Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => General Discussion => Topic started by: mare on July 12, 2012, 05:05:30 PM
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The current question from Erika is:
What is your favorite story that you've written and why?
Commence...
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I love all my stories so it was hard to choose but it makes me wonder, do any of you have a least favorite story?
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In the other thread I mentioned that I loved Amnesia.
Stories I hate, well yes actually I do have some that I dislike and can't believe I wrote. More Than That: All or Nothing is my least favorite. What is that you say? I don't have a story with that title, you'e right, I don't, I deleted the piece of crap! The story picks up 18 years into the future of the main characters and their lives now, with their children, and pretty much their lives loop back around to what they'd been living in all their lives. (Past Lives story) *shudders* Serves me right for trying to write a sequel to More Than That!
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It's hard for me to pick a least favourite, and you know, I can't think of anything in BSB fandom that I dislike enough to call my least favourite. Even the early ones I wrote because they're so teeny and bad but they were my first stories and anytime I go back and look at them I always smile.
Maybe my least favourite is that Avatar story my friend betad and hacked to bits lol.
Oh you know what, no. I hate Left and Leaving. I read through some of it when converting it for Kindle, and was impressed with the quality of writing (as in, I couldn't believe I'd come up with some of those words) but the storyline makes me gag. I'd like to know what my 23 year old self was thinking writing that. So embarrassing.
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I don't really like any of the stories I wrote before 2003, but I have two stories from that era that would tie for least favorite. One is called "Silent Desperation," and the other is "The Other Child." They were both written off ideas given to me by other people, which is one reason I probably never enjoyed writing them as much as my other stories. SD is the drug story I think I mentioned somewhere in the other thread; it was one of my early stories, and I was pathetically naive and did a piss poor job of researching and writing it realistically, so it's just embarrassing. TOC was my first AU, back when I didn't like AUs, and I got so sick of writing it that I just wrapped it up early and told everyone I would write a sequel to tell the rest of the story. Well, I never wrote the sequel. So the story just sort of ends abruptly, I think. I hate it so much I haven't even looked at it in years; I'm just going off of memory.
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My favorite story was Season's of Change which I'm pretty sure no one on here has ever read lol it's the sequel to Mel's Tree and the most personal thing I've ever put out there. Since Mel's was based on my life, Seasons just took it to a whole other level.
Least favorite is a tie between Comedy of Errors & Lion's Den poor Howie lol
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I'd have to say Song For The Undead, and Remember Me This Way, both feature what I consider to be my best writing. Plus, writing about zombies is just fun LOL.
As for least favorite... probably Just Another Day. It was really to see if I could write a romance and use all the cliches I could and still have it be a good story. To this day I have no idea if I succeeded in that or not LOL.
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I read Just Another Day when I first came to AC actually, I really liked it! I always forget that was your story lol
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Yeah I'm with Julie... I don't really like any of my stories that I wrote before I went on my "break" when I went back to college. I learned so much about writing in my creative writing classes that I pretty much hate them all, including "I Wanna Be Bad." I'm not sure what people like about that one so much.
I think my favorite might be "The Fearless Series" that I'm writing with Lisa (BiLittrell). Maybe just because we've had so much fun getting in Google Docs and writing and chatting and surprising one another.
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Karah, did you write... I'm totally blanking on the title. (The one where Nick marries that country singer while drunk) before your break? I liked that one a lot. When I was in college I skipped a day of classes reading the entire thing lol
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Now to answer my own question, I guess Incomplete is my least favorite because its such a crazy story, Nick in a coma...the boys fighting about his well being. I do like the idea of him being stuck in another universe while in the coma though. It was one of my first stories, but not my best.
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Now to answer my own question, I guess Incomplete is my least favorite because its such a crazy story, Nick in a coma...the boys fighting about his well being. I do like the idea of him being stuck in another universe while in the coma though. It was one of my first stories, but not my best.
LOL I love that story ;)
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Karah, did you write... I'm totally blanking on the title. (The one where Nick marries that country singer while drunk) before your break? I liked that one a lot. When I was in college I skipped a day of classes reading the entire thing lol
Ahhh "The Right Kind of Wrong" yes that's me lol That storyline I liked a lot, the writing isn't that great that. It was maybe the second or third big story I wrote and it probably took you a whole day to read it LMAO
You know how some people end up having 104840492 chapters to a story? I think that one is like that. I have it up on MC.
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Did you carterkid? I'm surprised, cause its such a out-there story. I love some of it, like Brian being a stripper amused me a lot.
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Brian Littrell..... as Magic Mike! : :wave:
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lmfao Brian as Magic Mike. :-X Ohemgeee. Do you think he'd even know what to do? LMAO :D
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Unless it involves a Bible and Wylee apparel probably not. LMAO
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I didn't see any Bibles OR Wylee products in Magic Mike. :shrug:
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Can you imagine if there were Wylee products in Magic Mike? Channing Tatum dancing around with one of Leighanne's scarves around his waist...lmao.. .
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LMAO or ripping off the shirt with her face on it? :o
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That would be the scene they use at the end of the trailer LMAO.
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It would certainly draw a ton of people in to see it. They'd all be like whoo-oooaaa-ohhh! lmao
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Can I rip one of those t-shirts? LOL *slaps hand* Bad Karah.
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LMAO I died when I read this convo. Brian as a stripper highly amuses me. In the same story I had AJ as a youth pastor. Go fig. Lmao
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AJ? A youth pastor? LOL What church in hell did he find that let him be a youth pastor? *pauses, rereads the sentence I just typed* Well the answer's really in the question isnt it? LOL ;D
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So THAT's why the youth of America are nothing but a dumb batch of idiots?
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I have this really intense desire to type out the lyrics to Green Day's American Idiot right now. lmao But if I got that song stuck in my head, I'd have to be like :plugears: so I won't.
