[Jwolf] The English Year

[Jwolf]

Hey folks! I interrupt this conversation to announce that chapter six is live and up. Find it here... not as much drug use, but there's of course some obligatory drinking... I hope you enjoy, come back here and leave a comment (or review in the story section Until next week!

[methodwriter85]

Corbin's such a girl. Geez.

 

Anyway, the bit at the end reminded me of something that an online friend told me once- you can get a straight guy to have sex with you, but ultimately, you're not going to get him to love you and want to settle down for a life with you. It's just not the way he's wired. There are exceptions, but generally the "Converting the Straight Guy" Nifty stories we all know and love where the formerly straight guy decides he wants to love our gay protagonist for life are full of crap.

 

The interesting thing about the Mike bit was that he wasn't some typical Nifty Archive God Stud...just an average guy with a sick bod who Corbin can't fully have. Which is probably why Corbin is so hung up on him. You get hung up on people sometimes and wonder years later, "Why the hell was I so hung up on him?"

Edited September 16, 2012 by methodwriter85

[Jwolf]

I think I mostly agree with you on this one, Method. What I thought would be interesting (I'm hoping I'm right), is that Mike is completely honest with Corbin. Sure, he tells him things like ''you're the only one i'd be like this with..." but at the end of the day, he's told Corbin that there is no future for the two of them. That was definitely intentional (as was the detail that Corbin's been going after Mike for a year and a half...). At the end of the day, the Nifty 'let's turn the straight boy' story is overdue for a rewrite in my opinion.

[MJ85]

OK...I really truly honestly don't get what's so horrible about having kept Pete from leaving with McKenzie aside from it being with an STD rumor. Maybe it's because it deals with some uber-straight-boy "bro code" or something...but I don't see what made his roommates turn into little bitches over it.

 

All things considered, though, they're seeming more and more like little bitches in general, bashing him just whenever they can, especially Roberto.

 

And then there's...this:

 

I didn’t for one second believe that that being gay was a choice. That would be absurd. But what was a choice was choosing what to do with it.

This is probably one of the strongest sentiments I've read from you, and it's one that frankly I'm surprised doesn't get spoken about more widely.

(P.S. "that that"? Looks like Frosty missed something. )

[Jwolf]

Hey folks! The next chapter is posted, and available here. Check it out, leave a comment/review, and return here for the conversation.

 

Also, MJ, I wasn't ignoring your comment about choice. I simply wanted to give time for other people to respond before I chimed in... I'll share my thoughts on the subject soon

[Y_B]

Liking dick is not a choice, sucking dick is.

 

So profound!

[methodwriter85]

God, you like making me do this, don't you? Old Dominion University didn't play football in 2008- they started playing during the 2009 season. I know there's artistic liberty, but dude- come on, you gotta try and look this kind of stuff up if you're going to do a story about Old Dominion students during the 2008-2009 school year. That's a fairly big anachronism. I mean, seriously, have you done any kind of research on Old Dominion University? Just do some quick look ups every once in awhile on Wikipedia, man. I found this out in literally two minutes of looking it up on Wiki! Also, it's the Monarchs, not the Founders. Geez. It's like watching a t.v. show in a show set in New Jersey, and seeing palm trees. A little research goes a long way.

 

But anyway, after that "tough love" moment(old habits die hard), the scene with Pete and Corbin and the almost kiss was pretty hot. I think we've all hard that kind of moment. i also liked the reveal that Lee totally used Corbin to get a bid.

 

And...well...I kind of have a thing for feet, so I really liked that study scene. Thanks for that. LOL.

[Y_B]

Did you miss the bit earlier where it was pointed out that OD in The English Year is fictitious and not meant to resemble the real OD?

 

I mean I know it's a weird "coincidence" and I put that in quotation cuz I don't buy what JWolf said and believe he was on crack when he made that decision buuut yeah, it's what it is.

[methodwriter85]

I got that, but still. I mean, I don't know- if he were going to do that, it would have made more sense to have used a made-up name, like DuPont University or something. One time I had an idea in my head about a story, where I was going to call my school Northern Delaware University, or Nordel, for short.

 

I can see taking liberties, but outright making up stuff without any kind of regard for what the school is actually like kind of bothers me. I was curious to see if OD's football team was actually that bad, so I looked it up and lo and behold the program didn't exist until 2009.

Edited September 24, 2012 by methodwriter85

[Jwolf]

This is the thing, I didn't really realize that od was a real place until we were way into this little sucker. And changing it at that point would have been a nightmare. So, all that to say.. Oops.

 

And of course, that isn't to say that if we somehow were to near the publishing phase, there wouldn't be a massive overhaul, cuz there would. But for now, I think we'll just plow on forward..

Edited September 24, 2012 by Jwolf

[methodwriter85]

It's fine. Like I said, old habits die hard.

 

Read over the ODU wikipedia page, though- I'm sure there are some real-life elements you can put in for this alterna-ODU, if you'd like.

 

Anyway, it's kind of funny to see if Lee will suffer ruination or not. It would be hilarious if Lee was pretty much straight but went gay for bid.

[MJ85]

Anyway, it's kind of funny to see if Lee will suffer ruination or not. It would be hilarious if Lee was pretty much straight but went gay for bid.

