Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => Writer's Circle => Brainstorms => Topic started by: mare on July 08, 2010, 09:24:56 PM
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Just thought i'd start a thread for anyone who has ideas for a story and wants to run them by people on the board or are in the middle of a story and need support, inspiration or just to vent.
I have no ideas or anything to contribute here at the moment so i'm stepping away...slowly just for dramatic effect. Or is it affect? I always get those two confused! lmao >:(
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Effect is right. :) Effect is the noun, like a special effect (or dramatic effect.) Anything that has "an effect" on you. Affect is a verb, like something "affects" you.
Good idea for a thread! I'm not big on posting my ideas before I write them cause I don't wanna ruin the story, but I will say that I got a new story idea on Sunday that I couldn't get out of my head, started writing it on Monday, and have been happily working away at it ever since.
I'm on Chapter 4 already, but I'm unsure about putting it up anywhere because:
1) I JUST started Guilty Roads, and I have two collabs and another story of my own in the works too (not to mention all the stuff I have on hiatus), so I don't wanna spread myself too thin and not be able to keep everything updated.
2) The idea, even though I like it, seems so similar to another story I've already written, that I'm thinking people are going to read far enough to figure out what it's about and go, "Really? Again?"
So for now I'm just writing it for my own entertainment, to get it out of my system and see how far I can go on it before my inspiration runs dry. We'll see!
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Like Julie, I got inspired again recently. But I have the same problem. Two collabs, a new story going strong. I do have the problem of spreading myself thin. I vowed not to do it anymore. Which has been working. I've been steady with Undead/RMTW chapters with no true delay problems. I even have a new RMTW chapter started.
Now I haven't let myself start it yet, but I keep getting ideas for it that I end up sticking into my "outline" (if we can call it that LOL...more like word doc full of random ideas for one new story). I feel like the moment I let myself start writing it I won't be able to help myself LOL.
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I've had a couple of story ideas lately but the next day when I think about writing, I get disappointed in my ideas. I don't know what's going on but my muse better get out of hiding!!!
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That happens to me sometimes too, Lore. My muse has been really ADD this summer about getting a new idea or suddenly getting really inspired for an old idea I've had sitting around forever, and I'll start writing something or go crazy planning for it and then lose inspiration on it two days later. I don't know what to tell you... maybe you just haven't latched onto the right idea yet, or maybe you just need to really focus and try to iron out whatever kinks in the idea that are disappointing you. I hope you can get your muse to come out and play!
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Now I haven't let myself start it yet, but I keep getting ideas for it that I end up sticking into my "outline" (if we can call it that LOL...more like word doc full of random ideas for one new story). I feel like the moment I let myself start writing it I won't be able to help myself LOL.
I'm gonna play devil's advocate and say I think you should just go for it! Write what's in your head! You don't have to post it, and you don't have to abandon RMTW and Undead (correction: I won't ALLOW you to abandon that one - either of them, really LOL), but at least get it out there and see where it takes you.
I never liked having more than two stories in the works at once, my main one and my back-up. But then I got to the point where my main one was Broken and then BMS, and they took me so long to write that I put all these other ideas on the back burner to write after I finished BMS. But then when I did, I'd pretty much lost my inspiration on all of them. Guilty Roads is really the only one I've had any success with actually writing. There are others I've started and haven't gotten anywhere with, even though I still like the ideas. You might as well write while the idea's hot, knowing that the day will come when your muse wants to switch back to one of your other babies LOL, and then you can put it aside and save it for later.
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I've found too that putting a story on a back burner that you actually wanna write really bad makes the stuff you are writing come out kind of crappy cos you're forcing yourself away from what you're actually inspired to be doing. Sometimes just tossing a few chapters into it will end the urge, then when you put it on a back burner it's not driving you crazy with ideas and desire, you write your main stuff better, and you have more than just a couple ideas in a word document to return to the other story with that jogs your memory and your desire to finish the story. :) That's basically what my goal was when I did the first few chapters of STDFB3 - I didn't want to lose the voice of Nick in the series between stories, but I really wanted to work on HTSAL first. Of course, as you know, I abandoned HTSAL and got obsessive over getting the story to work right and poofed, but that was issues with HTSAL not with STDFB3, and I was looking over the material I have for STDFB3 and it got me excited again to pick it up. If I hadn't written what I have in that story, I never would've been able to pick that series back up again, I would've lost Nick's "voice" for it.