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And by simply saying that you've gone and got the song stuck in my head! Thanks a lot! lol
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You're quite welcome. :broccoli:
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LOL the alternate universe in nick's coma world had all the guys being total opposites of each other. So Brian being a stripper to me was opposite and AJ being a youth pastor was VERY opposite. I made Howie an angry homeless guy and Kevin a bartender where Brian is stripping lol
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I feel like I tried to catch up on this conversation at a really weird point. :P
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Tonight's Question
How do you go about writing your action scenes? Do you ever act them out or verbalize before you type it out? Do you ever have difficulties putting in words what you see in your head? I guess this would apply to more than action scenes, I just know for me this is usually the hardest thing to move from my head onto the screen. lol
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I imagine them playing out in my head, but sometimes writing them doesn't come out how I wanted them to. It's hard sometimes to type what's in my head.
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I have a really hard time with action scenes and rely really heavily on dialogue. If I'm writing something that's very action heavy I tend to try and visualize it very clearly in my head and write out a sentence every ten minutes. That's why I tend to write stories that are all about drama or a character's internal monologue. Those kinds of things come a lot easier for me and in that case I just try to get into the mindset of the character and think like they would. I either write it fast because I'm so caught up in the scene in my mind, or it goes incredibly slowly because I have a hard time getting into the right mindset.
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I like writing action scenes, sometimes I try to picture it in my head first like I'm watching it play out, then I try to be descriptive when I write it. Weird World has several action scenes, it was somewhat difficult for me to write the action, I'm a bit better with suspense and dialogue.
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For me the key to action scenes is verbs and short sentences. For example something like "The door was locked. Nick kicked the door in harshly. Everything was silent." seemes more action-packed than some long drawn out thing... which is good...unless it's a suspense... Suspense would be all "Nick's muscles tensed, pulsating just beneath the surface, as he pushed the door in with his foot. The door creaked and groaned under the pressure before caving way into the silent hallway beyond."
I think tones can be set by engaging the reader's senses the same way a film would. Instead of one drawn out scene, action scenes in movies are pumping quick flashes of scenes that tell the viewer what's happening, quickly, mimicking that feeling of a fast heart pumping. I think the scenes/sentence length should reflect what you want the reader's pulse to do in the story. If you wanna chill it, go slow. If you wanna speed it up, go quickly.
Does that make sense?
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I feel like I tried to catch up on this conversation at a really weird point. :P
You mean talking about stripper Brian and youth paster AJ, all while getting American Idiot stuck in our heads isn't a normal point to join a conversation? Whaaa? ::)
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For me the key to action scenes is verbs and short sentences. For example something like "The door was locked. Nick kicked the door in harshly. Everything was silent." seemes more action-packed than some long drawn out thing... which is good...unless it's a suspense... Suspense would be all "Nick's muscles tensed, pulsating just beneath the surface, as he pushed the door in with his foot. The door creaked and groaned under the pressure before caving way into the silent hallway beyond."
I think tones can be set by engaging the reader's senses the same way a film would. Instead of one drawn out scene, action scenes in movies are pumping quick flashes of scenes that tell the viewer what's happening, quickly, mimicking that feeling of a fast heart pumping. I think the scenes/sentence length should reflect what you want the reader's pulse to do in the story. If you wanna chill it, go slow. If you wanna speed it up, go quickly.
Does that make sense?
That makes so much sense, and is so true! I think what you said about engaging the reader's senses is dead on. That's exactly what you want to do, and depending on the type of story, you want to engage them differently.
I never really thought about it consciously like that before!
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With action sequences, I try to imagine them like a movie and then write them that way. I don't do a lot of acting out, though I will get up and pace around when I'm thinking. I tend to act things out more when I'm describing body language and need a visual of how someone would look; I'll make faces at myself in the mirror or whatever LOL.
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I'm kind of with Julie, when I have action scenes, I tend to try and write them like they're happening in a movie. Sometimes I'll sit for 30 minutes or so just to try and figure out how I want to word something so that the reader will see what I see in my head.
But how would one description Magic Brian's dance moves? Hmmm :taz:
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When I write action, I tend to visualize it and act it out in my head. I do say the dialogue out loud and try to move as i'd want my characters to move. LOL I try to get my cats to re-enact but they never do :(
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Does anyone have a question for today? I can't think of anything as of yet lol
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OK, I've got a question, a crappy question, but it's still a question. Roughly how long does it take you to write a chapter?
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I do! I was waiting for a day when you didn't have anything. :)
This question came from watching the Walking Dead marathon last weekend. As those of you who watch the show probably know, the TV show The Walking Dead is based on a comic book series, and the writer of the comic, Robert Kirkman, is also the producer of the TV show. I haven't read the comic yet, but I do know that it's quite a bit different from the show - a lot of the basic storyline seems to be the same, but the pacing of the storylines is different, and the TV show seems to add a lot of stuff that wasn't in the comic, including characters, and leave out other things (so far).
It made me wonder what it would be like to take something you wrote in one format and adapt it into a completely different format. So the question is, have you or would you ever rewrite one of your fanfics in a different format, such as a script/screenplay or even just an original novel? If so, which story and what format? Would you try to keep it as much the same as possible, or would you make major changes, and if so, what kind of changes?
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Oops, Steph beat me to it because she is much less wordy than I am, but since I'd already typed all that up, we can just have two questions today!
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There can be as many questions as we want! Yay to you both lol
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OK, I've got a question, a crappy question, but it's still a question. Roughly how long does it take you to write a chapter?
It varies a lot for me, and my answer has changed quite a bit over time. It used to be that I could churn out a chapter a day, every day, for weeks at a time. That was back in the early days of writing fanfic when I had a ton of inspiration and not a lot of concern about revising and editing. Also, my chapters were really short, like 1000 words or less.
Nowadays, I can still write a chapter in a day sometimes, but it takes me literally ALL DAY. Not that I continuously write all day, but I do spend most of the day sitting at my computer with Word open. It's more realistic for me to spend at least two days writing a chapter, and even that is only when I have lots of time (like a weekend) and am being fairly focused and productive. This week, I have NOT been very focused or productive, and so I've been working on the same Secrets chapter all week.
