Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread: Orlando Passaggio (aka The Writing Thread 3)
RokofAges75:
I was going to ask Dee this, but thought it would be a fun topic for everyone to discuss. We were talking about breakout stories, the first story you wrote that was actually decent and wouldn't make you cringe to go back and read it now.
What was your breakout story?
When did you write it, and/or how old were you when you wrote it?
How did that story change you as a writer?
Why do you think the quality of your writing improved with that story?
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on March 13, 2021, 03:39:07 PM ---I mean, I would, except I have zero Kevin-focused ideas. And in an effort to challenge myself to focus on Kevin's Kevin-ness as an individual, starting from "I should write a Kevin story" seems like a terrible idea. It's why "I should give Howie something important to do" would have been terribly executed outside of having a role that would be a good fit for him in a larger narrative (and getting to introduce Brian still sidelined him despite that).
--- End quote ---
I agree, it's better to have an actual idea than start with "I should write a Kevin story" and try to force one. This is why it has taken me so long to write a Kevin novel, too, and why I only have one Howie novel. I love them both, but let's be honest - neither are my favorites, so why would I force an idea about them when I could just keep writing about Brian or Nick? LOL It needs to come naturally and be something you're actually interested in writing. But maybe that idea will come someday.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on March 13, 2021, 03:39:07 PM ---I guess the point of this long list was that when the mood to write struck, I was still mostly writing BSB fanfic, it just didn't stick for very long. Who knows if it would have if I'd thought "Inspiration? Be around BSB fans again?" or not. Thanks AJ and Nick for being on reality tv at the same time. I guess I was right when I said AJ spurs inspirational moments, then Nick latches on to them and steers. It did feel a little lonely committing to a fanfic without everyone around, but I think that had more to do with all this than with not having anyone to read it.
--- End quote ---
I'm impressed with how productive and consistent you've been since officially coming back, especially after dabbling with writing fanfic here and there over the years without sticking with it. I definitely think having a writing community to talk shop with helps. I have never been comfortable talking about my writing or sharing it with other people in person, but I love doing it here. It helps to keep me motivated more than the boys themselves do.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on March 13, 2021, 03:39:07 PM ---Thanks! :-* I'm sure it was even more difficult for you to pick with your extensive body of work! I could at least say, "definitely something from PBox." I think it's the length of a scene that made it tricky. If it said "which novel would you pick to showcase your entire portfolio," that seems like an easy enough answer. Narrowing down the novel to chapter was harder, but I figured if I could narrow it down to a chapter, I could find the perfect scene.
So I started thinking about what would need to be in a chapter or scene to showcase what's typical for my work and made a mental list. It had to be character-focused, it had to feature world building of some sort, there had to specifically be some of the mythos of the world building featured, fantastical elements, a fight scene would be a good addition since I write a lot of them, some good descriptive chunks, great dialogue, character interactions were a must. Plus it had to be short enough to share and not give away major spoilers, lol.
And I thought, uh... How am I going to find all of that and fit the short/no spoilers requirement? I was able to narrow it down to two chapters, but couldn't decide on a specific chunk to pull out of them, especially because as PBox neared its end, "scene" and "chapter" basically became synonymous. I decided there wasn't a fight scene I could pull that had enough of the other typical elements without having major spoilers, so I started thinking of character focused ones that included mythos type things and settled on either the first or last scene of "To The Castle" and figured you all would enjoy the last scene more since it featured all five of the Boys fairly equally rather than the Nick lean of the first scene, plus more mythos-based fantastical elements. But then realized it was too long to post here in its entirety when I previewed and just gave you all the castle, haha. ~1,200 words is still a lot!
--- End quote ---
Yes, picking an entire story would have been easier than just one scene. My process was similar to yours; I made a mental list of the most important or prevalent elements of my writing and then started thinking about stories and specific scenes that had those elements, read a few of them, and narrowed it down to one that wouldn't spoil anything for the people who would read my answer on this forum.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on March 13, 2021, 03:38:46 PM ---LOL I think we all (except Rose) cringe at She's a Dream. Oh Shorty...
--- End quote ---
Sorry, Rose! I forgot the other reason it makes me shake my head sometimes. Is that girl living under a rock? I get that it was 2009 and not 1999, but even in 2009 she still doesn't know what a Backstreet Boy is and she's old enough to date one? And her guy is gone all the time, what does he tell her he's doing for a job where he's not around for a good chunk of time? And other people have to recognize him when they go out! I get telling your family that you don't want to talk about your job, but still... How does that girl not know?! In hindsight, maybe this is my least favorite song on that album, lol!
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on March 13, 2021, 03:38:46 PM ---I wondered if the fact that you're still working on the PBox series is what gave you the motivation to go back and do all that rewriting. It makes sense to want the beginning of the series to be of the same quality as the later stories you're writing many years after you started. If I was still working on BMS, maybe I would be more interested in going back and revising Broken.
--- End quote ---
Still writing compounded by "after so many years" is probably a lot of it. Since it's finished, but the whole story isn't finished, I do want them all to feel similar and not have one stand out as "a new young adult wrote this" and the rest be "a thirty-year old wrote this." Although, since I did start editing the first nine chapters back in 2008, I probably would have still edited a little bit if the two novels were closer together, but likely just that 10/11/12 chunk and called it good.
