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[nicksgal]

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

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.

Team Dark! AC is probably the best audience for the dark things, since the majority of us seem to enjoy them. If you all want to put dark things in your stories, I will support you every time, no matter how disturbing! Dark things are also way more memorable than fluffy things, for me anyway.

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!

As someone who took a very long hiatus, I can confirm that ability to write does not disappear with time. (And thank goodness, because I would have cried a lot if my writing ability reverted to early teeny Dee writing style. "Let's dance." "I love you." lmao) I won't validate that it is comparable to riding a bike though, as I don't know how to do that! (Fun surprising Dee fact!)

So whenever inspiration strikes again, I think it will be fine!

[nicksgal]

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.

I always second guess myself on spelling conscious, conscience, etcetera.  And I have no idea why they get me. All the vowels in a row probably? Every time I type two separate words and then you type them with a hyphen, I mentally chide myself, haha. Does that need a hyphen? I've failed in front of the Almighty General of Grammar.

I think one that always gets me is that I tend to have a "got to list" of ways to describe things based on force (typically) or volume (less so) and I'll catch myself doing them many times in the same chapter and go "Okay, well, not everything has to be 'gripped' or 'thrust,' dang Dee." But then I hate the alternatives and spend too much time deciding on different ones.

And now I'm caught up!

[nicksgal]

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.

Right? I wrote in my update thread that PBox in some form has existed in my head (and partly on paper) for about fifteen years! That such a long time.

(I forgot that I wanted to comment on this, haha. Now I'm caught up.)

[RokofAges75]

lmao Just put him in a gnome hat, I hear they're essential workers!

LOL Is that an Underpants Gnomes reference?!  The South ParQ Vaccination Special last night was so good!

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

I like first person for stories with just one or two main characters.  I have read stories that alternated first person POV between all five Boys, but I haven't attempted one of those yet.  I think it could get confusing and hard to capture five different narrative voices, so I stick with third person for group stories.  Two is more manageable, and I like the dynamic it creates with telling two different sides of the same story.

[RokofAges75]

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!

Totally agree with both of these points.  As long as you're changing some details and not blatantly copying someone else's story, I think it's fine to be inspired by other authors and use the same general premise as other stories.  It's not like any of those particular premises are original to begin with, in or outside of BSB fanfic.

I feel like we discussed a challenge one time where everyone was supposed to write a bus crash story, but I don't know if that ever happened.  It may have been while I was getting my master's, so maybe it did and I just didn't participate LOL.  I don't think I have another bus crash story in me right now, but maybe down the road... haha.

[nicksgal]

LOL Is that an Underpants Gnomes reference?!  The South ParQ Vaccination Special last night was so good!

It was a reference to last night's episode! I liked it, but did feel kind of sad about their Kenny friend divorce schedule. But it's also been decades, so I'm sure they're running out of ideas that keep the overall status quo.

I like first person for stories with just one or two main characters.  I have read stories that alternated first person POV between all five Boys, but I haven't attempted one of those yet.  I think it could get confusing and hard to capture five different narrative voices, so I stick with third person for group stories.  Two is more manageable, and I like the dynamic it creates with telling two different sides of the same story.

I think it would be really challenging if it was a consistent rotation between all five of them! I gave the other four Boys one third limited chapter each in PBox and definitely felt ready to get back to Nick afterward.

It's always fun hearing two sides of the same story! I think you get a little more from both the major characters and the nuanced different things they would notice that way.

[RokofAges75]

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.

This describes me pretty well!  I can be particular about things, especially in my classroom, and I hate waking up early!  I am not a perpetually late person, but I'm also not an early bird.

"Wrangle the forty-somethings" LOL That made me laugh.  But yes, so true!

[nicksgal]

Totally agree with both of these points.  As long as you're changing some details and not blatantly copying someone else's story, I think it's fine to be inspired by other authors and use the same general premise as other stories.  It's not like any of those particular premises are original to begin with, in or outside of BSB fanfic.

I feel like we discussed a challenge one time where everyone was supposed to write a bus crash story, but I don't know if that ever happened.  It may have been while I was getting my master's, so maybe it did and I just didn't participate LOL.  I don't think I have another bus crash story in me right now, but maybe down the road... haha.

We all get inspiration from somewhere! And it makes sense that creativity inspires creativity, so there's probably lots of people that have gotten ideas from reading or watching something someone else did. Just don't Tanja it.

There's nothing that says you can't write a story for an old challenge if an idea comes along. I've been considering refining my ability to write short works here recently, so I may peruse some old challenges myself. Or i could just go back to Gobosei's bus crash, haha.

[RokofAges75]

As someone who took a very long hiatus, I can confirm that ability to write does not disappear with time. (And thank goodness, because I would have cried a lot if my writing ability reverted to early teeny Dee writing style. "Let's dance." "I love you." lmao) I won't validate that it is comparable to riding a bike though, as I don't know how to do that! (Fun surprising Dee fact!)

