Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread: Orlando Passaggio (aka The Writing Thread 3)
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 04:11:30 PM ---I need this advice to remember to live in the moment in my writing since I love to jump around, lol. Closing my writing ahead document has curbed this desire a bit. I just checked and 145 words of Snail exist on paper and not in my head, lol.
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I need that reminder sometimes too. Since I don't write ahead, so much of my motivation to write stems from my desire to get to a certain point or scene in a story... but I have to remember to just enjoy the process of writing all the scenes that lead up to that too.
Hey, 145 words, that's a start!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 04:11:30 PM ---I ended up with 1,064 yesterday and 450 this morning. We finished our meal prep for the week and I'm about to pop back to the grind after a quick shower and see what happens. Right now, NaNo says I write about six words per minute with an average of 757 per day. At this rate, I will finish on June 22nd. But I'm also about 900 words away from finishing this chapter, so I think I can do that today. Wish me luck!
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Yay! Good luck finishing your chapter today!
I had a better writing day too. I wrote 1,397 words, and now Nano says I'm up to 4 words per minute and will finish on June 19! I'm at the point where my chapter is long enough to finish, but as usual, I'm not to the end of my scene, so it will go longer. At least I'm out of montage/summary mode for the time being and in the middle of an actual scene now.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 04:11:30 PM ---And yes, the new appliances were both exciting and slightly better than our washer catching on fire. It comes next week, but the dryer is back ordered.
Grocery shopping on Monday is the worst though. It's Monday and it requires a trip to the grocery store? Yuck. Hope that either the writing is going well or that you acquired food. I would call both a productive day!
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Your washer caught on fire?! Oh noes!! That is scary.
Yes, I agree about grocery shopping on a Monday, but sometimes I'd rather just go quickly after work than waste time on my weekend going. I wrote in bed until 3, so I did not make it to the store LOL. But hey, now I don't have to put on a bra or real pants today. I have enough food for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow and hopefully enough creamer for my coffee tomorrow morning. It's the need for creamer that will motivate me to go tomorrow.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 04:11:30 PM ---I've also never catered to what's popular anyway, but I did care more about not getting as much feedback when I was younger. But now that most of us aren't getting any sort of substantial amount of feedback, it feels like the right scale for writing fantasy and leaving for a decade, lol. Like I said, it makes me less sad to think my read count here is people and not spam bots. Because then I can feel like people are reading at least.
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Great points. It's nice when you learn to enjoy writing just for the fun of it and not for the feedback. I appreciate feedback, but it's just an added bonus and not something I absolutely have to have to be happy with my work. I don't get as much as I used to in the early to mid-2000s when BSB fanfic was in its prime, but I still have a few loyal readers whom I appreciate. And it's nice to see the BSB section on AO3 steadily being updated, even though other sites have died down.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 04:11:30 PM ---All good points. It's either that or you've written several good ideas for Brian and don't want to repeat them too much. Is there a story that you wrote way back when that you ever thought "If only I just got the idea for that now?"
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Yeah, I think that's part of it too. I wrote almost nothing but Brian stories in my first couple years of writing fanfic and used up most of my ideas LOL. I actually have recycled the basic premises of some of those really old stories more recently. The first story I finished writing was a Brian heart transplant story, and I started another one of those with a different storyline in 2008. I also have an old story about AJ contracting HIV from a one-night stand, and I reused that idea too.
I think the idea I wrote back in the day that I wish I had gotten at least a few years later is "Beside the Ocean." I've always loved the premise of that story. Nick tries to commit suicide at the beginning of the story and is saved by the girl next door. They get to know each other and eventually fall in love, and she helps him learn to appreciate life again. Then he finds out she's secretly been dying of a brain tumor the entire time. It's cliched and too simplistically written, but I like the contrast of him wanting to throw his life away while she desperately wants to live and knows she's dying.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 04:11:30 PM ---I feel like spotlight hog Nick comprises most of my ideas, so I don't know if that's personal preference or what, lol. I think most of my better ideas start out as group ideas and then Nick slowly comes in and monopolizes it. Picture it. I'm just writing away and hear the Jaws theme in the distance, it gets slowly closer/louder, then as it gets loudest, Nick taps on my brain and says "Hello, it's me again. This group story, it is now my story. Carry on." lol!
