Fic Talk > General Discussion
Writing & Thread (aka The Writing Thread 4)
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 11, 2021, 11:31:23 PM ---Is Season One even finished? Will we ever get to Season Two, let alone finish the whole story?
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LOL No. I think that would be a good goal for now... finish Season 1. We're like halfway through it, but in 00Carter time, that could mean we'll be working on it into our sixties LOL.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 11, 2021, 11:31:23 PM ---It's a shame it isn't. I feel like more of high school should allow for elective selection rather than just focusing on graduation requirements to prepare for college and career. I only say this knowing I finished 90% of my requirements by Junior Year, so I was really taking things like calculus as an elective because my mom wanted me to or AP Physics because my friends said we should all do it together... We should not have done it all together, lol.
Maybe it's better to do it for fun anyway. I think I would have hated it more if it was an assignment.
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I agree. Although it seems like the high school in the community where I teach offers a lot more electives than my high school did, so maybe it's different now, or maybe it just depends on the size of the school. My high school was smaller than the one I'm comparing it too, so not as many options. But it seems like there are more electives available for students on the vocational track who don't care about going to college. For the college-bound kids, the focus is definitely more on AP classes and getting so many credits for each subject area.
The only writing-related elective I took in high school was a print journalism class, which was a total joke - a lot of messing around and very little actual writing or learning. The best thing I got out of it was an appreciation for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which we watched in class during a unit on satire.
A creative writing class would have been interesting, but I would not want to be forced to write fiction for an assignment either - or share and discuss my work with random classmates. So I definitely think it's better to do it for fun.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 11, 2021, 11:31:23 PM ---Fair. Like you said, I can see both sides. Have you ever talked with anyone who read both? Either, they found you from Swollen Issues or you led them to it from Broken?
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I know people who have read both, but I don't remember ever asking them which one they thought was better. Too awkward of a question, at least at that time. If anyone here who has read both sees this and wants to weigh in, feel free. You won't offend me if you say you liked Swollen Issues better; I obviously love it, too, and am far enough removed from Broken to see its flaws.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 11, 2021, 11:31:23 PM ---Yeah, I think I usually ended up skipping the first few chapters of every Babysitters Club book now that you mention it. Why would I need to be reminded of something I loved? lol I guess it does feel like a little of a waste in a BSB fanfic, but then part of me thinks "Would I really mind someone waxing poetic on Nick's smile or Kevin's eyebrows or Brian's curls or Howie's wink or AJ's eyes when he just so slightly pulls down his sunglasses because it's the 90s again?" Probably not. Go ahead and replace Nick's smile with literally any part of his face while we're at it, lol. I'm pretty sure I never ordered a series out of order specifically to avoid having to read the backstory chapters, lol.
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I have definitely waxed poetic on some of their physical features, like Brian's "cerulean orbs" LOL. I think it works best when describing them from another character's perspective (especially when said character is a girl who finds them attractive), rather than doing it BSC style where you devote a paragraph to what each one looks like and what outfit they're wearing on that particular day. Though I did enjoy reading the descriptions of Stacey and Claudia's crazy outfits LOL.
In my defense, the Scholastic book order did not make it clear that the book was a sequel! They're not numbered or anything, but there are definitely some books featuring the same characters that come before it chronologicall y. So then when I read those later, I already knew which characters were going to die because it was spoiled for me. Curse you, Scholastic!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 11, 2021, 11:31:23 PM ---I don't think I ever considered using the internet to look up a map until I was writing PBox and needed a vague idea of New York City, lol. So you're right, "Florida is surrounded by ocean and Orlando is a city in Florida, therefore, Orlando is beachfront" is a pretty logical leap, lol. See, I thought about saying Tampa, but I figured if the Boys really did all live in a beach house together, Nick would want to be as far away from his family as possible. Isn't that why he likes the Keys so much? Obviously it has nothing to do with them being islands and islands being awesome, lol.
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I don't remember when I did either. I don't think I ever wrote one of those "they all live in a beach house in Orlando" stories, but I'm sure my old stories have some geographical errors. Although I remember one time a reader from Kentucky told me there was no airport in Lexington, and I was like, "Whoops, I guess I should have looked that up instead of assuming," and then I did look it up once, and there totally is an airport in Lexington! A small airport, sure, but still a real airport with major commercial airlines. But that was probably one of my first lessons in fact-checking locations I'm not familiar with. I often look up flights from one city to another to get an idea of travel time and availability of flights. Expedia always thinks I'm planning some cool vacation when I'm really not. :(
I think Undead is when I discovered the true potential of Google Maps - although, actually, I discovered that Bing Maps was better at that time for 3D satellite view. You can't Street View through an air force base, but you can get a good bird's eye view.
