Whatever Happened to FTDS?

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Who is FTDS and where has he been?

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There may be a few readers who wonder whatever happened to FinishTheDamnStory aka FTDS?

I think it's time to clear that up. Perhaps more than time.

FTDS is a collaboration of two authors. One was the driving force behind the plots and ideas, the other was the man who took freehand written partial ideas for completing stories, sketched out on yellow legal pads, and turned those into submittal stories.

I met my friend "John" at a writer's conference. I won't go into the details, but we became friends. He was a quiet, cheerful man, with a great sense of humor. I learned of his desire to be a writer, and his nearly encyclopedic knowledge of Literotica LW stories. Shortly after that, I was introduced to his quirky yellow legal pads, with seemingly countless notes about many of the stories he'd read, and his ideas for 'finishes'.

"John" was an active septuagenarian, retired for 20 years, and had very strong ideas about adultery, cheating, and humiliation stories. When I first met him he had, at least, a couple of dozen potential finishes written.

After several conversations, we came up with the idea for FTDS and agreed on the rules we'd use to select our stories. If it wasn't for a bottle of high-quality tequila, I doubt we'd ever have come to a consensus.

So FTDS was born, and our collaboration began. There were problems: we lived several hours apart, John wrote everything longhand, and never could get the hang of a scanner, so he depended on a family member to email me scans of his work. I'm not retired and have to deal with a job, family, etc. My job requires a fair amount of travel, much of it overseas.

Nevertheless, we managed to post a few stories, some of which I had more influence on than others. Things like dialog, pace, character development and scene details were my contribution. Most of the plot details and research into the original stories were John's effort.

Once we'd agreed on a story, he would snail-mail me his initial work. There would be pages of notes he'd written about the original story. A detailed outline, and then his completed story. His stories did not have much dialog if any, the grammar was often problematic, and his vocabulary was simplistic. The essence of the story, however, I found to be compelling, as well as his inevitable twists. Certainly something I could work with. John was not a writer, he was a storyteller, and I was happy to be able to work with him. As far as I was concerned, the stories were his, and I was a glorified ghost writer. As we made progress, he'd have a family member scan and email the updates, while I'd email him my changes and new versions. He approved the final version of the stories before I submitted them.

John had some funny ideas. He had notes and lists of what was right and what was fair. He wrote of levels of infidelity, and what that meant. Emotional cheating, one time affairs, ongoing affairs, infidelity with multiple partners, each had its own rating as to how 'bad' it was, and what the level of response should be. I always found these notes to be illuminating and thought provoking. Honestly, in many ways, he reminded me of Duna, with his constant references to other stories, and the types of cheatings and outcomes.

In February of 2015 my good friend John had a heart attack. He was slow to recover. The timing was horrible for me. I was in the middle of moving cross-country, starting a new job, and dealing with some family issues. He didn't return my numerous calls or emails, and I wasn't immediately aware of his medical problems.

It was several months before I received any reply from John. To be honest, I was extremely busy, and didn't pursue it very hard - he was always the driving force behind the stories, and hated for anything to be delayed or drag on. Our first order of business was dealing with the final chapter of Do Not Pass Go, which had been rejected for issues with underage characters, similar to what had happened with chapter two.

I was used to quick clear communications with John. When I received his updated chapter ideas on that same lined yellow legal paper, I could barely make heads or tails of it. The writing was nearly illegible, and what I could read was not nearly as succinct and coherent as his previous work. I was concerned.

When I replied to his latest letter, I didn't hear back. I was not comfortable submitting anything under the FinishTheDamnStory name, without his final approval.

It was only later that I learned he'd had more medical issues and went back to the hospital.

"John" passed away December 9th, 2015.

I only found out a few weeks ago. I was contacted by the same family member who would scan his work for him. He sent me a box of John's legal pads, dozens of them, all filled with his distinctive writing. The only question was what I would do with them.

I only met John in person four times. Even so, I considered him a good friend, a creative force, and an extremely likable guy. Which made some of the things he wrote all the stranger. Suffice it to say that completions like Danielle's Revenge, A World Turned Upside Down, and the Yo-Yo Chronicles Ch 02 were tame compared to some of the ideas he had.

I should add that neither of us expected the kind of response we received. John loved the comments and emails, and probably spent more time taking them to heart and trying to please the readers than I do. I'm more of a 'write what you love, and let the chips fall where they will' kind of guy. Not John, he was convinced that the Loving Wives category had the most honest heartfelt responses from its readers. I can't fault him for that.

I will miss him, and I have decided to finish several of the stories he had in mind. Some are original, some continuations. I doubt they will be as good without his involvement. I will continue to publish these stories as FinishTheDamnStory. When I have uploaded these stories, FTDS will most likely be retired, unless I find some real gold in his mountain of notepads.

It's been a fun ride, but without John, it's not the same. It's been a hell of an experience and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I hope his work and my meager contributions have entertained a few of you.

Forgive me now if I tie this up, pour myself a glass of excellent tequila, and mourn the passing of another quality lit writer, and a friend.

FTDS/2

PS. As long as Literotica has been around, writing story continuations and alternate endings has been going on. In the early days, authors conversed among themselves more, and it was often a collaboration. It's good to see that type of thing returning. Ohio has set the bar pretty high for this kind of effort, with his JPB stories, and I'll confess that his stories inspired ours.

Recently some authors have started taking up this Literotica tradition. On the day I'm posting this, SwingerJoe, a long-time fixture and talented author, as well as Justbobkc, a new author, have thrown their hats into the ring. More power to them. The endings won't always be what the reader wants, but it's usually entertaining.

And yes, I was the one to post the "I choose number one" anonymous comment to SwingerJoe's Zero, Fifty or One Hundred Pt. 02: Alt Ending. I would have done it under my name, but that would have likely started up a firestorm within the comments, even beyond the current level.

And to those who think it's harder to write a story from scratch, then it is to continue one, try doing it some time. Take it from someone who's done plenty of both. It's equally as hard, in a different way. Sometimes harder, if you're trying to match the tone, language, and style. Occasionally easier if you're only attempting to put your own spin on a story, you skimp on your research, and when the original story is an easy setup.

I sincerely hope that my friend John's initial efforts, and the FTDS stories are continued as I've seen lately. Write on!