Maybe someday I'll have a Howie idea. That would be something.
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LOL at the Jaws metaphor! Oh Nick.
Hey, you never know! Sometimes it happens. Of course, mine was a Howie/Nick story, and my Kevin one is a Kevin & Nick story, so maybe you still need Nick in there to make it happen LOL.
RokofAges75:
I had to dedicate a separate post to replying to this part because it got too long LOL.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 04:11:30 PM ---I'm just trying it get you to say it one time. Just to see how it feels. ;) But that's probably about as likely as convincing you to write anything out of order, lol.
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I have said it before! I just spent way too long looking up times when I have said I'll never do something LOL...
like write another sequel:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 01, 2017, 12:28:01 PM ---I've written a few sequels and sworn I will never write another.
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or rewrite a story:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on November 27, 2008, 09:22:10 PM ---I've done the whole rewriting thing once, with Code Blue, and I will NEVER DO IT AGAIN!
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--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on October 13, 2012, 11:54:02 AM ---I tried to rewrite a story once - Code Blue - and it was such a huge hassle that I will never do it again!!
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--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 06, 2012, 06:14:31 PM ---Going back to what I posted earlier about rewriting, the only fanfic I've rewritten is Code Blue, and I will never do that again!
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--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on November 18, 2010, 12:37:00 AM ---I've thought of rewriting too, but I've never succeeded at rewriting anything, so I don't think that will ever happen.
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or read/write slash:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 21, 2007, 12:53:51 AM ---6)A genre you would never consider writing and why
Slash... I can't take it seriously enough to even read it, so I'd never be able to write it, except to make fun of it. I just think it's silly, in the Bsb fandom at least. I don't read any other fandoms, but I can see how it might make more sense in others. But the Bsb slashes that I've looked at have just made me laugh, when they weren't really meant to be funny LOL.
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--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on December 05, 2015, 08:38:47 PM ---I am never going to be a slash convert, but writing it (sort of) has been an interesting experience.
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or write a Howie or Kevin story:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on February 03, 2007, 09:33:31 AM ---I like to write about the guys I like best. And although I like Kevin and Howie a lot, I've just never been moved to write a story just about one of them.
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or participate in a writing challenge:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 21, 2007, 12:53:51 AM ---7)Have you ever participated in a writer's challenge before?
Umm... *thinking*... I actually don't think I have. If I have, it's been awhile. I've tried to do those before, but I don't like being forced to write something and have my writing limited in certain ways... then it feels more like homework to me. That's why I could never make writing my career. I enjoy writing solely for fun and being able to write exactly what I want, when I want. I know that challenges are a good writing exercise, but I've just never been able to get into them. I let my writing develop through my stories.
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or post a story and then leave it unfinished:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on October 13, 2007, 08:24:45 PM ---I never post a new story until I'm to the point where I feel like it's going well, I'm into it, I know where it's headed, and I'll be able to see it through.
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or write about Nick's heart condition:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on February 08, 2009, 08:28:38 PM ---I wouldn't touch that idea with a ten-foot pole
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or write fanfic in adulthood:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on March 08, 2009, 12:51:00 AM ---To be honest, I never saw myself still writing Bsb fanfics as an almost-24-year-old LOL
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(God, I'm 36 now and still writing it LOL.)
or buy a laptop:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 28, 2008, 12:58:03 AM ---I will never buy another laptop.
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(I eventually did, and it lasted less than 3 years, so I stand by my original statement. Chromebooks for life!)
