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PROLOGUE
I wasn't always the girl you know. I didn't used to go to a great school. I didn't used to have a gang of great friends. I didn't used to think that I mattered all that much.
I used to live with my brothers and my parents over on the west side of town.
I used to go to West High School.
I used to be a boy named Martin Rawlings.
This is my story.
CHAPTER 1 -- Reckless Driving
It all happened because I was in love.
I was madly in love with my brother Pete's motorcycle.
Pete had gotten the motorcycle so he could get to his classes at the local community college when our parents couldn't spare one of their cars for him. It mostly sat in our carport, but sometimes he would ride it to school, and sometimes, if he was in a good mood and I begged him hard enough, he'd give me a ride on it. My parents were scared half to death, of course. That was part of the fun. When I was on it, I was in heaven, and when I wasn't, all I could think about was when I'd next be on it. In class, instead of paying attention to the lesson, I dreamed of riding down country roads with the wind on my face and all my cares left far behind. I got in trouble for it, but what did I care? I was already branded a "loser", which is what they called us boys at the bottom of the social pecking order, and it wasn't like I could fall any lower.
The trouble started with me just looking at it. It was a warm June day, my parents were at work and Pete at the campus and Biff was somewhere or other, and I had only a half-day of school. I felt it call me. I was just going to take a look and then go back to whatever boring stuff I usually did. The motorcycle was standing in the carport, just begging me to come closer. When I did, I saw the key still in the ignition. Pete was always doing that. It was a miracle it never got stolen.
It couldn't hurt to just sit on the motorcycle, could it? So I swung my leg over the saddle and sat on it. Not in back, where I sat when riding with Pete, but in front, where I could reach the handlebars. After pretending I was riding all over the place with it, I thought, now that I'm here, I could see if I can start the engine, but I won't go anywhere.
Well, one thing led to another and before long, I was on the open road, enjoying the wind on my face and the thrill of speed. Just like riding a bike, not so hard, is it? Then I saw that the road in front of me made a sharp right turn at the bottom of a hill, and then I saw the gravel.
The last thing I remember was going "oh, shit!"
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Comments
Preferred format?
I wasn't sure whether to publish this one chapter per day, or to publish several at a time. The story is mostly finished and has 52 chapters so far. Anyway, since the chapter-a-day format seemed to work for The Pastor, that's how I'll do this story. But it will take a while.
If I get a lot of feedback indicating that most people don't like this way and would prefer that I do it differently, I'll consider it for my next story.
Not Enough
It's difficult to make any decisions at this point. I wish there'd been a bit more.
Portia
I may be a minority...
but I prefer it when stories are posted in their entirety. I don't really like serials, especially when I know the story is already written. I can easily understand having the option of "wait for the episodes or pay for the book now", like some authors do. I usually buy the book then.
But, if serials, then the installments should have some meat to them. It's rather disappointing to click on a story and see it's only 3 minutes worth of reading. Those, I usually don't read at all while they are being posted but rather wait until the final chapter is up, then read the whole thing in one go.
For many, weekly installments of 3-8 chapters, depending on the length of each chapter, work well.
I tend to agree you Melanie
Joanna
Looks to be interesting, but
Looks to be interesting, but way too short to get a really good read on it.
It the chapters are this short, then I vote for the 3-4 posted at a time per day.
Just my take on it all.
More chapters
I agree with the previous comments. More chapters are needed , more for us to sink our teeth in
Regards
Z
Agree with other comments
Sorry, but 500 odd words is too short, You just get started and bang it's gone. It is just frustrating story-wise. I don't know about everyone else, but I think if it is going to be in parts, you need a minimum of around 2000 words an episode.
What does everyone else think?
I tried.....
.... setting off on a long story and wrote and posted the first few chapters, then the whole thing drowned in the pressure to produce the next chapter, and the next, and.... If you're going to do a daily series, beware of that. With other, sectioned, stories I've written, I decided the sectioning was important because long long books on a screen can be hypnotizing and readers tend to lose interest. 6-10 capters max. would be my advice; written in advance and streamed out daily or every couple of days, maybe. Good luck! Ginger
Just a nibble
This pretty short, less than a big bite, so it is a nibble. But as a taste of what is to come it does whet the appetite because even this snippet is well written.
If the story is complete and you plan on regular postings of the next chapter, then I am sure there will be an eager audience to see what comes next.
I like the regular postings of stories and I like reading complete stories - but sometimes the complete story is too long to read in one sitting so when I start again the next day it is like it was presented in installments anyway.
Jeri
Jeri Elaine
Homonyms, synonyms, heterographs, contractions, slang, colloquialisms, clichés, spoonerisms, and plain old misspellings are the bane of writers, but the art and magic of the story is in the telling not in the spelling.
Well, that is just like a
Well, that is just like a print book or ebook then, isn't it? I don't really need to be able to read any story in one sitting and waiting gets on my nerves, especially if the author is an aficionado of cliffhangers!
So why even segment the stories at all? One long story I can download and read on an offline device, even. The usual length of story postings here already means I read three or four per day, I just need to keep switching tracks between stories. With complete postings, I would not have to do that and could stay in the story I'm reading until I'm done.
Wait and See?
I thought of bundling the first 4-5 chapters into one post, but was concerned that it would gloss over some of the transitions. Things will be picking up soon. (I just posted chapter 3, which I think gives a hint of things to come.) Later chapters tend to be longer, too.
After I get to chapter 10, I'll see how people feel about the format. If there's a groundswell of support for bundling the first few chapters (or other bundlings), I'll rework the postings.