LOL Yeah, Nick would totally prefer the Keys to get away from his family. I bet the beaches/water are also nicer down there. Never been to either place though.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 11, 2021, 11:31:23 PM ---This is really off topic, but speaking of Nick's family... I was thinking the other day about how his mom made Brian his legal guardian in Germany. First of all, how crazy is that to look at some 18-year-old and say "yes, you can be my 13-year-old's legal guardian." I'm guessing Brian didn't just volunteer. lol. Was it because Brian's Christian values seemed more wholesome than Kevin who had been a legal adult for a few years at that point? I have so many questions.
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I wondered that, too. Why Brian and not Kevin or Howie? They were both real adults who also had religious values, and Howie even had a college degree and had known Nick longer. Was it just because Nick was closest to Brian? Just one of many questionable parenting decisions Nick's parents made.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 11, 2021, 11:56:44 PM ---Same! Sometimes I'll have one drink while I write, but any more than that and it usually just makes me sleepy. I am definitely more of a social drinker.
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Same. I can do it, but I am the absolute slowest snail. And I sit right against the screen, squinting as I think really hard, lol.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 11, 2021, 11:56:44 PM ---Thanks!
Um, technically neither, but I did get the bathroom all prepped for painting. I wiped down the walls, put down painter's tape, and took all my painting supplies upstairs. It's all ready for me to go up there, pour some paint in the tray, and go for it. Maybe tonight, unless I get on a writing kick. I finally had a good writing session after waking up this afternoon LOL. I forced myself to make coffee and take it back to bed, and voila! I stayed there three hours and wrote over 700 words, which is by far the most productive writing session I've had this month. I'm now nearing the middle of my chapter, so I hope the rest will be easier.
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Yay! I'm glad coffee did the trick! :) Hopefully getting through the middle was a breeze! Or you got painting done. I think either is productive.
I gotta finish this edit and write at least something for my current project. I was so Backstreet excited this afternoon, then I sat through a PD and now I'm tired. So I think I have a hotel room description in me, but not much else.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 11, 2021, 11:56:44 PM ---Oh cool, I'll have to look that up! I think I have that channel.
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I think you said you have Xfinity. So you should if you do.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 11, 2021, 11:56:44 PM ---I need to finish my editing-all-the-mistakes-Google-Docs-found project first, and once I finish that, I'm going to make new ebook versions with the new covers I made earlier in the summer. I haven't felt like working on that in a while either though. Why did I write such long stories?! LOL
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Oh right, I forgot that you were working on that project! You wrote long stories because they needed to be that length. Hopefully the mood strikes again. Or maybe it will once you hit 150 days and take a little break.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 11, 2021, 11:56:44 PM ---If only Safest Place to Hide existed in April 2000! I had that song playing in the background of my site for quite a while after NG came out because I felt it perfectly fit the theme. It even has the word "sanctuary" in it LOL. But at least I didn't call it something like "jOoLiEe'Z kEwL bSb FaNfIcZ!" That would have aged much worse.
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Aww, I love that song. That would have been a good choice. LMFAO! But I love "jOoLiEe'Z kEwL bSb FaNficZ"! Although, where are the squiggles and stars? lol "^~*jOoLiEe'Z kEwL bSb FaNficZ*~^" At least we would know that it had kewl BSB fanfics.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 11, 2021, 11:56:44 PM ---LOL Those are just walkways. The driveway is off the garage, and you can't even see the house from the road down below/Google Street View. Gotta use the satellite view and zoom in on 3D to see anything LOL. Since he doesn't live there anymore, here is the realtor.com listing that has the address if you want to look it up on Google Maps: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1377-Miller-Dr_Los-Angeles_CA_90069_M29784-27493
Yeah, I'm a stalker. All in the name of accuracy! LOL
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You know what, that makes way more sense. Why did I think it was a road? lol That is exactly as rustic as I was expecting Kevin's house to be.
A stalker of history. Doesn't that make you an Indiana Jones type? lol
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 11, 2021, 11:56:44 PM ---I get this. I typically keep track of timelines in my outlines for stories like this, but putting in every tour date or whatever is so time-consuming! I did it for Curtain Call because there's a good chunk of chapters that follows the first leg of the TIU tour from city to city, so I needed to know every date. But for MBK, I just put in the start and end dates of each leg of the Unbreakable tour. I can't tell you how many times I've had to look up the full list of tour dates in Wikipedia to find out where they were on specific dates in between, and they were only on tour for a few chapters LOL. I guess even if I did write them down, I would have still had to look them up on my outline, so I'm not sure it would have saved me much time.
