January Q&A

I had another Q&A session just recently (January 17, 2004), so I'm colorizing that one too. I am the Ted Turner of text-based porn.

The original transcript has a lot of people saying hello to each other, and changing their nicks occasionally, and other things that you probably don't care about. I took those out. Also, the original was nowhere near this coherent. Threads wandered all over the place, spaced out by people's typing speeds, especially my own. Things have been greatly rearranged to make the thing much more readable.

There are still those classic Nifty digressions, such as how you too, can become a porn star like me without taking off your clothes, the New York Times crossword puzzle, long division, and my underwear.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Click on the yellow numbers to get answers that weren't given on the night of the Q&A.

Session Start: Sat Jan 17 17:17:13 2004

I'M HERE! I'M HERE!

Hello, Pfan.

Hey, Pfantazm!

Nobody else leave, please!

Welcome as our guest to #Niftywriters. Good to see you, Pfan.

Pfantazm!!!!

I just got in the door. :-P

The man of the hour.

Hehe, well, catch your breath, Pfan.

Hi, Pfantazm.

Hi, everyone!

Get the keg back out, the party is on after all.

We welcome you, Pfan, and ask you what started you writing?

What started me writing was seeing someone else do it "wrong", meaning they ended a story in a way I didn't like.

Yeah, that inspires a few of mine.

Oh hehe, Pfan, yeah, I agree some stories end the wrong way.

I can relate, I didn't like what I was reading so wrote my own. hehe

Exactly, Randu. :)

Hey, Pfan, I wasn't writing then. lol

LOL tubby

How long have you been writing then?

About five and a half years now, I think. I didn't keep track of my start date because I didn't think it would amount to very much. :)

Well, it sure has. :) What was your first story?

The first story I wrote was "The Knight and the Thief". The first one published on Nifty was "Strings Attached". "tK&tT", you might have noticed, is really long. I didn't want to publish it until I knew I could finish it.

Pfan, are any of your stories taken from real life experiences?

A couple are mostly taken from real life, and I pepper the contemporary stories with things that really happened to me. But none of the sex is. :)

Lot of wishful thinking in most stories. heh

"Knight and the Thief" is a great story.

Do you think the Knight and whatever is finished?

AZChuck, the Aragonia stories are definitely not finished. I was trying to finish the first chapter of the third series in it last night. I'm uploading the text file in a minute. It ends in mid-sentence, because it's been a very busy 24 hours. :-P

Oh, sounds good, Pfan. What inspired you, the "Lord of the Rings" series ?

No. In fact, I still haven't read the books. They're biiiiiiiiig. It was that first "wrong" story that did it.

What about "The Legend of Zelda"?

Wasn't that a Nintendo game?

Yes.. still is, Randu.

I spent a week playing the first Legend of Zelda when it first came out. Drew maps and everything. hehe

I don't play video games like that, Kip. But I'm a very good backseat driver at them. :)

Yeah, I think there is some fan fiction about it, Randu. hehe You can read the story on several fan websites which is interesting.

The Legend of Zelda LXIX: Link's Dink.

Do you have to plot out a whole universe for you story of the Thief, Pfan? It is complicated and interesting.

Interesting? It's amazing.

I've been building their universe as I've been needing it.

So built "as required" then.

Pretty much. What you see is me inventing stuff wildly out of whole cloth and trying to make it look like I planned it all along.

We won't tell.

And I guess is different from the world in "East of the Sun".

Yes.

Well, it does looked well planned.

EotSWotM was much easier because much of the work was already done for me.

Oh?

That story was based on a fairy tale that's been around for at least a couple of centuries. It has, like, a 12yo girl (still sleeping with the "bear" every night), but the basic plotline and locations was all still the same. I fleshed it all out (so to speak) until it got to be as big as I made it.

It is a long story.

The original, I think was about 10 pages in big type among illustrations in a trade paperback-sized book.

People, I have a question for you. How could I submit a story to the Nifty Archive?

Write it up in HTML or plain-text format and mail it to [email protected] . More info about what's allowed and what's not is available in the Information for Writers section off Nifty's main page.

Link to the submission guidelines for Nifty: Go!

If I have the story saved in a Microsoft Word format, is that acceptable?

No, it's not. And MS Word's idea of what makes HTML isn't so good either.

Be kind to your readers: don't use Word to make HTML.

OpenOffice is a good word-processor and generates good HTML.