So whenever inspiration strikes again, I think it will be fine!

That is reassuring to hear!  Also, wow, that is a fun and surprising Dee fact!  Definitely one to bust out during a game of Never Have I Ever.

[nicksgal]

This describes me pretty well!  I can be particular about things, especially in my classroom, and I hate waking up early!  I am not a perpetually late person, but I'm also not an early bird.

"Wrangle the forty-somethings" LOL That made me laugh.  But yes, so true!

As a perpetually "later than I should be" person who also likes a tight ship, I feel for Kevin.

We'd have a more unhappy Kevin if he did have to wrangle the forty-somethings, but possibly a less uptight Brian? It has its pros and cons?

That is reassuring to hear!  Also, wow, that is a fun and surprising Dee fact!  Definitely one to bust out during a game of Never Have I Ever.

You're right! I have busted that out then, actually, but had to be very clear that it's "without training wheels" though, haha. I did start learning to ride a bike, but outgrew it before I learned and we never bought a more appropriate sized one. I'm a champion tricycle rider though, which served me well at "Trike Race Night" in college.

[RokofAges75]

I always second guess myself on spelling conscious, conscience, etcetera.  And I have no idea why they get me. All the vowels in a row probably? Every time I type two separate words and then you type them with a hyphen, I mentally chide myself, haha. Does that need a hyphen? I've failed in front of the Almighty General of Grammar.

I think one that always gets me is that I tend to have a "got to list" of ways to describe things based on force (typically) or volume (less so) and I'll catch myself doing them many times in the same chapter and go "Okay, well, not everything has to be 'gripped' or 'thrust,' dang Dee." But then I hate the alternatives and spend too much time deciding on different ones.

And now I'm caught up!

Hyphenates are hard too!  If in doubt, I just Google, but sometimes I don't doubt myself when I should LOL.  I hear you with the conscious/conscience thing too.

Do you have an actual typed up list of those words or just a mental one?  I don't keep actual lists of stuff like that, but I do tend to use similar descriptions and have to watch to make sure I don't repeat myself too often within the same story.  I think it's fine if it's in different stories or even different chapters/scenes.  But yeah, sometimes certain words just work best.

[Rose]

LOL Is that an Underpants Gnomes reference?!  The South ParQ Vaccination Special last night was so good!


I like first person for stories with just one or two main characters.  I have read stories that alternated first person POV between all five Boys, but I haven't attempted one of those yet.  I think it could get confusing and hard to capture five different narrative voices, so I stick with third person for group stories.  Two is more manageable, and I like the dynamic it creates with telling two different sides of the same story.

I think you could do it.

I only did that once, with Here We Stand and that was admittedly the biggest challenge, keeping in mind the different types of nuances so that you could tell who was telling the story.

[RokofAges75]

It was a reference to last night's episode! I liked it, but did feel kind of sad about their Kenny friend divorce schedule. But it's also been decades, so I'm sure they're running out of ideas that keep the overall status quo.

That's what I thought!  Yes, it's sad to see the broship end, but I'm sure it's only temporary.  Remember when they killed Kenny off "permanently" for a couple of seasons?  They eventually brought him back.  It was nice to see Mr. Garrison (and Mr. Hat!) back at South Park Elementary.  He's not one of my favorite characters, but I liked the nostalgia of it.  I especially liked that the episode wasn't about Randy and Tegridy Farms.  I'm sick of Randy.

You're right! I have busted that out then, actually, but had to be very clear that it's "without training wheels" though, haha. I did start learning to ride a bike, but outgrew it before I learned and we never bought a more appropriate sized one. I'm a champion tricycle rider though, which served me well at "Trike Race Night" in college.

LOL!  You should have your husband teach you how to ride a bike.

[Rose]

You know, when I think about fanfic tropes I don't think I did many in terms of actual plotlines. I'm not counting the romance ones cause the one and only fic I have in that genre was to take the most obvious ones on purpose and sort of put my own spin on it. I do have the Bus Crash one in Miles To Go, though that's because that fic is definitely my homage to Misery. Just like how in many ways Song For The Undead did it's thing for The Stand.

[RokofAges75]

I think you could do it.

I only did that once, with Here We Stand and that was admittedly the biggest challenge, keeping in mind the different types of nuances so that you could tell who was telling the story.

Thanks!  I could, but I don't know that I would do it well.  I don't even know if I'm good at differentiatin g between two different voices, which is why I always just label the character at the top of the chapter.  But I've come to really enjoy writing that way anyway.  After three third person stories in a row, I was ready for another one in first.

The five-voice first person POV would be a good thing to try first with a short story, like one chapter from each perspective.