Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread: Orlando Passaggio (aka The Writing Thread 3)
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 04, 2021, 10:54:35 PM ---Aww, thanks! This forum is great for commiserating. I'm either going to hit a wall soon, or I'm going to roll right through it. I can't tell yet. I'm already almost through the first phase of the story, which I had a pretty clear vision for. I also have a lot planned for the third phase of the story, which I feel is really the heart of the whole story idea. It's the second phase I'm unsure about. That's the part I wish I could film as a brief montage set to some upbeat 80s music and move on from. It's really just the bridge between the first and third phase of the story, but I can't completely rush through it. I just don't have a lot of specific scenes planned out yet, so I need to get on that. I did take your suggestion and start a list, but it's a pretty short list so far LOL. I'm hoping when I get to the point of actually needing scenes, I'll come up with something. This is me plantsing LOL.
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I hope you roll with it. :biggrin:
lmao, I'm sorry, I had to, lol! On a more serious note, I always feel frustrated when the beginning seems clear and the end seems clear and the middle is just kind of wibbly wobbly. But yay for Team Plantsing! Maybe that's the part where you test out writing things out of order and see what happens. ;)
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 04, 2021, 10:54:35 PM ---I almost asked you about labeling all these scenes, but I remembered you talking a while back about naming your files in Google Drive. The way you explained it here makes more sense and seems like it would help you remember what you wrote and find the right scene when you need it.
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You're right, I've fully admitted to being disorganized and mislabeling things for fun, lol. I didn't do it at first when it was whole chunks of nearly upcoming chapters (when they were just called "chapter something or other"), but once it started being a big document, and especially now that it has two books worth of scenes here and there written, I made a point to be a little better about it. With the added bonus that I can turn them into headings and not have to scroll through the whole document to get to a certain one. That little "outline" navigation bar on the side of google docs is the best.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 04, 2021, 10:54:35 PM ---I think you're wise to save the big changes for the OF version instead of constantly editing the fanfic. Especially since the fanfic is already online. And yeah, you probably would need to focus more on character development in the OF version, since you're no longer writing about "Nick."
That seems like it would be one of the biggest differences between writing fanfic and original fic. I know in the stories where I have created original characters that play an important role, I've put a lot more time into developing them than I did the Boys, because the readers already know the Boys. It's more about orienting them to when in Backstreet time the story takes place and showing how the Boys change as a result of whatever happens in the plot.
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Big changes indeed! I'm about five chapters in, I opted to skip tackling the first chapter of the fanfic for the moment to start with Nick, so we'll call it chapter 2-5 of the fanfic, and I've already written about 9,000 new words, including an entirely new chapter. It's an undertaking! He's still PBox Nick to me, but I've definitely had to fill out a few things that would be settled by "It's Nick!" in the fanfic. I've had a few "oops" moments that have been pointed out to me so far, but not in a "oops, this was blatantly a BSB fanfic way," thank goodness, lol. I'm almost to the point of needing to give Howie a new name and I'm dreading it. Then I'm dreading having to scour the story for accidental "Brain" on top of "Brian," lol. Sorry everybody else, you were the casualty for Nick to keep on keepin' on mostly as is.
The blessing and the curse of the Boys as characters. "This is Nick in 1999," great! Versus "This is Gypsydoodle in 1999," who? lol But the "why you should care about me right away even when I x" definitely needed a little love. Because "why you should care about Nick in a BSB fanfic, well he's Nick" is more implied.
Where are we in Backstreet Time? lol If it happened in the past, is it still subject to Backstreet Time? Are we all in a fanfic where the author has been writing about the Boys making a Christmas album, but they've had writer's block since 1999? lol
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 04, 2021, 10:54:35 PM ---I was the same way with having a clear order of favorites in my teenybopper days, although it changed from time to time. Brian was always my favorite, and AJ was #2 for a long time. Nick was my least favorite very early on, which I think was based on a combination of wanting to go against the grain of him being everyone else's favorite and finding him annoying in their Millennium era appearances. But then Nick started to grow on me (helped by fanfic, no doubt), which left Howie and Kevin alternating between the #4 and #5 spot. I know Nick had risen to my second favorite by 2001 because my custom license plate on my first car began with BNAHK, and I put their initials in order of favorites LOL. Now I would rank them in two tiers: Brian and Nick on the top tier, Kevin, Howie, and AJ on the bottom tier. I don't have a least favorite anymore; I love them all.
