Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread: Orlando Passaggio (aka The Writing Thread 3)
RokofAges75:
Here's another rant about AO3: I hate how it automatically labels each chapter as Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc. What if you have a Prologue and Epilogue and don't want them called "Chapter" anything? I started posting SAMS and had to just post the prologue (which is very short, thankfully) and first chapter together as "Chapter 1." Otherwise my numbering would have been off for the whole story, and I would have gotten confused when posting.
I just need to not do prologues and epilogues anymore. I think SAMS is the last story that has both.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---I figured out how to use the advanced search to put all the AO3 stories in ascending order by date last updated, and there are a whole bunch dated 1950 that were clearly not actually written in 1950 LOL. A few pages in, I found a Beatles fanfic backdated to 1964. That could just be the year the story takes place, but it could be legit. At least a Beatles fic written in 1964 makes sense, unlike the One Direction/Harry Potter crossover that is also dated 1964 LOL. Apparently people were also writing Game of Thrones fanfic in 1969 LOL. Then there are a series of Star Trek fanfics from 1975 that are legit and were originally published in fanzines.
I do remember the one narrated by Kevin's cat Quincy. I'm not sure if I ever actually read it, but I definitely remember coming across it back in the day.
--- End quote ---
Those 1975 Star Trek ones make perfect sense. I'm going to say those are the earliest ones posted.
None of the other ones by the author sounded familiar though, so who knows!
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---LOL Basically. It's described as a form of hurt/comfort that's heavy on the hurt.
--- End quote ---
Aww, I think the hurt and comfort need to be at least equal. You know I love to torture Nick, but he's gotta have a chance at earning his happy ending.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---How has your writing gone tonight? I also got a very late start today. My teacher bestie invited me over for day drinking and dinner, so I mowed the lawn and then headed over to her house and didn't write anything until about 9 p.m., when I wrote a sentence just to make sure I got something down. I am not anticipating writing much more tonight, but hopefully tomorrow will be better now that I got my yard work and socializing quota in for the long weekend.
My only request is Death by Snail! Otherwise, write what you wanna write!
--- End quote ---
I hung out with my bestie today for brunch and then we ended up watching Soul, so good! It was really nice catching up with her in person. And it's been raining all day, so I came home ready to write and wrote about 350 words then picked hubs up from the train station. Then we ate dinner and cuddled, but now he's sleeping, so I'm ready to start writing a little again. I did spend a long time in my earlier writing session doing some rereading looking for the right quote, but I've got it and can move on now!
Your day sounds fun too! :) Or at least productive for the lawn mowing (not sure if it is also fun, lol). Glad you got a sentence in! Keep the streak alive for the month!
And don't worry, Death by Snail is the plan!
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---I don't know yet. The Brian horror story, Fallen Angel, is still a possibility. I also have a Nick suspense idea. Or I may come up with something brand new. Or maybe go back to Guilty Roads... ha! We'll see. I'm not far enough into MBK to give it any serious thought yet. I just posted Chapter 10 yesterday and started Chapter 19 today, so I'm 8 finished chapters ahead. I'm still thinking it's going to be in the 40-50 chapter range. It feels like I could be nearing the halfway point.
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Didn't word that well, haha. I meant if you'll want to hang on to the ending for a regular posting schedule or quicken your posting pace at that point. It was more a pondering than a question. Don't derail yourself on to the next thing yet! You're almost halfway done! That's exciting!
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---LOL Poor Howie.
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I know... I'm terrible to poor Howie! I think the next chapter may be Howie's POV chapter.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---Downer endings are tough. Do you think that's why you haven't finished any of the ones that were supposed to be downers (or, in the case of PBox, changed them to be bittersweet?).
--- End quote ---
Not sure! I think it was more that they were Nick romances without the other Boys more than anything else! That and a downer romance is less fun.
PBox only became bittersweet because Nick refused to die, lol. It was for the best.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---I only have one true downer of an ending to a novel in the post-Broken era, and it's the one that gives me the least sense of satisfaction or emotional connection. It ends with two of the four main characters dead, one in prison, and one widowed. I stand by that ending and would not change any of the characters' fates, but although I like the story, it's not one I particularly enjoyed writing or look back at with a lot of nostalgia the way I do other novels. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the ending itself, or if it's just coincidence that the ones with happy or bittersweet endings are the ones I feel more connected to.