 

Yes, because that's all we need - another KYLE!! (sort of)

[Jwolf]

Hey folks... here's the next chapter! I hope you like it. You can access it here. And don't forget to leave your comments, questions, and reviews! Have an awesome week

[MJ85]

How many more chapters are we going to have build-up between Corbin and Pete, only for it to blow off into nothing?? Sheesh...at this rate, it'll be like, "Oh, they finally got together? ... Whatever."

 

The way tension keeps steadily building between Corbin and his roomies, as well as within Chi Beta...I get the sense that that is building towards some kind of social inferno later on - the kind that leaves permanent damages...

[methodwriter85]

It really is crazy how egos can destroy what should be just a fun social group and turn it into something ugly.That happened with my residence hall council during fall semester last year- it got to the point that we tried overthrowing our president. And then you step back, and go, "Why the hell did any of this matter?" But that's the thing about college- everything and everyone matters in some way. I bet Corbin probably looks back and goes, "God, why was I such a raging bitch in college? I could have had so much more fun if I had just relaxed."

 

In my case, when I look back to undergrad(particularly the '05-'06 school year and 2007), I wish I could have been less focused on finding a good party and more focused on making better friends, but then again, I applied that lesson to my second junior year of college through grad school and got some great friends out of that lesson. I bet Corbin learned his own lessons and became a better person for it.

[Jwolf]

MJ, I certainly hope there isn't a collective "Finally... whatever..." if or when Corbin and Pete do the nasty. My hope is that everything sort of builds to that point, and the ups and downs along the way make it satisfying as well as surprising-- whatever the outcome

 

Jeremy, I think we've all been through that reflective place where we're like "Did that even matter a little bit?" Because Corbin is the most honest self-portrayal I've ever written, my hope is that he's not quite the egotistical bitch he was back then... although there is stuff happening at work this week that is bringing out those old claws. I will say that I'm hoping the gravity of the situations that Corbin and his brothers are going through comes out in a big way... it's a little difficult getting into that mindset where every single thing mattered when I'm a few years older now and quite easily realize that no, how many mixers we had in a semester wasn't that big of deal. In their world and for their time it most certainly was a big deal.

 

I'll butt out now, and let the conversation continue

[MJ85]

MJ, I certainly hope there isn't a collective "Finally... whatever..." if or when Corbin and Pete do the nasty. My hope is that everything sort of builds to that point, and the ups and downs along the way make it satisfying as well as surprising-- whatever the outcome

 

If??? Well, that sure makes me hopeful going forward!

 

When? Depends on how much longer things drag out, particularly how often Corbin keeps himself from saying what probably needs to be said. (He does this maybe a bit too often in general.) There's another current story, which I won't name, that's been dragging out its central relationship for quite a while - it's to the point where just about everything sexual its couple does now comes off as calculated, mechanical...even sterile.

 

Not anticipating that here - but, that would be the potential pitfall.

[Jwolf]

Hey folks! I've been traveling all week, so this weeks installment is going to be a little late. Thanks for your patience

[Jwolf]

Hey folks! Again, I apologize for the delay in chapter 9. The installment is available here. Let me know what you think! Hope you enjoy.

[methodwriter85]

Damn. I'm glad I wasn't friends with a Corbin in college. I hung out with mainly straight guys...they were assholes, but psychological shit like that would have never happened.

 

I really do like all the little period touches here, like the Zac Ephron poster. He was a huuuggggeeee deal right before Twilight/Robert Pattinson mania hit...I think this is set just before that sparkly vampires movie came out and when High School Musical was the reigning teen movie franchise. My friend in college wouldn't shut up about a twinky guy who looked like Zac Ephron in our history of education class. He also had a thing for Corbin Bleu, as my friend really liked half-black men.

 

Back around late '09, which is a year later than this story is set, I was at a party where I told this guy that he looked like Robert Pattinson because of his peat coat and he flipped out on me. It was then that I realized that Zac Ephron was no longer the reigning teen idol that girls obsessed over and straight guys gagged over, but Robert Pattinson had taken that spot instead. I actually said that to him a week later when he apologized, saying "I realize now that saying you look like Robert Pattinson is like saying you look like Zac Ephron", and he agreed. LOL. Dude, remember when there used to be anti-Zac Ephron groups on Facebook? Remember when Facebook actually used to allow anti-fan groups?

 

As for the Pete stuff...man, the suspense and buildup is killing me. It actually makes it a lot sweeter that they haven't even kissed yet- just the foot rub and the arm around the shoulder.

 

Also, I think I figured out how I picture Pete...a younger Josh Pence. (He was the other Winklevoss twin in The Social Network, where they used CGI to put Armie Hammer's face over his.) He's American, but I think his looks have kind of a British vibe to them.

 

 

What do you think, JWolfe?

Edited October 17, 2012 by methodwriter85

[MJ85]

You can't have even one chapter without going the max on drama, can you?

 

Lee totally deserved what he got though.

[methodwriter85]

You can't have even one chapter without going the max on drama, can you?

 

I'm telling you, I think if Mark Arbour had a gay 20-something son who wrote gay erotica, it would be JWolfe. There are some striking similarities there, I believe.

[Y_B]

I did 99.9% of the work fyi

[MJ85]

I'd believe you on that percentage if J didn't already have a penchant for drama...

[methodwriter85]

Exactly. As a former beta reader for J when he did the closing chapters of the List and the entire The Funny Thing Is...dude, you did like no work on adding that.

 

I think gay guys in general are just dramatic. Add a gay guy in a frat, and damn.