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on September 18, 2011, 01:47:04 PM ---I don't have a Kindle and will never buy one for myself; I love actual books.
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(I have since owned two Kindles and loved reading on them.)
Now to the things I said I will never do (or never do again) and still haven't:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 03, 2012, 05:31:48 PM ---I will never paste song lyrics (especially Nickelback lyrics) into the middle of a scene ever again.
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--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on March 08, 2009, 11:45:34 AM ---I will never do that again. Lesson learned. If it's not my idea or one that I'm really invested in, forget it.
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--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on December 20, 2008, 01:34:19 AM ---Hey, I'm anti-torturing Baylee in fanfics. I will never go there. I save it all for Nick and Brian LOL.
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--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 08, 2011, 12:58:19 PM ---I've killed off Leighanne before, but I would never touch Baylee in one of my fics. That does seem wrong. Like you said, it's hard to explain why that feels wrong, but not writing about - in my case, torturing - the real guys, but it's where I draw the line.
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--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 19, 2020, 09:15:32 PM ---Pedophilia is one disease I will never give a Backstreet Boy LOL.
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I guess I will inevitably write a story based on someone else's idea about one of the Boys being a pedophile who rapes and murders underage Baylee while Nickelback plays in the background. Sigh...
I also came across my first post about My Brother's Keeper, or the idea that would become MBK. That was this idea!
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on August 06, 2013, 09:11:03 PM ---Well, it happened; I got my Take Care idea! For now it's just going in my idea pile, but here's a sign of the impact Kevin had on me this weekend - it's a Kevin idea! I never get Kevin ideas! Probably more Kevin/Nick, but still... crazy! Never thought I'd be choosing between a Howie story and a Kevin story to get my angst on.
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The Howie story was SAMS, which I wrote first, and now here I am writing the Kevin one. Crazy indeed.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 02, 2021, 06:49:07 PM ---I need that reminder sometimes too. Since I don't write ahead, so much of my motivation to write stems from my desire to get to a certain point or scene in a story... but I have to remember to just enjoy the process of writing all the scenes that lead up to that too.
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That's why I like writing out of order. It gets it out of my head and lets me focus on what's currently happening. And keeps me writing on days where I have nothing to say about where I'm at. I think maybe it's a good thing to have a clear idea of what's coming, whether you're looking forward to it or writing ahead. Then it's easier to properly prepare for it down the line. :) I think that's when I always enjoy what I'm currently writing the most, when I know it's going to lead to a big blow later. I like to watch everyone suffer, basically, lol.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 02, 2021, 06:49:07 PM ---Yay! Good luck finishing your chapter today!
I had a better writing day too. I wrote 1,397 words, and now Nano says I'm up to 4 words per minute and will finish on June 19! I'm at the point where my chapter is long enough to finish, but as usual, I'm not to the end of my scene, so it will go longer. At least I'm out of montage/summary mode for the time being and in the middle of an actual scene now.
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I'm almost done! Just trying to figure out when this Nick and Kevin conversation ends. It feels like it's almost done, especially because I popped over here instead of finishing it. So that tells me I have nothing important to add in this conversation, Kevin's busy thinking about something else he doesn't feel like sharing, and Nick's realistically too involved in his own head to care to continue poking Kevin, but at least he's trying anyway. If only Brian weren't busy sleeping; he'd have a lot of things to say, ha.
Awesome! 1,397 words! That is productive and ahead of schedule! That's great! I hate when that happens, whenever I get to a point where a chapter could end length-wise, but isn't done yet and then I hem and haw over whether it's long enough to split into two chapters or if I should just leave it as one really long chapter. It's about 50/50 for which one happens depending on what the scene was.
I've glad you've made it out of the montage and back to things you find exciting again!
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 02, 2021, 06:49:07 PM ---Your washer caught on fire?! Oh noes!! That is scary.
