters. What do I do with myself afterwards? Oh, right, make more stories.

This commentary is going to be about Farly.

My goal when I created Farly was to make a non-stereotypical gay character. This was years ago, after Ellen had come out, but before Neal Patrick Harris had come out. That is to say, things were a little different, though not by too much more, really.

Making Farly gay was an idea that just snuck into my head, and after it got it, it took hold and wouldn’t leave. It made sense for Farly, and so that’s what he became. But just like Ty, his context has so much to do with TJ: so much of who he is became that way because TJ was there to steer him, consciously or not, in that direction. Farly’s also not one for the stereotypically gay things: pink, glam, being ‘fabulous,’ make up, and so on. These things are just foreign to him

He has no trouble flirting with straight guys, though. So there’s that.

Erin made the remark that there’s a little more sex talk in the story than she remembered (Erin being one of the few that’s seen the first draft of the story). It’s true, a little sex talk has made it in to the story. I chalk it up to Bourbon, really. It’s what he’s used to, it’s how he’s used to thinking. I want to say there’s more to it, but that’s it. I’m not going to go as far to throw a sex scene it. They’re teenagers, that’d be fucked up.

Anyways, as always, questions are totally welcome.

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Back to Part 24 – Forward to Part 26

Back to Part 23 – Forward to Part 25

Bryan’s eyes bring up a topic a lot of authors working with anthro fiction have to deal with: What is furry?

That is to say, what makes a character furry? Is it enough to have people that resemble animals in appearance but not in actions? Are they more human than animal, or more animal than human? How much do you skirt the line between anthropomorphic animals and funny animals?

I don’t think I have an answer for this question, other than what I’ve given you here in this story. My characters are very much people, but I do not consider them human. But I don’t consider them animals either. For all intents and purposes, they are people, with fur, that resemble both humans and animals.

Still with me?

I’m rambling on here because there’s no convention for what makes a “true” furry, other than they are animals with human-like qualities. There is no agreement on wether they must growl or purr, or if they retain body language of their real-world counterparts, or if they must crave meat, or if they’re plant-grade or digi-grade. So, each writer that writes anthro characters comes up with their own mythology.

What’s kind of neat about this is that there’s almost no wrong answer on how to go about the sub-genre. I’ve been really digging lately the way Mab plays with species and size in Dan and Mab’s Furry adventure. For Mab, a mouse or a rat is going to be smaller than a cat or a wolf. In this case, dwarfishly small. And that’s interesting to me.

I’ve thought about The Group, and how they could be human and do most of the same stuff, or at least the argument that I could do it that way. Except, so much of them is what they are that I can’t just flip the human switch. I’d have to rebuild the characters from the ground up. Bryan is very much a person trapped between two peoples, and I could do that with normal race, yes, but that’s boring to me.

Anyways, this has been another rambling episode of 7 Days commentary. I’m going to go do my laundry and pretend like I know how I want to revise Project 2. As always, any questions are welcome.

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Back to Part 23 – Forward to Part 25

Back to Part 21 – Forward to Part 23

I mentioned earlier, and it still holds true, but from here on out, the chapters are fixed at their specific length. I’m now on a schedule, which ends either late June or early July, and with the writing and revising of Project 2, not having to worry about 7 Days being finished or not is nice, to say the least. Sorry, Milly.

Milly already pointed out her favorite line of this chapter, Bourbon’s vast inability to cook. My favorite line comes in Furball’s response: “Boooo. You suck.” It’s very much something my little sister would say, and it’s fitting that Furball would repeat little sibling things.

If I had planned this better, I could tell you that the new snow symbolizes a new start for Bourbon, that he’s only got one more person to make up with, being the most important person to make up with. Everything is a blank slate, which can manipulate and build upon. But my mind doesn’t work that way, I’m afraid. Snow is snow here, and that’s it.

