Crossroads

Yeah Dave fess up! Maybe that's why you never liked Jamie initially, maybe you were that cocky little shit when you were a kid!! Please tell me I'm right, haha 😆 😆 x

You know it's funny, as I kid I felt I never fit - still don't. In elementary school I had allergies and, as a result, was always blowing my nose. Great for making friends and influencing people. When I moved to NY and had the opportunity to start over I was victimized by my bladder being on a regular schedule. Because I went daily after lunch, someone started a rumor that I was jerking in the bathroom and high school was ruined instantly by a never ending stream of jokes and general nastiness. I was told, in essence, that I could be aloof and seemed to have an attitude about not caring what others thought. It couldn't have been further from the truth as I was alone even in a crowd of others from school. If I did have any of Jamie, I'm not sure what it would have been.

Sorry to disappoint. Jamie is probably one of the characters furthest separated from me, as a person.

I would like to see a story somehow combining Micah, Jamie, Austin, and Linc.  Not sure what a setup for such might be, but it sure makes for interesting possibilities!

Crossroads is a great story.  I can recommend it to anyone who likes to read and think about what they read.

Thank you for such a thorough review. I admit, due to the slow down in posts that is directly impacted by my writing time, inspiration and of course having lost Ryan, I do try and keep characters active where it makes sense. Of course what makes sense to me may make less sense to the reader or become a distraction if you can't recall much about that character. And I agree, we've got a lot of characters going on here. It's difficult for me to limit a story to a single or a couple of characters because one of my primary problem solving formulas is 'who is best suited to help/talk to and is it feasible to have that person available? Each character, in my mind, has strengths and weaknesses and some naturally go together either by dint of their relationships or the way they mesh as people.

For instance, if Micah shows up you're going to see Alec and if you see Alec, you'll see Sasha. If you see Jamie you'll see Emily and are an order of magnitude more likely to see Sean—and so Asher—and then of course Robin, and more than likely Lucien. Do they have to show up in pairs? No, but it seems natural that they do.

Perhaps I'm trying to make up for the longer wait between chapters by putting as many relevant characters in as I can. As far as a soap opera, well, yes I think it's safe to say it's been something of an escapist soap opera for a while. There are positives and negatives about that and so I'd like to try and avoid the more ridiculous things that get associated with the term while preserving that part that makes people come back for more.

One element I'm trying to use, or scene really, is the funeral for Nate's mother. I'm trying to have several stories swing through that time frame with that event as a reference point. There is a story about Nik and his time after the events of 'Hard to Say'. In that I'd say it's likely that we'd see Jamie, Sean and Nate. Another story is from Elliot, who has been a bit player for a long time and never had his own POV story. Having Elliot be at the fore brings in Colby from the cold, but also likely brings in Devyn and Griffin. Having Devyn and Griffin opens a path to many others because it's been established how much they all hang around together. Another story that spans the summer before college is for Lucien and Robin and, central as they are, carry the possibility of interactions with a great many cast members.

Excitingly, Israfil and I are working on a story focusing on Jake Thayer and Jon Ellesier. This will pull in characters like Trace Harries, who has been dangling since he made his appearance after Ryan's passing, and Logan Whitmore, Seth McAllister and Grayson Anderson. Sometimes it's organic to get characters into the mix, other times it's more of a stretch and I think it's good to hear this because I don't have as many sounding baords to tell me if I'm reaching to include a character than maybe doesn't need to be there.

I'm curious to hear more about the 'discordant elements' that you mention.

Thanks for the feedback.

I think it was George Bernard Shaw who opined: “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.” And of course the corollary to that is that those of us who can’t do either become critics. And sometimes we don’t even do that very well. I wonder what options I’ll have if I can’t be a successful critic.

I probably should have used a better word than “discordant” when referring to those elements of “Crossroads”, and other stories in the Sanitaria Springs oeuvre, that I find occasionally distracting. I certainly don’t find any inherent conflict or contradictions. I was referring to the elements I find disharmonious, like the interruption to story flow when I- or the author- need to refresh my recollection about who minor characters are. So many of the stories in this series flow so well that it’s a distraction for me to temporary pull myself out of the current for a moment in order to get my bearings and make sense of what’s happening. My criticism is probably more a compliment to the overall high quality of the work than a complaint, so we would both have been better served had I not chosen a word like “discordant”, that has such strong connotations.

I wrote my comment yesterday after finishing “Crossroads” and in response to your request for feedback. For the sake of clarity, I probably should have given a little more consideration to my opinion and perhaps included some examples of things that I found disharmonious to my personal enjoyment of the story. At the risk of screwing it up again, I’ll try to be a little more precise in my observations. But this could be lengthy, so now may be a good time for a bathroom break.

My perception of the opening was that it lacked some focus. Jamie is engaged in some internal dialogue, a rather maundering summation of his recent life experiences that will play some role in the theme and conflict of this story. But a lot of his ruminations felt unnecessary. Instead of grabbing the reader and focusing the story, the narrative kind of wanders for seven or eight paragraphs in order to set up some more paragraphs of wandering thoughts that slowly bring the conflict into focus. Strictly from my perspective, I’d have preferred to see a much more focused opening that stuck to the themes of Jamie’s personal growth and the direction of his relationship with Emily, rather than his thoughts about the relationship and the questions it was raising about his sexuality. I know it’s a bit clichéd, but something like this would have brought the issues into focus pretty clearly:

    “Jamie!”

