Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread: Orlando Passaggio (aka The Writing Thread 3)
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on June 05, 2021, 04:47:52 PM ---Does your links page have descriptions of the stories too or just titles and authors? If there are descriptions, I'm sure it would be a good resource if anyone was looking for a specific story from way back when. At least on AO3, you might be able to find it if you knew what the author might tag it as. Although, we all seem less specific on those, so there's probably some genre combing involved.
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The fanfic sites have short descriptions, but not specifics as far as what stories are on each site. I do have a page of links to my favorite fanfics that includes summaries of each story.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on June 05, 2021, 04:47:52 PM ---You know, I haven't. It would be fun to have all the behind the scenes stuff with it, but it's probably not something I want to tackle just yet until I decide for sure if I want to try and market it as OF or not. If I commit to trying to publish it, the less places it needs to be removed from, the better, probably. At this point, I think it's only here and AO3. I assume any lingering hint of it on BSBBLVD is long gone if they still archive old threads (or if the site even exists, haven't looked into it much) and I think it was maybe two other places which could be gone with the geocities purge. I haven't looked into it much at this point, but probably need to eventually.
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That's a good point. It would be so hard to have to take a story down, but at least it would be for a good reason!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on June 05, 2021, 04:47:52 PM ---I remember you mentioning that about the Ruins when we were talking about adaptations a while ago, actually. I think I'll check it out at some point.
I haven't read that one! I'll add it to the list. Carrie was definitely one of my favorites. And The Shining. I always meant to read The Dark Tower and never did.
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I probably do talk about The Ruins a lot because it really is one of my favorite horror movies and books, and I don't know anyone else personally who has read it. Stephen King has read it and praised it though, so there you go.
I've never read The Dark Tower books either, but everyone who has says they're really good, so I should get on that. I also want to reread The Shining because I read it in high school and didn't love it. I think I was comparing it too much to the movie, which I grew up watching and love, and the book is very different. I finally read Carrie a few years ago and enjoyed that one. My favorites of his older horror books are 'Salem's Lot, The Stand, and Misery, although I have a soft spot for Cujo too. That was the first King book I read when I was like 14, and it always stuck with me. I loved the way he wrote the dog and made Cujo a sympathetic character who I cried for, even though of course I was rooting for the human characters to escape too. Poor Cujo never meant to hurt anyone; he was just sick.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on June 05, 2021, 04:47:52 PM ---It may be. I wonder if it's also more frowned upon depending on how anything potentially triggering is handled. Like if it's in there just for shock value, I could see how it would be more upsetting than things that are handled from a place of realism and care. That and it's not like traditionally published works include any warnings or ratings for that matter.
Speaking of kinks, I'm almost to the point of posting my sex scene and I am very concerned about what kind of fetishes people will assume I have personally, lol.
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Oh yeah, that make sense too. There's a difference between writing things purely for shock value and writing shocking things that have a purpose for the plot and/or character development.
I have been there with writing fetishy stuff and then worrying about readers will assume about me. That's when the author's notes come out. LOL I always feel the need to explain that just because a character or scene comes out of my brain does not mean it's actually based on me or something I would enjoy in real life. I think people get that, though. No one thinks Stephen King is a serial killer just because he writes horror.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on June 05, 2021, 04:47:52 PM ---Valid point! I'll go painting googling again. Otherwise some sort of broody Nick circa 2003-2006 that would look good blue-scaled; I can look for that too, but if you have any ideas off hand, I trust your judgement. I always liked the one I went with for PBox (I feel like a few different people gave me options originally), but couldn't tell you what the font is. Here's the PBox one: https://absolutechaos.net/stories/396/images/pbox.JPG I will need to ponder on a snappy tagline that fits in a 200 x 200 square, lol. My hope is to put them in a little line on the series descriptor, so it's probably good if they're the same size.
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That's super helpful, thanks! Yeah, if you find specific pictures you want me to use, send them my way. Otherwise, I can find a broody Nick from that era. And I can give it a similar look to the PBox banner. I think I even have a font that's similar, if not the same.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on June 05, 2021, 04:47:52 PM ---Well, I'd make my usual joke here, but I feel like the odds are much lower than the song, lol. I wonder how long it takes to reject an organ... Does it depend on the organ? I wonder if taking the medicine beforehand would make it longer? Do you ever get to a point where you don't need the medicine? I know nothing about health and medicine, basically, lol! I roped my bestie into being my "is this medically realistic consultant" as I OF PBox and the first thing I asked was, "can hand sanitizer be used to disinfect a cut in a pinch?" And she said, "not really, also it would hurt like hell, but a naive teenager might think it would, so you could probably still write that." And I thought it was needlessly complicated if it wouldn't actually work, so I scrapped that thought path.