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I wonder if it has something to do with how you felt about writing it at the time. If you didn't feel connected to it with enjoyment while writing it, it makes sense that you wouldn't have nostalgia about it now. How far before getting to the downer ending did you start feeling the disconnect? Was it one you planned the downer ending for from the beginning?
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---Yeah, I don't think Nick was a hot mess yet at 19. That was more 2003-2008ish. Brian and Kevin getting married and then Kevin leaving the group probably didn't help, but I also think he was just at that age where he needed to find himself, the way most kids do in college. Since he didn't go to college, he did it in his own way.
Fine... here, Kevin, have a plot bunny. Just don't have #Anal Sex with it.
--- End quote ---
It's probably really hard trying to find yourself in the public eye. I feel for him. I'm sure I had plenty of hot mess moments, they were just much less widely documented, lol. I think we all do a little experimenting and soul searching in our early twenties. Modern society has just kind of made it that way.
LMAO!
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---I wanna say 2001? Maybe 2002? Somewhere around there.
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Hmmm... Nope, that would be too late. I definitely started writing fanfic in 1999. I didn't post it anywhere (at the time), but I definitely wrote it. I have no idea then.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---Oh girl! You did miss a lot!
That was my reaction the first time I saw it LOL. https://twitter.com/RokofAges75/status/269142830767824896 The replies to this tweet are where the term "pandaskunk" was coined.
And then Mare made a challenge about it, but I had already started writing my story: http://absolutechaos.net/fictalk/index.php/topic,3104.15.html
--- End quote ---
I know! I told you to shame me!
LOL! I enjoyed all the "this has Nick written all over it." The Boys were just not animated well. I see you broke her "one chapter" challenge rules too, lol.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---Yeah, I think I would have a harder time writing a story set in college or high school now. Another nail in the coffin for my Broken original novel LOL. Maybe there's more hope for Gobosei. See... never say never!
--- End quote ---
It's not that bad with PBox! I mean, most of it doesn't take place in school, so that might be the difference, but it wasn't too bad getting back into "things that happen in high school" mindset. Although, the difference may be that while "coming of age" is a theme, high school drama tropes are not.
Aww, I bet many themes from Broken as is would still cross over without seeming too high school even with a high school aged protagonist.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 10:33:38 PM ---I don't think it's nice. Imagine missing BSB at their peak! We were born at the perfect time. The late 90s were awesome!! I think 1997 in particular was a magical year because so many of my favorite things came out in that year: BSB's U.S. debut, Titanic, South Park, and Harry Potter, to name a few.
It was after 4 by the time I finally went to sleep! Two days in, and I'm already getting into my "stay up all night and sleep all morning" summer schedule.
--- End quote ---
Good point. I wouldn't give up experiencing the late 90's first hand! I forget sometimes that all those things were in 1997, but you're right! Super magical!
And you don't have to teach vampire kids at night to do it! How does it feel getting back to your natural circadian rhythm? That feels so late though! Now I feel old again.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 30, 2021, 11:08:27 PM ---Here's another rant about AO3: I hate how it automatically labels each chapter as Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc. What if you have a Prologue and Epilogue and don't want them called "Chapter" anything? I started posting SAMS and had to just post the prologue (which is very short, thankfully) and first chapter together as "Chapter 1." Otherwise my numbering would have been off for the whole story, and I would have gotten confused when posting.
I just need to not do prologues and epilogues anymore. I think SAMS is the last story that has both.
--- End quote ---
I don't like how it automatically labels them either. I like how on AC, you can just replace it with whatever you want to write. As you know, I'm a "Chapter One: Chapter Title" author and don't like "Chapter 1."
I get how having a "Chapter 1" for the Prologue would be weird, because then the first chapter would be "Chapter 2."
I wonder what the reasoning behind the automatic labels was.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---Those 1975 Star Trek ones make perfect sense. I'm going to say those are the earliest ones posted.
None of the other ones by the author sounded familiar though, so who knows!
--- End quote ---
Yep, they do make perfect sense! I know Star Trek fanfic published in fanzines was a major thing in the history of fanfic. I'm not a Trekkie, but it's cool to see some of them archived online.
I do remember the name Carrie/Kikiduck. I'm not sure I ever actually read any of her stories, but I know she was around in the early days.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---Aww, I think the hurt and comfort need to be at least equal. You know I love to torture Nick, but he's gotta have a chance at earning his happy ending.
