[Altimexis]

I'm starting this discussion thread for a new 12-part Naptown Tale I wrote with a little help from my longtime editor, David of Hope. Summer Internship will be posted serially over the course of the Summer. While David and Jeremy will be interning at the White House, Trevor and Kurt will be paging in the Senate. Everyone's intentions are for the best, but four out and proud gay teenage boys at the center of Washington politics? When the s**t hits the fan, will they get dragged through the mud, or will it be their accusers who pay the price. This story will take us in some interesting directions.

[Benji]

Altimexis, on June 7 2009, 12:24 AM, said:

I'm starting this discussion thread for a new 12-part Naptown Tale I wrote with a little help from my longtime editor, David of Hope. Summer Internship will be posted serially over the course of the Summer. While David and Jeremy will be interning at the White House, Trevor and Kurt will be paging in the Senate. Everyone's intentions are for the best, but four out and proud gay teenage boys at the center of Washington politics? When the s**t hits the fan, will they get dragged through the mud, or will it be their accusers who pay the price. This story will take us in some interesting directions.

..............I thought the end to that chapter the most interesting! So far it seems Seth is the only one with a real problem, that leaves the mystery of the two departed chess players. However given the rare opportunity of serving the Senate and House as pages, it would be detrimental to ones career should anyone try to attack our four gay pages as the prestigious job can vanish in an instant.

This post has been edited by Benji: 27 June 2009 - 08:21 PM

[D and B]

First, let me say how much I'm enjoying "Summer Internship" (and the Naptown Tales generally, something I've been remiss in complimenting you on, Altimexus). Now, a couple of comments:

First, it seems like this is moving somewhat slowly compared to your usual Naptown material -- but that may have to do with the multi-chapter format. You do have your readers wondering what's going to happen next -- the mark of an outstanding writer.

Second, I note the planned stories include one with a tragedy that brings everyone back together and ends the series. While it's certainly your prerogative to do this, I had hopes of seeing a story about David's presidency and the (apparent assassination) that ends it -- based on the extensive foreshadowing you've done of that. Are there any plans along that line?

Third, asked here because there isn't really an appropriate place, what happened to the second "handicapped" story mentioned as a sort-of-sequal to "Love in a Chair"? I know relocating and a new job screwed up your plans on that, but there's been nothing since -- is it "up on blocks" for the foreseeable future?

[Altimexis]

D and B, on 09 July 2009 - 01:49 PM, said:

First, let me say how much I'm enjoying "Summer Internship" (and the Naptown Tales generally, something I've been remiss in complimenting you on, Altimexus).

Sorry to take so long to reply. Something about the change in forum software apparently broke the reply notification I had in place originally with this forum, so I'll have to set that up from scratch, I guess. Thanks so much. You've made my day!

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Now, a couple of comments:

First, it seems like this is moving somewhat slowly compared to your usual Naptown material -- but that may have to do with the multi-chapter format. You do have your readers wondering what's going to happen next -- the mark of an outstanding writer.

Wow!

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Second, I note the planned stories include one with a tragedy that brings everyone back together and ends the series. While it's certainly your prerogative to do this, I had hopes of seeing a story about David's presidency and the (apparent assassination) that ends it -- based on the extensive foreshadowing you've done of that. Are there any plans along that line?

Awe, you've spoiled the surprise. Actually, I started to write a story based on David's presidency, starting with the assassination and the events that followed from Jeremy's POV, with frequent flashbacks to fill in the gaps in the intervening 30 years. I had actually planned to run the series as a serial novel concurrently with the final two years of Naptown Tales, but my editor rightly dissuaded me from that idea. While I might have been able to keep two story lines separate like that, It could have confused the hell out of my readers, and there was a very real danger of introducing things into one plot line that would have royally screwed something up the other. We ended up reaching a compromise - instead of having Naptown Tales run a full four years that David and Jeremy would ordinarily spend in high school, they'll take early graduation in June, 2010 and the sequel will begin after that. The working title is Eulogy, but that may well change. The first half will literally deal with Jeremy's trying to pull together the memories of his 30+ years with his husband to write a eulogy. The second half will involve Jeremy's rather unexpected rise to the presidency and the political fortunes of several other key members of the Naptown community. Given all the hints I've dropped and will drop along the way, there should be few surprises.

Quote

Third, asked here because there isn't really an appropriate place, what happened to the second "handicapped" story mentioned as a sort-of-sequal to "Love in a Chair"? I know relocating and a new job screwed up your plans on that, but there's been nothing since -- is it "up on blocks" for the foreseeable future?

<Sigh> Well, It's on my "To Do" list for sure. I've written the first four chapters of it. I've written the first twelve chapters of my sci-fi action adventure novel, Conversations With Myself, but Naptown Tales has a certain draw to it that keeps pulling me back, and I always end up delaying my other projects to write more material for the Naptown series. There's just something about these characters that has a hold on me. I'll get back to the other projects eventually - it's just a matter of time. . . .

[D and B]

Apparently nobody is terribly interested in continuing discussion here except for me.

First, thanks for the wonderfully informative answers to my last post.

I'm very curious as to the events of chapter nine.

Spoiler

The initial raid was in relation to the supposed prostitution ring, yet virtually all the concern in the chapter is for Trevor's probably-illegal downloads. Even if the boys are supremely confident that they will be exonerated, there are two issues: one, they are teenagers who are going to be very nervous about a politically-motivated FBI investigation, and two, the aftereffects of any scandal, no matter how clean they are proven to be, are litely to place major problems in fron of any future political careers -- for any of them.

I'm guessing that these issues get resolved in upcoming chapters -- but their reactions struck a slightly jarring note.

[Benji]

D and B, on 07 August 2009 - 02:07 PM, said:

Apparently nobody is terribly interested in continuing discussion here except for me.

First, thanks for the wonderfully informative answers to my last post.

I'm very curious as to the events of chapter nine.

Spoiler

The initial raid was in relation to the supposed prostitution ring, yet virtually all the concern in the chapter is for Trevor's probably-illegal downloads. Even if the boys are supremely confident that they will be exonerated, there are two issues: one, they are teenagers who are going to be very nervous about a politically-motivated FBI investigation, and two, the aftereffects of any scandal, no matter how clean they are proven to be, are litely to place major problems in fron of any future political careers -- for any of them.

I'm guessing that these issues get resolved in upcoming chapters -- but their reactions struck a slightly jarring note.

..........Well that is not really true! A weeks vacation in the wilderness with no access leaves a lot of catch up to do. Anyways, I have a feeling this 'witch hunt' will backfire on the Congressman that initiated it, whomever that may have been. Humm, maybe someone who was turned down by a page?? That could really backfire!! I think the press will pick this up as what it really is, and Congress will wind up looking stupid wasting the taxpayers money. The boys will come out smelling like roses and the politicians will smell like usual. Afterall a non-existent trumped up sex scandal would look foolish if all they can really find is some 'maybe questionable music downloads'.

This post has been edited by Benji: 07 August 2009 - 03:11 PM