You know, I wouldn't call the female lead of that story a self-insert, but it was dangerously close and I feel like I wanted nothing to do with being related to an NSYNC member, so I made up a band, lmao.
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I know acute liver failure can happen quickly, like after an overdose. One of my more recent stories also includes a liver transplant subplot (see, there I go recycling storylines again LOL), so I did do proper research for that. I read articles about people needing liver transplants after overdosing on Tylenol, which is incredibly toxic to the liver in high doses. If the liver completely shuts down, it would kill you within a week or so. But I'm not sure how long it would take for a transplanted liver to reject and completely shut down without those anti-rejection meds. Four days seems a little fast. I think typically those meds have to be taken for the rest of the person's life.
I'm sure hand sanitizer or any kind of alcohol is better than nothing for disinfecting a cut in a pinch, but yeah, that does seem like it would hurt! I know sanitizing my hands at school after getting a paper cut definitely stings.
LOL I don't blame you for not wanting your almost self-insert character to be related to an NSYNC member!
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on June 05, 2021, 04:58:53 PM ---I think what I did with them near the end of my initial fanfic career was looking at nationalities, regions, and popularity lists more than specific meanings.
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That's what I tend to do too. I love Social Security's baby names site because you can look up lists of popular names from different years. I tend to start by scrolling through those lists to narrow it down to names I like, and then if I care about the meanings I'll look them up. Nationalities are helpful too, especially when writing characters you don't want to give a typical, American-sounding name.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on June 05, 2021, 04:58:53 PM ---There's still time! lol
It's definitely one of the more popular masculine names from our era. I think in fanfic at the time, it was shorthand for "this is the tomboyish character" rather than "seemed like a good name for the character."
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LOL True! I technically never finished that story; I still have a bunch of ideas for it saved. One of them may even have been a slash storyline. So if I ever feel like resurrecting it, I have that option.
Also very true about the tomboyish character. Do you tend to give characters names that fit their personality or intentionally go the opposite route? I've probably done the former more than the latter, but sometimes I like giving female characters names that can be shortened to a nickname that fits them better than their full name.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on June 05, 2021, 05:11:24 PM ---How's writing going the past couple days for everyone?
I woke up yesterday and all I wanted to do was write, but it was the literal end of the story and I promised myself that I wouldn't keep editing the end until I got there in the arcs, especially with five chapters left. I caved and wrote about 80 words of it and I'm glad I did because by the time I got home, I was too exhausted to write. What a waste of an inspiration day! I wonder if I would have chunked out this whole arc if I'd just stayed home and wrote, lol.
I've gotten a little over 1300 words so far today though, but kept focus failing an hour ago, so I decided to take a break and remind you all that I'm not dead, lol. I'm about 1,000 words from what could be the end of this chapter and it feels like I have the next chapter in me today too! (Or at least the start of it. I'm not quite as excited about the whole thing I was about it yesterday.) If I could get both chapters done (or even started), I would feel super productive! I'm happy that this ending is feeling more like "get it done" than "avoid and stare into the void."
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Aww, I hate those days when all you want to do is write, but you can't! I'm glad you were able to get some writing in today. I hope that inspired, excited feeling comes back tomorrow!
I've written about 500 words a day for the past two days. Today I had plans in the afternoon, so I didn't get to write as long as I might have otherwise, but yesterday I didn't do anything and still couldn't get back into writing mode after I stopped my morning/early afternoon session. I haven't had a good late night writing session in a while. But I actually went to bed at a decent time because I was tired and am back up, wide awake, at 2 a.m., so maybe tonight's the night LOL. I am also contemplating whether I should drink some writing fuel or if that's a really dumb thing to do in the middle of the night. I don't have anywhere to be tomorrow, but I also don't want to intentionally mess up my sleep schedule any more than it already is or will be a few weeks from now.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on June 05, 2021, 11:35:55 PM ---Did not have a third coffee. Managed about 700 more words, but very tired. Can't focus even though I know exactly what's supposed to happen for the rest of the chapter. Sigh. Hopefully sleep repairs my inspiration/focus and I can finish these two chapters tomorrow! About 900 words and 500 words to chapter length goals. Although the second chapter feels like it may need more than 500 words to finish, we'll see! It was a very productive day! If I can finish both of these tomorrow, I would be very excited! Then only three chapters left! I guess it's technically three full chapters, 1/3 of one chapter, and 1/6 of another chapter to go! Can't believe it's almost the end!
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It was probably a wise decision not to have a third cup of coffee, but I'm sorry you weren't able to focus. I hate that feeling. That's what has been happening to me too. I hope you wake up refreshed and focused tomorrow! Three more chapters... you've got this!!