My chapters have gotten longer, and I'm a lot more anal about editing as I go, but I think the main reason it takes me so long is that I'm so unfocused. I stop every few sentences, sometimes every few words, to look up something, which usually ends up in me checking Twitter and the forums as long as I'm online, and I can easily waste half an hour doing that. If I would just turn off my internet when I went to write or learn to write on paper, I'd probably get chapters finished a lot faster!
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I try to get my cats to re-enact but they never do :(
It's a good thing you don't write romance, or I'd be concerned. ;)
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OK, I've got a question, a crappy question, but it's still a question. Roughly how long does it take you to write a chapter?
It depends on the story. Running Up That Hill takes me a few hours a chapter - usually an hour for each boy. It's not that the chapters are long, I just need to be ultra focused and get inside their heads so it takes me a while. Then I go back and edit for little things - make sure the guys monologues don't sound too much the same, and I always end up fixing Nick's to take out big words, complicated sentences, stuff like that.
Anything else I'll spend some time thinking about first, it takes me a long time to actually start writing. When I do finally start writing I can churn out a chapter in about an hour or two, but that's because I focus myself on writing and only writing and try not to let distractions get in the way. It's difficult. That's why the sprints work so well for me.
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I do! I was waiting for a day when you didn't have anything. :)
This question came from watching the Walking Dead marathon last weekend. As those of you who watch the show probably know, the TV show The Walking Dead is based on a comic book series, and the writer of the comic, Robert Kirkman, is also the producer of the TV show. I haven't read the comic yet, but I do know that it's quite a bit different from the show - a lot of the basic storyline seems to be the same, but the pacing of the storylines is different, and the TV show seems to add a lot of stuff that wasn't in the comic, including characters, and leave out other things (so far).
It made me wonder what it would be like to take something you wrote in one format and adapt it into a completely different format. So the question is, have you or would you ever rewrite one of your fanfics in a different format, such as a script/screenplay or even just an original novel? If so, which story and what format? Would you try to keep it as much the same as possible, or would you make major changes, and if so, what kind of changes?
I took my one AU BSB fic and turned it into an original fic for NaNoWriMo in 2010 I think it was. I kept the basic premise of the plot the same (teenagers in the gaming/anime community and their drama) but I rewrote everything. You can still see shreds of the guys' personalities of the characters I kept (I combined Nick and Kevin's characters into one and kept AJ and Brian) And actually I kept Brian's name the same but other than that I changed everything and completely ditched what I'd written before. I think doing it that way made it turn out a lot better rather than going in and meticulously editing everything to remove the Backstreet-ness from it.
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I don't know if I'd re-write one of my stories as an original fic, or anything else.
As for how long it takes to write a chapter. That depends on how distracted I get. I'm a bit like you in that way Julie. I let things like Twitter and here distract me and then an hour might have passed and I've still only got a few lines typed! Sometimes I can just sit down and type up a chapter in an hour or two as mine are usually between 1000 - 1500 words. Other times I'll have to go back to it over a couple of days. But I always read through a couple of times before posting.
When I first got into writing, I used to type my stories from work and post it straight onto the site without even checking it or anything. The chapters were really short, like 500 words and I would churn out two or three chapters a day. Those days are long gone now!
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It's a good thing you don't write romance, or I'd be concerned. ;)
Yeah, i'm sure they're thankful for that too! LOL
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OK, I've got a question, a crappy question, but it's still a question. Roughly how long does it take you to write a chapter?
This isn't a crappy question, Steph!
Just like Julie said, at the beginning, I would write a chapter a day easily!
For me, it depends on the story and what i'm writing. These short stories i'm writing are happening very quickly. That AJ story took me maybe about 2 hours all total from start to finish. Not in one sitting, but if I were to add the time that's probably would it would have been. All of the stories in Scattered Pictures have been happening that quickly. Pretty much in one day.
When i'm writing a chapter with a lot of action and dialogue, I tend to write faster then when I write something slower paced.
For Whatever the Night, it would take me about a week to write a chapter because I was running out of steam and wasn't enjoying myself etc...
I get really easily distracted when I write. I try not to be online when I do, but I will stop and just randomly start checking twitter and this forum etc...
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I do! I was waiting for a day when you didn't have anything. :)
This question came from watching the Walking Dead marathon last weekend. As those of you who watch the show probably know, the TV show The Walking Dead is based on a comic book series, and the writer of the comic, Robert Kirkman, is also the producer of the TV show. I haven't read the comic yet, but I do know that it's quite a bit different from the show - a lot of the basic storyline seems to be the same, but the pacing of the storylines is different, and the TV show seems to add a lot of stuff that wasn't in the comic, including characters, and leave out other things (so far).
It made me wonder what it would be like to take something you wrote in one format and adapt it into a completely different format. So the question is, have you or would you ever rewrite one of your fanfics in a different format, such as a script/screenplay or even just an original novel? If so, which story and what format? Would you try to keep it as much the same as possible, or would you make major changes, and if so, what kind of changes?
I have taken two of my stories and changed them into OF. Obviously the first was Mel's but since that was actually an OF and then turned into a BSB fic it wasn't that hard to return it to an OF lol
Shadow Woods was more of a challenge since it wasn't an AU and the guys were a band. I ended up making three of them brothers, one of them a best friend and one of them a girl lmao The overall plot stayed the same with the big twist at the end, but I changed a lot of the elements and some of the characters to fit the new concept of them NOT being five friends in a band.
I'm not sure i'd try to do it with any of my others although I have toyed with the idea for Protect and Serve.
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I read Just Another Day when I first came to AC actually, I really liked it! I always forget that was your story lol
Really? I didn't know that lol. Yeah, it's easy to forget that's mine, given my reputation for my anti-romance story sentiments :P. I think I'm most inspired when I find ways to challenge myself I think lol.