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Yes! It's that level of detail I just feel like I can't commit to and have zero desire to keep looking up, but here we are. It's why I hate writing about the tours and actively avoid it as much as I can. I know this is the same as looking up anything else in research, but I just feel like I gloss over if it's a bunch of names and dates. Also, I feel like when it's a tour, that is a thing people can actively look up, so it requires more accuracy instead of just hand-waving. I'd rather hand-wave.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 11, 2021, 11:56:44 PM ---Yeah, I think that's the advantage to you writing so far in the past. I doubt anyone's going to remember what specific media appearances they did when. I am pretty sure they did that two-hour live MTV special on the Sunday before Millennium came out and then a shorter live special on release day. I still have both of those on a VHS tape somehow and used to watch the two-hour one a lot. Beyond that, I don't remember.
It's definitely easier when you make up the timeline yourself, as long as you keep track of it so you can stay consistent.
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Thank goodness! My four things are already exhausting, lol. Thankfully, I'm pretty sure this story ends before Millennium gets released (for the most part), so I really don't have to worry about it. And aww, I miss recording BSB things on VHS tapes.
Can confirm. Don't have to look up tour schedules. Thank goodness.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 11, 2021, 11:56:44 PM ---IWITW is so iconic! Seriously one of the best pop songs of all time, even if it makes no sense LOL. OMG, I would have been so mad at my mom for doing that! That's a long time to hang on to a present! My dad worked at the mall where Sam Goody was, so I had him pick up my reserved copy and was waiting at the door for him like a dog when he got home from work that day LOL. Of course he messed with me and acted like he forgot to pick it up, but he didn't forget. My original copy still works, surprisingly! I can't remember the last time I played one of the physical CDs because I have everything digital now, but I still have them all.
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It really is. I read an article today where Kevin said they wanted to be the pop version of the Rolling Stones and I thought they totally were already. I think part of the beauty is that it doesn't make sense and is open to interpretation . (As an aside, this is how hubs feels about Meatloaf's "I Would Do Anything For Love," lol.)
I kept begging her to get it and she refused every time. Thankfully, that was the last time it happened with an album and never for concert tickets. Also luckily for her, it was very easy to buy Christmas presents during that time, lol. And I'm sure she was grateful to say "but you wanted to go to the Backstreet Boys concert" and I was perfectly happy with that.
Of course he would do that, lol. What a dad move.
I also still have all of mine and would probably still buy a physical CD for anything they released. I haven't listened to the physical CDs in a long time, but I still love having them.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 11, 2021, 11:56:44 PM ---Aww, the heartbreak is real! That's the only tour that happened to me to as well. We didn't have any trouble with B&B or anything since, but I think it's a big reason why so many of us get so much anxiety over buying tickets. We have PTSD! LOL. I'm glad you eventually won tickets! We relied on the radio station to get tickets for the second leg; they offered a charter bus trip to the St. Louis show that guaranteed tickets, so we jumped on that opportunity. God bless my saint of a mother for taking me, my sister, and my best friend on a bus full of BSB fans for six hours round trip LOL.
I'm also a big fan of having instant digital tickets, although I do miss having paper tickets to put in my BSB concert scrapbook.
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Yes, buying tickets does make me anxious! I feel like I might have a mini heart attack tomorrow; don't let me do it! I love everything about that charter bus idea, but you're right, your mother is a saint for that. My mother also wasn't a fan, but always took me when I was younger. I appreciate her.
You know, I actually did get paper tickets for the second leg of the DNA tour, just for the nostalgia of it all. They're sitting in a little box on my desk waiting patiently.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 12, 2021, 10:07:53 PM ---Yay! I'm glad coffee did the trick! :) Hopefully getting through the middle was a breeze! Or you got painting done. I think either is productive.
I gotta finish this edit and write at least something for my current project. I was so Backstreet excited this afternoon, then I sat through a PD and now I'm tired. So I think I have a hotel room description in me, but not much else.
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I got the first coat of paint on last night! It's gonna need another coat tonight, but I like the color. I did not appreciate just what a pain in the ass it is to paint a bathroom though, getting behind the toilet and all that - ugh! Will be glad to have that job done.
BSB planning got in the way of my writing today, but I have the story open now so I can get something written before midnight.
I bet it was hard to concentrate on your PD after all that excitement! LOL
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 12, 2021, 10:07:53 PM ---I think you said you have Xfinity. So you should if you do.
