Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 08, 2021, 07:35:13 PM ---I have eleven ideas/outlines on Google, and I found nineteen more on my hard drive that I never uploaded to Google because I don't see myself actually writing them... yet I haven't deleted them either. Of the ones on Google, there are five or six I could see myself attempting to write at some point. I've thought for three years now that my next project would be a Kevin/Nick drama called "My Brother's Keeper" that I've already written 3 or 4 chapters of, but other ideas keep getting in its way. If I don't go back to that one after Bethlehem, I'm leaning toward one of my horror/suspense ideas. Or maybe I'll just take a break until it's time to get going on 00Carter again. Or maybe I'll get a brand new idea. Who knows! I'm not gonna worry about it until I actually finish Bethlehem.
Dying at "Dougie! Carter, M.D." :D There is something to be said for a good, funny title. I've held on to an idea for years about Brian being possessed, but there are two versions of the idea. One is a serious horror story, and the other is a comedy I would call "The Devil Wears Wylee." LOL The serious version would make a better story, but damn if I don't love that title LOL. Maybe I can work it into a future pandaskunk story instead.
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Wow, thirty ideas and the possibility to write 1/5 of them! That's prolific. I was just curious how far in advance you started seriously considering your next project, don't turn into me. Finish Bethlehem first.
I'm here to make great jokes whenever. I wish more of my storied lent themselves to funny titles, because I'll put anything in a story that makes me laugh. Write both versions? See what happens. I find straight comedies are much harder to write than anything with dramatic elements.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 08, 2021, 07:35:13 PM ---I love how you can Do you save a copy of the original so you can refer back to it after or while you rewrite?
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That's why I write almost exclusively in google docs, because I can go back if I need to. The only original I have of anything is whatever version of PBox I saved forever ago when my computer originally died (maybe that should have been the sign I would eventually come back to it). When I edit, I always use the "suggest changes" format so that I can see what I originally wrote while I'm changing it.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 08, 2021, 07:35:13 PM ---I think the longest I've hung on to an idea before writing it is about six years. I got the original idea for Guilty Roads around 2004, and I started writing it in 2010. But although I got far enough to post it, I still haven't finished it, so I'm not sure I'd call that successful. Another one with a big time gap was the ER crossover I finished last year, Heroic Measures. I wrote the first two chapters of that story in 2012, finished two more in 2018, and wrote the rest in 2020. It took me 8 years to write a ten-chapter novella LOL, but at least I did finally finish it, so I consider that one a success.
Has anyone else had luck resurrecting really old ideas or unfinished stories?
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I'm impressed that's only happened twice recently! Was your Masters' program what stopped the Heroic Measures train?
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 08, 2021, 07:35:13 PM --- Usually those are just minor characters, but my last two medical dramas had main characters who were doctors or nurses, so when I was writing from their perspective, I did include more jargon and detailed medical info, which was fun.
LOL! Don't worry, it's not gory. It's more like a interactive 3D CGI diagram, not real photos or anything.
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I like when I get to include nerdy details, it's like: see look at all these things I planned and researched that you get a tiny snippet into!
I was just imagining it as "Now to get inside this model, we click on the skin and it flips open agonizingly slowly so the next layer under is revealed piece by piece." Like eating a banana, haha.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 08, 2021, 07:35:13 PM ---but I've just never gotten into fanfic for any other fandom, reading or writing. In my crossover, the Boys are Muggles (non-magic), so they're not sorted into Houses. But if I were the Sorting Hat, I would probably put Brian and Nick in Gryffindor, Howie and AJ in Hufflepuff, and Kevin in Ravenclaw. Although Nick's nerdy science posts make me think he might actually be more of a Ravenclaw too. As Dumbledore once said, "You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon." Where do you think they would go? (Anyone can weigh in on this.)
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I did a couple other fandoms, but nothing near to the variety I tried for BSB fanfics. What do you think it is about the Boys that stuck with you so much over other fandoms?
I mean, I guess it would by pretty Sueish for them to be 30-year-old Hogwarts students, haha. Nick clearly gets to be in all the houses because of his main character vibes! 90's Nick I would have for sure put in Hufflepuff, but I think you're probably right. None of them really strike me as too Slytherin, that's for the Justin Timberlakes of the world, obviously.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 08, 2021, 08:34:13 PM ---It has moved with me from my parents' house to my first apartment to my own house, so it's safe to say I will not be purging it. Though I do have this fear of dying and my family finding things like that when they go through my stuff and being like "WTF?" LOL. At least that notebook is mostly just random notes that would seem incoherent out of context of knowing what it was for.
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Good! Is it up in your inspiration room?
Just put a sticky note in the front cover of what you'd like done with it. Morbidly enough, I've thought of what to do with things like all my BSB stuff after I'm gone, and I think the logical thing would be to say "All this BSB stuff brought me so much joy over the years, so if you think having it will bring you joy, keep it. If you don't think it will, get rid of it." Solve the problem, you know?