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I love that your license plate was BNAHK! Aw. Thank goodness AJ provides a vowel so their initials can actually sound like a word. You know what, go against the grain, save more Nick for the rest of us to fight over, lol. I'm kidding. I don't think I wanted to rank Howie and Kevin because I didn't want one of them to feel bad for being the least favorite. That's probably why I said they were tied, lol.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 04, 2021, 10:54:35 PM ---I'm with Nick on that. Sure, IYWITBGG is bad, but it's far from their worst song. It's a guilty pleasure song - catchy and fun, even if it the lyrics are cringey. Boys Will Be Boys is just as bad, and I love both songs. I would take songs like that any day over She's a Dream. Tell Me That I'm Dreaming is adorable.
I wonder if Kevin realized how cheesy it was when he got roped into doing that deep voice back then, or if it actually seemed cool and sexy at the time because Boys II Men had done it. I agree; I'm sure he's glad that trend is over LOL.
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And I mean, it was all marketing. "The tiny one is less sexually threatening than the others. Make him sing an entire song about sex by himself." It's a guilty pleasure for sure. Boys Will Be Boys is just as bad, but I think they think that they can get away with not talking about it since it wasn't technically released worldwide and it wasn't mostly Nick singing, lol. Stay classy, Shorty, lol.
I wanted the Boys to carry my books home and help me with my homework so badly, lol. They just sounded so sweet and wholesome.
I would be fine adding that to the list of "questions I would not at all be embarrassed to ask them." I could see Kevin going either way, but with the emphasis that he would rather sing than speak in a song.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 04, 2021, 11:07:14 PM ---Yes, I almost mentioned Magic Tree House as an example! I guess with those books, they just have to think of a historical time period or event or a scientific topic they want to focus on and develop the plot around that. All those series are so formulaic, I'm sure that helps the authors (or ghostwriters) churn them out quickly.
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They've got to be ghostwritten. Or team written? I can't imagine having that many ideas for stories even with an infinite number of historical time periods or events to draw from.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 04, 2021, 11:07:14 PM ---The show is better than the movie, but I may be biased because I didn't see the movie until after I fell in love with the show. It used to be on Netflix, but I think it's only on Hulu right now.
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Alright, after rewatching Friends, I will commit to FNL. You've convinced me. Hulu's fine too, good to know it's somewhere.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 04, 2021, 11:07:14 PM ---There must be one for Kevin/Nick, but I'm not sure what is most commonly used. Kick? Nevin? I think Brian/Kevin would be Kentucky Cousins or KFC (Kentucky's Finest Cousins). Not sure if there is one for AJ/Kevin, AJ/Howie, AJ/Nick, Howie/Kevin, or Howie/Brian. I don't see those pairings often, if ever. Can you imagine a Howie/Brian slash? LMAO.
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I was being overzealous with 25, lol. Big Bro & Baby (or Little) Bro is what I've always called it personally, but I can't imagine that's right. Someone tell me! I need to know! lol. Ooh, yeah, KFC. I forgot that, bonus points for being quicker to type.
You know, if there's not one, and since I like to pretend that the universe revolves around AC when it comes to BSB fanfic these days, it's probably our esteemed duty to create one for those, lol.
Howie bingewatches TV while drinking margaritas and Brian types furiously on his phone? They go to church and celebrate holidays? They argue about living in Georgia or Florida? Brian is secretly the kinky one? Their relationship seems like a movie montage to me, lol.
At least Nick can make Howie pancakes for his breakfast so he can continue not cooking, lmfao.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 04, 2021, 11:07:14 PM ---I'm with you! It's not the slash that annoys me; it's the PWP. It just so happens that most of the PWP on AO3 seems to be slash, not het. I'm fine with slash with a plot. And slash without a plot is fine too for people who prefer that. It's just not my thing.
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At this point, I'm team more BSB fanfics at all, lol.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 04, 2021, 11:41:55 PM ---I hope you roll with it. :biggrin:
lmao, I'm sorry, I had to, lol! On a more serious note, I always feel frustrated when the beginning seems clear and the end seems clear and the middle is just kind of wibbly wobbly. But yay for Team Plantsing! Maybe that's the part where you test out writing things out of order and see what happens. ;)
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LMAO Love it!
Nice try with the suggestion, but now that I've started posting it, absolutely not LOL. Part of me would love to just go ahead and write the scenes I've been picturing in my head that come later, but I'd be afraid of running out of chapters to post two months from now if I don't stay the course and keep writing in order.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 04, 2021, 11:41:55 PM ---You're right, I've fully admitted to being disorganized and mislabeling things for fun, lol. I didn't do it at first when it was whole chunks of nearly upcoming chapters (when they were just called "chapter something or other"), but once it started being a big document, and especially now that it has two books worth of scenes here and there written, I made a point to be a little better about it. With the added bonus that I can turn them into headings and not have to scroll through the whole document to get to a certain one. That little "outline" navigation bar on the side of google docs is the best.
