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[RokofAges75]

Yay! Look at all the fun sprinkles in that one!

"No, Frick! Don't be a dick like everyone knows you are!"

LMAO!!  Dead.

[nicksgal]

I forgot how much more fun the smilies make everything.

And now I have two stupid fanfics to write, apparently:

"There's a bomb on the bus and Howie winks excessively" and "Nick is a terrible guardian angel."

Now I wish that every joke fanfic we ever planned on this board was an actual fanfic.

[RokofAges75]

LOL That should be a challenge.  Take someone's joke idea and write it as a real story.

[nicksgal]

I would do it! We tend to devolve into it a lot, so I'm sure there's a plethora of ideas on this board already!

[nicksgal]

134. Is there any question you'd like to ask any of the authors who usually participate in this thread?

140. What has been your favorite memory of writing?

I liked these two questions from the questions thread! But who knows if you all have new answers. I feel so out of the loop, haha.

[nicksgal]

134. Is there any question you'd like to ask any of the authors who usually participate in this thread?

Since I already managed to get my burning question for Julie into a natural conversation, I think my question is for Tracy!

Tell me about your fanfic journey. I feel like I remember you writing a lot of Nick/female OC and now you do a lot of Nick/Brian. Tell me about your fanfic life, basically.

140. What has been your favorite memory of writing?

And this one's easy: all y'all. That's why I eventually made my way back. If I had to be specific... Late night 00Carter planning, probably? The best of both writing and being here.

[nicksgal]

Ugh, just found a "Brian nodded his head." As opposed to what? His knee? His shoulder to shake off his unhelpful guardian angel Nick?

Who has a tendency to overwrite and who has a tendency to underwrite? Do you do one for certain things, but not others?

We already discussed one tiny aspect of this with the Boys' eyebrows.

I should have just made a thread titled "Dee reacts along with her editing and calls herself out on terrible things she did in the past, come be critical of your growth as well!"

[RokofAges75]

Ugh, just found a "Brian nodded his head." As opposed to what? His knee? His shoulder to shake off his unhelpful guardian angel Nick?

Who has a tendency to overwrite and who has a tendency to underwrite? Do you do one for certain things, but not others?

We already discussed one tiny aspect of this with the Boys' eyebrows.

I should have just made a thread titled "Dee reacts along with her editing and calls herself out on terrible things she did in the past, come be critical of your growth as well!"

LOL I write redundantly like that too and probably don't even realize it half the time.  If I went back and reread my stories just with that in mind, it would probably make me cringe.  When I was first starting out, I underwrote.  Then as I got better at showing, not telling, I started overwriting to compensate.  I think I have a better balance between the two now, but I still tend to overwrite more than underwrite.

We could start a thread for posting all the cringe-worthy stuff we find in our older stories or unedited first drafts.  I found this gem from one of my first stories:

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.

[RokofAges75]

140. What has been your favorite memory of writing?

And this one's easy: all y'all. That's why I eventually made my way back. If I had to be specific... Late night 00Carter planning, probably? The best of both writing and being here.

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.

[RokofAges75]

I found my original answer to that question about favorite memories:

Okay, favorite writing or writing-related memories.  I definitely can't narrow them down to one, so here are the top three that came to mind:

*Finishing "By My Side"
Finishing ANY story feels good, but finishing BMS was especially amazing because I had been plugging away at it for almost four years, and if you include Broken in that, five years.  The two stories together were over a million words and almost 2000 pages long, so it felt like a huge accomplishment to type the final "The End."  And then I was just like, "Okay, now what?" LOL

*The Felix Awards
AC's fanfic awards are so much better than any of the old-school awards I was ever involved with.  My favorite part is when we all gather together on the forum for the award ceremony to see the winners announced.  Julilly, Mare, and Chaos put so much effort into making it fun, creative, and interactive, so it really feels like another Oscar/Emmy/Grammy night!  The year some of us actually put on gowns and took pictures of our reactions was fun.  And of course it's fun to be nominated and to win some awards, but the whole spectacle of it is as much fun as actually being recognized.

*00Carter chats
I've done a lot of collaborations, including two big collabs, but nothing has been more fun than 00Carter.  From the original thread on here that spawned the idea to our many late-night chats planning episodes on Yahoo Messenger, I've never laughed as much as I do when chatting and planning with Rose, Lore, and the rest of our crew who don't post here anymore.  And the writing is as much fun as the planning!

Of course I said 00Carter then too.  I almost forgot how much fun the Felix Awards ceremonies were.

[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...)

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.

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]

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.

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.

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]

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...

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]

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

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]

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).

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.

We can laugh about our cringe-worthy mistakes (erotically LOL)

You know this always destroys me and I both love and hate that you use it against me.