    I cringed.

    The door burst open and the judge stood there looking somewhat more perturbed than usual.

The creates the opportunity for some quick conversation around Jamie’s transgression that has upset his father, followed by an exhortation that he’s too old for this sort of nonsense and it’s time to start getting his life in order and figuring out where he’s going. That creates an opportunity for Jamie to do some quick reminiscence about what’s going on in the areas that he considers important to his life: his relationship with Emily and some vague concept of future career and who he is becoming. And that creates an incentive for him to connect with her, either in person or electronically. Then the rather lengthy exchange that took place between Jamie and Emily in flashback might play out in real time. That creates more of a sense of new events and urgency, rather than the sense I had that I was just pushing my way through an establishing shot to get at the meat of the story.

During that conversation between Jamie and Emily we can find out more about Jamie’s questions about his sexuality and how Emily’s questions about the same play some role in the growth of his relationship with her. I can’t recall how ‘long’ ago in the chronology Robin’s prank with the photos of Jamie took place, but if that could have been introduced during his conversation with Emily as a new source of conflict, that would have really cranked up the tension.

Some of my other issues with the story revolved around the number of established characters (i.e., those about whom I need to remember something for their place in this story to make sense) who appeared in what was really no more than a long short story (12- to 15,000 words). I counted twenty-seven recurring characters that appeared in this story. Some of them had such a small role in “Crossroads” that it was okay that I didn’t fully recall who they were and why they matter. Some were brought into this story in a way that made their significance clear. Some are established enough in my memory to require no reminders. But there were several characters and incidents that were alluded to that left me puzzled and searching for answers. That may be entirely my fault, but it was part of my reaction to “Crossroads”.

Another observation I made during this story- and it may be largely the result of my inability to stay focused on the narrative- is that I didn’t often find myself asking that question that usually pulls readers through a story: ‘what’s going to happen next?’ I think the number of characters moving through the narrative may have distracted me away from events that should have created dramatic tension, but I didn’t feel it. I liked revisiting Sanitaria Springs. I liked finding out about the developments in the lives of the characters. I really liked Jamie’s story and his personal growth. But I think there may have been too much happening in a relatively short story for my limited ability to focus.

The number of important characters that populate Sanitaria Springs has grown rather large. That makes it difficult for casual readers to keep track of them all. On the other hand, each character has earned a following of fans that are likely to be disappointed if the small team of authors sidelines the character for too long. And that creates a bit of a dilemma for you and the other writers. Do you streamline each story to keep it succinct and on point for the focus-impaired readers like me? Or do you try to find some way to include each character from time-to-time so the character’s fans can get some satisfaction from updates about what’s going on in their lives? I doubt there’s a ‘best’ solution.

I think you have a good idea about trying to fix a singular event as a sort of touchstone for readers to help us keep characters and chronology clearer in our minds. At about ninety stories, the Sanitaria Springs universe is awfully large and difficult to keep in focus. About six months ago, I went back and read each story in the order it occupies on the Sanitaria Springs home page, and I’m still struggling to keep much of it in order or even in memory. Salient events, character traits, even memorable names (he’s a relatively minor character, but I never struggle to recall who Hamster is and how he fits in with the rest of the characters) all make it easier for readers to establish an easily-searchable archive of information about Sanitaria Springs. So I think the series of stories you plan to develop around the funeral for Nate’s mom could be a very helpful resource for readers like me.

I do have one question, if you’ll indulge me. Something that I’ve been wondering about is how you would describe the central theme or themes of the Sanitaria Springs stories. Of course to some degree, each individual story has its own theme. But what do you view as the overarching theme(s)? I have my own thoughts, but I’m really curious to see which themes you think best characterize the Sanitaria Springs experience.

And finally, a disclaimer: The opinions expressed here don’t necessarily represent the views of this station, this show, or even- depending on whether or not he took his meds today- this writer. But there they are...

I'm really not sure how much of an impact Linc can have. At this point he'd be, what? 5? 6? In first grade, maybe? Micah and Jamie will occur, or at least it's planned as the story is a few pages in. Will Austin show up? Possibly. I had a dialogue going in my head with Micah and Nate but we'll see what happens.

Sorry to disappoint but there was no real break up story.  What happened was that Ryan, as he wrote Bunny, really wanted to pair Devyn and Griffin. As far as he was concerned Elliot hadn't made much of an impression and was disposable. Naturally I didn't feel the same way, I rather liked Elliot but understand that not everyone sees each of the guys as their own unique spark. Since I didn't have any current story line plans for Elliot and Devyn, he moved forward. I wasn't thrilled and he told me afterwards for months that I made him feel guilty and so he wrote Last Gasp to mollify me, but as he hadn't really found anything special to Elliot so I did not with Colby. The only actual details on Elliot and Sophie are posted in a fragment here on the boards of a story I began and then abandoned when Ryan wrote Last Gasp as it would no longer fit the narrative.

I've always wandered a bit, usually, until I find my direction. I've never been able to 'clean it up' as it were.