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[Rose]

lmao then yay!

Nick is always good for the feels and it's a Nick story of course.

[RokofAges75]

I'm surprised the bigger ones don't! If you ever need a Colorado hospital, I know a gal and can ask all your anal research questions for you.

Thanks!  I was originally thinking Colorado (or at least the Rocky Mountains) for Bethlehem, but my research led me to New Hampshire instead.  Maybe someday!

I've never been on a Backstreet pilgrimage at all, though I begged my husband to help me find the "Backstreet" when we were in Orlando. It didn't happen. You've been on a previous fanfic retreat? haha Are there team building activities?

LOL I've never been on a fanfic retreat.  My first Backstreet pilgrimage was when Brian and Kevin were inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.  The ceremony happened to be during my spring break, so I decided to road trip down there with my two BSB friends who live in Illinois.  We drove around Lexington and saw all the Brian sites - creeped around the parking lot of Tates Creek High School and ate at Long John Silver's, basically LOL - and then we drove up to Cathedral Domain, the camp Kevin's dad used to run, which was really cool.

Then Rose and I took a road trip to Knoxville, TN a few years ago to go to a convention that Nick, AJ, and Howie were appearing at, and we drove back by way of Lexington so she could do the unofficial Kentucky Cousin tour with me too.  And thank god I had been there before because our phones both lost signals in the hills where Kevin's camp is, which is total backwoods Kentucky, and I had to rely on my memory of which way to turn to get us out of there.  Our team-building activity was driving up and down this winding mountain road in the pouring rain with "Dueling Banjos" playing and praying we didn't die or get lost LOL.

Oh, and then we went to the Creation Museum on the way home so we could laugh at the exhibits of the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve chilling with velociraptors (because the Earth is only 4,000 years old so humans and dinosaurs totes coexisted).  I locked my keys in my car in the parking lot, which I had literally never ever done before and have never done since.  As we waited for AAA to come and unlock the car, the sky got blacker and blacker, and then a massive thunderstorm chased us all the way back to Illinois.  Pretty sure that was God smiting us for mocking the Creation Museum.  But hey, we made it back in one piece, and my faith in God has been reaffirmed.  That was a team-building experience too. LOL

[nicksgal]

Nick is always good for the feels and it's a Nick story of course.

He is good for the feels.

I hear that Kevin stories are the trend these days, but we can keep the Nick train going together. Choo choo!

[RokofAges75]

I opened up my Egypt story. I don't know how much I'll write in it but I wanted something to channel the angsty feelings into.

Yay!  Speaking from personal experience, writing angsty fanfic is a good way to cope with grief.  I hope it helps.

[RokofAges75]

He is good for the feels.

I hear that Kevin stories are the trend these days, but we can keep the Nick train going together. Choo choo!

Nick stories will always be in vogue!  Mine is technically a Kevin & Nick one, and so is Tracy's.

[nicksgal]

Thanks!  I was originally thinking Colorado (or at least the Rocky Mountains) for Bethlehem, but my research led me to New Hampshire instead.  Maybe someday!

Here for you the next time you need a nice mountainous region for a setting.

LOL I've never been on a fanfic retreat.  My first Backstreet pilgrimage was when Brian and Kevin were inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.  The ceremony happened to be during my spring break, so I decided to road trip down there with my two BSB friends who live in Illinois.  We drove around Lexington and saw all the Brian sites - creeped around the parking lot of Tates Creek High School and ate at Long John Silver's, basically LOL - and then we drove up to Cathedral Domain, the camp Kevin's dad used to run, which was really cool.

Then Rose and I took a road trip to Knoxville, TN a few years ago to go to a convention that Nick, AJ, and Howie were appearing at, and we drove back by way of Lexington so she could do the unofficial Kentucky Cousin tour with me too.  And thank god I had been there before because our phones both lost signals in the hills where Kevin's camp is, which is total backwoods Kentucky, and I had to rely on my memory of which way to turn to get us out of there.  Our team-building activity was driving up and down this winding mountain road in the pouring rain with "Dueling Banjos" playing and praying we didn't die or get lost LOL.