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I agree; sometimes it's nice to have a story at least started, cause if you write the beginning while the creative juices are flowing and it's really good, that makes it easier to go back to and pick up again later.
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I love that all of you are getting so many ideas this summer! I think seeing you guys jump back into is one of the things that inspired me to write again.
I say to all of you, if you have the idea in your head and have worked out at least a few chapters, you should just go ahead and start posting it! You might as well. Julie, 4 chapters is a lot, but I know what you mean too. It sucks when you have that much going on because eventually something is going to end up on the back burner but your faithful readers will be happy to see you updated at least one story a week if nothing else. That's what I noticed when I was going strong before I tanked out! lol
At one point I think I had 3 stories going on at once, but after awhile I found myself working on one a week and most people were happy with that. You might lose readers who are only following one of the stories, but if the story is good enough they'll come back when you update!
I'm glad my muse is back. For a long time I was convinced she had hitched a ride to Vegas to become a stripper or something.
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^ I'm glad your muse is back, too! And I agree, I think everyone who's jumping back into it and everyone supporting each other is a huge inspiration!
I never really stopped writing, but I also hadn't really had a novel of my own going strong since I finished BMS - I wrote a few short stories, but other than that it was pretty much the two collaborations . And as much as I love writing for those, there's something different about having a story that's all yours that you can work on whenever you feel like it, without either waiting for it to be your turn or feeling obligated to get a part written because it is your turn. So I've really enjoyed working on GR and this new story I started this summer.
My plan is to get through Chapter 6 and see how it's going then, cause that's kind of crucial point in the beginning of the story. If it's still working out, I'm sure I'll post it. I finished Chapter 4 today, so I'm starting on 5 now.
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I'm glad you've all got the writing bug :)
I've had a few ideas in my head for stories, but at the moment I've just put a few ideas down in a word doc and will have a look when I've finished the story I'm currently writing. I've not been able to write a thing for a couple of weeks because my laptop died and took all my work along with it! But I've bought a new laptop now and have managed to recover my stuff from the old crappy one, so hopefully I can get some more done in the next couple of days.
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Oh no! Sorry about your computer. Glad you were able to recover everything, and yay for a new laptop! I miss having a laptop, but my old one got to be so unreliable, I swore I'd never buy another one LOL. It completely crashed on me once, and I lost EVERYTHING. Not fun!
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It completely crashed on me once, and I lost EVERYTHING. Not fun!
That happened to me once with a desktop PC just before I'd finished an original story that was somewhere between 400 and 600 pages...and the PC got a virus and it was eating the hard drive like it was a sandwich - just chomp chomp chomp... and I hadn't updated my back up of it in something like 150 pages, and I was freaking out that I was going to lose it all... So my mom sat at my computer, which I had to move into the dining room and hook up, and I sat at hers across the room, and she read the pages while I typed them on her PC to update my back up drive. It took literally all night, but my mom was a trooper and we got the whole thing done... I lost a lot of other stuff - music, pictures, files, like five or six website layouts that I loved (and a ton I didn't care about), stories, etc - but we saved that story, which would've been -by far- the biggest loss, because I'm one of those people that if I lose something, I can't rewrite it. It comes out forced the second time (which is why I can't outline, lol).
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I'm the same way; I HATE having to rewrite! It just kills my inspiration.
I guess that's another reason to post as you write, so that if something like that were to happen, at least you've got most of your story backed up online.
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Oh god, that sounds like an absolute nightmare!!
I'm glad I'd saved all my stuff quite recently, so I didn't lose much and that I was able to recover it. I've bought an external hard drive now too.
