Think Positive - Comments

The ending almost made me cry.

I loved this.

You had me. The ending almost broke my heart. When Ryan started crying I thought he'd actually broken in two, because Gabe had HIV. And the title, Think Positive, I figured that was another clue his test would be positive. I love how it feels like you set the entire story up for the test results to come back positive, but it didn't. It's like a heart-wrenching relief that my initial thought was proven wrong.

I love how this one-shot was simple and to the point. You never let the story trail off of the idea of the possibility that all the characters had HIV. You made it so the reader truly felt the burden of the characters, and considering the large amount of characters for such a short story, the fact you were able to pull it off makes me have an immense amount of respect for your writing. The same thing goes for being able to develop all of those characters and making their emotions and feelings come to life. There's just so much to say and question about each one of them.

You couldn't have ended the story at a more perfect spot, either. Because now that we know the answer to the test results everything else starts coming into play. And almost everything starts to become questionable. How will they all react? And especially because of the comment about God in the beginning. It makes me wonder why this would happen to these specific people. Putting God in a story is such a powerful statement. It makes everything a little more meaningful, to me at least. Does this mean God is accepting of gays? Or is he just giving then another chance? (To me, it's a little of both, because I think God only wants you to love one another, no matter what gender, but he also doesn't want you to take your life for granted and make stupid mistakes like not using condoms.)

It also made me think about the character's views on life, and how grateful they should be to be alive, and to be healthy. And I have a question for you, are you the kind of person who prepares for the worst? The reason I'm asking is because the title has the message, "Think Positive" and most of the characters are clearly pessimistic about the situation. Are you the kind of person to stay positive about something could possibly have a bad outcome, or are you more likely to be negative? (Which by the way, I realize these are personal questions and I, in no way, want to make you feel uncomfortable by trying to get you to answer these. If you don't want to answer them, I completely understand.)

I also got the feeling there was a little bit of an underlying or back story to the character Ryan. Because even though I'm not sure if he was really the main character, I do know he made the most important impact on the story. The topic on everyone's mind was HIV, but Ryan was also there, too. I don't know, it was just something I noticed. (Which really, now that I think about it, you really seem to love Ryan and that might be why.)

Anyway, if you haven't noticed I really love stories that make me think. And since this story seemed to full of things that made the reader think, I thought you might like to get some feedback of what someone took from your story.

All in all, this was amazing.

Ryan's Sidekick fell to the ground as the younger boy burst into tears.

Ryan's voice was soft, not even a whisper. "He's negative."

It's full of emotions. You know, my eyes widened when Ryan burst into tears but then I sighed in relief. Heheh =D

Wow I love this.

Wow...I almost cried, it was good.

I liked the surprise at the end; when Ryan burst into tears I thought they all had HIV, and I was all, "Oh my God!" But then it came back negative...relief. *sigh*

I also liked the way you didn't give out the surprise too fast. All through the story I wasn't sure if he was going to get the virus or not. And you added a lot of characters and their reactions to this, making it more interesting.

All in all, good fucking job. =]

you are so 'effing awesome at this, damnit. How the guys told each other how much they'd still love each other, especially Patrick and Pete, made me want to cry but there were too many people in the room and I didn't want to make a scene.

You are awesome.

What I liked was how you showed each group of people. You gave their subtle connections to others within the story, but overall they didn't interact with each other much. I like it when stories do that [i.e. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.]
My favorite lines:

"I killed you."

"You're all going to feel really stupid when it comes back negative."

"If I'm positive, I just killed all my friends!" Gabe shrieked hysterically....."All because 'it feels better without a condom'....I could have killed all of you."

aaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
this is so cute.
i loved patrick. he was so sweet.
i was practically shaking by the ending. i was like "NO! NOT HIV!" then it was negative.

ah. sweet relief

OMGOMG.

I lovelovelovelove this.

Everything about it, every damn thing.
(Did you know I'm born on National Get Tested for HIV/AIDS Day?)

I so seriously thought it was gonna be Gabe/William too, and I think I like it. A LOT.

Patrick was just tooooooo adorable for words.

And I loved the ending. Fucking nervewracking as shit. Omigod, I was just like...wow.

That was REALLY good.

I agree with the two above me.
wow.
I think that just about sums up this beyond awesome story.
wow

I did cry, damnit.
There was so much freaking tension, I was so anxious to know what was going on. It was beautiful Dru, but you know it was.

The older boy burst into tears, burying his face in his pillow. - that's exactly what I wanted to do after I read that line - cry. I feel so bad, which is selfish of me in comparison to what all the guys are feeling. William's helplessness is displayed really well in this line.

"I didn't love Will. I just fucked him" - Bitch.

Gabe answered his door looking like shit. His hair was greasy, unbrushed, and probably hadn't seen shampoo in a week. His entire apartment smelled like pot and vodka and too many cigarettes. There were dark circles under his bloodshot eyes. - you painted the scene here perfectly. It was, just, like Liz said... Wow.

Ryan's voice was soft, not even a whisper. "He's negative." - that was the biggest relief I have had in my entire life, which is sad, I know. I was so worried that they would all have HIV, but in the end, you saved them. [Perfectly too, I might add]

You dealt with this touchy issue quite tastefully, and I really enjoyed it.

-teenie squeal-

I almost burst into tears when Ryan read his sidekick.
Because you didn't tell me how it ended.

Jesus Christ.
wow.
Wooow.

That's all I have to say.
just Wow.

New story.
Standalone/one-shot.
Deals with HIV/AIDS and how quickly it can spread.

Happy [uh] reading.

xoxox
-Dru