Oh, and then we went to the Creation Museum on the way home so we could laugh at the exhibits of the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve chilling with velociraptors (because the Earth is only 4,000 years old so humans and dinosaurs totes coexisted).  I locked my keys in my car in the parking lot, which I had literally never ever done before and have never done since.  As we waited for AAA to come and unlock the car, the sky got blacker and blacker, and then a massive thunderstorm chased us all the way back to Illinois.  Pretty sure that was God smiting us for mocking the Creation Museum.  But hey, we made it back in one piece, and my faith in God has been reaffirmed.  That was a team-building experience too. LOL

I enjoy that you creeped on Brian's high school and nearly avoided a smiting for mockery. lmao

Navigating without instructions does sound like team building. Cathedral Domain looked beautiful in the doc.

The best part of the retreats I used to go on was that we always planned a secret activity based on a price point. One year we went dog sledding! I wonder if there's any Backstreet-related secret activities.

[nicksgal]

I hope it helps.

Me too, Rose! I did not explicitly state that, so I felt like I should go back and do so.

Nick stories will always be in vogue!  Mine is technically a Kevin & Nick one, and so is Tracy's.

I'll rephrase. I hear Nick & Kevin stories are the trend these days.

And here I was hoping that I was earning rebel status, haha.

[RokofAges75]

The best part of the retreats I used to go on was that we always planned a secret activity based on a price point. One year we went dog sledding! I wonder if there's any Backstreet-related secret activities.

Wow, dog-sledding!  There's an activity I never would have thought to do.  Sounds cold, but fun. 

[Rose]

LMAO yes. And did we learn anything from God trying to smite us? Nope we were joking about how we shouldn't mock God. Mocking God about mocking him. That museum though, holy shit. The fact people actually believe in it makes my brain hurt lol. You can be religious but science can be real too.

[nicksgal]

Wow, dog-sledding!  There's an activity I never would have thought to do.  Sounds cold, but fun. 

It was both of those things! But really neat! I also didn't know you could go dog sledding outside of Alaska, so something new to learn.

LMAO yes. And did we learn anything from God trying to smite us? Nope we were joking about how we shouldn't mock God. Mocking God about mocking him. That museum though, holy shit. The fact people actually believe in it makes my brain hurt lol. You can be religious but science can be real too.

The velociraptors probably tipped him off.

[FrickingKaos]

Let's talk about settings!


How do you decide on the setting of your story?

I don't really decide ahead of time it just kind of happens so it depends on my mood really.

Do you set your stories in real places or create your own settings?
I often use places that exist already.


Do you tend to set your stories in places you've been (or base fictional settings on real places you're familiar with)?  If not, do you do any research to help yourself write an unfamiliar setting more realistically?

When I wrote Finding Carter I'd never been to Disney World so I had to do a lot of research on Disney and Orlando so I bought a travel guide from 1999 so any landmarks were historically accurate and actually in the park at the time. I had also never been to college so most of the college stuff I made up. I'd never been to Kentucky either, still haven't. So a lot is relied on Google and other research.

Have you ever traveled to research for a story?

No. But I do tend to either write about places I've been to or that I can easily look up information on.

What has been your favorite setting to write about?

I tend to write about NYC a lot but only because I've been there so many times. It's just a great place to write about because it's got so much to it. There's always something to explore with NYC.

I have also written about Florida quite a bit, I've been there a few times too.

Where would you like to set a future story?

I don't really have any ideas in mind. I've done a lot of different things.

[nicksgal]

When I wrote Finding Carter I'd never been to Disney World so I had to do a lot of research on Disney and Orlando so I bought a travel guide from 1999 so any landmarks were historically accurate and actually in the park at the time. I had also never been to college so most of the college stuff I made up. I'd never been to Kentucky either, still haven't. So a lot is relied on Google and other research.

I love that you bought a 1999 travel guide to make sure it was all accurate. That's attention to detail!

[FrickingKaos]

Also for that story, I looked up what songs were on the radio and what movies were in the movie theaters at the time of the story too. I like to be accurate when it comes to things like that. When you read If I Knew Then there was a timeline of things I followed so that everything that BSB did in the story matches what they actually did in the tour during 1998.

[RokofAges75]

Also for that story, I looked up what songs were on the radio and what movies were in the movie theaters at the time of the story too. I like to be accurate when it comes to things like that. When you read If I Knew Then there was a timeline of things I followed so that everything that BSB did in the story matches what they actually did in the tour during 1998.

I love that attention to detail!  That's what makes it feel like a fun blast from the past.

[nicksgal]

Also for that story, I looked up what songs were on the radio and what movies were in the movie theaters at the time of the story too.

Great attention to detail! I did that for my holiday story too. Figured it's a little thing that is easy to be accurate about with the internet to help. A tiny bit of accuracy goes a long way!