Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread
nicksgal:
I know I have two really terrible stories on AC, because Lore wanted me to share how horrible I used to be. The first two I ever wrote are still there and are nothing like any of the juggernauts I went on to write. I can't remember specific things that were horrible about them (maybe she would?), but I know they were bad because I thought they were terrible in 2007 when I posted them on her urging. I am hesitant to go back to them because of that. But that would have been my underwriting phase. I think all of us have that in the beginning because we're just getting started from our dreams of being elementary school writers where a paragraph was an acceptable story.
Then we write and write and write about how much we love Nick's blue eyes and bright smile or Brian's laugh and curly locks or AJ's rocker vibe and hidden heart of gold or Kevin's serious protectiveness and caterpillar brows of awesome or Howie's... ??? I'm kidding... or Howie's Latin Lover winking and sweetness. And I realized I devolved Nick to only appearance, but I could obviously write pages of all the things I've loved about Nick over the years. Oh wait, (checks PBox + PNecklace) more than 750 pages of things I've loved about Nick, at bare minimum. (Heck, tack on another 500ish for the original PBox, though all total, it's probably in the high 1,000s somewhere -- just putting my trackable math skills to use!)
Anyway, as we write and write and write about those things, we realize that we have a lot more to say about those things, but also about how sadness feels or what a sunrise looks like. So we start writing paragraphs and paragraphs about those things. And then at some point, we realize that "you can just call them 'eyes'" instead of trying to be clever and descriptive about something that doesn't need it, but you could be clever and descriptive about what else a body is doing when those "orbs" are "glassy and distant". And we also realize that not every sunrise is "a vibrant painting from God's majestic brush," sometimes it's just another mfin' sunrise and you're angry that you're up that early to see it. And we find a happy medium.
I also lean toward overwriting, but I try to be more particular about what gets an overwrite. (which was this post, apparently...)
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 11, 2021, 09:30:10 PM ---She smiled again. "I love you so much, Brian."
"I love you even more," he replied, lovingly.
Good thing that adverb is there to help convey his feelings LMAO.
--- End quote ---
Phew. I thought maybe he didn't love her lovingly enough. But not only does he love her lovingly, but he loves her lovingly even more than she loves him, which is so much! So grateful to have that expressed so clearly.
I also have... no room to poke fun...
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 11, 2021, 09:43:31 PM ---I totally agree. Like I said before, writing is a lonely hobby - perfect for an introvert like me, but even I would say my favorite memories are the ones that involve other people. Whether it's a piece of feedback that made me feel good or a fun late-night collab planning session or just talking about writing on here, it's nice to be able to share ideas with other people who understand me.
As for more specific memories, the early days of 00Carter definitely come to mind. I also have fond memories of what Rose and I call "The Summer of Sadness," which was 2010. It wasn't actually a sad summer at all. The This Is Us tour was in full swing, and the forum was active, and most of the regulars were still writing regularly and reading each other's stuff. But we all started writing these depressing stories that involved poor Nick being tortured in one way or another around the same time. Not a fun summer for Fic Nick LOL.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 11, 2021, 09:52:12 PM ---I found my original answer to that question about favorite memories:
Of course I said 00Carter then too. I almost forgot how much fun the Felix Awards ceremonies were.
--- End quote ---
Chatting about writing again has been very fun with me. I tried to talk to my husband about it during NaNo and he would listen, but didn't really get it. Nothing plot/character specific obviously. Unlike Kelly's husband, I think he would make fun of me so much if he knew I was writing BSB fanfic again.
Aw, I miss the Felix Awards. I would have loved to put a ballgown on for them, bummed I miss that. If they ever happened again, I'll wear my wedding dress, haha. They were always so funny and everyone's speeches and I only experienced... Two? I feel like they were off a year from the actual year.
Also poor Nick. Can we get the poor guy a "Summer of Happiness"? Maybe one where all the other Boys are main characters and he gets a nice paid vacation to pull from some of their old fanfic habits like "only sleeps," "wears several hats throughout," "gets to pop in to make silly jokes," or "shakes his head at *someone's* antics." haha
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 11, 2021, 10:00:07 PM ---I know I have two really terrible stories on AC, because Lore wanted me to share how horrible I used to be. The first two I ever wrote are still there and are nothing like any of the juggernauts I went on to write. I can't remember specific things that were horrible about them (maybe she would?), but I know they were bad because I thought they were terrible in 2007 when I posted them on her urging. I am hesitant to go back to them because of that. But that would have been my underwriting phase. I think all of us have that in the beginning because we're just getting started from our dreams of being elementary school writers where a paragraph was an acceptable story.
Then we write and write and write about how much we love Nick's blue eyes and bright smile or Brian's laugh and curly locks or AJ's rocker vibe and hidden heart of gold or Kevin's serious protectiveness and caterpillar brows of awesome or Howie's... ??? I'm kidding... or Howie's Latin Lover winking and sweetness. And I realized I devolved Nick to only appearance, but I could obviously write pages of all the things I've loved about Nick over the years. Oh wait, (checks PBox + PNecklace) more than 750 pages of things I've loved about Nick, at bare minimum. (Heck, tack on another 500ish for the original PBox, though all total, it's probably in the 1,000s somewhere -- just putting my trackable math skills to use!)