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I'll catch up on questions when I get home. I'm on my phone right now and lazy haha.
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tl :P
Really? I didn't know that lol. Yeah, it's easy to forget that's mine, given my reputation for my anti-romance story sentiments :P. I think I'm most inspired when I find ways to challenge myself I think lol.
Yep I was also reading that Rehab one (I think)you wrote. I basically gorged on Nick romance when I get back Into fan fic in 2007 lol I read everything.
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When i'm writing a chapter with a lot of action and dialogue, I tend to write faster then when I write something slower paced.
This is true for me, too. I also find that write faster in first person than in third. With first person, I tend to write whatever comes to mind, in order to make it sound more natural, like someone's thoughts, whereas with third person, I constantly play with my word choice.
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Yep I was also reading that Rehab one (I think)you wrote. I basically gorged on Nick romance when I get back Into fan fic in 2007 lol I read everything.
I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote Rehab. I so lost motivation and hated what I was writing LOL. Bad idea on my part. I'm much happier torturing the hell out of Nick as my norm.
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This is true for me, too. I also find that write faster in first person than in third. With first person, I tend to write whatever comes to mind, in order to make it sound more natural, like someone's thoughts, whereas with third person, I constantly play with my word choice.
Me too! I think first person definitely helps with the speed.
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Ok, first question - about time it takes to write a chapter... As you guys all know and some of you pick on me for (lol) I update quickly. I write quickly. I've always written quickly. If I take too much time, my writing feels and sounds contrived and I don' t like my "voice" when I agonize over every word. If the sentene doesn't flow, then it sounds stuttery and bleh and I'll back off and not write before I'll sit there and painstakingly filter verbage. I don't know why I'm like that. Stories have just always come naturally to me, and putting them to paper feels like it too should come naturally. If I can't tell my story, then I have no business trying to force it out of me. I tend to go in writing streaks too. Like I'll write 2-3 stories or so really quickly, then disappear off the face of the earth and be completely unable to write even when I feel "inspired" by a great idea. Maybe it's just I think everything sounds like crap sometimes and sometimes I don't, I dunno. But it's always come very quickly for me... When I'm "on", I tend to pump out a 2,000-3,000 word chapter in about an hour of solid focus. If I'm REALLY on, I'll do a couple of these a day. I try to average about 10,000 words a day writing between journalling and story writing, it really just depends which I focus on.
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2nd question... As I've said a few times on here already, I'm working on Something Beautiful as an OF, which I want to publish. But has taken some drastic changes. One of which obviously is that the characters are no longer the Backstreet Boys... lol. But honestly when I originally storyboarded Something Beautiful, they weren't Backstreet Boys then, either. I storyboarded an OF, and to get it out on paper I made it a Fan Fiction and dropped the obvious pair into the place of these characters that I'd fully formed apart from BSB and just made the basic story structure fit them.
I'm working on the OF version of Something Beautiful, but I write it a lot faster than I do FF stories. My previous post describing how quickly I write is very very different with this because it is The Story, it's My Story, it's a story that I need to tell and I need to tell it right. So I've tried writing it in every imaginable POV, written long, long backstories and post-stories for each character. I wanna know who they are, where they've been, and where they're going, because if I want them to seem like real people to others then they need to be real people to me. So a lot more research and work and thought and planning is going into this than I've ever put into any work I've done before.
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As many of you know, sometimes it takes a while for me to type up a chapter because I do all my updating, reviewing and posting on the forum through my blackberry. So when I go to update something, usually it will take me a few days since I work so much to get out a chapter consisting of 1000 to 1200 words. This is why my chapters tend to be short, I'm limited due to work schedule. I get my writing in when I am home, during breaks at work or car rides...I make time here and there.
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Action scenes? I try to write them how I would want to see them in a movie.
How long does it take for me to write a chapter? It depends on how I am mentally feeling that day. I can write a chapter in an hour if I really am in the mood, but sometimes it takes me a week just to write one chapter.
fanfic to original fic? Uh I seem to be on a streak of starting to turn stories original from my fanfic. Wulf's Bane I decided to make original and am still working on removing all the fanfic aspects and am now having a lot of original material needed. HEH, duh. It is that one story that I love that will probably take too long to complete. I started to turn Chronos Project into an original fiction since it is already AU I have just been filling it out, fixing parts, changing names. The basic of the story is the same. I am also working on taking the idea from More Than That and turning it original. This one would be a complete rewrite changing the main characters and the situations, so really like writing a new story just taking the idea behind More Than That into a new story.
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I don't think I've ever thought about turning a fanfic into OF or trying to get published. Never crossed my mind once.
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Tonight's Question
How do you go about writing your action scenes? Do you ever act them out or verbalize before you type it out? Do you ever have difficulties putting in words what you see in your head? I guess this would apply to more than action scenes, I just know for me this is usually the hardest thing to move from my head onto the screen. lol
I have a playlist specifically for action scenes. Like those rock or upbeat songs you hear in movies that means you know things are about to go full speed LMAO. I start playing that and really just playing it in my head as I kinda stare at the word doc. Then the words just kind of flow. It's really like I jazz myself up before I launch, sort of deal.
OK, I've got a question, a crappy question, but it's still a question. Roughly how long does it take you to write a chapter?
Depends on the POV really, and sometimes the subject matter. First person ALWAYS takes less time for me. Partly cause I go freeform, I'll get into a character's head and just go. Like I'll run off like they would if they were telling you the story. That, and 1st person often requires a little less googling cause I tend to go with what I feel the character would know. Third person takes longer. Because then I make sure everything flows perfectly, check my wording, check my research because I want to describe everything perfectly. That and I seem to get distracted easier in third person lol. Maybe because once I sit in a character's head, I tend to not leave till the chapter's finished.