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 06, 2021, 02:09:20 AM ---The fanfic sites have short descriptions, but not specifics as far as what stories are on each site. I do have a page of links to my favorite fanfics that includes summaries of each story.
That's a good point. It would be so hard to have to take a story down, but at least it would be for a good reason!
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That would be a long links page to list every fanfic on every website, lol! At least your favorites page has summaries.
Yeah, that's why I haven't just bit the bullet yet... And am still publishing the sequel into the void like a crazy person, lol.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 06, 2021, 02:09:20 AM ---I probably do talk about The Ruins a lot because it really is one of my favorite horror movies and books, and I don't know anyone else personally who has read it. Stephen King has read it and praised it though, so there you go.
I've never read The Dark Tower books either, but everyone who has says they're really good, so I should get on that. I also want to reread The Shining because I read it in high school and didn't love it. I think I was comparing it too much to the movie, which I grew up watching and love, and the book is very different. I finally read Carrie a few years ago and enjoyed that one. My favorites of his older horror books are 'Salem's Lot, The Stand, and Misery, although I have a soft spot for Cujo too. That was the first King book I read when I was like 14, and it always stuck with me. I loved the way he wrote the dog and made Cujo a sympathetic character who I cried for, even though of course I was rooting for the human characters to escape too. Poor Cujo never meant to hurt anyone; he was just sick.
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I'll read it someday, then we can discuss it together.
The book is very different, but I think they're both great in their own ways! Poor Cujo indeed! It was a very nuanced way of writing a "villain," I guess Cujo is the closest thing to a villain there. It's pretty hard to fully demonize a dog though, especially when so many people are Team Pets Over People. It's been a long time since I've read Cujo. Or any King, really. My mom loves him, so it was an easy read to pick up instead of having to trudge to the library.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 06, 2021, 02:09:20 AM ---Oh yeah, that make sense too. There's a difference between writing things purely for shock value and writing shocking things that have a purpose for the plot and/or character development.
I have been there with writing fetishy stuff and then worrying about readers will assume about me. That's when the author's notes come out. LOL I always feel the need to explain that just because a character or scene comes out of my brain does not mean it's actually based on me or something I would enjoy in real life. I think people get that, though. No one thinks Stephen King is a serial killer just because he writes horror.
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I think it goes back to the "know or are willing to research" aspect. If it's truly important to the plot or character development, then I imagine most authors would put in the due diligence to portray things as accurately (and hopefully sympatheticall y) as possible.
My author's note for that chapter: "You may assume at this point that I have a weird demon fetish. I don't! Although, I've now written two novels about demons and begun a third... in addition to never having met a demon... So who can say for sure? Probably not though." lol I get wanting to separate your person from your fiction.
You never know! Isn't it something like there's anywhere between 25 and 50 active serial killers at any time? Yup! Found it: https://people.com/crime/miranda-barbour-and-serial-killers-misconceptions/
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 06, 2021, 02:09:20 AM ---That's super helpful, thanks! Yeah, if you find specific pictures you want me to use, send them my way. Otherwise, I can find a broody Nick from that era. And I can give it a similar look to the PBox banner. I think I even have a font that's similar, if not the same.
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This will be my fanfic adjacent project this week, lol. I'm excited to see it.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 06, 2021, 02:09:20 AM ---I know acute liver failure can happen quickly, like after an overdose. One of my more recent stories also includes a liver transplant subplot (see, there I go recycling storylines again LOL), so I did do proper research for that. I read articles about people needing liver transplants after overdosing on Tylenol, which is incredibly toxic to the liver in high doses. If the liver completely shuts down, it would kill you within a week or so. But I'm not sure how long it would take for a transplanted liver to reject and completely shut down without those anti-rejection meds. Four days seems a little fast. I think typically those meds have to be taken for the rest of the person's life.
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That makes sense that it would happen quickly after an overdose. Isn't the liver an organ that regenerates? I wonder how much you have to damage your own liver in order to need a transplant rather than just waiting for it to get better? Am I making this up? Isn't Tylenol pretty toxic in general? I feel like doctors are always recommending ibuprofin over tylenol for pain medication. If a liver shuts down and would kill you after a week, I'm sure that's probably a reasonable timeline for being off anti-rejection meds. Maybe throw in another day for the previous day's dose to fully wear of or something. Although, I feel like if I was Nick and on a "take this or die" medication, I wouldn't forget it? We've gotta be better about keeping Nick healthy!
You'll be proud of me, he hasn't gotten stabbed once yet in PNcklace! But now that I've realized that... maybe he's due for a stabbing? lol Poor Nick.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 06, 2021, 02:09:20 AM ---I'm sure hand sanitizer or any kind of alcohol is better than nothing for disinfecting a cut in a pinch, but yeah, that does seem like it would hurt! I know sanitizing my hands at school after getting a paper cut definitely stings.
