Fic Talk > Featured Story of the Month
FS for April: Curtain Call
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: Sakabelle on April 02, 2011, 09:23:24 AM ---Congrats on being featured this month, Julie! I love Curtain Call, and I love Cary in that story so it's interesting to see how you came up with her character. Was there a particular reason you decided to set this story in the TIU era? Was it just because it was the most recent, or were there other factors?
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Thanks, Steph!
Good question! I think my original thought was to make it TIU because it was current; I started this last summer, when the US tour was still happening. I didn't want to set the story in the future because I knew so much of it would involve them touring, and I didn't want to have to make up all the details of that - a fictional new album, new songs, different tour schedule. Part of the fun in it was researching and using as many true details as I could work in.
I did toy with the idea of setting it during the Unbreakable tour instead. I even made an outline that way to see how the timeline I was envisioning would match up with the Unbreakable tour schedule, but I think in the end the TIU one worked better, and I liked the idea of keeping it more current so that it seemed more plausible, like he could have been keeping this secret from fans the whole time, sick as that is LOL. I like sticking to reality as much as I can; I don't like to go back and completely change the past. Obviously by now, the story's taken that fork in the road and is no longer following reality, but I stuck to it for as long as I could.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: Carter-Orange on April 02, 2011, 10:43:24 AM ---Yay Julie, I love Curtain Call. Will have to think of some questions for you :)
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Thanks Steph! :)
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: mare on April 02, 2011, 09:50:06 AM ---Hey Julie,
Here are a few questions for you. First of all congrats on the best author win! What went through your mind when you found out you won that?
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Thanks, Mare!
I was really excited to win Best Author! It felt good, especially because I had been nominated in that category before and gotten runner-up I think the past two years. That was great, too, but it was nice to get the win this time, and now that will open up a spot for someone else to be nominated LOL.
--- Quote from: mare on April 02, 2011, 09:50:06 AM ---Onto the story:
Where did you come up with the idea for Curtain Call and how soon after your initial idea did you start to write it?
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I got this idea 100% from watching the movie Funny People. For those who haven't seen it, it's about a veteran comedian, played by Adam Sandler, who finds out he has cancer and doesn't tell anyone, but he hires an aspiring comedian, Seth Rogen, to be his personal assistant and confides in him. They develop an interesting friendship where Adam's character mentors Seth's and gives him all these opportunities, but Seth's character obviously helps him deal with things, too. It's a good movie, and I liked the premise and that relationship between the characters. Being that it was about a celebrity, of course I started thinking about how it would be easy to get a fanfic idea out of that, and BAM, there it was.
I loved the idea of Nick taking an aspiring singer under his wing, but of course for ulterior motives. I knew it had to be a girl because if I'm gonna write bromance in a BSB fanfic, it's gotta be with another BSB - no point in making up a fictional male character. I went a step further and made her a nurse practitioner so she could be more than just a personal assistant for him. I put her on American Idol solely as a way for him to "discover" her, and I made her a Backstreet fan so that she would actually go along with his plan.
The idea would not get out of my head, so I played with it for a few days, researching and plotting the story and developing the characters, before I actually started writing. I waited until I had the first six chapters written before I started posting, but that only took like a week - I churned out a chapter of this thing a day; that's how inspired I was for it LOL. It just would not leave me alone.
--- Quote from: mare on April 02, 2011, 09:50:06 AM ---I know you have mentioned before you aren't comfortable writing in first person, so why did you choose first person for this story?
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I don't really know why, but this story always felt like a first person story to me. It's weird because I think I only have one other novel written in first person, and that was ten years ago. Except for a few short stories, I really don't write in first person. I think I figured it would make it seem more realistic and less melodramatic. I wanted to separate it from Broken, and writing it in first person seemed like big good way to make it different. It's changed the whole tone of the story.
--- Quote from: mare on April 02, 2011, 09:50:06 AM ---Did you base Cary off of anyone in particular?
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No, my main goal for her originally was to just make her the anti-Claire LOL. I based her look on Zooey Deschanel, who I love because she has that cute, sort of quirky, vintage style and singing voice. But the rest of her character just came together piece by piece, the way I talked about earlier.
--- Quote from: mare on April 02, 2011, 09:50:06 AM ---What made you go with cancer again and was it a tough decision considering the popularity of Broken?
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LOL I agonized over that decision for exactly that reason. I basically racked my brain and scoured the internet, looking for anything OTHER than cancer that would work for this idea. I told Rose about it, and she helped me look too. There was just nothing else that fit all the criteria I needed. So I reluctantly went with cancer again, though a different type and different direction. There are obvious similarities between this one and Broken, but from plot to style to just overall feel, the two stories are really different.
Thanks for the questions, Mare!
Rose:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 02, 2011, 12:37:43 PM ---LOL yeah, not like he doesn't have an excuse... :D
Hm... something few know... like that I was going to call it either "On With the Show" or "The Show Must Go On," until you suggested "Curtain Call"? LOL I was like, "Oh! Yeah! That's so much better!" I had just been listening to that Queen song on repeat for probably hours as I researched and planned.
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It's okay. Choppage is fun! :D (And maiming, dismemberment, scarring...)
LOL! I remember that, and how for some reason neither of us were happy with those titles (even though for me it wasn't even my story lmao.) I forget how I came up with Curtain Call. But I still love the title, it just fits. :)
Rose:
--- Quote ---LOL I agonized over that decision for exactly that reason. I basically racked my brain and scoured the internet, looking for anything OTHER than cancer that would work for this idea. I told Rose about it, and she helped me look too. There was just nothing else that fit all the criteria I needed. So I reluctantly went with cancer again, though a different type and different direction. There are obvious similarities between this one and Broken, but from plot to style to just overall feel, the two stories are really different.
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I remember this, and warning you myself about possible Broken comparisons.
As for other diseases...OMG no kidding! We spent hours trying to find another disease. Sadly there's just not that many "easy" to hide terminal diseases. :( lmao. The funny thing of course is that the only other one besides Cancer that kept coming up in our searches was Alzheimer's. Go figure!
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