The Pub Discussion Board

Damn the emotions you can bring about is just amazing to me.  Well done

Don

(posted from Chapter Seventy-two)

Still a ways out, yet. Thanks for reading, again!

BF

Thanks!

BF

Chapters go from 86 to 88 skipping 87.

(posted from Chapter Eighty-seven)

Thanks, Dadrepus and Eric. All fixed now.

BF

Bronte Follower wrote:

I've posted Chapter 94. Happy Halloween, all.

BF

Seam to not be able to open 94 getting a posting error

Thanks, Eric.

BF

I’ve completed reading the first 99 chapters. Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit combined have about 550,000 words. The Bible has about 783,000 words. All the Harry Potter novels combined total just under 1.1 million words. The longest novel in the world, Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, in five volumes, is 1.2 million. But I believe Beth is now longer than that! And it’s still holding my interest.

I was much like Brett at 14, and how I would have loved being in his position. I was so shy and depressed. I’m also a lot like Charlie, though much older. While I never lusted after girls that age for sex as an adult, I had three smart kids, and I enjoyed their having their smart friends over for dinner or driving them here and their and encouraging them to love learning.

I guess Beth (the book) is sexy, but I don’t read it for that. What I love about the novel is that everyone in the book is smart, witty, constantly learning, looking things up, always teachable. Everyone is rational, logical, self-controlled, tolerant of differences. They are all good at comforting others. They are all loving, empathetic, kind, polite, wise, generous, honest, fair. Both teens and adults are this way. Frankly, they are all excellent role models in their ways. The kids are the way kids should be but generally aren’t (well, my kids were that decent and that smart). The parents are the way parents should be. Did the author write this to show us what life could be if we would all be this way? I don’t know. I think so. Beth is also like a class in obtaining consent for all sexual acts. Nothing ever happens without consent after talking things out and exploring the ramifications of actions. The teens make wise decisions even if that means deferring pleasure for months or perhaps longer.

I’m not actually interested in soccer, but I find myself following the soccer games and practices in the book with care, and I’m learning. Thank you, Brontë follower, for your wonderful laborers.

Last edited by Polysexual (2025-11-11 19:24:07)

Polysexual:

Thank you for your wonderfully kind words. To your question, I respond, "For the most part." I never knew teens like the gang, but a couple of friends and I were at least a bit like the girls... who are (relatively) on steroids in maturity at that age (and I tried to explain how they got there).

I'm big on redemption and salvation, although not in a Biblical sense, and quite a few characters experience one or both facets of living better, more fulfilling lives. Aspects of the story would work much better for adults, but most adults' lives are simply too busy, too messy, and I quickly decided that the main characters needed to be teenagers. I decided to investigate how teenagers could be if they were just less like teenagers, more mature. I had an overall writing plan (although only in my head). Despite that, a few characters simply showed up when I needed to slightly flesh out another aspect of the story. Heather was the first of those, and she quickly became integral to the story because she could suddenly be what she wanted to be, rather than the person she'd been.

The original Beth story (published elsewhere online) was 279 chapters and 2.3 million words. Because I was posting chapters when I completed them, some chapters were quite short, while others were very long. When I began posting the story here, I decided to combine chapters to have a higher average length, but lower variance in size. I've just posted Chapter 100, which comprises the original chapters 155-156, so I anticipate the number of chapters coming to ~180.

Again, thanks for your message and for reading Beth, whose world has taken over much of my brain. BTW: There is a sequel that I've been working on.

BF

I do not. I occasionally repost individual chapters, but only when I find mistakes I had missed previously. The latest 3-9 chapters are in PRM, though. Could that be what you thought were new chapters recently posted? I generally post a new chapter every 2-3 days.

Thanks for your kind words.


BF

Last edited by Bronte Follower (Today 18:20:16)