Yes, I agree about grocery shopping on a Monday, but sometimes I'd rather just go quickly after work than waste time on my weekend going. I wrote in bed until 3, so I did not make it to the store LOL. But hey, now I don't have to put on a bra or real pants today. I have enough food for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow and hopefully enough creamer for my coffee tomorrow morning. It's the need for creamer that will motivate me to go tomorrow.
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Not fully on fire, that would have been scary! But it began smoking and then shook a lot with heavy loads, which is the precursor to fire, I think. So we decided it was just better to buy a new one and since the dryer was just as old, may as well buy that too.
That's true. I also don't like going on the weekend when it's the only thing I would have left the house for. At least you have food and possibly enough coffee creamer! I agree, coffee is an essential part of the day worth going to the grocery store for.
That's awesome that you were able to keep yourself motivated in pajama writing until 3pm! Another fact that points to it being a productive day!
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 02, 2021, 06:49:07 PM ---Great points. It's nice when you learn to enjoy writing just for the fun of it and not for the feedback. I appreciate feedback, but it's just an added bonus and not something I absolutely have to have to be happy with my work. I don't get as much as I used to in the early to mid-2000s when BSB fanfic was in its prime, but I still have a few loyal readers whom I appreciate. And it's nice to see the BSB section on AO3 steadily being updated, even though other sites have died down.
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Yes, an added bonus. It has been a nice lesson that I think I needed to step away to learn. As you know, I always used to be busy comparing and it was like comparing chicken to vegetables -- the only thing they have in common is they're food and you can buy them in a grocery store, lol. I do enjoy seeing that there are new stories on AO3 every week (and here, even if it's mostly just you, Tracy, and me). I feel like it would be a pretty sad feeling wanting to still write for a fandom, but being the only one doing it. I wonder if that ever happens. Did we research NKOTB fanfics on AO3 for a comparison? Or NSYNC fanfics?
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 02, 2021, 06:49:07 PM ---Yeah, I think that's part of it too. I wrote almost nothing but Brian stories in my first couple years of writing fanfic and used up most of my ideas LOL. I actually have recycled the basic premises of some of those really old stories more recently. The first story I finished writing was a Brian heart transplant story, and I started another one of those with a different storyline in 2008. I also have an old story about AJ contracting HIV from a one-night stand, and I reused that idea too.
I think the idea I wrote back in the day that I wish I had gotten at least a few years later is "Beside the Ocean." I've always loved the premise of that story. Nick tries to commit suicide at the beginning of the story and is saved by the girl next door. They get to know each other and eventually fall in love, and she helps him learn to appreciate life again. Then he finds out she's secretly been dying of a brain tumor the entire time. It's cliched and too simplistically written, but I like the contrast of him wanting to throw his life away while she desperately wants to live and knows she's dying.
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I figure, if it's been long enough and you have a slightly different premise (or not), may as well reuse old ideas. Why not?
Ooh, that dichotomy is heavy, but really interesting, and dare I say beautiful. I can see why that's one you wish you'd written post-Broken.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 02, 2021, 06:49:07 PM ---LOL at the Jaws metaphor! Oh Nick.
Hey, you never know! Sometimes it happens. Of course, mine was a Howie/Nick story, and my Kevin one is a Kevin & Nick story, so maybe you still need Nick in there to make it happen LOL.
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Did I mention that he was dressed in a left shark costume and carrying a boom box playing the Jaws theme? I probably should have mentioned that, lol. Oh Nick, indeed.
Well, I have one of those percolating, except it's Brian & Nick, lol. I don't think I could ever forget Nick too much and you're probably right, it would just feel a little off without his spotlight hogging glory.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 02, 2021, 06:54:06 PM ---I had to dedicate a separate post to replying to this part because it got too long LOL.
I have said it before! I just spent way too long looking up times when I have said I'll never do something LOL...
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LMFAO!!! That's a lot of nevers. Makes sense why you don't say it anymore.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 02, 2021, 06:54:06 PM ---or write fanfic in adulthood:
(God, I'm 36 now and still writing it LOL.)
