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[nicksgal]

I just wanted to make sure I could keep making "The Fast and The Furious" jokes as these threads go on, lol!

Here are the last set of questions, but we are currently discussing Julie's answers in 2 Writing 2 Thread:

1. Without looking at any numbers, what’s your most popular fic? Why do you think that is and is it the same one you would say is your best one?

2. Have you ever written a fanfic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting?

3. Have you ever written a fanfic and decided never to publish it? Why?

4. What’s the biggest change between your style when you started in fandom and today? Could you stand to reread your first fanfic?

5. What’s the biggest change in your taste between when you started in fandom and today?

6. Have you ever purposefully written one fandom/fic idea over another because you knew it’d be more popular?

7. If you had to pick one scene to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick? Would you be willing to share it with us?

8. Have/would you ever rewrite a fanfic? If yes, would you take the original down?

9. What aspect of your writing do you most enjoy to see praised?

10. Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right?

11. Who’s the one character who shines without you even trying?

12. Is there any particular character whose scenes always wind up being longer/more frequent than you expected? Does the quality hold up?

13. Was there any fanfic that you wrote that really surprised you in the fandom reaction? Was it just by the numbers or did they take it an entirely different way?

14. If you cross-post your fanfics on multiple sites, do you have a favorite? Are there certain fics you would only post on certain site?

15. If someone you know who isn’t involved in BSB fanfic fandom asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first?

16. Does anyone you know from outside of BSB fanfic know you write fanfic? Are they involved in the same BSB fandom too?

17. Has anyone in your life ever read your fanfic just because you wrote it?

18. What kind of impact has writing fanfic had on your life?

[RokofAges75]

Continuing the conversation from the last thread.

I feel you. I think it really takes the right rewrite project to really keep momentum going on it. Rewriting and reworking anything is a laborious effort for sure!

I commend you for doing it with PBox!  Do you think it helped knowing the original version of PBox was already finished, so even if you didn't finish rewriting it, you at least had the old version to fall back on?

The bombshell if they found out about your dark side and then found out how much time you spend torturing fictional Backstreet Boys! lmao I don't think being Howie is the worst, you could get away with murder.

This is only slightly related, but there's this silly online game you can play on your phone called "Role Models" where you give people roles based on categories and one of them is "Boy Bands" and I got the "cute tiny one," and I was so excited. "Apparently I'm 90's Nick!" haha.

I don't think being Howie is bad at all.  Howie definitely flies under the radar, which can be a good thing.  Stealth D!

LOL You're either 90s Nick or Brian in any decade.  "Cute tiny one" describes him too.  After all, he does resemble a small gnome.

Nick's just wordy. I think the pattern is fun, especially if it's in first person POV. Just playing devil's advocate.

It is a fun pattern!  This is the third novel I've written this way, alternating chapters in two different first person POVs.  It's a nice way to tell a story that has two main characters and keep it balanced between both perspectives, but it can be limiting in situations like this, when one character has a lot more to say than the other.

[mare]

1. Without looking at any numbers, what’s your most popular fic? Why do you think that is and is it the same one you would say is your best one?

Without looking at numbers, I would say It Stays With You because it seems to be the one that most people associate with me and tend to remember. It is not the one I would say is my best though. After answering this I did go look at my numbers and was kind of shocked to see that this one wasn’t my most viewed or reviewed story. In fact it wasn’t even in the top five! My most viewed and reviewed one was Why I’d Do it All Again followed by my To Protect and Serve and it’s sequel which are actually my two favorite fics. So weird because at the time I really didn’t feel like people were reading those. 

[mare]

2. Have you ever written a fanfic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting?

Several. It’s hard to be a suspense writer without using the same plot as other people. The very first fanfic I’d ever written was Nick gets kidnapped after reading Ground Zero by Chaos. It didn’t really effect my writing process at all because I was just starting my writing process. I’m pretty sure the only thing the two had in common was Nick gets kidnapped. We totally told different versions of that same idea. His was much better than mine. After that I’ve used several of the same plot ideas and never felt like I was copying from anyone.

[mare]

3. Have you ever written a fanfic and decided never to publish it? Why?

Nope

4. What’s the biggest change between your style when you started in fandom and today? Could you stand to reread your first fanfic?

I don’t think I’d ever go back and reread my first or my second or my third etc... lol unless I wanted to redo it or refer to something specific, but from start to finish, no!

