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[RokofAges75]

Rose, you're alive!

[Rose]

I am! LOL. Just busy in a weird life.

But my goal is to come back from the dead! Braaaiiiiinnnn s...

[RokofAges75]

I knew there would be a zombie joke in there somewhere!  I'm glad you're undead!

Back to fanfic...

Do you tend to incorporate real-life events, people, and places into your fanfics, or do you prefer to make most of it up?

[emilo]

How has social media changed the way you communicate about fan fiction?  (Communication could include recommending good stories you've read, promoting your own stories or notifying people when you've updated, or interacting with readers/writers.)
I follow a few writers on Twitter, but that's about it.
As a writer, how often do you use social media to discuss or promote your own work?
Zero

As a reader, do you rely on social media for story updates from your favorite writers?
No, not really.  I tend to visit the most recents page about once a day (more If I'm bored, less if I'm busy...haha), and that's how I see what's been updated.

Do you tend to incorporate real-life events, people, and places into your fanfics, or do you prefer to make most of it up?
I do a little of both.  I think some of my best snippets of writing have some element of real-life in them, though.  For me, drawing on real-life experiences makes it easier to paint the picture on the page, even if it's being embellished or changed for the story.  That being said, it's not like I've ever written something strictly real-life and called it fan fiction.  There are just elements that are inspired by real-life thrown into a piece that is mostly made up.

 
  
 

[mare]

How has social media changed the way you communicate about fan fiction?  (Communication could include recommending good stories you've read, promoting your own stories or notifying people when you've updated, or interacting with readers/writers.)
It really hasn't all that much. Occasionally I'll have a conversation about fanfic on twitter and I usually let everyone know when I update or post a new story, but that's about it.

As a writer, how often do you use social media to discuss or promote your own work?
See the above answer lol

I tend to unfollow the people who constantly do nothing but talk about their own stories 24/7 because it's overkill and no different from spam but I do think it's nice that twitter and FB are there for people to use to say "Hey I updated, check it out!" <-- 6 words and done! I'll leave it to my own imagination if it's the most exciting thing ever or if it will blow my mind, thanks. lol

As a reader, do you rely on social media for story updates from your favorite writers?
Not really, I tend to just go to the most recent page and look there.

[mare]

Do you tend to incorporate real-life events, people, and places into your fanfics, or do you prefer to make most of it up?
I like to keep things as authentic as possible when it comes to people and places. Sometimes I'll change events to fit with what I need to say, but otherwise I tend to use real places etc... I have been tempted to create a fake town where all of my action stuff takes place but I would be horrible at that. LOL I'd probably end up forgetting the name of the town and accidentally calling it something else halfway through the story or something.

[Carter-Orange]

A few questions about fanfic and social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.):

How has social media changed the way you communicate about fan fiction?  (Communication could include recommending good stories you've read, promoting your own stories or notifying people when you've updated, or interacting with readers/writers.) It hasn't really changed it at all as I rarely mention fanfic on Twitter and never mention it anywhere else.

As a writer, how often do you use social media to discuss or promote your own work? Very rarely, as mentioned above, I don't really mention it anywhere but here.

As a reader, do you rely on social media for story updates from your favorite writers? No, I either get an email telling me it's updated (if I've saved it as a favourite) or I'll check the most recent on the author's updates on here.

[Carter-Orange]

Do you tend to incorporate real-life events, people, and places into your fanfics, or do you prefer to make most of it up? A bit of both really.  I tend to use real places (although they are probably nothing like the actual places, but I can't really set my stories in Wales lol), and I do sometimes use real-life events and people, but I like to make stuff up too.

[RokofAges75]

As far as social media goes, I only use Twitter to talk about fanfic, never Facebook.  I've found that Twitter is a good way to connect with readers and fellow writers.  Some people won't take the time to leave a real review or email you with feedback, but they will follow you on Twitter and tweet you a 140-character review to let you know they read, which is better than nothing!

As a writer, I try not to tweet about my stories a lot because I know that's annoying to people who aren't reading them, but I do tweet to let my readers know what I'm writing and when I update.

As a reader, I rely on emails from AC, not tweets, to let me know when my favorite stories are updated.

[RokofAges75]

I am like Mare in that I like things to be as authentic as possible, especially when it comes to the guys, so I tend to use a lot of real-life stuff.  I use the Boys' real families when I have to, instead of making up fictional girlfriends/wives and children (unless it's a romance, in which case at least one of them will end up with a fictional girlfriend and probably some fictional kids at some point too).  I like to tie in real events from their lives, too, like tours and things that have gone on in their personal lives.  I usually write about real places, although they are rarely places I've been - luckily, the internet makes it so easy to research places these days.  I'm like a stalker with my Google street view LOL.  To me, having a lot of real details makes the fictional parts of my story more believable.  I want them to feel like they could actually happen, even the ones that are more fantastical.