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Special shout out to this one. The heart wants what the heart wants. Follow your muse where it leads.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 02, 2021, 06:54:06 PM ---Now to the things I said I will never do (or never do again) and still haven't:
I guess I will inevitably write a story based on someone else's idea about one of the Boys being a pedophile who rapes and murders underage Baylee while Nickelback plays in the background. Sigh...
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It's good to draw lines for yourself. I can't see you writing this either and this may be a thing where I would say it's okay to say never. Except for maybe the Nickleback lyrics. Maybe it's time for that so it doesn't end up in this hypothetical "never" story.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 02, 2021, 06:54:06 PM ---I also came across my first post about My Brother's Keeper, or the idea that would become MBK. That was this idea!
The Howie story was SAMS, which I wrote first, and now here I am writing the Kevin one. Crazy indeed.
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Aww! I love little blasts from the pasts like this where you can look back and see ideas forming. It's why I always liked that thread we hijacked and planned 00Carter in. :)
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 07:28:50 PM ---I think maybe it's a good thing to have a clear idea of what's coming, whether you're looking forward to it or writing ahead. Then it's easier to properly prepare for it down the line. :) I think that's when I always enjoy what I'm currently writing the most, when I know it's going to lead to a big blow later. I like to watch everyone suffer, basically, lol.
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Yes, yes, and yes! All this! I don't write ahead, but I always have a clear idea of what's coming (maybe not in the next chapter, but over the course of the story). It does help. I actually got some outlining done this morning for the next few chapters of this section that I would like to be a montage, just based on what thinking about what I needed to happen for the next section of the story that I'm looking forward to to make sense. And yes, I think we all like watching our characters suffer LOL. We are sadists!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 07:28:50 PM ---Yes, an added bonus. It has been a nice lesson that I think I needed to step away to learn. As you know, I always used to be busy comparing and it was like comparing chicken to vegetables -- the only thing they have in common is they're food and you can buy them in a grocery store, lol. I do enjoy seeing that there are new stories on AO3 every week (and here, even if it's mostly just you, Tracy, and me). I feel like it would be a pretty sad feeling wanting to still write for a fandom, but being the only one doing it. I wonder if that ever happens. Did we research NKOTB fanfics on AO3 for a comparison? Or NSYNC fanfics?
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Wise words! I do think that would be depressing to be the only one writing for a fandom, especially if there wasn't anyone reading in that fandom. I don't think we did research NKOTB or NSYNC, but I bet there are still people writing for those fandoms... especially NKOTB, since they've actually gotten back together and done stuff more recently. But that's when you know it's truly a labor of love, when you write for a fandom no one's reading.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 07:28:50 PM ---I figure, if it's been long enough and you have a slightly different premise (or not), may as well reuse old ideas. Why not?
Ooh, that dichotomy is heavy, but really interesting, and dare I say beautiful. I can see why that's one you wish you'd written post-Broken.
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That's my thought as well. I've always put a different spin on the same or similar premise and made it darker and more mature, which is no different than being inspired by someone else's idea and making it your own.
Thanks! That was part of a string of stories with a suicide theme I wrote during my emo phase in 2000-2001 LOL. If I were ever going to straight out rewrite an old story, I think that would be the one worth rewriting because I could do those characters more justice now.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 02, 2021, 07:28:50 PM ---Did I mention that he was dressed in a left shark costume and carrying a boom box playing the Jaws theme? I probably should have mentioned that, lol. Oh Nick, indeed.
Well, I have one of those percolating, except it's Brian & Nick, lol. I don't think I could ever forget Nick too much and you're probably right, it would just feel a little off without his spotlight hogging glory.
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LMAO I love the mental image of that! Only I just see him singing, "Nicky shark, doo doo doo-doo-doo-doo..."
Brian & Nick is the best combo! Do it!!
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