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[nicksgal]

Found an interesting, but old, article that touches on why Nicks might be so picky: "How Do Some Authors 'Lose Control' of Their Characters?"

I read it and thought, well I suppose this all makes sense... but it's also more fun to pretend Nick is screaming at me when he's displeased.  

Anybody else have thoughts?

[RokofAges75]

I call 2006 my year of trying to start a bunch of different things and none of those worked well. I think the times I've actually focused on something is when I committed to the one thing, no matter how long it took. Looking back, that's really what I did with PBox and said "everything else is on hold until this is done." I should have known better and just said, "Yo, just PBox," haha. It's part of why I've tried not to focus on anything else that's popped up unless it felt like it would be a quick, short, and finite thing, like the holiday story or death by snail. But hopefully I'll still feel inspired on the others after everything is said and done! I'm a little worried about the WADD, since there's probably three things I could work on after finishing PNecklace. We'll see how I'm feeling at that time.

It's hard to set ideas to the side and hope you'll still be inspired when you have time for them.  But it's also hard to finish stories when you try working on a million different things at once.  Either way, it takes a certain level of discipline.  I think writing the occasional short story while working on a novel is okay, though - sometimes it helps to take a break and write something different for a change.

I think combining ideas is a great way to find inspiration for all of them, especially if there's not a strong novel-length idea for the plot of any of them yet. I thought Bethlehem was a beautiful combination of A-Rok bromance, survival, and Christmas in quarantine! I hope some of your other ideas can combine in such a serendipidous way as well.

Thanks!

Aw, I know, but bus crashes are just so iconic. I would read 1,000 of them if they were still being written.

I love bus crash stories too.  Every BSB fanfic author should write at least one!  Who here has and hasn't written a bus crash story?

Add it to your ideas folder! Maybe a google sheet would be best, then you could list the stories and years you wrote any of them.

I do have a database of my stories on Google Sheets.  Maybe I should add a column for sort of malady each one featured.

For those of you who enjoy medical drama, what's an illness or injury you would like to have fictionally inflicted upon one of the Boys?  Give me some ideas! LOL

[RokofAges75]

Thanks, me too. I don't know if it's the speed or what, but in general it seems pretty good. I'd feel really excited to finish my magnum opus finally. I think this past week was the only time I felt frustrated between that sixteen days to write chapter and three days to edit chapter. I was a bit of a wreck! haha But in the grand scheme of things, sixteen days isn't even that long. And maybe that 16 days had more to do with the month long break than anything else, but then I wrote that other chapter in two days like normal, so who knows.

And great, if you agree that I shouldn't count those five years, then I won't.

Sixteen days really isn't bad, but I get the frustration.  When you've been writing consistently and clipping right along, and then it takes you over two weeks to finish a chapter... ugh!

[nicksgal]

It's hard to set ideas to the side and hope you'll still be inspired when you have time for them.  But it's also hard to finish stories when you try working on a million different things at once.  Either way, it takes a certain level of discipline.  I think writing the occasional short story while working on a novel is okay, though - sometimes it helps to take a break and write something different for a change.

I agree, I think short things let out bursts of creativity that don't necessarily go with whatever you're currently working on, but also don't detract from it in the same way that a full novel would do.

What does everyone consider a short story? Is it word count or amount of chapters that make it short?

I love bus crash stories too.  Every BSB fanfic author should write at least one!  Who here has and hasn't written a bus crash story?

Guilty as charged. A bus crash is the catalyst in Gobosei. Who wants to be my one phone call?  

I do have a database of my stories on Google Sheets.  Maybe I should add a column for sort of malady each one featured.

For those of you who enjoy medical drama, what's an illness or injury you would like to have fictionally inflicted upon one of the Boys?  Give me some ideas! LOL

Ooh, what kinds of things do you track in there?

I'm just going to keep challenging you to make something mundane interesting. A cold? Herpes? A stubbed toe? Whatever.

Sixteen days really isn't bad, but I get the frustration.  When you've been writing consistently and clipping right along, and then it takes you over two weeks to finish a chapter... ugh!