[RokofAges75]

What has been your biggest success and biggest failure, related to fanfic?

[usako]

What has been your biggest success and biggest failure, related to fanfic?

I think that my biggest success is "Love Story". Not only is one of the few long story that I've finished but mostly because, at the beginning, I didn't think I could be able to write it. Especially because of the type, which is a flash so the chapters have to be only 500 words. I tend to write a lot, usually my chapters are like ten pages long so it was a challenge.

Biggest failure? I guess every story that I still have to finish.*sigh*

[mare]

What has been your biggest success and biggest failure, related to fanfic?

This is a good question and I think one that's actually never been asked before!

I wasn't sure if you meant specific stories or in general so I'll answer both ways. I think biggest successes story-wise have been "Why I'd Do it All Again" and "It Stays With You." Both were things when I starting writing them, I wasn't sure if they would appeal to anyone. I think It Stays, in particular because I wrote it in Brian's POV which I found really difficult.

Failure would hands down be "The Lion's Den." I just don't think I ever fully got a handle on that one and I believe it shows in the writing. I almost picked that one to be a challenge story but I didn't want to make anyone suffer through it lol Maybe next year!

Fanfic in general, I think my biggest success has been writing stories that I feel are true to the boys. I try to keep my stuff about the boys and I try really hard to give them all a voice by having them share the spotlight in most of my stuff.

I think my biggest failure comes as a reader. I think I am way too picky and in the process probably over look a lot of stories that I might otherwise really enjoy.

This brings me to another question kind of related to what I just said.

Do you think stories you might avoid as a BSB fanfic, you would read if it was just an OF? and what are those deciding factors for you?

[RokofAges75]

I left it open because I wasn't sure how people would want to answer, so either specific stories or just in general is fine!

[RokofAges75]

My biggest story success would have to be with the Nick cancer stories - the Broken series and Curtain Call.  It's hard for me to pick between them because they were both successful in different ways.  Curtain Call is the most reviewed story on AC and the first of mine to make it on the ten favorite stories list, but Broken was the story that sort of put me and my website on the fanfic map back in 2003.  Curtain Call is better written by far, but I don't think I could have written it as well if I hadn't written Broken first. Broken taught me so much about writing.  Besides the response they got from readers, what I'm most proud of about both stories are the strong characters I created for them and all the research I did to make them realistic.

My biggest story failure... well, two weeks ago, I might have said Guilty Roads LOL, but since I'm feeling better about that one now, I'd have to go with any of my discontinued collaborations over the years.  There have been some epic failures in that bunch, including a Deep Impact-esque apocalyptic tale about the Backstreet Boys surviving a comet that's on a collision course toward Earth! LOL  Again, I'm having a tough time deciding which is the biggest failure, but the two I feel the worst about not finishing are Code Blue and a story called Now or Never that isn't even on AC.  Those were the two that had the most potential.  Now or Never suffered from not enough planning and, consequently, a fatal case of writer's block.  Code Blue probably suffered from too MUCH planning and too much of everything - characters, storylines, and writers.  Hopefully 00Carter can hang in there and avoid the same fate.

I think my biggest fanfic success in general would have to be my website.  I started Dreamer's Sanctuary in April 2000 and have maintained it for the last 13 years.  Before I did a complete overhaul and moved it to Wordpress last year, it was probably the biggest BSB fanfic site still being updated that wasn't an eFiction-style archive, like AC.  Since I'm no longer hosting stories, I don't have that claim to fame anymore (although all 170+ stories are still on my domain), but DS is still one of the best-known BSB fanfic sites.  It's one of the first to come up in searches and one of the first to be mentioned when people ask for places to go to read good stories.  A lot of that has happened by default, since most of its competition is no longer online or no longer being updated, but still, I'll take it!

My biggest fanfic failure would be just not reading as much of it as I used to.  I used to obsessively scour the internet for stories to read and spend hours each day reading them.  I wouldn't say I read anything and everything - there were still storylines that grabbed my attention more than others - but I read a LOT!  Nowadays, I don't read nearly as much.  There are still stories that I follow and look forward to updates on, but it's been awhile since I went browsing for a new story to read just for the fun of it.  It's sad that it takes something like the reading challenge to get me to read something new.  I can blame part of it on a lack of time and other priorities taking precedent, but a lot of it is just that I've gotten jaded over the years.  I feel like I've seen it all, read it all, and it takes a lot more for a story to hook me than it used to.  I guess I'm just a lot pickier now! LOL