5. What’s the biggest change in your taste between when you started in fandom and today?

I’m not really into reading or writing fanfic anymore. That’s obviously the biggest change lol

6. Have you ever purposefully written one fandom/fic idea over another because you knew it’d be more popular?

Nope

[mare]

8. Have/would you ever rewrite a fanfic? If yes, would you take the original down?

I can’t see myself ever doing this but if I did it would mean I didn’t like the first one enough to keep it as is so yes, I’d take it down.

9. What aspect of your writing do you most enjoy to see praised?

My descriptions because I feel like that’s always been my weakest trait as a writer.

10. Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right?

I don’t think there’s any way to get them all perfectly right but I’m pretty sure I screw up Kevin the most. I’m sure he’s really not as overly protective and responsible and fun lacking as how I tended to portray him.

11. Who’s the one character who shines without you even trying?

Probably Nick? Don’t really know.

12. Is there any particular character whose scenes always wind up being longer/more frequent than you expected? Does the quality hold up?

Nick lol he was just the easiest to channel.

[RokofAges75]

1. Without looking at any numbers, what’s your most popular fic? Why do you think that is and is it the same one you would say is your best one?

Without looking at numbers, I would say It Stays With You because it seems to be the one that most people associate with me and tend to remember. It is not the one I would say is my best though. After answering this I did go look at my numbers and was kind of shocked to see that this one wasn’t my most viewed or reviewed story. In fact it wasn’t even in the top five! My most viewed and reviewed one was Why I’d Do it All Again followed by my To Protect and Serve and it’s sequel which are actually my two favorite fics. So weird because at the time I really didn’t feel like people were reading those.  

Did you post It Stays With You on AC as you were writing it or after it was finished?  In my memory, that one was pre-AC, but I don't know if it was actually pre-AC or if I just think of it that way because I read it on your site before I frequented AC.  But if it wasn't posted on AC until after the fact, that is one reason why the numbers would be lower than you thought.  That is Broken for me; I didn't start posting Broken on AC until it had been finished for a couple years, so the number of reviews here don't reflect the actual amount of feedback it got while I was writing it.

It Stays is definitely one of your most memorable, probably because of the disturbing imagery - MINE especially and also the pastor with the lobster hand.  We've talked about it a lot on here, the same way we talk about bot flies LOL.  People remember disturbing stuff.  I loved that story, but my personal favorite of yours is Hope is the Last Thing Ever Lost.  That was a good one to go out on as your last finished fanfic novel.

It’s hard to be a suspense writer without using the same plot as other people.

I agree with this, and the same is probably true of medical drama.  Every suspense writer needs at least one kidnapping story, just as every medical drama writer needs at least one cancer story.  No two are exactly the same though.  These are both tropes I could (and have) read over and over again, so the more the better!

I don’t think there’s any way to get them all perfectly right but I’m pretty sure I screw up Kevin the most. I’m sure he’s really not as overly protective and responsible and fun lacking as how I tended to portray him.

I think we all tend to portray Kevin this way and have probably reinforced that depiction of him by reading each other's work over the years LOL.  I think some of that came from actually seeing him in action during appearances and interviews, and the rest came from our interpretation of his big brother role.  The famous stories like him breaking down AJ's door and giving Nick that self-help book definitely lend credence to that, but then we hear other stuff about him that is surprising, like that he is hard to wake up in the morning and is late a lot.  That doesn't go with my vision of Kevin as always being punctual because he's such a stickler.  But it does go to show that real people are complex and multifaceted and don't fit the tropes as easily as fictional characters.  I also think Kevin has mellowed over the years and was more this way in the early days, when he was an adult dealing with teenagers.  The age/maturity gap made more of a difference in the group dynamic back then.

Probably Nick? Don’t really know.

Definitely Nick!  But also Kevin - the way you wrote those two together was always so sweet.

[mare]

13. Was there any fanfic that you wrote that really surprised you in the fandom reaction? Was it just by the numbers or did they take it an entirely different way?

Like I said in the answer to the first question, It Stays With You. I was surprised at how popular that one got. As I was writing it and saw how dark it was getting, I wasn’t sure how people were going to feel about it. Apparently everyone enjoys reading about mental and physical torture. Lol

15. If someone you know who isn’t involved in BSB fanfic fandom asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first?

Not sure. I really try to keep Mare the fanfic writer and Marianne two completely different people.

16. Does anyone you know from outside of BSB fanfic know you write fanfic? Are they involved in the same BSB fandom too?

See above ^

17. Has anyone in your life ever read your fanfic just because you wrote it?

Do you mean people in this fandom? Probably. If you mean people who just know me then no.