Oh I know, it sounds so silly saying "And then it took me 16 days! What a long time!" when I know that it's taken me far, far, far longer to write a scene, let alone a chapter. But I think it was that consistency getting derailed that threw me. And now I'm right back to almost finishing the next chapter over a few days, so if this only happens once every twenty chapters or so for the rest of this epic, then I'll call it a win.

[RokofAges75]

I didn't realize it was only 10 chapters! That's an action packed crossover! I can see why it would be hard to get into the groove because it doesn't seem like a story that would have a lot of rising action and falling action, just catalyst fast-paced action then end. It's not like real life medical dramas are a lot of waiting around in the fast-paced hospital part, you know?

How many ER marathons did you let yourself get sucked into?

I'm guessing you mean the writers of the actual show, but do you think ER fanfic writers have that same skillset to seamlessly blend the medical stuff into appropriately paced action scenes?

LOL I know!  I tried to follow the pace and structure of an episode of ER, so there's a little bit of character introduction, but then the action rises quickly, builds to a climax, and then falls to a resolution.  I always planned it as a ten-chapter novella, with each chapter centering on a different character (half BSB, half ER characters).

OMG, I must have watched the first seven episodes of Season 2 (when the story takes place) at least five times while working on that story.  Usually I would end up finishing Season 2 and going on to Season 3... 4... 5... 6... 7...  I think the last marathon I had, I made it most of the way through Season 10 before I stopped.

Yeah, I was talking about the actual show writers.  I have never actually read an ER fanfic, so I don't know.  I'm assuming that most people dedicated enough to write fanfic for ER at this point in time are older and familiar enough with ER jargon to be able to write a semi-believable medical scene, but that may be overly optimistic of me LOL.  That reminds me of this funny post I came across when I was researching:  "I'm Worried My Doctor May Have Watched Episodes of ER Instead of Going to Medical School"

[nicksgal]

LOL I know!  I tried to follow the pace and structure of an episode of ER, so there's a little bit of character introduction, but then the action rises quickly, builds to a climax, and then falls to a resolution.  I always planned it as a ten-chapter novella, with each chapter centering on a different character (half BSB, half ER characters).

Ooh, I like that it follows typical episode structure. I always feel like it would be harder to write a tv show than a novel or a movie. I know in theory they're about that same, but I feel like a tv show is like a bunch of interconnected novellas... It just seems like a lot.

OMG, I must have watched the first seven episodes of Season 2 (when the story takes place) at least five times while working on that story.  Usually I would end up finishing Season 2 and going on to Season 3... 4... 5... 6... 7...  I think the last marathon I had, I made it most of the way through Season 10 before I stopped.

Poor season one gets no love. How often do you marathon ER now that you're no longer writing it?

Yeah, I was talking about the actual show writers.  I have never actually read an ER fanfic, so I don't know.  I'm assuming that most people dedicated enough to write fanfic for ER at this point in time are older and familiar enough with ER jargon to be able to write a semi-believable medical scene, but that may be overly optimistic of me LOL.  That reminds me of this funny post I came across when I was researching:  "I'm Worried My Doctor May Have Watched Episodes of ER Instead of Going to Medical School"

I feel like I've read that article before (or a similar one), but the link isn't working. I always think about that scene in Catch Me If You Can. "Do you concur?" "I should have concurred!" haha

[RokofAges75]

Found an interesting, but old article, that touches on why Nicks might be so picky: "How Do Some Authors 'Lose Control' of Their Characters?"

I read it and thought, well I suppose this all makes sense... but it's also more fun to pretend Nick is screaming at me when he's displeased.  

Anybody else have thoughts?

That was an interesting article!  I don't really hear my characters arguing with me in my head, but I can imagine what they would or wouldn't do or say.  The Boys are obviously easier to imagine because we already know their voices, patterns of speech, mannerisms, and other idiosyncrasies .  But I have also created fictional characters that I get to know well enough to have a good sense of what they're like.  So I get that automatization the article talked about.

[RokofAges75]

I feel like I've read that article before (or a similar one), but the link isn't working. I always think about that scene in Catch Me If You Can. "Do you concur?" "I should have concurred!" haha

Try it now: "I'm Worried My Doctor May Have Watched Episodes of ER Instead of Going to Medical School"  I think I had a quotation mark or something in there.