And I like Furball channeling the voice of Ty to tell Bourbon he’s an idiot for thinking the Group doesn’t like him. That’s the influence of the Group itself on him. Whether he’s realized it or not, they’ve changed his life.

And here’s where I’ve run out of things to say. Feel free to jump in and toss me a question or comment. I’m always here to address them.

ALSO! Free Fiction Online is running a poll on what is your favorite web fiction (is that even the right way to say it? OH! Story would work!). Four loyal readers, unite! Also, please vote for me.
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Back to Part 21 – Forward to Part 23

Back to Part 20 – Forward to Part 22

When I started posting this story in December, this chapter was not a part of it. At least, it wasn’t a part of this specific story. It has always been a part of the Group’s story. I wrote this section out about five years ago, back before even 7 Days had been finalized. This was for a class, Creative Writing, in which while everyone was writing stories about cowboys suffering existential crises, I was writing my crappy talking aminal stories, so when I put one out, the class was curious and wanted more. This story was the result of that (let me also say that, if you ever find yourself in a creative writing class, and they ask you to expound on a topic the next time around, this is a trap. No matter what you write, they’ll never be satisfied. Or, at least, that’s how I experienced it).

This chapter used to be four times as long, and it focused, oddly, more on Bryan and Ty’s reaction to Jon than it should have. Going back and revising it, I cut out all of Bryan and Ty, leaving their part to be explained in 7 Days, Chapter 20. What I had in the story, the real story, was Farly and Jon.

Farly’s crush on Jon has been explained before, and it’s no secret among the Group that Farly likes Jon. But this chapter is the most intense manifestation of that. And his crush is something Jon puts up with, if not somewhat enjoys. Farly’s been his friend, his best friend, and despite not knowing how to handle affection, he appreciates that Farly likes to give it.

Jon’s realization at the end of this chapter is the correct one: he almost let Farly down. Jon is Farly’s protector, the one that keeps him safe at school. It’s never said in this story because there wasn’t a place for it, but people are afraid of Jon at Rockcrest. Rumors constantly circulate that Jon has a hit list, or he’s going to blow up the school, all of which are untrue, of course. So when he decides to step in as Farly’s protector, people notice. It doesn’t keep Farly 100% safe, but it cuts back dramatically on the amount of damage the poor mutt-boy takes on a weekly basis.

I suppose, then, the proper question in response to Jon the Protector is: why did he run away if he’s so important to Farly? First, Jon knows that with Bourbon around, Farly’s just as safe as he would have been with himself around. And, second, he’s unhappy. As much as he loves Farly, and he does, in a very platonic way, he needs badly to get out of Gateway City, and when his girlfriend wants to bail, too, he takes the chance. So there’s that.

And that brings another stream of consciousness commentary to a close. As always, any questions you have are more than welcome.

[g]

(Yes, I know I misspelled animal as “aminal” up there.)

Back to Part 20 – Forward to Part 22

Back to Part 19 – Forward to Part 21

Nowhere is about having a place.

I wanted that so badly when I was a teenager, a place to escape to, a place that no one else knew about. A safe place, basically. I didn’t think school, or even home was safe (I was a teenager, that’s how that works), so Nowhere got created. This is one of those few places in the 7 Days Universe that’s not based on any place in particular. What’s below Nowhere is real: we call it Chesterfield Valley, but I think it used to be referred to as the Gumbo Flats, due to the thick mud that is down there. The airport is a real place, too. But Nowhere had to be thought up. The way to get to it, the abandoned road, passed the Strip, into, well, Nowhere. When I think about it, the geography doesn’t fit real St. Louis at all. But that’s OK.

The Unix household is another safe place. The decision to not have parents at the Unix house wasn’t something I did on purpose, at least not for the purposes of having a house with no parents. Like the characters themselves, Ty, Farly, and TJ’s lack of parents comes from who they were when they were still characters in Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction. Their universe was war-torn, that of freedom fighters and a great oppressor. TJ wasn’t around, either, so it was just Ty and Farly, the rest of their family killed in the war. When they got pulled out of that world, they gained a brother, but their parents never carried over. Again, not on purpose, it just happened that way. The result is a house without parents, a safe place, with TJ as the facilitator of sorts. He allows for the safe place to stay, just so long as the kids play by the rules.