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I do! I was waiting for a day when you didn't have anything. :)
This question came from watching the Walking Dead marathon last weekend. As those of you who watch the show probably know, the TV show The Walking Dead is based on a comic book series, and the writer of the comic, Robert Kirkman, is also the producer of the TV show. I haven't read the comic yet, but I do know that it's quite a bit different from the show - a lot of the basic storyline seems to be the same, but the pacing of the storylines is different, and the TV show seems to add a lot of stuff that wasn't in the comic, including characters, and leave out other things (so far).
It made me wonder what it would be like to take something you wrote in one format and adapt it into a completely different format. So the question is, have you or would you ever rewrite one of your fanfics in a different format, such as a script/screenplay or even just an original novel? If so, which story and what format? Would you try to keep it as much the same as possible, or would you make major changes, and if so, what kind of changes?
I love you for your bringing Walking Dead in here LOL.
I remember toying with it for "Just Another Day", which was just stupid on my part. I tried it and honestly, I wasn't doing much, changing the names more than anything. It was meant to be a fanfic and stay that way so I left it alone after awhile.
You know this, cause I told you at some point (I think), but I've played with the idea of turning RMTW into a OF. It would require a rewrite obviously cause in the FF it revolves heavily around the group. What I would do is turn it into a family, either five brothers (or four), go into relationships, possibly love, as "Nick" would degenerate into the disease. I really like the idea since no novels seem to tackle this concept, the closest being "The Notebook" which was more of a device to more flashback on a love story. No one writes about it as it happens. I also know the subject matter SO well because of the FF, that I know I could write it convincingly.
Not sure yet though.
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You should definitely do the OF version of RMTW, Rose.
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Maybe when my life's a little less chaotic. Definitely not now LOL.
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If I could choose a story to make a movie out of....I would love to do Figured You Out or maybe Weird World. Both of those stories would be interesting to make into a screenplay.
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Well so much for saying I was speedy on my short stories. So far in 24 hours the only thing I have written for Nick's story is the word Nick lol I can't channel current him for some reason :(
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Here's a question... What's the weirdest thing you've ever found yourself researching for a story?
For example, when I wrote Fear of Flying, I looked up Llama mating habits.
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I really don't do much research but I guess the oddest thing I've ever looked up is how to fly fish for the fly fishing story obviously lol
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I was looking up cocaine, and specifically how being on cocaine affects your sex drive and ended up on this super weird forum where people share their cocaine-induced sex stories.
Yup, lol.
Other than that I don't know that there's anything really weird I've looked up.
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The weirdest thing I've researched was bugs for my Save A Prayer story. I'd seen on TV a man who'd had a bot fly dug out of his head, but I wanted to find out if there was anything nastier than that. I decided bot fly infestation was pretty gruesome :)
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Yay bot flies!!
I think the most random things I've researched have been for 00Carter. I have pages bookmarked in my 00Carter folder on the following topics:
Alarm clock detonators
The Bavarian State Library
The Magic Kingdom's underground complex
How to make a pipe bomb (I may want to delete this one)
Parts of a pirate ship
Branches of the Public Health Agency of Canada
Roots: The Book that Changed America
Skunk Ape Research Headquarters
Full text of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"
A Mandinka-English Dictionary
YouTube videos of figure skating routines by Kim Yu-Na, South Korean Olympic gold medalist
How Zambonis work
36-Million-Year-Old Giant Peruvian Penguin
Wikipedia page entitled "Nick Carter-Killmaster"
WikiAnswers page entitled "Can platypuses kill people?"
I'll leave it up to you to decide which is the weirdest LOL.
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Going back to my question from yesterday, I've had it in my head for years that I'm going to rewrite Broken as an original novel with the goal of trying to publish it. I know exactly how I would de-Backstreetize it, while still keeping the elements that made the storyline work as a fanfic: Make Nick a good-looking, popular, high school star athlete, put the other guys in as his friends, and keep Claire essentially the same, just younger. I've had those details figured out all along, but I keep changing my mind about basic things, like what POV to write it in and where it should take place. As a result, I've started writing four different versions of it over the past six summers and have never gotten more than a few chapters written. Fail. For a story that basically wrote itself the first time around, rewriting is a lot harder than I thought it would be! But I like the idea enough that I'll just keep it around until the right inspiration strikes or I come up with a better novel idea. If I ever did get Broken rewritten, the characters and the relationships they have with each other would be similar to fanfic Broken, and the basic storyline would be the same, just in a different setting, but I'd leave out the subplots that made Broken so long and write it in a better, less-cheesy way.
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Julie I forgot about researching the underground of Disney! Man I remember writing that part and using that research....
I researched past lives ... and points in history neither are very weird. I did research movies starring Elvis made in Hawaii and the costume director of Blue Hawaii when I decided on that one so that I had an actual person to base it off of. I researched Hitler before WWII and came upon the doctor who cured his eyesight after WWI and researched him for Chronos Project... clothing styles of different eras again nothing that strange that I can recall researching.
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Yay bot flies!!
I think the most random things I've researched have been for 00Carter. I have pages bookmarked in my 00Carter folder on the following topics:
Alarm clock detonators
The Bavarian State Library
The Magic Kingdom's underground complex
How to make a pipe bomb (I may want to delete this one)
Parts of a pirate ship
Branches of the Public Health Agency of Canada
Roots: The Book that Changed America
Skunk Ape Research Headquarters
Full text of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"
A Mandinka-English Dictionary
YouTube videos of figure skating routines by Kim Yu-Na, South Korean Olympic gold medalist
How Zambonis work
36-Million-Year-Old Giant Peruvian Penguin
Wikipedia page entitled "Nick Carter-Killmaster"
WikiAnswers page entitled "Can platypuses kill people?"
I'll leave it up to you to decide which is the weirdest LOL.
There were Skunk Ape sightings around here about two years ago.... We had stories about it in our newspaper that I work at LMAO!
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Weirdest things I've researched is if guys like the smell of their own farts.
Don't ask LMFAO It was for a scene that never really panned out in one of my stories.
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Follow up to the research question: What's the weirdest thing you've stumbled onto accidentally while researching?
