XY-n By Paolo

[Charlieje (imported)]

Paolo and I have been carrying on a bit of a conversation about his story XY-n on a thread that is dealing with MY story, Andy. Paolo, I am going to deal with that subject here, where it belongs, in a thread that is aimed at you and your story.

I made a plea that Paolo get one of his characters, Jayk, out of the predicament that he'd got into. Paolo replied that it would be a while. No problem, my friend, as frustrating as that might be for me personally. I love the story, love all the characters that you have described, and whatever comes, I guess everyone knows who I will be rooting for.

[Master Waddie (imported)]

Charlie~

I second that emotion! I think Jayke deserves a break! I guess it's not Kosher to suggest to an Author how his story might progress but I remember when I was posting Ties That Bind, at the end of the six or seventh chapter I suggested that Beau was going to lose eveything between his legs. I received over a hundred e-mails threatening to 'burn my barn' if I allowed that to happen to him. Readers get really emotionally attached to a character. More than I might have ever imagined.

So, it is with a great deal of understanding and humility that I post a second to your suggestion. But, damn, I like Jayke........

Master Waddie

[Paolo]

Well, first off, thanks for the votes of confidence, guys! I guess it just goes to show how emotionally attached one can become to a fictional character. The conversation of ours that Charlieje mentions is just that - my emotional attachement to the 'Charlie' of his story and how badly the turn of events upset me. While I agree that no one should be told how to write his/her/its story, a bit of thought and criticism should not be taken as offensive, unless the critic just comes right out and says "hey, you suck!"

I want to publicly say to Charlieje that THAT was NOT what I was saying, and I guess I should have put even more time into my initial email. Apologies. I guess 'Andy' and 'Charlie' just had THAT much of an effect on me.

And then there's 'Jayk and Xyn'. What I meant by saying "it will take a while" to get Jayk out of his predicament is that while the idea IS rattling around in my head, it's just going to take time to get it down "on paper", so to speak. It's not that I don't want to see this happen, or as someone else even mentioned, "string people out"! It's simply a matter of time.

As the old saying goes, I have so many irons in the fire right now that I don't know which cow to grab next! Add to that the fact that I'm something like 600 miles away from home right now and freezing my ass off and fighting off panic attacks because these loopy people look at a foot of snow and laugh at it! Hell, I'm used to 3 inches bringing the whole town to standstill!

Please be patient. I'm trying to be.:p

[Charlieje (imported)]

Paolo, I took your orignal comments as a compliment, and I meant mine the same way. XY-n is a wonderful story, but you are right - there are holes and gaps that I don't understand, so if you are planning to fill those gaps, I can wait knowing that Jayk is in good hands.

Too bad about the snow... I can relate having spent over 50 years in Canada. Downright uncivilized way to live!:)