--- End quote ---
I agree, the comfort part is important too. I don't know if mine are always equally balanced, but my "whumpiest" stories are usually the ones with the earned happy endings.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---I hung out with my bestie today for brunch and then we ended up watching Soul, so good! It was really nice catching up with her in person. And it's been raining all day, so I came home ready to write and wrote about 350 words then picked hubs up from the train station. Then we ate dinner and cuddled, but now he's sleeping, so I'm ready to start writing a little again. I did spend a long time in my earlier writing session doing some rereading looking for the right quote, but I've got it and can move on now!
Your day sounds fun too! :) Or at least productive for the lawn mowing (not sure if it is also fun, lol). Glad you got a sentence in! Keep the streak alive for the month!
And don't worry, Death by Snail is the plan!
--- End quote ---
Oh good! It's nice to catch up with friends. I don't always want to go be social (especially on a day when I was looking forward to writing), but I'm always glad I did.
It was absolutely perfect weather here today - sunny and upper 60s/lower 70s - so it was a good day to mow the lawn and hang outside. I hate yard work, but it's most tolerable on days like this.
I was hoping the 21 word sentence I wrote in one minute would improve my 3 words per minute average on Nano, but alas, it did not. Oh well. At least the streak is alive, and my next chapter is technically started. I probably won't continue it until morning when I am more clear-headed LOL.
I'm glad you found the quote you were looking for and can move on! And hooray for Death by Snail!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---Didn't word that well, haha. I meant if you'll want to hang on to the ending for a regular posting schedule or quicken your posting pace at that point. It was more a pondering than a question. Don't derail yourself on to the next thing yet! You're almost halfway done! That's exciting!
--- End quote ---
Oh! Haha, that makes sense now that I think about the conversation that led up to that part of your last post. I probably will stick to the regular posting schedule with this one.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---Not sure! I think it was more that they were Nick romances without the other Boys more than anything else! That and a downer romance is less fun.
PBox only became bittersweet because Nick refused to die, lol. It was for the best.
--- End quote ---
As someone who hates most romantic comedies and loves a good romantic tearjerker, I would argue that downer romances are way more fun! But that's just me. I do think stories with all the Boys are more fun than stories with just one of them, though, but that's harder with romance, where the focus usually is on one of them and a romantic partner. That's the beauty of slash - you can focus on at least two of them that way.
Aww, good for you for putting up a fight, PBox Nick! I don't think I've ever pardoned one of the Boys once I made the decision to kill him... I am merciless LOL. Or maybe I'm just more uncompromising when it comes to changing my planned ending.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---I wonder if it has something to do with how you felt about writing it at the time. If you didn't feel connected to it with enjoyment while writing it, it makes sense that you wouldn't have nostalgia about it now. How far before getting to the downer ending did you start feeling the disconnect? Was it one you planned the downer ending for from the beginning?
--- End quote ---
I do think that's a big part of it. I never did feel very connected to it. It was a story I started posting on a whim after a really productive writing weekend and then struggled to update consistently for over three years until I finally forced myself to finish it. I really do like the story and am happy with the finished product, but it's not one I particularly enjoyed writing. It was always more of a side project until I made it be my main project for one summer and finished it. The downer ending was planned all along; I had the whole thing outlined chapter by chapter from the beginning and didn't stay from my outline except to condense it a little. The fact that I forced myself to finish it does give me some hope that the same thing could happen with Guilty Roads someday.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---It's probably really hard trying to find yourself in the public eye. I feel for him. I'm sure I had plenty of hot mess moments, they were just much less widely documented, lol. I think we all do a little experimenting and soul searching in our early twenties. Modern society has just kind of made it that way.
--- End quote ---
Yes, I agree. I'm glad social media wasn't a big thing yet during most of that time in his life, so most of the bad behavior he's since copped to wasn't caught on video or widely publicized. There was enough to know he was not in the best place in his life, but so much more came out after the fact when he did that People interview and then wrote his memoir. I'm glad I did not know all those details at the time LOL.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---Hmmm... Nope, that would be too late. I definitely started writing fanfic in 1999. I didn't post it anywhere (at the time), but I definitely wrote it. I have no idea then.
