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[Frick24x]

Just curious... how do you all handle character development when it comes to Brian, Nick, Kevin, Howie and AJ when you AREN'T writing an AU fic?

For instance, I pretty much treat them like no one knows who they are (and I like to change things up on them a little bit, too). I mention things about Kevin being Brian's cousin and whatnot, but I do find myself not doing into as much detail about their looks and stuff like that.

Do you find it awkward to tell a background story for your boy of choice or do you treat fan fic like any regular novel?

[Sakabelle]

Interesting question, I've wondered about this too.

I do try to give a physical description of the boys as much as I can, but any information that's irrelevant I don't add.  If the story doesn't really revolve around the whole Backstreet universe (even if it's not AU) I don't go into a lot of detail describing things about it.  I mean, for the most part people reading BSB fan fic are fans of the group, we all know that Nick has blonde hair and blue eyes.  However, if it's going to add to the scene, something like "The sunlight made Nick's blonde highlights shine like gold" (rofl, cheesy I know, but you get my point I hope.) then I'll add it in there.

Developing their background story is a little different.  I think it's important to add that in there because every author is going to have a different take on the boys, and they are going to write them all differently.  Because of this, it's important to give a backstory so we know why Brian is acting the way he is, and we're not just going off assumption.  Who knows?  I might write Brian kind of tortured and bitter because of his heart surgery, where as it may be a non issue for another author.

[alota_cookin]

I agree with Steph, sometimes added physical description can really enhance a scene and make it better. Other times,that description disrupts the flow of the story. It's true that anyone reading a BSB fan fiction, most generally, knows what the boys look like (except AJ, because he changes so often, lol, is anyone else expecting another hair dye stage soon?) Anyways, that type of detail is really useful in certain areas, of a story, to help the reader visualize the events taking place.

As for the background development... I think that it's pretty important, most of the time. A short challenge story doesn't usually call for it, but a novel type story, almost, always does.

Sometimes, parts of that background are a secret, known only to the author, and may never be revealed to the readers. For example...in my story LATB, none of my readers know what is REALLY going on with Kevin. Kevin was a complete dick and no one knew why, for a long time, and when the story revealed a drug addiction it didn't go into detail about the cause of that addiction. My readers are still in the dark, left to assume the possible reasons. This approach can work in some stories and actually make it more interesting.

On the other side of the coin, a lot of times that background story has to be there, for the reader to understand what's happening. Steph is right about every author (and reader) veiwing the Boys, thier families, fans, ext differently. The presence of that background story develops each character, how you want them to be veiwed, and makes the story more believable. For example (from the same story) my readers wouldn't understand the concept of Nick being Baylee's guardian if the story didn't explain that Brian and Leighanne were killed in a car accident.

Okay, so basically, I figure that each story requires a different balance of these things. You just need to submerse yourself in the story and see what flows the best. I am still figuring out a lot of this stuff out, but I do find that each story requires different elements to make them work.

Did any of that make sense?  I sure hope so. If not, I know someone will tell me! 

[Sakabelle]

^It made perfect sense!  You explained in much better detail what I was trying to say. 

[RokofAges75]

That's a good question.  I think I do tend to treat it as a novel and develop the Boys as characters with back story... but I probably don't spend as much time on the back stories and the descriptions and whatnot as I would an original character, because I figure everyone reading the story already knows that.  So in short, I do write that stuff out, just maybe not as much or as often as I would in a novel where they aren't "the Backstreet Boys."

[MellzBellz]

Like most people have already shared... I don't really go into physical descriptions because we know what the guys look like. Occasionally I'll mention that Nick is blonde and AJ has several tattoos etc, but like Steph said, its done in passing.

As for background story I do spend time on that, but I reveal it over time. I think most authors take more time with that because the great thing about background is as a writer you can use any of the boys histories and spin them to how you want, so for instance one particular event in any of the boys lives can be interpreted differently by two different authors. So yea... I still develop quite a bit of back story.