What's the most random note you ever wrote about and/or for a story?
FrickingKaos:
I had notebooks with more than one story in them. Notebooks that I just never finished using. So it's like a stack of them.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 08, 2021, 07:39:58 PM ---Do you use a different notebook for each story?
I rarely write by hand, but I have several random old notebooks with just a few pages of fanfic ideas or scenes written in them. If I were smarter, I would have gotten myself one nice notebook and put everything in there, instead of all over the place in used Five Star notebooks leftover from high school and college LOL.
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nicksgal:
--- Quote from: FrickingKaos on January 08, 2021, 08:47:15 PM ---I had notebooks with more than one story in them. Notebooks that I just never finished using. So it's like a stack of them.
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I would always repurposed old notebooks from school. I have probably 20 notebooks that have various amounts of things in them. Some are probably old stories or doodles! I'll have to look?
Challenge for everyone: Go find some old physical writing thing you saved that's worth sharing!
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 08, 2021, 08:42:08 PM ---Wow, thirty ideas and the possibility to write 1/5 of them! That's prolific. I was just curious how far in advance you started seriously considering your next project, don't turn into me. Finish Bethlehem first.
I'm here to make great jokes whenever. I wish more of my storied lent themselves to funny titles, because I'll put anything in a story that makes me laugh. Write both versions? See what happens. I find straight comedies are much harder to write than anything with dramatic elements.
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I used to try to plan ahead more, but inevitably I would lose interest in the would-be next story by the time I finished the current one or come up with a completely different idea, so now I don't bother. I write ideas down, and if I'm really inspired, I'll even start a draft, but I don't commit to anything until I see where my head is when I'm actually ready to dive in to a new project. Usually I spend a few days/weeks/months jumping around between different stories in my effort to figure out what I want to write, which is frustrating, but probably a necessary part of the process for me. That's why the 00Carter revival might be perfect timing for me, because I'm a couple chapters away from finishing Bethlehem and not currently tied down to anything else.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 08, 2021, 08:42:08 PM ---That's why I write almost exclusively in google docs, because I can go back if I need to. The only original I have of anything is whatever version of PBox I saved forever ago when I my computer originally died (maybe that should I been the sign I would eventually come back to it). When I edit, I always use the "suggest changes" format so that I can see what I originally wrote while I'm changing it.
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That's a good idea. I don't usually edit at the level you are, as in rewriting a lot of it; it's usually more just changing a few words here and there, which I do right in editing mode. I did completely dissect a chapter of Bethlehem and edit it back together to pace it differently, and for that I just created a separate document and pasted it back into the original story when I was happy with it.
I love Google Docs. I started using it for my master's classes and finally made the switch for fanfic in the middle of writing Sick as My Secrets, probably around 2015-2016. The fact that it automatically saves, and I can access my stories from any device without using a flash drive sold me. I got a new desktop computer for Christmas that only has a trial version of Office, and I don't know that I'll even bother trying to install my old Office on it.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 08, 2021, 08:42:08 PM ---I'm impressed that's only happened twice recently! Was your Masters' program what stopped the Heroic Measures train?
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Nah, Heroic Measures was always just more of a side project that I opened when I was between novels. I finally found myself without a novel in progress during quarantine in the spring and decided it was the perfect time to try to finish it. Thanks, Rona!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 08, 2021, 08:42:08 PM ---I like when I get to include nerdy details, it's like: see look at all these things I planned and researched that you get a tiny snippet into!
I was just imagining it as "Now to get inside this model, we click on the skin and it flips open agonizingly slowly so the next layer under is revealed piece by piece." Like eating a banana, haha.
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Yes!! I totally get your fireside author chats because it's fun to reveal the behind-the-scenes stuff that readers don't get to see.
LOL Basically! Though it's more like the peel just fades away as you zoom in to the inside of the banana.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 08, 2021, 08:42:08 PM ---I did a couple other fandoms, but nothing near to the variety I tried for BSB fanfics. What do you think it is about the Boys that stuck with you so much over other fandoms?
I mean, I guess it would by pretty Sueish for them to be 30-year-old Hogwarts students, haha. Nick clearly gets to be in all the houses because of his main character vibes! 90's Nick I would have for sure put in Hufflepuff, but I think you're probably right. None of them really strike me as too Slytherin, that's for the Justin Timberlakes of the world, obviously.
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I guess it's a reflection of how much I love the Boys as people. I like a lot of music, but I've never cared so much about other artists on a personal level. And while I love the characters in Harry Potter and other fictional universes I'm a fan of, it's not the same because they're not real.
My story takes place in 1999, but they're still too old to be Hogwarts students. I could see Nick as a Hufflepuff too. None of them struck me as Slytherins either, and I almost said the same thing about Justin Timberlake! LMAO. Slytherins are known for being ambitious and power-hungry (which is why all the villains come from Slytherin), which fits Timberlake ditching NSYNC to go solo. The Boys are loyal to each other.
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