I'm glad you have had the chance to work on other things besides BMS. I feel like 2007 you would have been very sad to have to put it on hold during your Masters program.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on March 13, 2021, 03:38:46 PM ---I also have not participated in any other fandoms, real person or otherwise, so I'm not sure. But I think you have a great point. There's so much you can do with the Boys as themselves without making it AU, and AU offers even more possibilities. The "canon" is constantly changing as time goes by and new events happen in their careers and personal lives, which opens up even more possibilities, whereas the canon is much more limited when you're writing about fictional characters.
--- End quote ---
I think the more wide-open canon helps. Now I kind of want to poke around on a more recent boy band and see what their fanfic is like. Not in-depth or anything, just to see what kind of genres are represented.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on March 13, 2021, 04:04:44 PM ---I agree, it's better to have an actual idea than start with "I should write a Kevin story" and try to force one. This is why it has taken me so long to write a Kevin novel, too, and why I only have one Howie novel. I love them both, but let's be honest - neither are my favorites, so why would I force an idea about them when I could just keep writing about Brian or Nick? LOL It needs to come naturally and be something you're actually interested in writing. But maybe that idea will come someday.
--- End quote ---
Maybe it will! I'm not sure what idea will scream "Kevin" to me, but there's gotta be one out there. I agree, why force a Kevin story when I can dedicate more thousands of words to Nick! He just begs to be written about, haha.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on March 13, 2021, 04:04:44 PM ---I'm impressed with how productive and consistent you've been since officially coming back, especially after dabbling with writing fanfic here and there over the years without sticking with it. I definitely think having a writing community to talk shop with helps. I have never been comfortable talking about my writing or sharing it with other people in person, but I love doing it here. It helps to keep me motivated more than the boys themselves do.
--- End quote ---
Thanks! I'm happy it finally stuck again, even knowing the catalyst, I'm still not sure what the differentiatin g factor was, but I'll take it.
I do think keeping track of my word count has helped me stay productive since starting, even if I don't have a specific goal (though I definitely got the most done in November). It reminds me that if I don't actually open the page and commit to writing something, nothing will get written. Nick poking helps. I just also make sure to remember that berating myself for not writing anything never actually helped, so I give myself more grace. I've lacked some motivation to write since getting my second dose, but I've focused on jotting down ideas and notes that come to me and include gems like "I probably should have figured this out before sending those chapters over," "Nick obviously has no idea what he's doing (does he ever?)," "Did he know this all along? What an ahole," and "This article says that (spoiler) probably smells like jungle juice, lmao."
Having a writing community is the best! It's nice to be able to talk writing and get lots of different perspectives on it and have people to bounce things off of, even if those things are just writing craft related things. I think it's been motivating for me too because it keeps my mind on writing even if I'm not physically writing anything.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on March 13, 2021, 04:04:44 PM ---Yes, picking an entire story would have been easier than just one scene. My process was similar to yours; I made a mental list of the most important or prevalent elements of my writing and then started thinking about stories and specific scenes that had those elements, read a few of them, and narrowed it down to one that wouldn't spoil anything for the people who would read my answer on this forum.
--- End quote ---
"Nick has cancer and has to get his leg chopped off" is pretty common knowledge here even if anyone hasn't read Broken, lol. :)
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on March 13, 2021, 04:07:03 PM ---Sorry, Rose! I forgot the other reason it makes me shake my head sometimes. Is that girl living under a rock? I get that it was 2009 and not 1999, but even in 2009 she still doesn't know what a Backstreet Boy is and she's old enough to date one? And her guy is gone all the time, what does he tell her he's doing for a job where he's not around for a good chunk of time? And other people have to recognize him when they go out! I get telling your family that you don't want to talk about your job, but still... How does that girl not know?! In hindsight, maybe this is my least favorite song on that album, lol!
--- End quote ---
Right?!? I wrote a story making fun of dumbass Shorty for the fairy tale challenge we did here in 2013, and it was so much fun roasting her in a fanfic. I hate that song so much. It's my least favorite BSB song of all time.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on March 13, 2021, 04:07:03 PM ---I'm glad you have had the chance to work on other things besides BMS. I feel like 2007 you would have been very sad to have to put it on hold during your Masters program.
--- End quote ---
Me too! I can't imagine how long BMS would be if I had still been working on it in 2013 LOL, but I'm glad I wasn't. Though I may have found the time and energy to keep writing BMS during my master's program because I somehow did during student teaching and my first year of teaching, which had to have been the busiest, most stressful years of my life. I still don't know how I did that. Oh, to be young again LOL.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on March 13, 2021, 04:07:03 PM ---I think the more wide-open canon helps. Now I kind of want to poke around on a more recent boy band and see what their fanfic is like. Not in-depth or anything, just to see what kind of genres are represented.
--- End quote ---
I know One Direction fanfic was big a few years ago, and BTS fanfic seems to be popular on AO3. If you do any poking around, let us know your findings.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version