Tell us about "Good Luck Comes in Threes". That is a cute story. Not what it appears to be. hehe

What do you want to know about GLCi3, Kip?

0,15<1,15> 2,152Pfantazm0,15 <1,15>1 have you written much that isn't 'erotic' fiction.

AZChuck, I've written puzzles, but very little in the way of fiction.

Well, it developed unexpectedly. hehe

GLCi3 was a sort of a thought experiment I had. When I was first exploring what it means to be gay, it occurred to me, sort of like Frank's argument, that you could theoretically have three people in a relationship.

Exactly, Pfan, I see what you mean..... a different level of relationships.

From there, it was a matter of figuring out how I wanted that relationship to try to start, picking my three characters, and seeing how it all came out. It was supposed to be pure comedy. I didn't see the AIDS plotline happening at all. But just like tK&tT, I was inventing everything as I wrote it, and I realized what I'd done to John at about the same moment - mid-sentence - that John realizes what he himself had done.

not too many stories about a combination of three

Nice to see Pfant as our guest though, being a regular, he hardly seems like a guest.

Nice to see Pfan any time. ;)

There are lots about threeways, but veeeery few about true triadic relationships. Probably because they're so rare, and real relationship stories seem to be in the minority on Nifty anyway.

I agree as relationship stories are one of my favorites.

Pfan, don't forget Relationships category.

Bigger or smaller than the Encounter section? :)

Smaller than the Adult-Youth section.

The Birthday story is cool, Pfan, what inspired that?

Birthday Suite began as a sort of a tribute to an on-line boyfriend I had at the time.

I really liked the birthday present. That was very well done, Pfan.

Jesse, thanks. :)

What haven't I read that you're all discussing?

SegFault, you've walked in on our weekly author interview.

SegFault, go to our web site of niftywriters to see full list of his storries

Anyway, the guy I knew on-line was someone who needed to have Domination/submission in his sex, and he was absolutely convinced that I made the perfect top. Trying to make it all come together is what got BSuite started. Since then, the story has spiralled out of control and is now something else.

I loved EotS, WotM also

That is a great story/fable, Jesse. :)

I see... so Pfantazm, what do you read?

I read from most of the categories on Nifty, though very few of the ones with younger people.

Do you have a favorite section?

Science Fiction is the one that I enjoy writing for most. As for reading, I do like the longer multi-part ones, and they tend to live in the Relationships section.

Pfan, what to you are younger people?

Younger people tends to mean anything under 19, which is about the age when I started having any kind of a social life. All through grade school and high school, I deliberately avoided the other kids because the way I saw it, they didn't do anything but pick on me.

I didn't want to hang around with people who did that, so I just shut everyone out.

Oh well, that makes sense.....

Because of that, stories set in high school, for example, don't call out to me because I didn't truly go through the high school experience. I just got the education and got the hell out.

So, you can't write anything that happened on the inside while you were on the outside?

Pretty much. I can write fantasy and science fiction because even though I haven't experienced any of it, neither has anyone else. If I try faking high school, people are going to know.

You can make your own world.

Exactly, Reid.

While in high school, did you have 'dreams' of what you might have been missing?

No. At that time, I didn't want anything to do with it. I was convinced that other people were just bad for me. My family included.

That's what teasing will do. To them, it's just a quick joke worth a laugh but to the recipient, it can cause a lifetime of pain. You never completely recover.

Sigh, I know Reid.

No, you don't.

You don't.

Those experiences make you realize that being popular can often cause pain and if you know what the pain is like, you're not as hypnotized by the lure of popularity later on.

So I gather you just withdrew.

Completely. I have three out of five high school yearbooks in my old bedroom closet Back East. I can recognize maybe ten of the students total in them, tops.

Pfan, you don't look at high school stories as fantasies of what you would have like high school to be like?

I've never really looked in the section, Rhyolite.

I have to look in all of the sections :-)

there are some really good relationship stories in /High School, Pfan.

I'll have to give some a try, I guess. Based on what I hear in here, there seem to be a greater than average number of fatal car crashes, though. Maybe that's just my perception. :-P

Car crashes are a good dramatic device.

I can understand you removing yourself from the world around you ...

I don't recommend doing what I did to anyone. All of my social development was so delayed -- including the sexual. There was no one I saw that I wanted to date in high school, and the question of whether I liked guys or girls didn't come up until I'd finished university.

Oh I see... well, sometimes we act upon what we feel very late.

...and you must have had to invent a beautiful world for you to live in.