18. What kind of impact has writing fanfic had on your life?

It made me realize that I love to write and used to be pretty decent at it.

[mare]

I posted It Stays as I was writing it. I was one of the first posters on this site before it became open to everyone. Actually before I even had my own site. Although I’m not sure if the review button was a thing right away or not. It’s funny but I don’t really consider It Stays as one of my older fics but I guess maybe it is.

I’m glad you feel that way about Hope. I’m proud of that one too. The villain in that one was my favorite original character to write, even though I can’t remember his name right now lol

I was going to comment about Kevin always bring the late one as opposed to how most of us rote him always on time.

And yes indeed, one can’t have a medical drama without cancer or a bus crash. Bonus points for also using a bus crash for suspense as well!

[RokofAges75]

Like I said in the answer to the first question, It Stays With You. I was surprised at how popular that one got. As I was writing it and saw how dark it was getting, I wasn’t sure how people were going to feel about it. Apparently everyone enjoys reading about mental and physical torture. Lol

LOL It's true; we all love torture.  The darker the better!  The stories I tend to remember are the ones that gave me a reaction and maybe even made me a little uncomfortable, but in a good way.  That shows that the author took risks and wrote in a descriptive enough way to put images and feelings in my head that I couldn't forget, which is definitely something you did with that story.  I will have to remember this next time I start second-guessing myself because I have been there before too.

It made me realize that I love to write and used to be pretty decent at it.

Used to?  I'm sure you still are more than pretty decent at it!  While writing is definitely something you get better at with practice, I don't think it's something you get worse at even if you stop doing it.  Or maybe you do?  I don't really know.  Even if you felt a little rusty, I think it would be like riding a bike if you ever went back to writing fanfic.  I bet whatever you have been working on lately is great!

[RokofAges75]

I posted It Stays as I was writing it. I was one of the first posters on this site before it became open to everyone. Actually before I even had my own site. Although I’m not sure if the review button was a thing right away or not. It’s funny but I don’t really consider It Stays as one of my older fics but I guess maybe it is.

It's crazy how quickly time passes.  I guess in the scheme of things, it is one of your older stories, even though it doesn't seem like it's been that long.  I still only consider my "old" stories to be pre-Broken, even though Broken itself is now 18 years old.  I just had to check my math on that because how can that be???  But I started it in 2003, and yep, that was 18 years ago.  WTF LOL.

I’m glad you feel that way about Hope. I’m proud of that one too. The villain in that one was my favorite original character to write, even though I can’t remember his name right now lol

Tim!  He's one of my favorite original characters in BSB fanfic too.  He was such a creep, yet you wrote him a sympathetic way that made me understand him and even feel a little sorry for him, even though I was rooting against him.

I actually just reread some of Hope last year for inspiration as I was writing The Road to Bethlehem.  No villains like Tim in my story, but I was inspired by the bromance and getting-injured-and-stranded-in-the-woods element.

And yes indeed, one can’t have a medical drama without cancer or a bus crash. Bonus points for also using a bus crash for suspense as well!

LOL Didn't we have a conversation in one of the threads referenced in the MIA nostalgia thread about a teenybopper story where the villain kidnapped the boys by causing a bus crash and then diagnosed Nick's cancer?  Kidnapping, crashes, and cancer - the holy trinity of BSB fanfic tropes LOL.

[RokofAges75]

Are there any aspects of writing you seem to have trouble with?  I am generally pretty good with spelling and grammar, but one thing I've noticed about myself is I often want to make compound words out of terms that are really two separate words, like "seat belt" and "light switch."  I always write "seatbelt," and I just caught a "lightswitch" in the last sentence of the last chapter I finished.  Sometimes Google Docs corrects me, and sometimes it doesn't, so I have to look it up if I'm not sure if it should be one word or two.  I also struggle to spell the word "fluorescent" correctly on the first try, although I got it this time - maybe I've finally committed that one to memory LOL.  I tend to use it a lot when describing the lighting in my hospital scenes, so it always bugs me when it takes me more than one try to get it right.

[nicksgal]

I commend you for doing it with PBox!  Do you think it helped knowing the original version of PBox was already finished, so even if you didn't finish rewriting it, you at least had the old version to fall back on?