--- End quote ---
I looked it up, and yep, it was May 2001. The Bauhaus is still online, just no longer being updated. http://backstreet-bauhaus.net/ So it must have been a different site. I read my first fanfic in the summer of 1999 and started writing it sometime in the winter... either the end of 99 or very beginning of 2000. I had finished my first "novel" (all 9,106 words of it LMAO) by February 2000 when I got it hosted on a site called Escape from Reality, which is also still online but no longer being updated. God bless Angelfire LOL. https://www.angelfire.com/ca2/theyvegotitgoinon/ This damn site stopped updating partway through posting my story, so it's not complete on the site. That kind of crap was a big motivator for me to figure out how to make my own site so I could be in control.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---I know! I told you to shame me!
LOL! I enjoyed all the "this has Nick written all over it." The Boys were just not animated well. I see you broke her "one chapter" challenge rules too, lol.
--- End quote ---
My story was not written for the challenge. I had already started it before Mare issued the challenge and knew it was going to be more than one chapter and have a banner, so I didn't even bother submitting it for that. But yeah - this is why I don't do most challenges; I hate having rules to follow LOL.
Funny story - I flew out to Vegas to go to an IAWLT show with Rose and another friend in 2013, and we made shirts with the pandaskunk on the front. We did VIP, and the Boys liked our shirts. We had a nice little conversation with them about that video and asked if Nick was the one who came up with the pandaskunk or overall concept. They said no, it was just designed by whatever animation company did the video. We were disappointed there was no good back story behind it, but oh well. At least we got a fun interaction out of it. We wore those same shirts on one of the cruises, and Brian noticed us in the crowd (because they are bright red), so now it's become our thing. We make new pandaskunk shirts in different colors for every tour.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---It's not that bad with PBox! I mean, most of it doesn't take place in school, so that might be the difference, but it wasn't too bad getting back into "things that happen in high school" mindset. Although, the difference may be that while "coming of age" is a theme, high school drama tropes are not.
Aww, I bet many themes from Broken as is would still cross over without seeming too high school even with a high school aged protagonist.
--- End quote ---
That's good to know. I do think Broken would have worked well with Nick as a high schooler, but the older and further removed from high school I get, the harder it seems to write that character and setting realistically. Which is funny because when I was writing Broken, I was in high school and constantly questioning if my Nick seemed too immature because I was only 18 and didn't know what it was like to be 23 LOL.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:31:06 PM ---How does it feel getting back to your natural circadian rhythm? That feels so late though! Now I feel old again.
--- End quote ---
It feels good! I did some research on this last year and discovered there is a sleep disorder called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. It's where your natural circadian rhythm is off by at least two hours beyond what is considered "normal" sleeping and waking times, which makes it hard to fall asleep and wake up at normal times. I think I may have a mild case of it. It doesn't affect my day to day life because I don't let it - I drug myself with melatonin or Benadryl so I can sleep at night and wake up in the morning with multiple alarms - but it would explain why I fall into this nocturnal sleep pattern whenever I have an extended break from my normal work schedule. I have done this every summer since I started teaching and no longer had a summer job, but never on purpose - it just gradually happens. I also think it probably has a lot to do with my introverted personality and writing. I like being up at night because it's quiet and no one bugs me, so there are fewer distractions. I can focus better and be more productive. There's no pressure to run errands or be social or do yard work in the middle of the night, so I can write or do whatever I want guilt-free.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 30, 2021, 11:35:52 PM ---I don't like how it automatically labels them either. I like how on AC, you can just replace it with whatever you want to write. As you know, I'm a "Chapter One: Chapter Title" author and don't like "Chapter 1."
I get how having a "Chapter 1" for the Prologue would be weird, because then the first chapter would be "Chapter 2."
I wonder what the reasoning behind the automatic labels was.
--- End quote ---
Another good point about the "Chapter One" vs. "Chapter 1." AC is definitely better.
Yeah, I started out just posting the prologue as "Chapter 1" and the actual Chapter 1 as "Chapter 2," but I realized I would probably get confused by that down the road and leave out a chapter or something. So I just posted the prologue and Chapter 1 together and am now back on track.
nicksgal:
I'll pop back in a little later to respond to our writing discourse, but I've apparently missed writing Justin the "Magnificent Bastard," dang! I forgot just how joyfully evil he was. I'm only a tiny bit into this scene, but I am loving every second of it so far. See, this is why I can't tag PBox&Co as a crossover on AO3 even though it technically is one, lol.
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