I did, AZChuck -- through puzzles.

Pfan is wonderful puzzler. LOL

Yeah tell us about your love of puzzles.

I think that it was the puzzles - mostly word puzzles - that made it possible for me to write. I have a love affair with the English language and its richness and depth. (Some would say - and have said - that I'm obsessed. Thank goodness there's no restraining order pending.) I've had some of my puzzles published in national American magazines, and I'm a member of the National Puzzler's League.

Good for you, Pfantazm.

Impressive.

And Pfan is cute and sexy too. LOL

I can do the Monday NYT crossword puzzle in 6 minutes or less. :) Someday I hope to go to the Stamford tournament and see how I stack up.

He's all that and a bag of chips.

And you have a love of math too, I gather.

Yes. That's what my degree is in. Part of the craziness today was a math tutoring appointment.

Sounds like a Nifty story: "The Math Tutor". hehe

Maybe you can explain long division to me at some point.

Sure. At $30/hr. ;)

A bargain.

Even more so, GreyFur. That's Canadian dollars.

Do you tutor online?

I could give it a shot, AZChuck. Never tried before. It'd be hard just because of all the symbols.

Well, speaking of puzzles, where is Tubby to ask a question?

I think he was in the other room....

Like boxers or briefs? hehe

I am here.

Oh, there you are! :)

Boxers!

Tubby wanna ask?

Yeah, Pfan, boxers or briefs? Or commando?

Briefs or bikinis. :)

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Hmm, nice visual.

ohhh sexy hehe

Isn't it though, Eric?

What size briefs?

30's ;)

Is there an author's chart that records that? lol

Heheheh. :) 32's.

I was close! ;)

Lucky you, Pfan.

Is this information going to be recorded as part of member stats on the new website?

I think Dreamy in in charge of keeping those charts.

LOL.. well the members page wasn't really set up to tell the world what underwear and size they are.

I'm sure you can fix that, Erotic. :-)

I still need to see about losing some weight, though. I've put on a few pounds since the pictures.

Then 30 was right. ;)

No, Todd, it's always been 32, even as a teen.

Well, you do pack quite a bit up front. ;)

Pfan, have you written anything based on chats you've had?

One of my stories, "Did We Or Didn't We", was composed in #niftyorg, when someone dared me to do it. I went out for pizza, and came back with the story basically composed in my head. My most recent new story, "Options" was also based on a scenario that a chatter from #no wanted to act out. It's the only one I've written for the A/Y category.

Pfan, who are some of your favorite authors?

Real authors, Terry Pratchett, Spider Robinson (who's local and who I once got to meet), Daniel Hood, Sue Grafton, Jim Butcher, . . . .

I have a bunch of Discworld audiobooks, love Terry Pratchett :)

And Nifty or Web authors?

On Nifty, I'm not sure. I could go and look up the ones attached to the stories I've liked, but I'd be a while trying to remember tham and find them. :]

Oh well, a fave story then?

Oh, lord. Here come the hard questions. :-P

The main one I've been keeping my eye on lately is "The Crew".

Good story.

But I'm not sure I could pick an all-time favourite.

Not sure anyone could. heh

There was a very big one from early on in Nifty's lifetime. Bisexual, and I can't remember the name.

But, yeah, you can see how I am for remembering that sort of thing. :-P

Are you involved as an editor or moderator with any stories or story sites?

Dr Seuss, maybe? ;)

I'm not an editor or mederator for any story sites other than my own. I started out editing one of Sir Richard's, but we had creative differences. :]

What do you think of level and future of web writing?

I think Web, or at least electronic, writing is going to be the way to go.

I think so too.

Authors are not going to be constrained by page length or book length, and it's going to cost almost nothing to get new authors started with a e-book. On the other hand, I think there's going to be a lot more amateur writing coming out, and Nifty sure seems to be at the forefront of a large movement, there.

It really does seem to be.

The forefront also means you can get run over.

There are too many crooked editors in the literature world.

There are too many crooked websites in the Internet.

Rhyolite, any plans on re-structuring your site?

Always have plans.

Where do you see your writing in 1 year and 5 years, Pfan?

Don't know. I didn't really expect to last this long at it. :) Quite often I'll start on a project and then drop it after I'm distracted by some other shiny object somewhere else.

How do you feel about celebrity fantasy stories?

I don't have a problem with them, but again, you'll probably never catch me writing one. I tend to prefer making my own characters rather than trying to take over existing personalities.