Posting as you go is a very good idea for that reason :)
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I have a small idea where, i guess iron man has a small team of kids given to him by shield and the bsb are a part of it but they are younger and mor rebelious i guess. lol. i don't know it's been ahunting my dreams for a while. :'(
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I lost all of Mel's Tree when I first started writing it. My computer crashed and I couldn't get it back! It ended up being a belssing in disguise for me though since I ended up reworking and totally changing it. I always not only back up my stuff now but send it to everyone else to backup as well lol I should start doing that with fanfic. I only do it with OF.
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I never saved my stuff till the blackout. ok ok so i still havnt... plan to today.
Back to maybe sorta the topic...
My most popular story (far from normal) is my least fav. to write. I know not many here are into slash but just... am I the only one or if not any advice?
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I have a small idea where, i guess iron man has a small team of kids given to him by shield and the bsb are a part of it but they are younger and mor rebelious i guess. lol. i don't know it's been ahunting my dreams for a while. :'(
Lol hun. I like this idea.
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Iron Man story sounds good!
I would love to write a story involving aliens or something sci-fi but so far it's just a few notes in word and some crazy thoughts in my head. Not sure my imagination can stretch as far as writing it.
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Iron Man story sounds good!
I would love to write a story involving aliens or something sci-fi but so far it's just a few notes in word and some crazy thoughts in my head. Not sure my imagination can stretch as far as writing it.
I've thought the same thing... like a War of the Worlds type thing. Haha, Nick would be all like "AWEEEESUMMMM!!"
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I have some ideas on word too.It's full of random ideas.One I'm trying to write were they all five are brothers.
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I've thought the same thing... like a War of the Worlds type thing. Haha, Nick would be all like "AWEEEESUMMMM!!"
That's exactly the type of story I was thinking of!!!!
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i have a few stories ideas but don't know how to start them, and when i do i can't seem to finish them. >:( it's a little frustrating.
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Lately all of my ideas have been sequels to older stories of mine, that years have passed, since they ended. My readers seem to like having the characters updated and finding out what's up with them.
I have this one idea going around in my head, but I can't seem to put it into words, even in outline form or come up with the right lead character in it. I've tried doing several character sketches and can't seem to find anything I like.
So I think I'm blocked in the original aspect of writing, but I seem to be writing pretty steadily on my "I Wanna Be Bad" chapter.
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Ugh, I gotta post here 'cause I got some frustration built up inside of me and this is the place I can get it out! (At least, I think so)
Hmm, so I got my story Ice Cold Blood posted. I first started to write it in 3rd person but I always forget I find it so much easier to write in 1st person. So, I continued to write in 1st person in Word but I'm like "I can't just switch from 3rd to 1st person." Now, I'm thinking of re-writing the chapters that are in 3rd person. But I also really want to continue writing on this story 'cause I haven't been writing on it for months. I have a tiny bit written in a notebook but after that my ideas stop! I am so frustrated 'cause I wanna make this story look good (as I'm totally unsatisfied with my other story Don't Wanna Lose You Now). I've got some scenes in my head that I can practically play like a movie but when I have to write them down, I have NO idea where to start! (And I end up with my hands in my hair)
Plus, I'm starting to doubt if the subject "vampires" is a popular subject. I have also been thinking about a story somewhere along the paranormal subject. ('Cause I'm really interested in paranormal stuff)
But, I also want to continue Ice Cold Blood but I'm really out of ideas as to speak.
I also started to think of types of stories I find easier to write. And I figured it'd probably be drama, romance and some comedy. But then I get this problem: what drama/romance/comedy story is interesting and good enough for people to read it? I mean, I always got the feeling my stories aren't that good (despite the fact my reviews are good). And I can't think of an original idea. Well, I can't think of ideas concerning those types at all.
Maybe I just should stop worrying about my story and take a break from writing? But on the other side, I WANT to write but I CAN'T. Eurgh, I'm never this frustrated!