If I may digress, I’d like to go back to last week’s topic, concerning Star Trek, and more specifically, the new movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, turn back now, cause there might be a few spoilers and such.

Still here? Awesome.

I enjoyed the new movie. A lot, actually. My only gripe is that it committed one of Star Trek’s cardinal sins: the time travel episode. Star Trek loves its time travel episodes as much as it loves Holodeck episodes. As Eric said, it seems like Trek has a hat with about 12 plot summaries in it, and they just keep returning to the hat.

HOWEVER, I thought it was done well, it was exciting, and at no point did I feel the movie dragged. The casting was fantastic. Spock was dead-on, Chekov was adorable, and Simon Pegg as Scotty was fantastic. Kirk wasn’t a Shatner impersonation, but felt like Kirk should: egotistical, brash, wild, uncontainable.

It’s a reboot, despite what people are saying. It’s starting over in a way that allows for many more things to follow, which, if they can keep this up, what they’ve done in this movie, is a great thing. I’d really like them to do the same to Voyager now. I don’t have many problems with the cast, really, just the writing. I’m stuck on what Voyager could have been, and how badly it was messed up. (An awesome first-hand account from Garrett Wang, who played Ensign Kim, can be found at GeeksOn) I want it to not suck, basically.

At any rate, I’m doing this on the fly, rather than the night before, and I need to go to work. As always, any questions you have are totally welcome.

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Back to Part 19 – Forward to Part 21

Back to Part 18 – Forward to Part 20

One of my favorite things about Bourbon gets revealed in this chapter. It’s a secret he’s been carrying with him for a long time, and one he hasn’t really told his friends. His sexuality is out for all his friends to see, he smokes and drinks, and while that causes problems, it’s visible. Everything else from there is just little things, less important things, except this one secret.

Bourbon is a Star Trek: The Next Generation fan in a group of Star Wars nerds.

It’s a completely innocuous thing. Sooner or later, they’ll all watch Trek too, and enjoy both series for what they are. But right now, Bourbon may be, officially, the nerdiest of them all.

The thing is, I imagine TNG is really the only Trek Bourbon has ever watched. It didn’t happen on purpose. Bourbon would have been up late to see it, the local television station broadcasting reruns before new episodes of Voyager. His foster parents controlled much of his intake, culturally, specifically what he watched, except, I imagine, Bourbon had stashed away, a little portable television, one of the hand-held, battery-powered kinds, and he would hide in his room after his bed time, headphones on, maybe even in the closet, so the light from the picture couldn’t be seen, and escape into The Next Generation.

Bourbon likes The Next Generation’s sense of right and wrong, and that most, if not all episodes, were set up as moral dilemmas. He likes the diversity of the crew, no furs, of course, but an android and an alien, one of which operates the ship, the other is in charge of security. There was trust on the Enterprise, the kind of trust Bourbon longs for. He adores Picard for the way he allows Wesley Crusher to take part, tolerates and then comes to like the boy. He does not hate Wesley Crusher, because Bourbon often feels like the intruder, the object of scorn and anger, just for existing. And, yes, be would adore Guinan, the woman who seemed to know everything, and yet had the patience to dispense her wisdom.

The Next Generation is Bourbon’s escape, his refuge in a hostile house. He wouldn’t tell his friends because, yes, they’re Star Wars fans, but also because The Next Generation is his, and maybe he’s not yet ready to let people into his safe place.

As always, questions and comments are welcome.

(Thanks to Milly for inadvertently giving me the idea for this commentary today. This is what happens when you comment!)

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Back to Part 18 – Forward to Part 20