Not necessarily! I knew going into PNecklace that I did want to edit some stuff from it and once I got going, I was ready to just keep going and finish it out. My only real hangup was the time restraints plus life that I put on myself. Once I relaxed the "10 chapters a week" business, I was happy as a clam to keep going and I think it's better for having received the edit. I think what helped keep me motivated (other than it being my deepest love) was the parameters I set in the beginning: the plot of the whole novel and each individual chapter stays the same. So I wasn't completely scrapping anything, I was just tweaking it (sometimes with a hack and slash, sometimes with minor changes, sometimes with just removing unnecessary dialogue tags).

Now taking the fanfic out of it... That is a much slower and more arduous process!

I have realized that I did some improper commas in my edit and found some typos I still missed, but have been less motivated to go back and fix them than I was motivated to do the initial edit; I keep noticing them and hating them when I go back and reference things, haha! I think if I can get myself back up to 15 or 20 chapters ahead on PNecklace, I might give myself two weeks to go back and fix those.

I don't think being Howie is bad at all.  Howie definitely flies under the radar, which can be a good thing.  Stealth D!

LOL You're either 90s Nick or Brian in any decade.  "Cute tiny one" describes him too.  After all, he does resemble a small gnome.

Yes! Stealth D!

lmao Just put him in a gnome hat, I hear they're essential workers! I'd rather be early 90's Nick, because in that world, Brian is the heartthrob and I still get to grow up and become a heartthrob myself. Everyone wins!

It is a fun pattern!  This is the third novel I've written this way, alternating chapters in two different first person POVs.  It's a nice way to tell a story that has two main characters and keep it balanced between both perspectives, but it can be limiting in situations like this, when one character has a lot more to say than the other.

What's the deciding factor in writing a story with alternating first person POVs as opposed to third person?

[nicksgal]

2. Have you ever written a fanfic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting?

Several. It’s hard to be a suspense writer without using the same plot as other people. The very first fanfic I’d ever written was Nick gets kidnapped after reading Ground Zero by Chaos. It didn’t really effect my writing process at all because I was just starting my writing process. I’m pretty sure the only thing the two had in common was Nick gets kidnapped. We totally told different versions of that same idea. His was much better than mine. After that I’ve used several of the same plot ideas and never felt like I was copying from anyone.

I agree with this, and the same is probably true of medical drama.  Every suspense writer needs at least one kidnapping story, just as every medical drama writer needs at least one cancer story.  No two are exactly the same though.  These are both tropes I could (and have) read over and over again, so the more the better!

And yes indeed, one can’t have a medical drama without cancer or a bus crash. Bonus points for also using a bus crash for suspense as well!

LOL Didn't we have a conversation in one of the threads referenced in the MIA nostalgia thread about a teenybopper story where the villain kidnapped the boys by causing a bus crash and then diagnosed Nick's cancer?  Kidnapping, crashes, and cancer - the holy trinity of BSB fanfic tropes LOL.

Isn't there an argument out there that at their cores "there are no new stories"? I feel like as long as enough of it's different and you know going in what elements you'll change to make yours unique, then let's get hundred of BSB fanfics about kidnappings and cancer! 

I'll reiterate again that a bus crash is a perfect story catalyst for any BSB fanfic! And we've all probably used it at one point or another. #Team bring back bus crash stories!

And yes, we did talk about a teenybopper story like that. I wish I remembered what it was; that was so long ago.

[nicksgal]

10. Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right?

I don’t think there’s any way to get them all perfectly right but I’m pretty sure I screw up Kevin the most. I’m sure he’s really not as overly protective and responsible and fun lacking as how I tended to portray him.

I think we all tend to portray Kevin this way and have probably reinforced that depiction of him by reading each other's work over the years LOL.  I think some of that came from actually seeing him in action during appearances and interviews, and the rest came from our interpretation of his big brother role.  The famous stories like him breaking down AJ's door and giving Nick that self-help book definitely lend credence to that, but then we hear other stuff about him that is surprising, like that he is hard to wake up in the morning and is late a lot.  That doesn't go with my vision of Kevin as always being punctual because he's such a stickler.  But it does go to show that real people are complex and multifaceted and don't fit the tropes as easily as fictional characters.  I also think Kevin has mellowed over the years and was more this way in the early days, when he was an adult dealing with teenagers.  The age/maturity gap made more of a difference in the group dynamic back then.

People who are sticklers like sleeping in too! Maybe Kevin's a stickler about everything except for time... Or realistically, he says "I'm the one who is late and you all know this. If you are noticeably later than me, then that's clearly a glaring problem."

I think age/maturity for sure has a lot to do with it. He had to come off as more responsible when dealing with teenagers and now he can relax a little more when he doesn't have to wrangle the forty-somethings.