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Yes! Good to know.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 12, 2021, 10:07:53 PM ---Oh right, I forgot that you were working on that project! You wrote long stories because they needed to be that length. Hopefully the mood strikes again. Or maybe it will once you hit 150 days and take a little break.
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Absolutely. I'm usually proud of their length, but whenever I have to do something that involves clicking through each chapter, I'm always like, "Ugh, why?!" Broken and BMS will be terrible if I ever make it to those stories LOL.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 12, 2021, 10:07:53 PM ---Aww, I love that song. That would have been a good choice. LMFAO! But I love "jOoLiEe'Z kEwL bSb FaNficZ"! Although, where are the squiggles and stars? lol "^~*jOoLiEe'Z kEwL bSb FaNficZ*~^" At least we would know that it had kewl BSB fanfics.
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Oh yeah, the squiggles and stars make it even better!! And it would have had plenty of animated gifs and midis of BSB songs playing in the background. (I actually did have midis of BSB songs playing in the background. And purple Comic Sans font LOL.)
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 12, 2021, 10:07:53 PM ---A stalker of history. Doesn't that make you an Indiana Jones type? lol
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Yes! Let's go with that. I'm like an architecture archeologist.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 12, 2021, 10:07:53 PM ---Yes! It's that level of detail I just feel like I can't commit to and have zero desire to keep looking up, but here we are. It's why I hate writing about the tours and actively avoid it as much as I can. I know this is the same as looking up anything else in research, but I just feel like I gloss over if it's a bunch of names and dates. Also, I feel like when it's a tour, that is a thing people can actively look up, so it requires more accuracy instead of just hand-waving. I'd rather hand-wave.
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Yes! You never know who's reading who lives in a certain city and went to that show, so you want to write it accurately if you can.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 12, 2021, 10:07:53 PM ---And aww, I miss recording BSB things on VHS tapes.
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Aww, I know! I actually still have all my old BSB tapes and a working VCR. I can't remember the last time I tried watching any of them, so I'm not sure they still work, but I couldn't bear to throw them away. I still have my Titanic and Disney VHS tapes for the same reason. #hoarder
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 12, 2021, 10:07:53 PM ---It really is. I read an article today where Kevin said they wanted to be the pop version of the Rolling Stones and I thought they totally were already. I think part of the beauty is that it doesn't make sense and is open to interpretation . (As an aside, this is how hubs feels about Meatloaf's "I Would Do Anything For Love," lol.)
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They totally are! Btw, Kevin's gonna be 50 by the time we see them in December... ahh!
That is so true about "I Would Do Anything for Love... but I won't do that." Won't do what??
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 12, 2021, 10:07:53 PM ---I also still have all of mine and would probably still buy a physical CD for anything they released. I haven't listened to the physical CDs in a long time, but I still love having them.
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Yep, same! I will always buy BSB CDs.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on July 12, 2021, 10:07:53 PM ---Yes, buying tickets does make me anxious! I feel like I might have a mini heart attack tomorrow; don't let me do it! I love everything about that charter bus idea, but you're right, your mother is a saint for that. My mother also wasn't a fan, but always took me when I was younger. I appreciate her.
You know, I actually did get paper tickets for the second leg of the DNA tour, just for the nostalgia of it all. They're sitting in a little box on my desk waiting patiently.
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I know, I'm already anxious about tomorrow too! I think the fact that it's only 12 shows after all this time with no concerts has me worried everyone's gonna be wanting tickets. But at least it's just a fan club presale. We should be fine, but if we don't get what we want, there's always the general sale on Saturday or whenever.
Our parents were saints! Both my mom and dad took me to shows back in the day. I'm so grateful, but also glad to be an adult with my own income and transportation and friends who are real fans and genuinely want to go with me LOL.
Aww... and your tickets will still have the original date to remind you of how many times they got rescheduled due to COVID LOL.
FrickingKaos:
My writing actually went great, I put on some beach ambient music which helped with the next chapter of Take Me Home. It’s a flashback where Nick and Brian are just getting to the island they live on while they’re in hiding. I just posted chapter 36 today, so I will probably have this new chapter done very soon. So then I started watching Titanic and it inspired this little one shot thing, at least I think it’s a one shot? I don’t know what it is yet. I did write a couple paragraphs of it though. So all in all its been very productive for me.
RokofAges75:
Ooh, that's awesome, Tracy! A Titanic-inspired one-shot - or more? I can't wait!
I was not able to focus on writing at all today. The night is still young for me, but I will probably spend part of it painting instead of writing. I did at least get 20 words written before midnight to keep the streak alive.
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