[RokofAges75]

What does everyone consider a short story? Is it word count or amount of chapters that make it short?

I think of a short story as being under 10 chapters or 20,000 words.  More than that, and it's at least a novella.

Guilty as charged. A bus crash is the catalyst in Gobosei. Who wants to be my one phone call? 

Bus crashes make great catalysts!  Plane crashes too.

Ooh, what kinds of things do you track in there?

LOL Right now it's just a list of titles and publication dates.  I made it mostly to keep track of how many stories I've posted online, since they're not all posted in one place.  I had an older version on my site back when I still hosted stories that had other info, like genres and main characters.

I'm just going to keep challenging you to make something mundane interesting. A cold? Herpes? A stubbed toe? Whatever.

Hm, the stubbed toe could become infected and turn gangrenous - oh noes!!  A cold almost always leads to a cancer diagnosis or something equally serious in a fanfic LOL.  See "Definitely Just a Cold."  Of course, it would be funny if I wrote a story where it really was just a cold.  Maybe that's what I'll do for April Fool's Day LOL.  That or herpes.

Oh I know, it sounds so silly saying "And then it took me 16 days! What a long time!" when I know that it's taken me far, far, far longer to write a scene, let alone a chapter. But I think it was that consistency getting derailed that threw me. And now I'm right back to almost finishing the next chapter over a few days, so if this only happens once every twenty chapters or so for the rest of this epic, then I'll call it a win.

Glad you're back on track!

[RokofAges75]

Ooh, I like that it follows typical episode structure. I always feel like it would be harder to write a tv show than a novel or a movie. I know in theory they're about that same, but I feel like a tv show is like a bunch of interconnected novellas... It just seems like a lot.

Poor season one gets no love. How often do you marathon ER now that you're no longer writing it?

I think it would be hard too.  Especially when you have a ton of characters and different storylines, some that arc across multiple episodes and others that are resolved in one episode.  That's a lot to keep track of!  I guess that's why most TV shows are written by teams of writers, not just one.

I did end up going back to watch Season 1 before Season 2 during one of my last ER marathons just because I had skipped it all the other times.  Season 1 is great too!

I think I got to the beginning of Season 6 last time I marathoned ER, which was last spring/summer when I was writing the bulk of the story, and I haven't watched any since.  But at least I've gotten my money's worth out of owning all 15 seasons on DVD LOL.

[nicksgal]

That was an interesting article!  I don't really hear my characters arguing with me in my head, but I can imagine what they would or wouldn't do or say.  The Boys are obviously easier to imagine because we already know their voices, patterns of speech, mannerisms, and other idiosyncrasies .  But I have also created fictional characters that I get to know well enough to have a good sense of what they're like.  So I get that automatization the article talked about.

Although, if it is just automatization, than I'm impressed it's still chugging along a decade later. I mentioned something like that in my little author's note from yesterday's update where I mentioned my other thought to take the story, but didn't and commented "Nick would hate [the other version] so much." I like getting to the point where I know all their little idiosyncrasies . I think it makes it easier to write.

Try it now: "I'm Worried My Doctor May Have Watched Episodes of ER Instead of Going to Medical School"  I think I had a quotation mark or something in there.

  I have read that before! Still funny. I think I'd be more worried that in that scenario, the doctor and the nurse watched ER instead of med school. As long as your nurse calls your doctor out, I don't know that it matters if the doctor watched more ER than legitimate med school.

[nicksgal]

I think of a short story as being under 10 chapters or 20,000 words.  More than that, and it's at least a novella.

I would call ten chapters a novella. Twenty a novel. Fifty an epic. More than fifty... a labor of love.

LOL Right now it's just a list of titles and publication dates.  I made it mostly to keep track of how many stories I've posted online, since they're not all posted in one place.  I had an older version on my site back when I still hosted stories that had other info, like genres and main characters.

You don't have all your stories on your website? Or you keep track of where they're all posted even if it's more than one place?

