Stars! Thank you SO MUCH for your thoughtfulness in leaving these comments when you did, with the YAY!PORN! arms and everything, even though you were packing to go out of town. You made my week with that, you know? You made my month with your kind rec posted before the close of the voting.
I'm so glad you thought the story didn't flinch from adolescence and other uncomfortable Realities on the way to a happy ending. And that you were willing to peek through your fingers and keep reading! :) There are a lot of real-life bits and pieces in the story: like a lot of writers, I have the shameless tendency to cannibalize my own experiences, or those of people close to me, for use in fiction. There's probably a ring of Dante's frozen hell reserved for those of us who do that...or maybe not, maybe it's just a natural thing. John Gardner, the late writer and teacher, wrote eloquently on the subject. Anyway, I enjoyed doing that; it felt like I was giving the story an extra boost of Reality, which was just what the challenge needed, I thought.
Also there is a Streetcar reference hidden in there that no one, so far, has picked up on. :) (I think I will give a fannish prize to the first person who does.) So I had fun with this piece above and beyond the joy of finally writing the Hung!Ray story I'd been wanting to do for ages.
The research for this story, also, was vastly entertaining. :)
no subject
I'm so glad you thought the story didn't flinch from adolescence and other uncomfortable Realities on the way to a happy ending. And that you were willing to peek through your fingers and keep reading! :) There are a lot of real-life bits and pieces in the story: like a lot of writers, I have the shameless tendency to cannibalize my own experiences, or those of people close to me, for use in fiction. There's probably a ring of Dante's frozen hell reserved for those of us who do that...or maybe not, maybe it's just a natural thing. John Gardner, the late writer and teacher, wrote eloquently on the subject. Anyway, I enjoyed doing that; it felt like I was giving the story an extra boost of Reality, which was just what the challenge needed, I thought.
Also there is a Streetcar reference hidden in there that no one, so far, has picked up on. :) (I think I will give a fannish prize to the first person who does.) So I had fun with this piece above and beyond the joy of finally writing the Hung!Ray story I'd been wanting to do for ages.
The research for this story, also, was vastly entertaining. :)
In conclusion, \Stars/
And Ray Kowalski. Hung like a MOOSE. :)