No writer discussion group, but it was perfect because her story couldn't have been more different from mine. It was more of a bucket list type story, and you don't find out about the cancer till the second half, but my cancer story radar was pinging from the first couple chapters. I just had a feeling that's where it was heading, and sure enough... It was a great story!
It's good that they were pretty different, it gives readers who enjoy medical drama two different takes on the same subject matter. lol! I love that you have cancer story radar. I'm sure by now you could look at any medical drama and say "I know exactly where this is going." Although, if the cancer was a late reveal, what vibe/theme pinged you the most?
LMAO! Dominant Firm of BSB Medical Dramas. I love that!! I would welcome some "competition" though, which I wouldn't even see as competition. There's room for all medical drama writers, the more the merrier! Just do your research first!
Oh, that is always interesting where you find a movie or book with a seemingly similar idea to one of your stories. Usually it turns out to be not that similar. Have you ever come across something that was really similar to your work that you had no idea about when you were writing it (maybe because it didn't exist yet)? I had something similar happen the other day; I watched a new movie that was trending on Netflix because, again, it made me radar ping and reminded me of something I'd written, and sure enough... I found it very predictable, probably because I wrote a novel with a similar premise, although mine went a totally different direction.
It was the attention to detail that made it the most fun! lol At this point, the reader base for BSB fanfic is probably a lot smaller than it used to be, so more for readers to enjoy is good for everyone. And maybe if someone enjoys another author's medical drama, they'll stumble on yours too.
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I think if you boil any media down to a sentence, it's really easy for works to start sounding similar. It's just the line where the details come in that determines how similar. Something like "Young male protagonist gets thrust into a world of magic where he's always belonged" could fit both Harry Potter and Star Wars, but obviously they're both very different in the details (and realistically, it could be 100 other media properties, I just can't think of another one right now). Whereas something like... "A group of friends navigate their twenties and relationships in NYC" is a little more specific, so it narrows it down a bit more... but that's still the basic premise of Friends and How I Met Your Mother.
I did talk about this in one of my author talks, and in this thread before, I think. But I was initially very disappointed to find that PBox was similar to a manga called Fushigi Yugi that was long since published before PBox existed:
Well, I showed the beginning of PBox to a friend and they said something to the effect of “Oh, man, I think you’ll love this” and handed me a little manga from the 90s called Fushigi Yuugi. And I had two thoughts: First: Absolutely. I do love this. Second: Darnit. A story where a random girl ends up in a mysterious land and the characters have origins in the Four Gods and constellation ties? Well, crud. And there’s two groups going against each other with two more in the backstory? Double crud. Oh and three of our first introduced characters from this world are a love interest, a king, and a general in addition to these two girl rivals who are friends (there’s also a priest and a doctor introduced later). Triple crud. There are no new stories basically, lol.
I love your little ping radar and how it alerts you to things you'll enjoy. How often does that happen?
LOL I would be mortified if any of them ever read one of mine. So yeah, "BSB Reacts to Fanfic" is probably not a good idea.
I will link the video because it's easy to find: https://youtu.be/Gyv2X0BqxBI?t=54 Basically, Nick thinks fanfic has "a lot of gossip" (??), until Kevin informs him that the two of them hook up in fanfic and calls it "freaky." Kevin has clearly read some slash LOL. Nick clearly does not know what he's talking about, which, again, is probably a good thing.
I think I said way back when that I would let Nick read PBox. I lied. I would let Nick read PBox once it didn't feature a Nick running around with a Howie, Brian, Kevin, and AJ if he stumbled on it himself, lol. I just couldn't live with his face once he realized that he has a horrid backstory and gets stabbed a lot, lol.
LOL! Hang on, I can parse together Nick speak from my years of adoration... He thinks that fanfic plays up stereotypes and "fanon" (widely held fan opinions of canon) often reflects things that aren't true, but could be grounds for character defamation lawsuits. What a nuanced opinion, Nick, lol. I'm kidding, his "What, really?!?" shows that he only has a basic understanding of "fans write stories about us and stories aren't always true." (I think that's realistically more what he means by gossip "Stories, like gossip, aren't always true. Since fanfics are stories, they are equivalent to gossip.") But now I'm dying to know how far Kevin got in reading that slash fanfic, lol! I suppose I'm not surprised that they aren't fans of our little hobby, especially if they think it's full of gossip and sex with each other that they're not into.
You are so prolific!! That's awesome that you keep upping your word count goal and are still on track to finish in time. A staycation, that sounds nice! And that'll be perfect if you do your writing while he's at the gym. An hour a day is enough to keep the streak alive, at least.
I hope Tracy does join us! She'll need to decide on a new project too, since History is almost done. Tracy, do you have any more thoughts on what you'll write next?
LOL True story - last time I did a VIP was during their Vegas residency, and I insisted on standing next to Howie for the photo because I felt so guilty about brutally killing him ten days earlier and just wanted to give him a big hug. Thankfully, he did not know that.
I need to stop being so wordy. Or stop including my editing words in my word count. But realistically, some days, that's all I write, so if I didn't include the editing, the streak would not be alive. We're not sure how to be tourists in our hometown, so it should be interesting, lol! Exactly. That's all I need at this point.
Join us, Tracy!
LMFAO! I laughed so hard at that on Thursday, but was too tired to piece together a response at the time. Howie definitely deserved a big hug after being brutally killed, but good thing he didn't know about that gossip, lol.
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Not a novel-length sequel to another novel. Technically SAMS is a sequel to a one-shot, but I don't really count that one. I think of it more as Unsuspecting Sunday being a prequel to SAMS. There's also my pandaskunk stories, but those are novellas. I swore I would never write another sequel because I don't have a good track record for finishing them, but I have no regrets about writing BMS. I guess I would consider writing another one with the right idea and inspiration. I feel like the basic idea is there; it just needs some development.
Did you write SAMS first or Unsuspecting Sunday first? Oh right, I guess I did know that you had the Pandaskunk series. Not sure why I asked, lol! We talked about it a while ago, but sequels are hard, especially if it wasn't a thing where the sequel was planned from the beginning. I totally get the hesitation, in general. Always good to mull it around in your mind until the time to finish MBK comes.
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