Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 03, 2021, 07:39:21 PM ---What about you? Same questions, back at ya!
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I poked around for a second while I pondered this instead of staring at this reply box.
I think I've tried just about everything at one point or another just to try it out with varying degrees of success, especially in the post PBox days where I would push fantasy anything as far away as possible just from being exhausted mentally. I've mostly enjoyed this editing adventure. It's been fun to go back to something and try to make it better. What else... Slash was an interesting adventure. I'd read any of them as long as the story was good (I'm not really into pwp for any pairings), but I don't think I would try writing another one. I don't know. Those ones come top of mind as things I either didn't really do in the past or said I would never try.
I'm having a tough time thinking of a least favorite since I think there's value in trying anything different in your writing. I guess a very long time ago, I tried writing a fanfic that was basically "the history of the Backstreet Boys, but a fanfic" and I hated keeping track of real life events in detail, so I stopped writing it. So maybe that? And thank goodness I did, because otherwise I would still be writing it?
I guess writing a full sex scene is the only thing I haven't done yet as I mentioned earlier, so I guess that's my challenge to myself this year. Whether that version will be the one that ends up in the story is up in the air though.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 03, 2021, 08:06:08 PM ---Woah! 80 chapters? I think I'm most impressed by the fact that you turned a short story into a novel! If I go into something to write a short story, even if it was fun, I wrap it up in a bow and call it a day.
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Yep! I had an idea going in to the short story for how it could become this whole other thing, but I decided to write it as a standalone story first and see how it went before committing to a whole novel. The short story ended up just being the back story for the premise of the novel.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 03, 2021, 08:06:08 PM ---I know you always have projects lined up, but since you still enjoy fanfic a worthwhile exercise might be to take a more AU story you've written where it's not as heavily wrapped up in "these are for sure the Backstreet Boys" (which I have questions to ask people about this, but it's probably a topic for a different time so I don't derail myself) and try to change the more BSB aspects of it. I know Mare did this with one of her stories... The one with the tree on the cover and they're all brothers and the sister died? The title is escaping me right now. And I think Rose did it once as well, or started to anyway. Then it would still be kind of BSB-esque but you could toy around with character building more.
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This is basically what I did with Secrets of the Heart, which is an AU. I started that story around the time I was thinking of trying rewrite Broken as an original YA novel, which never happened. I wrote Secrets in a way that it would be easy to make it work as an OF if I changed the characters' names. Brian and AJ are the main characters, but they don't know each other. Brian is a high school music teacher, and AJ runs a record shop, so there's still the music element there, but nothing boybandy about it. The other three are in it in very minor roles - I think Kevin is still Brian's cousin, Nick has a small part as a substitute teacher at Brian's school, and Howie is AJ's friend who works in his shop. Although I tried to make Brian and AJ still keep a lot of their same personality traits, I don't think they would be recognizable to a reader who didn't know this was a BSB fanfic if I changed their names. They each have a fictional significant other who also play an important role in the story. I know it would still need a ton of editing if I ever tried to get it published, which is not my plan at this point in time, but I do think that's a good way to bridge the gap between fanfic and original fiction.
Mel's Tree is Mare's novel you're thinking of!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 03, 2021, 08:06:08 PM ---Oh I mean I use it a lot because it's a great word! But all I think of now is "erotically." I was reading a snippet in my snippets document where the exact line is: “They all said when I’m not calm, my powers will probably be erratic.” And I cracked up so hard because in my head it's definitely: “They all said when I’m not calm, my powers will probably be erotic.” Which the implications of are just hilarious! (especially in context) Maybe now that this is out there somewhere, it will be less funny as time goes on... Probably not!
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If that was Nick's line, I could see him having erotic powers LOL.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 03, 2021, 08:26:39 PM ---Yep! I had an idea going in to the short story for how it could become this whole other thing, but I decided to write it as a standalone story first and see how it went before committing to a whole novel. The short story ended up just being the back story for the premise of the novel.
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That's fun, I love it! What a fun little extra to have for your website.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 03, 2021, 08:26:39 PM ---This is basically what I did with Secrets of the Heart, which is an AU. I started that story around the time I was thinking of trying rewrite Broken as an original YA novel, which never happened. I wrote Secrets in a way that it would be easy to make it work as an OF if I changed the characters' names. I know it would still need a ton of editing if I ever tried to get it published, which is not my plan at this point in time, but I do think that's a good way to bridge the gap between fanfic and original fiction.
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Before I keep going, can leg choppage be in a YA novel? What pushes it out of YA rating?