Like for my medical dramas, I always seem to find veterinary sites instead of human medical info, or I find fetishy stuff. Researching for Broken introduced me to the wonderful world of "devotees" and "wannabes," and I also learned there's a CPR fetish and a sneeze fetish. Pretty sure there's a fetish for everything. People are weird LOL.
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There were Skunk Ape sightings around here about two years ago.... We had stories about it in our newspaper that I work at LMAO!
Funny!
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I researched some videos on youtube when I came up with a death for 1000 Ways to kill Nick Carter, I watched several videos on safety when deep frying a turkey outside, what not to do. There was a video of it just exploding....I thought to myself "yeah Nick would be one to try this" LOL.
For my college story I've been researching fraternities and pledge rituals. Some of the hazing is pretty interesting, a kid died from being made to chug water and drowned to death. Also looked up latex allergies and what happens to the victim when they are in contact with latex.
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I did come across some gross and weird bug stuff when looking up the bot flies, the pictures made me feel a little sick lol.
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Here's a question... What's the weirdest thing you've ever found yourself researching for a story?
For example, when I wrote Fear of Flying, I looked up Llama mating habits.
Probably the reasons a zombie outbreak would fail...which led to the idea of us having exploding zombies LMFAO. So I guess looking up how a rotting body pops after awhile if it reanimated qualifies LOL. http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7-scientific-reasons-zombie-outbreak-would-fail-quickly_p2.html
That, or the videos I have bookmarked of people in a grand mal seizure, that's pretty disturbing to watch. But, it led to me writing it as accurately as possible.
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LOL The lengths we'll go to for accuracy. Steph, I'm sure the bot fly pics would trigger my gag reflex too! I'm not grossed out easily, but just the mental picture I got reading that scene freaked me out!
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I know, but it's fun seeing where google takes you! LMAO. Although that one was Sarah's fault :P.
OMG I'd gag at the bot fly pics too, as it was, those pics of decomposing pigs almost got me to gag too, and I'm not one to really get there easily.
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I think pics of decomposing pigs would make me gag too, lol
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You guys are gross!! I mean that in a loving way of course!
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I personally love how we can discuss these kind of things and I know I won't be judged lol. If people saw some of the things I look up they'd be WTF is wrong with her lmao
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LMAO I know, right? When I was in college, I had my laptop password-protected and my fanfic folders and bookmarks hidden, and I regularly deleted my search history because I was so paranoid about my roommate or other friends seeing that stuff if they got on my computer. It's nice to live alone and not have to worry about that anymore!
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Thank god no one usually ever uses my computer. I'd have to hide SO much, especially my bookmarks LOL.
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I'm afraid to let people use my phone for this reason. stuff I have saved lmao
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LOL I have to watch that with my Kindle now, because I have more fanfics than real books on it, including some of my own, and my internet history is mainly these forums LOL. I don't want someone to be like, "Ooh, what are you reading?" and open up Curtain Call or something LOL.
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So glad I have my own computer LOL. Like I mentioned before the weirdest thing I probably came across was that cocaine-related sex forum.
Though, I will admit it was helpful! I don't think I've found anything weirder than that...yet.
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I always feel slightly creepy when I use forums to research, but they are so helpful because they give you a personal view of things.
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OK, I've got a question, a crappy question, but it's still a question. Roughly how long does it take you to write a chapter?
Sometimes, up to a year lol Awww I fail.
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Sometimes, up to a year lol Awww I fail.
LOL Awww. It just makes it extra special when you update is all. ;)
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So here is my question I've been thinking about.
When you want to write a new story, how do you get ideas? What is your process for choosing one to actually go ahead and write?
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I just wait until an idea pops into my head, then I think about it for a little while and type up a few bits of information. If it seems like something I'll be able to keep focused on, I'll go ahead and write and see what happens.
As for the whole hiding the browsing history etc, I have my laptop password protected and I lock it whenever I'm not using it in case the kids happen to look at it. They don't use my laptop, but I've set up a profile for them just in case they ever ask to use it, and my stuff isn't accessible from that profile. My phone is password protected too, so they can't go through it and see my tweets, Facebook, this place. In work no one else uses my computer, but I clear my history every day and don't have any documents on that machine.
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Whenever I get a story idea, I type it up in a Word document and save it. Sometimes I'll go ahead and outline, develop characters, research, and make notes for when I'm ready to write it. Other times it just sits there as a vague idea until I'm ready to take it further. If it's an idea I can't get out of my head, I might go ahead and play around with writing a beginning, but I only post the ones I can't stop writing. I try not to have too many unfinished projects online at once, although I've been really bad at following that rule the last couple of years.
I don't have any special process for getting ideas. The best ones are the ones that just strike like lightning, out of nowhere. But when I don't have those inspired moments, I've succeeded in forcing ideas by deciding on a genre or type of story I want to write and just thinking on it until I can pull an idea together. Secrets of the Heart and Guilty Roads were both conceived that way, whereas Curtain Call was the inspired lightning strike. I tend to have better luck writing the lightning strike ideas because they don't feel so forced and contrived.
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So here is my question I've been thinking about.
When you want to write a new story, how do you get ideas? What is your process for choosing one to actually go ahead and write?
I actually have a folder with various docs of story ideas I've come up with in the past. If I finish a fic, I'll pick from there. More often than not though, I end up getting inspired on a whim. And if the story challenges me, I noticed I tend to run with it a lot better than anything else LOL. JAD, RMTW, and now HWS, all had something new at the table in some way or another. I'm not claiming any of them, (well definitely not JAD) are amazing, but it's why it was written at a steady pace.
And then with collab ideas, it seems I get them a LOT lmao. Especially with Julie. We have a bunch of ideas we want to do once the day comes that we actually do finish Undead. :P
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^ That's exactly how I am. And most of our collab ideas have come from jokes!
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^ That's exactly how I am. And most of our collab ideas have come from jokes!
Our collab ideas are epic LOL. That's why they come from our fun but insensitive jokes!