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That's a hard one with the POV change because I know for me it does get confusing when it switches in the middle but maybe if you just put an Author's Note about the change, you won't have to go back and fix it right away. This way you can continue working on it without worrying about taking a break.
As far as popular subjects, if you start thinking that way you won't get anything done. Pretty much the only secret to popular success is have Nick or AJ and a girl hook up etc.. Vampires and the whole sci fi realm has never done as well as the classic romance type stories but you want to write what you feel comfortable writing. It sounds like you are doing what i'm sure we all do from time to time is just the whole overthinking things too much.
I love paranormal stories. That's an awesome idea to work on. But I don't think you should take a break from writing because it sounds like you do want to write!
Good luck!
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I say that if you're enjoying writing it, then carry on!
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I agree with Mare about the 1st person thing. If you think it will be easier to write and be a better fit for the story, switch it... but definitely put an author's note, and eventually, you should edit the beginning to be 1st person too and re-post those chapters. But like Mare said, you don't need to do it right away as long as you explain the situation.
Vampires ARE a popular subject, thanks to Twilight, but there's also a lot of backlash about vampires now, too. That's the case with anything that gets so popular. You will have people who won't want to read a vampire story solely because they're sick of hearing about vampires from Twilight mania and all the vampire shows on TV now. But vampire stories have always been popular in the Bsb fandom. Paranormal stuff usually does well, too.
Romance (whether with drama or comedy) definitely seems to be the most popular genre of fanfic, especially on AC, so you find that easy to write, go for it - you will probably get more readers that way than with a vampire or even a paranormal story. And like Mare said, if you use AJ or Nick in the lead, even better. AJ romance and Nick romance almost always get more readers than stories about the other guys or non-romances. But only go that route if that's what you really want to write.
I completely understand your frustration; I do think we all go through this kind of "writer's crisis" from time to time. My most recent one was back in June, when I kept flitting from story to story and started two new ones. I hate having a bunch of unfinished projects in the works at the same time, but sometimes you need to just experiment and start new things until you find the story idea that's going to work for you. You don't have to post everything you start, but don't be afraid to give these different ideas of yours a try.
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Thanks a bunch, girls! I guess I just needed to hear others opinions. I think I will overread my current story and see if I can get anything out of it or just give it a break. Now, I will think about an idea for a paranormal story or a romance/drama or romance/comedy story.
I love to write about AJ and Nick! In my first BSB fanfic, AJ was in the lead ('cause he's my favorite). In my 2nd (vampire) fanfic, I was planning to focus more on Nick. It's easier to write about the two of them. :) However, I didn't want Ice Cold Blood to be too Twilight. I was planning to make it a mix of Twilight (just bits), The Vampire Diaries (I take notes when I watch it. Like, certain facts about vampires, what weakens them etc.), Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural (major Supernatural [read: Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki] fan).
But I've got a small idea for a paranormal story (with probably Nick in the lead) but I just have to work things out with Ice Cold Blood first. If my mind is at peace with that fanfic, I can think about another one. :)
Oh, and the author's note is a good one! Will definitely do that.
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Woot! I just finished off a chapter of Ice Cold Blood! And I think it's the longest one till now!
The only thing I had to do was reading back my fanfic till the part I stopped, and then the ideas continued to flow!
The only thing is... it's 3 am. :D But it's been a long time since I wrote without having trouble continueing the chapter. I actually enjoyed it and no headaches or frustration involved! Yay! ;D
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Yay! That's excellent! Congrats!! :)
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I've been sitting on an idea for a long time about fertility issues...and lots of drama/relationship breakdown surrounding it...
I am also going back and forth on what to do about Casual. According to my original plan, I have a lot more to go, but even I am getting sick of the Nick and Quinn drama. I am considering taking out a big hunk that was going to be kind of important to then ending, but I think I have a shorter way to get there.
I need to start something new, but I have trouble working on two things at the same time because I really try to get in my character's head and I will be mixed up if I am dealing with more than one at the same time...two in the same story is tough enough as it is!