Now, back on topic! That story sounds interesting based on this description. Will add it to my peruse list. See the names/descriptions bit has been something I've been tossing around in my head. Because it seems to me that you could keep a name if you changed the description (but not both and probably Brian over AJ) or you could keep a description over a name, but probably only one, maybe two of them. If you have this story where there's five main characters (less so with this one since the other three sound like more minor additions) and they look like BSB and seem like BSB and especially if they were in a band together, but they weren't BSB in the story... I feel like the Boys could take that as defamation of character at the very least, and possibly escalate all the way up to copyright infringement. Which seems just not that worth it. But then how do you un-BSB it enough but not too much that it's an entirely different story? Ugh. A Pandora's Box I wasn't ready to open (pun intended).
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 03, 2021, 08:26:39 PM ---Mel's Tree is Mare's novel you're thinking of!
If that was Nick's line, I could see him having erotic powers LOL.
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Thank you, yes! I thought Tree was in the title.
Hahahaha. You know, I can't say because spoilers, but I think plenty of people assumed actual Nick did over the years.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 03, 2021, 08:25:59 PM ---I poked around for a second while I pondered this instead of staring at this reply box.
I think I've tried just about everything at one point or another just to try it out with varying degrees of success, especially in the post PBox days where I would push fantasy anything as far away as possible just from being exhausted mentally. I've mostly enjoyed this editing adventure. It's been fun to go back to something and try to make it better. What else... Slash was an interesting adventure. I'd read any of them as long as the story was good (I'm not really into pwp for any pairings), but I don't think I would try writing another one. I don't know. Those ones come top of mind as things I either didn't really do in the past or said I would never try.
I'm having a tough time thinking of a least favorite since I think there's value in trying anything different in your writing. I guess a very long time ago, I tried writing a fanfic that was basically "the history of the Backstreet Boys, but a fanfic" and I hated keeping track of real life events in detail, so I stopped writing it. So maybe that? And thank goodness I did, because otherwise I would still be writing it?
I guess writing a full sex scene is the only thing I haven't done yet as I mentioned earlier, so I guess that's my challenge to myself this year. Whether that version will be the one that ends up in the story is up in the air though.
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Kudos to you for this editing adventure you've embarked on! The only time I've gone back to a story that was already posted online and drastically revised it (more actual rewriting than just fixing typos and other tiny mistakes) was with Code Blue, and that was a terrible experience. I may have made the story a bit better, but it also killed my inspiration for it, which never really recovered. The fact that it was a collaboration probably made it harder to keep the momentum going, but I vowed I would never do that again with a fanfic. It would be different if I was trying to get a manuscript published, as I know there's a ton of significant editing required with that.
I feel the same way about writing slash. It was fun because it was something different for me, but I feel like I put everything I had into that one. It would take a really good (and much different) idea for me to write another.
I also agree that there's value in trying anything new, even if it doesn't pan out. Experimenting helps us grow and gives us more experience to draw on in the future. A history of BSB fanfic sounds cool, but I could see how that would get overwhelming!
Good luck with your sex scene!
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 03, 2021, 08:41:31 PM ---Before I keep going, can leg choppage be in a YA novel? What pushes it out of YA rating?
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Sure! It wasn't like "Saw" leg choppage LOL; he lost his leg to bone cancer. Nothing inappropriate about that. Actually, Lurlene McDaniel, who was my favorite YA author as a tween, published a novel during that same time period when I was thinking of rewriting Broken about a swimmer who had his leg amputated due to cancer and later committed suicide. Broken at least had a happy ending LOL.
Editing to add I also read a fantastic YA novel last year that I almost forgot about called "The Running Dream" that was about a track star who loses her leg after a car accident and learns to run again with a prosthesis. It took me right back to researching for Broken. But yeah, choppage can and has been done in YA fiction.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 03, 2021, 08:41:31 PM ---Now, back on topic! That story sounds interesting based on this description. Will add it to my peruse list. See the names/descriptions bit has been something I've been tossing around in my head. Because it seems to me that you could keep a name if you changed the description (but not both and probably Brian over AJ) or you could keep a description over a name, but probably only one, maybe two of them. If you have this story where there's five main characters (less so with this one since the other three sound like more minor additions) and they look like BSB and seem like BSB and especially if they were in a band together, but they weren't BSB in the story... I feel like the Boys could take that as defamation of character at the very least, and possibly escalate all the way up to copyright infringement. Which seems just not that worth it. But then how do you un-BSB it enough but not too much that it's an entirely different story? Ugh. A Pandora's Box I wasn't ready to open (pun intended).
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I think you could keep the characters in a band if you changed the names. A boyband might still be too obvious, but a rock band or something would be less recognizable. Personality traits and even physical descriptions would be less obvious, especially to readers who weren't BSB fans and didn't know it was originally written as a fanfic. I think it'd be much easier to de-Backstreetize a story that doesn't revolve around them being famous and touring and stuff, so a fantasy might be more doable. Is that what you're hoping to do with PBox?
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