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Ahh, I see! And yes, I love the outline bar too!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 04, 2021, 11:41:55 PM ---I'm almost to the point of needing to give Howie a new name and I'm dreading it. Then I'm dreading having to scour the story for accidental "Brain" on top of "Brian," lol. Sorry everybody else, you were the casualty for Nick to keep on keepin' on mostly as is.
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Have you picked out new names for the other boys yet? I actually had fun with that when planning my ill-fated OF Broken. I kept Nick's name the same too and changed all the others.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 04, 2021, 11:41:55 PM ---Where are we in Backstreet Time? lol If it happened in the past, is it still subject to Backstreet Time? Are we all in a fanfic where the author has been writing about the Boys making a Christmas album, but they've had writer's block since 1999? lol
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LOL That's what I meant by Backstreet time in this case - where are we in BSB history? Like in my current story, part of my character introduction at the beginning is reminding everyone where Kevin and the boys all were in their lives at the beginning of 2008.
Hey, stranger things have happened. You came back after 10+ years! And does anyone else remember Marley, who wrote comedies with really long, quirky titles? I think her stories were hosted on Izzy's site back in the day, like late 90s/early 00s. She emailed me out of the blue a few weeks ago, asking if I was interested in hosting her old stories or knew of another place she could post them. I directed her here and to AO3, and I noticed she's been posting them on AO3. Who will come back next?!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 04, 2021, 11:41:55 PM ---I love that your license plate was BNAHK! Aw. Thank goodness AJ provides a vowel so their initials can actually sound like a word. You know what, go against the grain, save more Nick for the rest of us to fight over, lol. I'm kidding. I don't think I wanted to rank Howie and Kevin because I didn't want one of them to feel bad for being the least favorite. That's probably why I said they were tied, lol.
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Me too! I have that old plate hanging on the wall of my writing room now.
I'm glad we've come to appreciate Howie and Kevin in our old age. I think Kevin leaving was good for Howie, and Kevin coming back was good for Kevin LOL. I started to appreciate Howie more after Kevin left, and I appreciated Kevin more after he came back.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 04, 2021, 11:41:55 PM ---And I mean, it was all marketing. "The tiny one is less sexually threatening than the others. Make him sing an entire song about sex by himself." It's a guilty pleasure for sure. Boys Will Be Boys is just as bad, but I think they think that they can get away with not talking about it since it wasn't technically released worldwide and it wasn't mostly Nick singing, lol. Stay classy, Shorty, lol.
I wanted the Boys to carry my books home and help me with my homework so badly, lol. They just sounded so sweet and wholesome.
I would be fine adding that to the list of "questions I would not at all be embarrassed to ask them." I could see Kevin going either way, but with the emphasis that he would rather sing than speak in a song.
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LOL Such an odd choice. I still remember the friend who got me into BSB warning me not to play Track #12 of their first (US) album in front of my parents. Her parents were stricter than mine, so they probably would have found IYWITBGG scandalous, but mine didn't care. The first album I was allowed to buy with my own money was TLC's Crazy Sexy Cool when I was like 9, so listening to BSB sing about sex when I was 12 was not a big deal.
Yes, that would be a good question to ask them. I love when they get asked about embarrassing old songs LOL.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 04, 2021, 11:55:13 PM ---They've got to be ghostwritten. Or team written? I can't imagine having that many ideas for stories even with an infinite number of historical time periods or events to draw from.
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Yeah, and those require research too, more so than I would imagine BSC did. I looked it up, and apparently they're not ghostwritten. Impressive if that's true.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 04, 2021, 11:55:13 PM ---Alright, after rewatching Friends, I will commit to FNL. You've convinced me. Hulu's fine too, good to know it's somewhere.
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Yes! You'll have to let me know what you think when you get around to watching it. I know Mare liked it too, and she hates football. (Yep, we just keep bringing up her name. Are your ears burning, Mare?)
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 04, 2021, 11:55:13 PM ---Howie bingewatches TV while drinking margaritas and Brian types furiously on his phone? They go to church and celebrate holidays? They argue about living in Georgia or Florida? Brian is secretly the kinky one? Their relationship seems like a movie montage to me, lol.
At least Nick can make Howie pancakes for his breakfast so he can continue not cooking, lmfao.
