Homosexual - A Short Story By William King.

[William King]

I was surprised (pleasantly) by the response to my short story.

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/william-king/homosexual

 

One review/comment that I replied to talked about the story being a memoir. This prompted me to write here about the background.

 

I did actually ask my father what the word 'homosexual' meant, I was eleven years old (not thirteen) at the time. So that part is absolutely true, as is the response he gave. The incident on the bus, seeing a boy my age one morning on the way to school is also true. Only it wasn't an epiphany. It happened when I was thirteen and already knew I was gay.

 

The photo is not at all a personal photo, but I did have a crush on a boy at school: doesn't everybody? It wasn't that serious, but he was very cute, and I was upset when he left school and his family emigrated to Perth, in Australia.

 

I tried to write the narrative using the language of a thirteen year old. I wanted to describe some of those moments that are so important in your life that you remember them forever.

 

I actually wrote it in response to a writing challenge (on another site), but being a bit of a dumbnut, I re-read the challenge to find the story didn't match the criteria. Which is how it got posted here.

 

Thanks to all of you who reviewed/commented and liked it. That really is encouraging.

 

William

[paren01]

I thought your story captured a special time in the life of most questioning boys. Am I or aren't I. I don't know about kids today, but when I was a young teen, I found the realization a little scary.