LOL I don't blame you for not wanting your almost self-insert character to be related to an NSYNC member!
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My hands were really dry one random day after I asked that, and I definitely muttered a swear under my breath after trying to use hand sanitizer. I promptly texted her and admitted defeat. I'm glad I decided not to use it. Stabbing Nick is okay, but torturing him with hand sanitizer is just mean, lol.
Especially back in 1999! The shame! lol
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 06, 2021, 02:27:15 AM ---That's what I tend to do too. I love Social Security's baby names site because you can look up lists of popular names from different years. I tend to start by scrolling through those lists to narrow it down to names I like, and then if I care about the meanings I'll look them up. Nationalities are helpful too, especially when writing characters you don't want to give a typical, American-sounding name.
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I haven't used the Social Security site, but it's exciting to know they have it! And it's probably where any baby name site gets their popularity list data anyway.
I think in general, I care less about meaningful names than I used to. I think I'm leaning more into the meaningful names for the OF PBox Boys simply to say, "yeah that seems like it could be Brian's name if he was named something else," lol.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 06, 2021, 02:27:15 AM ---LOL True! I technically never finished that story; I still have a bunch of ideas for it saved. One of them may even have been a slash storyline. So if I ever feel like resurrecting it, I have that option.
Also very true about the tomboyish character. Do you tend to give characters names that fit their personality or intentionally go the opposite route? I've probably done the former more than the latter, but sometimes I like giving female characters names that can be shortened to a nickname that fits them better than their full name.
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What made you decide to stop writing it?
Back in meaningful name days, I definitely did, but now I'm more of the opinion that parents would just name a kid something because they liked it, not because they were intending them to be whatever. Like hubs is definitely "Nick" because he was born around St. Nicholas Day, not because my FIL/MIL intended him to be a "victory for the people" or anything. He's probably not; jury might be out on whether our BSB Nick is a victory for the people, lol. Nickname names are a good way to give a character a more meaningful name without picking something weird based solely on its meaning, I think. I did pick based on meaning when you suggested possible old man character names for me and enjoyed the old man soundingness of Virgil and that it meant "staff bearer," so I was sold, lol. Perfectly fitting for the character I had written.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 06, 2021, 02:27:15 AM ---Aww, I hate those days when all you want to do is write, but you can't! I'm glad you were able to get some writing in today. I hope that inspired, excited feeling comes back tomorrow!
I've written about 500 words a day for the past two days. Today I had plans in the afternoon, so I didn't get to write as long as I might have otherwise, but yesterday I didn't do anything and still couldn't get back into writing mode after I stopped my morning/early afternoon session. I haven't had a good late night writing session in a while. But I actually went to bed at a decent time because I was tired and am back up, wide awake, at 2 a.m., so maybe tonight's the night LOL. I am also contemplating whether I should drink some writing fuel or if that's a really dumb thing to do in the middle of the night. I don't have anywhere to be tomorrow, but I also don't want to intentionally mess up my sleep schedule any more than it already is or will be a few weeks from now.
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I wrote about 4,000 words yesterday, so I wonder where I would have been if I could have done that on Friday, lol. I ended up sleeping in really late today, so if anything, my two cups of coffee made me really tired by the end of the day.
I've gotten about 1,200 so far today and am still not done with this chapter (the one that only required 500 more words). There's like two more things that need to happen, but I got super hungry and needed to eat. Then I followed you all on Twitter and checked in here, lol. Hopefully I can get back into it after this. Nano says I can write to the end of the month if I write about 360 words every day, which seems super doable, but I also think I've got more than that in me. We'll see!
Are you still on your Kevin chapter or are you back to Nick? It's interesting that you're having weekend slumps now rather than mid-week slumps. Do you think it's because more people want to do things on the weekend? How did waking up at 2am end up going? Did you write a lot or drink any caffeine?
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on June 06, 2021, 02:27:15 AM ---It was probably a wise decision not to have a third cup of coffee, but I'm sorry you weren't able to focus. I hate that feeling. That's what has been happening to me too. I hope you wake up refreshed and focused tomorrow! Three more chapters... you've got this!!
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I would have been a mess! It was for the best, although once I got into bed I was no longer tired and wide awake, but no writing inspiration came. Hopefully today is super productive for you too! Let's see if I can get back into this arc and finish it off today! Gotta go back and finish the other chapter where I just left myself a note that said [stuff happens]... Why am I like this? lol
Hope your writing has been well! And anyone else who's writing too!
nicksgal:
One of those two partially finished chapters complete plus the last scene from that arc in the final chapter! Now just 900 words to go back and get through to finish this arc! OMG, feels so exciting! I think I'm going to finish a novel this month, everyone! :o
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