Do you aspire to be a commerical writer?

I think I'm probably just going to go on like I have been, developing the ideas I already have, and occasionally coming up with a brand new one, all in between the other things I do, like puzzles, math, font design, . . .

Oh, do you do font design?

I do, Kip. :) That was the other thing that made me late. :) I was getting advice on how to try to make it a career. If you look on my site, all the text-based graphics are set in fonts that I designed.

Oh wow, you wanna be a "punch cutter" - 18th century term for type designer.

Something like that, Kip. :) Only with computers, you can work much faster. I'll be a sucker punch cutter.

What program do you use for font design, Pfant?

I use a freeware program inventively titled Font Creator Program, made by an outfit called High-Logic. My version is two numbers out of date. I should probably see about upgrading at some point.

How long have you been involved with #niftyorg room, Pfan?

Ooooh. Another hard question.

Three or four years now?

What are you Hot Studs doing tonight?

Grilling me. :-P

Over an open flame.

Sssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Tell us about "Strings Attached".

"Strings Attached" was conceived and written in a single afternoon.

So quickly.

That one was a real thought experiment that I had one day, lying in bed, and thinking about the possibility of having to move back to Ontario after not finding work in Vancouver. My bedroom was 11 floors up, and had a nice big window without a screen or anything. No ledge either. It really wasn't a happy time in my life.

I guess not. :(

But while I was contemplating what it was like, this guy I knew popped into my head uninvited, looking disapprovingly at me.

So your characters "just arrive" in your head?

Not usually. Bear in mind, I was not writing a story when I was thinking about all this.

Oh right....

But I had met my first gay guy for coffee about five days before, and he didn't seem to want to have any further contact with me. Something unrelated had me convinced I was going to see him again though. (Never happened.) He was the one who showed up in the window in my head, and made me realize that I couldn't throw myself out of the nearest tall building to make my problems go away.

Oh I see... and you never saw him again. Gosh...

After that, I had to write the story and make it public just to share the revelation I'd had: if there's anyone in your life that you couldn't bear to have on the scene when you do it, anyone that you couldn't totally explain yourself to, you just can't do it.

Do you miss Eastern Canada ?

Not in the least. :-P

What do you do when you have writer's block?

I go do something else. Usually when I have writer's block, it means that I don't know where I want the story to go from there.

I like "The Procurers: The Zymobius File". Where did it come from?

I'd had some ideas for a archaeologist/problem solver/futuristic computer guy, just some random scenes, and I strung them together into the beginning of that story. It developed from there.

I may have missed this question but how old are you and how old were you when you wrote your first story?

Cajun: I'm 30 now, and I started writing when I was about 24.

I'm back. Barrage me with questions. :-P

How big is your thang pfant?

My thang? Do you really want to know? :-P

His thang is so big it only plays stadiums.

Trav: 6" long, cut, and 5 3/4" around.

His thang is so big, condoms come in three sizes: small, large, and Pfantazm's Thang.

Oooooh, Eric is still the King of the dick department. * grins *

It's so big, he has to call it "Mr. Thang" or it slaps him around and tells him to "Make my dinner, woman!"

Thangs? WTF is that?

You can't guess, Trav? :-P

Like in thong, thang, thung.

Do I not want to know? If I don't know what it means, he can't do it!

Is the Q&A done, or do I have to stay after for fifteen minutes writing lines for being late? :-P

You have to write lines. lol But we will forgive you, Pfan.

You have to write, "I will be a manslave to all," 1 million times.

prolly need to bend for over for ur ummm spanking Pfantazm

right hunky hehe

Pfan: you can stay and have fun as long as you want.

Pfan, we are so pleased you could be here. :)

Thanks for being here here Pfan for Q & A night

And the preview of The Knight and the Thief 3 is avaiable now: http://www.pridesites.com/pfantazm/Aragonia/Hearts1.txt

We don't mind asking in front of everybody ... but will you answer them in public?

If they're asked in public, I'll answer them in public.

Pfant, top or bottom?

AZChuck: In real or in cyber? :-P

That response sounds like food for a new story.

In cyber, I'm happily versatile in almost all respects, and I enjoy trying new things. In real, I'm very oral and tactile, but I have trouble bottoming in anal sex, probably just because of lack of experience.

Damn, Pfan, and I was just about to quit logging.

Logging... is that what it's called now?

Not those kind of logs, Dreamy.

I've already described my log.

END OF TRANSCRIPT