Genre and main Boy would probably be easy enough to add, then add an "if, then" clause so you could further sort main Boy by genre, then further sort the medical dramas by malady/injury. Then you would know for sure that you couldn't have Nick stung by anymore jellyfish (or whatever).

Hm, the stubbed toe could become infected and turn gangrenous - oh noes!!  A cold almost always leads to a cancer diagnosis or something equally serious in a fanfic LOL.  See "Definitely Just a Cold."  Of course, it would be funny if I wrote a story where it really was just a cold.  Maybe that's what I'll do for April Fool's Day LOL.  That or herpes.

A gangrenous stubbed toe! Oh noes!

Oh, I know, it's never just a cold... A perfect April Fool's Day joke. Or herpes. Get it out of the way now. Realistically, Nick's the woobie, he can have both at the same time.

Glad you're back on track!

Thanks!

[RokofAges75]

You don't have all your stories on your website? Or you keep track of where they're all posted even if it's more than one place?

Genre and main Boy would probably be easy enough to add, then add an "if, then" clause so you could further sort main Boy by genre, then further sort the medical dramas by malady/injury. Then you would know for sure that you couldn't have Nick stung by anymore jellyfish (or whatever).

Yes and no.  They're all on my site, but not all on the main site.  Everything written before 2003 (pre-Broken) is posted on my archive site, which has all the old content I didn't want to move when I redid the site on Wordpress.  Most of those aren't on AC either.

LOL I did compile a list of every horrible thing I've done to each boy for my April Fool's joke a couple years ago.  There are obviously spoilers if you read the whole list closely, but here it is: http://dreamers-sanctuary.com/2019-04-01/  The video is my favorite part LOL.

Also, thanks for the jellyfish idea - that is one I've never done!

Oh, I know, it's never just a cold... A perfect April Fool's Day joke. Or herpes. Get it out of the way now. Realistically, Nick's the woobie, he can have both at the same time.

Realistically, he's probably been living with herpes since 2004 from having sex with Paris Hilton, so he could definitely have both at the same time.

[nicksgal]

Yes and no.  They're all on my site, but not all on the main site.  Everything written before 2003 (pre-Broken) is posted on my archive site, which has all the old content I didn't want to move when I redid the site on Wordpress.  Most of those aren't on AC either.

LOL I did compile a list of every horrible thing I've done to each boy for my April Fool's joke a couple years ago.  There are obviously spoilers if you read the whole list closely, but here it is: http://dreamers-sanctuary.com/2019-04-01/  The video is my favorite part LOL.

Also, thanks for the jellyfish idea - that is one I've never done!

I figured it was something like that. Glad that 2003 is the cutoff because you couldn't not move Broken over.

LMAO, Angstaholics Anonymous. I'm guessing you relapsed and never made it to step nine. I think "Crashing your car for a fifth time" and "giving you a sixth TBI for..." were my favorite parts so far. I do not have headphones, but I will watch the video soon. It looks promising.

But a jellyfish sting... So simple. I'll just keep suggesting simple and mundane things to you and find a bunch you haven't done yet, apparently.

Realistically, he's probably been living with herpes since 2004 from having sex with Paris Hilton, so he could definitely have both at the same time.

Definitely then, if not earlier. Doesn't something like 80% of the population have it? Am I over-inflating this statistic?

[nicksgal]

I think it would be hard too.  Especially when you have a ton of characters and different storylines, some that arc across multiple episodes and others that are resolved in one episode.  That's a lot to keep track of!  I guess that's why most TV shows are written by teams of writers, not just one.

I did end up going back to watch Season 1 before Season 2 during one of my last ER marathons just because I had skipped it all the other times.  Season 1 is great too!

I think I got to the beginning of Season 6 last time I marathoned ER, which was last spring/summer when I was writing the bulk of the story, and I haven't watched any since.  But at least I've gotten my money's worth out of owning all 15 seasons on DVD LOL.

And I'm sure it's easier if you're all getting paid to only think about those character and plot arcs. I think this goes back to our "getting paid to write fanfic would be the dream" conversation.

I'm glad you watched it. I was getting worried about it.

Right? That's several marathons! Makes me want to rewatch Gilmore Girls or How I Met Your Mother. My DVDs need more love in the streaming world we live in.