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Here's a fun one... how far do you take your hatred of someone when it comes to fan fiction? (ie: Leighanne or even a BSB fan).
Figured that would bust out the clowns and rainbows.
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I get ideas for stories all the time from all over the place. Usually when I'm listening to music. The college idea came to me while listening to Asher Roth actually. I thought it would be a neat idea and I haven't seen a story like that in a while.
Picking ideas is usually easy, I will talk it over with my best friend and go from there. If I decide to write it, I play around with the idea and make up characters.
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Here's a fun one... how far do you take your hatred of someone when it comes to fan fiction? (ie: Leighanne or even a BSB fan).
Figured that would bust out the clowns and rainbows.
Not far, it's just fiction. So you know whatever happens it's not real. At least, as long as you portray the person realistically without making anything up about the person in question. I would never make up stuff about anyone and put it in a fic. If I write someone in, I write them true to life. What happens after that is purely fictional, though, obviously. I'm sure some may or may not like what they see about themselves of course.
Though... it does lead to the quote in my siggy.
"Don't annoy the writer. They may put you in a book and kill you." - Anonymous
It's well known that authors write what they know at least somewhat, whether it's places, or people. Sometimes in a flattering way where good things happen to the person, sometimes bad things happen. Well known authors do it, as do nobodies. Otherwise it wouldn't even be a quote.
It's harmless really.
For example - in a round robin parody, Nick dies in every chapter. Do I hate him? No. Do I want him to die? No. It's all done in humor and fun. :) Isn't that the point of fiction?
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Here's a fun one... how far do you take your hatred of someone when it comes to fan fiction? (ie: Leighanne or even a BSB fan).
Figured that would bust out the clowns and rainbows.
Maybe even double rainbows!
It's no big secret that I get a kick out of basing characters on the real "characters" I've encountered both online and in real life. I also enjoy giving celebrities I don't like, such as Justin Timberlake and Paris Hilton, unflattering cameos in my stories.
Isn't fanfic fun? :)
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Not taking sides here but just as an example, in one of my stories I had Lauren murdered....do esn't mean I want that to happen. I don't hate her nor do I wish death on her by any means....it was just for the purpose of the story.
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Maybe even double rainbows!
It's no big secret that I get a kick out of basing characters on the real "characters" I've encountered both online and in real life. I also enjoy giving celebrities I don't like, such as Justin Timberlake and Paris Hilton, unflattering cameos in my stories.
Isn't fanfic fun? :)
Yup and we've both been murdered in a fic. That's the joy in it, I laughed so hard at our deaths LOL. It's just great to see what creative minds can come up with.
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Not taking sides here but just as an example, in one of my stories I had Lauren murdered....do esn't mean I want that to happen. I don't hate her nor do I wish death on her by any means....it was just for the purpose of the story.
Oh yeah, killing people in stories isn't a sign of hating them. In my stories, killing is usually a sign of love, honestly! I only hurt the ones I love LOL.
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Oh yeah, killing people in stories isn't a sign of hating them. In my stories, killing is usually a sign of love, honestly! I only hurt the ones I love LOL.
Or people/celebrities that are really well known. Really, it says a lot about the person.
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Not far, it's just fiction. So you know whatever happens it's not real. At least, as long as you portray the person realistically without making anything up about the person in question. I would never make up stuff about anyone and put it in a fic. If I write someone in, I write them true to life. What happens after that is purely fictional, though, obviously. I'm sure some may or may not like what they see about themselves of course.
Though... it does lead to the quote in my siggy.
"Don't annoy the writer. They may put you in a book and kill you." - Anonymous
It's well known that authors write what they know at least somewhat, whether it's places, or people. Sometimes in a flattering way where good things happen to the person, sometimes bad things happen. Well known authors do it, as do nobodies. Otherwise it wouldn't even be a quote.
It's harmless really.
For example - in a round robin parody, Nick dies in every chapter. Do I hate him? No. Do I want him to die? No. It's all done in humor and fun. :) Isn't that the point of fiction?
Well here's the thing, you should probably take your own advice then and follow your own set of rules you came up with yourself. Talk about skirting rules.
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Well here's the thing, you should probably take your own advice then and follow your own set of rules you came up with yourself. Talk about skirting rules.
I believe I did. Not to mention, this really isn't the place to start drama. If you'd like to have a discussion about fanfic, then we should discuss it here. Anything else, I'd rather not. You can do that with yourself. :).
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I believe I did. Not to mention, this really isn't the place to start drama. If you'd like to have a discussion about fanfic, then we should discuss it here. Anything else, I'd rather not. You can do that with yourself. :).
No... you didn't. I was discussing fan fiction and the thoughts and actions one takes when writing a story. But then I read your line of crap and laughed. :D
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No... you didn't. I was discussing fan fiction and the thoughts and actions one takes when writing a story. But then I read your line of crap and laughed. :D
You accused me of skirting rules in a thread to discuss fanfic.
I really don't want to continue this Karah. So please don't insult me on what is usually a peaceful forum.
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You accused me of skirting rules in a thread to discuss fanfic.
I really don't want to continue this Karah. So please don't insult me on what is usually a peaceful forum.
OKay, I won't. Maybe I should just go write a crappy fan fiction about you dying but giving you a totally different name. Because THAT's mature.
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OKay, I won't. Maybe I should just go write a crappy fan fiction about you dying but giving you a totally different name. Because THAT's mature.
Once again, don't insult me. I don't call your fanfiction crappy or anything. I would appreciate it if you give me the same respect on here if nowhere else. If you have an issue, please keep it out of this thread. We were having a nice discussion till you brought in all this. I refuse to do this here.
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Ok, enough. Back on topic.
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So here is my question I've been thinking about.
When you want to write a new story, how do you get ideas? What is your process for choosing one to actually go ahead and write?
When I come up with an idea, I usually sit on it for a few days before I commit to it. If it won't go away then I'll write a few chapters. At that point if I make the decision to commit, I go for it. This Scattered pictures story is the exception. I got the idea while napping & quickly wrote Kevin's story within two hours lol
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And we're done! Take it somewhere else!