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LMAO!! That sounds about right. I bet both Howie and Brian are kinkier than we think, though.
I searched the Brian Littrell/Howie Dorough tag on AO3, and there are actually 55 works! Some of them seem to be "The boys all have sex with each other" stories where all the possible pairings are tagged, but not all of them. Some are just Brian/Howie. Browie? I guess I don't need to challenge myself to write a Browie slash that's not the most boring/vanilla slash in the world now. LOL
Now I wish I could go back to SAMS and add in a scene where Nick makes Howie pancakes LOL. I don't think that ever happened because most of it was written before Nick had kids and became Pancake Daddy.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 05, 2021, 12:17:35 AM ---Nice try with the suggestion, but now that I've started posting it, absolutely not LOL. Part of me would love to just go ahead and write the scenes I've been picturing in my head that come later, but I'd be afraid of running out of chapters to post two months from now if I don't stay the course and keep writing in order.
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Some day, lol. Running out of chapters is a real fear, so I get it. I have until the end of June to figure out this current chapter, but the fear of running out becomes more real each day, lol.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 05, 2021, 12:17:35 AM ---Have you picked out new names for the other boys yet? I actually had fun with that when planning my ill-fated OF Broken. I kept Nick's name the same too and changed all the others.
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I haven't, as I said, I'm dreading it. I even wrote a tiny bit for an upcoming chapter edit that was clearly stuck in my head and definitely wrote Howie where whatever Howie's future name is would go, lol. I started considering some on my list and some front runners for Howie are Richard or Charles. Current front runners for Brian are Matthew or Samuel. I have not even begun considering Kevin or AJ yet. I guess it's not necessarily dread and more the worry that once I commit to another name, they stop being the other Boys and I'll probably have a lot more of those "oops" moments that I need to reconcile for them. Of all the Boys, PBox Nick is definitely the strongest character and relies less on the "I'm Nick" than the other ones do.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 05, 2021, 12:17:35 AM ---LOL That's what I meant by Backstreet time in this case - where are we in BSB history? Like in my current story, part of my character introduction at the beginning is reminding everyone where Kevin and the boys all were in their lives at the beginning of 2008.
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"In case you all forgot, BSB land is burning. Muahahaha. Just kidding! Kevin's doing great! And Nick is not..." lol
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 05, 2021, 12:17:35 AM ---Hey, stranger things have happened. You came back after 10+ years! And does anyone else remember Marley, who wrote comedies with really long, quirky titles? I think her stories were hosted on Izzy's site back in the day, like late 90s/early 00s. She emailed me out of the blue a few weeks ago, asking if I was interested in hosting her old stories or knew of another place she could post them. I directed her here and to AO3, and I noticed she's been posting them on AO3. Who will come back next?!
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I'm the strange thing in BSB fandom, good to know, lol. Blame the crocodile.
I saw that and thought "why does this sound familiar," Marley, yes. Now that makes way more sense! That's good that she found you to reach out to and you were able to point her on her way. I don't know what I would have done if I came here and it was a ghost town. It's nice that oldies are coming back and that y'all have kept a place going for us to come back to. :) I hope more people start coming back! I would love some more hubbub again! :)
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 05, 2021, 12:17:35 AM ---Me too! I have that old plate hanging on the wall of my writing room now.
I'm glad we've come to appreciate Howie and Kevin in our old age. I think Kevin leaving was good for Howie, and Kevin coming back was good for Kevin LOL. I started to appreciate Howie more after Kevin left, and I appreciated Kevin more after he came back.
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Aww, such good inspiration!
Yes, same. And here we thought Kevin leaving would be the worst thing ever. In 2006, we were all bitter and betrayed Nick, apparently, lol.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 05, 2021, 12:17:35 AM ---LOL Such an odd choice. I still remember the friend who got me into BSB warning me not to play Track #12 of their first (US) album in front of my parents. Her parents were stricter than mine, so they probably would have found IYWITBGG scandalous, but mine didn't care. The first album I was allowed to buy with my own money was TLC's Crazy Sexy Cool when I was like 9, so listening to BSB sing about sex when I was 12 was not a big deal.
Yes, that would be a good question to ask them. I love when they get asked about embarrassing old songs LOL.
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But sex sells! lol
My mom did not like it once I had a boombox, but by that point I had been listening to it on a walkman for a couple of years, so unless she listened to it while I was sleeping she had no idea until too late, lol.
Really, any question is good as long as we've stopped keeping track of Nick's underwear preferences on the daily, lol.
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