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aw that is tough. I'm not big on multi-tasking either when it comes to writing. I like your fertility idea.
I would say as far as Casual, if you're sick of the characters and know how to get to the end quicker, I say do it. I'm sure your readers would prefer an ending then to be left hanging. :)
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I think if you can shorten Casual without sacrificing your plot, go for it! Sometimes too many subplots, too much drama, or too drawn out of a plot hurts the story rather than helps it - but you also don't want to rush the ending on something you've put this much time into. I've been on both sides of that LOL. If you can write the ending the story deserves, but take a shortcut to get there that will still do the story justice, then do it.
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I'm with you, Julie and Mare. Thanks for the feedback. I have been taking little things out here and there...but it seems like a lot has been added too. I have this whole section that I think is pretty unnecessary that can go. And actually, I think where I am now could get me to the same ending but it just needs to be reworked.
I do love to write, and I think starting something new may reignite my passion. Do all writers feel this way at the end of a long, overdramatic story?
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I can definitely relate from when I was writing By My Side LOL. It has too many subplots, too much drama, and it is SO long. I felt really accomplished when I finally did finish it the way I'd always planned to, but after that, I had a hard time getting back into another story. If it wasn't for my collaborations and the few short stories I wrote, I wouldn't have been writing at all. It took me like 10 months to start another novel that was worthy of posting, and even then, I hardly updated it. Really, I didn't have another story of my own that I updated regularly until this summer - took me 2 1/2 years! I was writing for Song for the Undead and 00Carter that whole time, but there's something special about having a novel in that works that is all your own.
I hope you're able to finish Casual and be proud of it, and then yes... start something new and different! :)
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Yes, coming from one who is so close to finishing a story i've been working on forever that is full of plot twists, too much drama and is very overdramatic. It kind of sucks the life out of you. I am working onthe very last chapter now and it feels wonderful lol I thought i'd be sad but it's more of a relief than anything else. I'm sure i'll miss the characters but yeah, I would think that if I wasn't already working on a brand new story, I could easily see myself taking another long break lol
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It just makes me remember how I began the idea for Figured You Out like 6 years ago after I took a fanfic writing hiatus. I had been on FF.net for a long time and once they removed all BSB stuff, I had lost everything. Incomplete was my first story I posted here I believe. As for Figured You Out, the idea was floating in my head for years when all of a sudden it screamed to be posted. I usually dabble in ROM COM or AU...so it was a HUGE turn for me, I have received a great response so far and I have been inspired to write new things! Just goes to show that digging through old files on my computer helped a lot!
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I do love to write, and I think starting something new may reignite my passion. Do all writers feel this way at the end of a long, overdramatic story?
I'm completely overwhelmed with Life According to Baylee (and by association, Life After The Unexpected, too) because of the emotion and drama. Thus the reason my updates are SOOO far between. I have such a hard time motivating myself to write...I keep thinking "I really wanna write...eh, never mind, I don't wanna deal with it." and end up doing something else. So I totally understand where you're coming from with Casual.
Finally I decided to counteract my frustration with LATB by starting a new story. Visions of Love is a polar opposite of LATB. It's all comedy...even the little bits of drama that are thrown in, make me laugh, because I've put a very light mood to the story, in hopes that I will be able to get more for LATB done, just because I have VoL to counteract the drama. Does that make sense? VoL is like my stress release, I guess. It's going to be another novel, but not nearly as intense as LATB, so I'm actually pretty excited about it....I am even *gasp* outlining! ???
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I like having stories of different genres going on at the same time, so you can write whatever you feel like. It's nice to have a back-up story (or two or three LOL).
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I like having stories of different genres going on at the same time, so you can write whatever you feel like. It's nice to have a back-up story (or two or three LOL).
Totally! I have... *pauses to count* 5+ stories I'm working on. Not to mention my unfinished one that I'm stuck on!
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I've been sitting on an idea for a long time about fertility issues...and lots of drama/relationship breakdown surrounding it...