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And we're done! Take it somewhere else!
Thanks. :).
And I love that you got the inspiration for Scattered Pictures on a whim. Yay Kevin!
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And we're done! Take it somewhere else!
YAY! Maybe someone can write another killing story!
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Here's a fun one... how far do you take your hatred of someone when it comes to fan fiction? (ie: Leighanne or even a BSB fan).
Figured that would bust out the clowns and rainbows.
I don't hate anyone, not even my ex, lol.
When it comes to fan fiction, I have fun killing off characters if that's the kind of story I'm writing. Like for instance Save A Prayer. I killed all the NKOTB members, but it doesn't mean I hate them, I actually really like Joey, lol.
With the 1000 Ways To Kill Nick and the Revenge of the Slaughtered stories, they are just a bit of fun and there's no way I'd wish for any of that to happen in reality. It's just a bit of harmless fun. In fact, I'm still waiting for someone to kill me off :D
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YAY! Maybe someone can write another killing story!
Did they not just say take it somewhere else? Really, let's just stop.
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Did they not just say take it somewhere else? Really, let's just stop.
I did drop it. I said YAY to it being over. You're continuing it.
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Mare, I'm glad that story came to you so quickly, good to see you writing again :)
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I did drop it. I said YAY to it being over. You're continuing it.
Actually your exact quote referred to the drama. I really wish you would quit since Mare and Julilly have both asked now.
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Thanks, me too! I just hope it stays that way lol
*kicks Kevin*
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Thanks, me too! I just hope it stays that way lol
*kicks Kevin*
Poor Kevin LOL.
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Actually your exact quote referred to the drama. I really wish you would quit since Mare and Julilly have both asked now.
I thought my quote referred to the killing people story we were discussing from my question?
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YAY! Maybe someone can write another killing story!
As long as there are BSB to kill there will always be killing stories lol
I never kill them, only slightly maime
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I thought my quote referred to the killing people story we were discussing from my question?
Honestly, you know better. But if you continue to refer to it after this post, I'll just ignore it. I will respect the mods, despite your refusal to.
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As long as there are BSB to kill there will always be killing stories lol
I never kill them, only slightly maime
LMAO okay Dobby. (And hey now, you killed Nick in Whatever The Night!)
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As long as there are BSB to kill there will always be killing stories lol
I never kill them, only slightly maime
I prefer to kill babies. Sad, I know lol
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Honestly, you know better. But if you continue to refer to it after this post, I'll just ignore it. I will respect the mods, despite your refusal to.
Right. If you want to think that, go ahead. Whatever makes you happy.
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I prefer to kill babies. Sad, I know lol
Sadly, I'm good with that lol
I will kill kids & family members before any if the guys
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Sadly, I'm good with that lol
I will kill kids & family members before any if the guys
We know I'm the queen of killing. I have more problems killing the real life kids than anything LOL.
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Sadly, I'm good with that lol
I will kill kids & family members before any if the guys
Me too. Nick has lost so many babies. I think my readers come to expect that from me now.
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LMAO okay Dobby. (And hey now, you killed Nick in Whatever The Night!)
Yeah... But he got better, remember? So that doesn't count lol
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Yeah... But he got better, remember? So that doesn't count lol
Unless you chose the one where they all end up dead LMAO.
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Me too. Nick has lost so many babies. I think my readers come to expect that from me now.
The baby killer lol that was what I used to call ER the baby killing show since they killed one off every other episode
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I don't think I've ever killed a child in a story, maybe because I couldn't handle writing that. But I have no problem killing teens, the boys and anyone else :)
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Unless you chose the one where they all end up dead LMAO.
But everyone knows that wasn't the real ending! :p lol
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But everyone knows that wasn't the real ending! :p lol
They still die! It still counts! LMAO
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BTW Steph, if someone else doesn't, next time I'm inspired for Revenge, I'll kill you LOL.
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BTW Steph, if someone else doesn't, next time I'm inspired for Revenge, I'll kill you LOL.
Thanks, I'd love that, LOL
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Thanks, I'd love that, LOL
LOL it's fun dying in that fic. I just need a creative way to kill you. Or Julie needs one. One of us anyway :P, if Ritz doesn't.
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So here is my question I've been thinking about.
When you want to write a new story, how do you get ideas? What is your process for choosing one to actually go ahead and write?
I get my ideas from all over the place. Sometimes they just pop into my head randomly. In Pieces came from the song, the sequel to it (I originally wasn't going to write a sequel) came from a dream I had. Left and Leaving was largely based on my own life at the time, and so was The Best of Both Worlds. Running Up That Hill came to me while I was in the shower LOL. No idea why, it just did.
So when I get an idea like that I play around with it in my head a lot before I sit down and write. I'll go for walks and think about the story. And usually, I'll write a prologue or a first chapter before I even begin to outline to see if I'll actually enjoy writing the story. I had three chapters of Running Up That Hill completed before I even considered posting that or outlining it because it was so far out of my box that I wanted to make sure I'd be able to continue it.
Now, what I do after I write that first chapter is go into a blank word doc and type out all my ideas in bullet points. I should show you guys one of those docs, because they're a mess of ideas and random stuff with sarcastic comments thrown in because... just because. It's usually about a page long of just random jumbles, and from there, I try to take those ideas and sort them out into an outline that will eventually become the story. The sorting out is the worst part and I hate it. I hate outlining, but for me it's completely necessary otherwise I'll just drown in my ideas and sit there staring at word thinking 'where should I go from here?' I started writing one story, skipping my outlining process and just jumping straight into writing and it's a terrible idea. I need to go back and outline but I've already posted 4 chapters so I can't even go backwards. Ugh. Mistake! I don't even have inspiration to work on it now because I know I need to do the stupid outline.
Yup. That's my process lol
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There's a new thread with a new question! Head on over there!