Anyway, as we write and write and write about those things, we realize that we have a lot more to say about those things, but also about how sadness feels or what a sunrise looks like. So we start writing paragraphs and paragraphs about those things. And then at some point, we realize that "you can just call them 'eyes'" instead of trying to be clever and descriptive about something that doesn't need it, but you could be clever and descriptive about what else a body is doing when those "orbs" are "glassy and distant". And we also realize that not every sunrise is "a vibrant painting from God's majestic brush," sometimes it's just another mfin' sunrise and you're angry that you're up that early to see it. And we find a happy medium.
I also lean toward overwriting, but I try to be more particular about what gets an overwrite.
Phew. I thought maybe he didn't love her lovingly enough. But not only does he love her lovingly, but he loves her lovingly even more than she loves him, which is so much! So grateful to have that expressed so clearly.
I also have... no room to poke fun...
--- End quote ---
All that is so true! Most of us were kids when we started doing this. I was 14 when I wrote my first fanfic, which is way closer to the age of my students than my current age. When I think of it like that, I'm proud of that dorky little 14-year-old who overused the word "lovingly" LOL. I don't know about you, but I don't remember receiving much instruction on creative writing in school when I was a kid. I diagrammed a lot of sentences and wrote a lot of five-paragraph persuasive essays, but the only fiction I wrote for school was a short story once a year for Young Authors. So pretty much everything I've learned about writing fiction was self-taught, first through reading and picking up on things other authors did, and then through actively trying to educate myself by reading books about how to write. Writing is like any other hobby or skill - you get better with practice and experience. We can laugh about our cringe-worthy mistakes (erotically LOL), but kudos to all of us who spent our adolescence and young adulthood writing purely for the fun of it, learning as we went. That's why I keep my crappy old stories online; I like to be able to look back and remind myself of that (and still laugh at the awkward stuff).
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 11, 2021, 10:08:52 PM ---Chatting about writing again has been very fun with me. I tried to talk to my husband about it during NaNo and he would listen, but didn't really get it. Nothing plot/character specific obviously. Unlike Kelly's husband, I think he would make fun of me so much if he knew I was writing BSB fanfic again.
Aw, I miss the Felix Awards. I would have loved to put a ballgown on for them, bummed I miss that. If they ever happened again, I'll wear my wedding dress, haha. They were always so funny and everyone's speeches and I only experienced... Two? I feel like they were off a year from the actual year.
Also poor Nick. Can we get the poor guy a "Summer of Happiness"? Maybe one where all the other Boys are main characters and he gets a nice paid vacation to pull from some of their old fanfic habits like "only sleeps," "wears several hats throughout," "gets to pop in to make silly jokes," or "shakes his head at *someone's* antics." haha
--- End quote ---
I would love for the Felix Awards to happen again, but the site has died so much since the last one, I feel like it would just be a few of us doing the nominating and voting.
LOL That would be nice for Nick, to be able to kick back and barely contribute to the storyline. We need to find someone who hates him the way Julilly hates Kevin to write that story.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 11, 2021, 10:24:04 PM ---All that is so true! Most of us were kids when we started doing this. I was 14 when I wrote my first fanfic, which is way closer to the age of my students than my current age. When I think of it like that, I'm proud of that dorky little 14-year-old who overused the word "lovingly" LOL. I don't know about you, but I don't remember receiving much instruction on creative writing in school when I was a kid. I diagrammed a lot of sentences and wrote a lot of five-paragraph persuasive essays, but the only fiction I wrote for school was a short story once a year for Young Authors. So pretty much everything I've learned about writing fiction was self-taught, first through reading and picking up on things other authors did, and then through actively trying to educate myself by reading books about how to write. Writing is like any other hobby or skill - you get better with practice and experience. We can laugh about our cringe-worthy mistakes (erotically LOL), but kudos to all of us who spent our adolescence and young adulthood writing purely for the fun of it, learning as we went. That's why I keep my crappy old stories online; I like to be able to look back and remind myself of that (and still laugh at the awkward stuff).
--- End quote ---
I was 11, but I think you're a couple years older than I am if memory serves me right. It was probably all around that same 99/00 time frame though. We did a few fiction works per year and our teacher's submitted the best ones to "Beat Street" which was a little PTA run library at my elementary school. If your story got picked, you got to go back and illustrate it and laminate it/coil bind it and it stayed there until you graduated. I had two of mine ever chosen. One in Kindergarten and one in 3rd or 4th grade. So when I was like, "I can write a story about the Backstreet Boys? Well, clearly I am already a published author. I've got this." haha. I did not have this then.
My father always wanted to write a novel when I was younger, so I think he encouraged me to keep writing and seeking things out to learn. I think he was always a little upset that I decided to focus on BSB fanfic, but that's the least of our problems with each other and also #teamKTBSPA!
I actively sought out ways to get better. I've taken so many creative writing courses over the years. And like you said, read, wrote, and kept learning. I'm proud of how far all of us have come in our writing. And that we have grown enough that we can laugh at the silly or cringe-worthy things we have done in the past. And my hope is that at some point, we can do our utmost to pass the love of writing on to others and encourage the next round of budding young authors who will try and learn.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 11, 2021, 10:24:04 PM ---We can laugh about our cringe-worthy mistakes (erotically LOL)
--- End quote ---
You know this always destroys me and I both love and hate that you use it against me.
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