I am also going back and forth on what to do about Casual. According to my original plan, I have a lot more to go, but even I am getting sick of the Nick and Quinn drama. I am considering taking out a big hunk that was going to be kind of important to then ending, but I think I have a shorter way to get there.
I need to start something new, but I have trouble working on two things at the same time because I really try to get in my character's head and I will be mixed up if I am dealing with more than one at the same time...two in the same story is tough enough as it is!
I wrote about fertility issues in my Nick/Tara "I Wanna Be Bad" sequel story. It was a lot different to write about.
I'm the same way with writing about more than one thing at a time. I don't have a great attention span so when I'm writing on one story, I like to stay in it, in the characters' heads.
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I've got 22ish ideas to start!The thing is I'm working on two stories already but I have no idea where to go on them.Don't want to wait on my new thoughts cause my mind is racing with new ideas.Should I wait and not try to start anymore?
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I would say you should write your thoughts down while they're still in your head. Sometimes once it's written down it's easy to tell if they are worth going forward with. I would say if you try to write and a chapter comes out easily, you should go with it. You know how you are though, so if you don't think it'll be something you'd continue. I wouldn't post it until you are sure you are going to keep going on it.
I know I have a new one. I have the first chapter all done but am struggling with the second chapter which is what's keeping me from posting it.
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I recently came up with a new idea for a suspense/horror story! I love my very creative imaginary dreams! :D Of course, my dream wasn't that much horror-ish but it sure as hell was scary! I'm thinking about turning it into a fanfic, but since the dream was pretty vague and not that long, I have to write down some notes and make up about beginning and the end. The dream is pretty much the thing that's inbetween LOL. I keep forgetting to write my dream down. I'm afraid I will forget some stuff. I'd say, let's do it now! But it's almost 2am. I probably remember less now than when I do by day LOL.
OOOOH! I also had this other idea for a suspense story but I can barely remember! shitshitshit. Alright.. calm down. Wait.. I start to remember. It's about a psycho fan ghost. I got inspired by a movie I watched yesterday. Usually, I would sort of copy the movie and put BSB in it instead of the original characters, but somehow I thought of a whole other storyline and I think that if I put all my effort in it and actually stay positive about the whole thing, I might turn it into a pretty cool story. :) I've never done a suspense/scary fanfic before so I'm curious if it'll work out!
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Finally, I found the right thread to post at about my ideas and stuff.... :D
I am currently writing I still... ( a Nick Romance ) but struggling on how to write an arrogant and yet sweet Nicky. I didn't know it was this hard to write him... ( or is it just me? ) When I was writing Back to your heart (an AJ romance ), writing Nick just came naturally. Plus, for example I wrote about the guys' meeting about the tour and my next idea after that was when they are already on tour. so I struggle about what to write in between those two situation, so I had to write a scenarion in the airport just to link those two situations that I've mentioned, and the chapter ended short and lame because I was just forcing myself to write it.
and Mr. Nick Carter won't stop bugging me about a new story about him. It was about his encounters with ghosts and some supernatural stuff. I only write romance so this is a very big challenge for me. I stopped writing I still... to give way to this new story. and as always I was struggling with words; I could clearly see in my head the scenario and hear the dialogues, but I am having a hard time writing a descriptive paragraph. I hope this new story, which has a temporary title of 'The other side of Nick Carter', will push through and people would like it.
There ya go.... :)
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Nick and ghosts sound interesting! I hope you are able to find the right words. Feel free to contact me if you are having difficulties finding words or just want someone to read it to make sure it makes sense ... feel free to contact me.
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Sounds interesting :)
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Sounds like a great idea, Ritz. Good luck with it!
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You can contact me too Ritz! Wouldn't mind helpin ya out. ;D
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awww, girls, Thank you!!! ;D
Lore and Erika, thank you and since you mentioned it, expect an e-mail from me... LOL but really, thank you, girls, that was so sweet. :)
Steph, Thank you for the awesome banner. I owe you one. :)
and Mare, a good luck from you is something.... and you made me happy by just saying it sound as a great idea. thank you. :)