Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => General Discussion => Topic started by: mare on June 24, 2012, 02:25:12 PM
-
Thought i'd start a new thread since the other one was running pretty long. I did leave the other one opened for anyone who wants to answer the questions or add on to what was said prior to today. :)
Tonight's question:
After reading the diverse answers some of you had, here is the question. How do you tend to characterize the guys when you write them? Give us a few descriptions for each guy and if you write a lot of female leads what characteristic s do you tend to give them?
Kevin
Howie
Brian
AJ
Nick
-
Yay for thread number 2!
Now for today's question!
Kevin - I tend to write Kevin in the cliched fatherly/leader role. He's always a supporting character in my stories, usually the one who gives advice (whether it's asked for or not) or tries to take charge in tough situations, except for the one in which he's comatose with a bullet in his brain, of course. I'm surprised I don't take him out of commission more often simply because he's the leader; it's fun to do, but I guess I just don't care enough to ever make him the main focus of a story LOL.
Howie - I usually write Howie in a similar role as Kevin, especially after Kevin left and Howie became the unofficial leader of the band. My Howie is more good-natured and easygoing than my Kevin, but he's usually the voice of reason, as well as the peacemaker. I like writing Howie alongside AJ or Nick the best. He's usually the one looking out for AJ or tolerating Nick picking on him all the time. I love that he still calls Nick "Nicky" from time to time; I always include a few strategically placed "Nicky"s in my Nick tearjerkers. Howie's good for bromance! My absolute favorite way to write Howie, though, is as Dr. Rough, his character in 00Carter, in which the tears of being mocked have caused him to snap, turning him into a power-hungry supervillain who is also super-sensitive about his shortcomings and would freak out at my use of the word "short."
Brian - My Brian changes depending on his role in the story and who he's with. When paired with Kevin or Howie, my Brian is the goofy one, good for comic relief. When paired with Nick or AJ, he's either equally goofy so that they play off each other well, or he comes across as the more mature, serious one. I've written angsty Brian, who wallows in self-pity, and I've written strong Brian, who is there for whichever one (usually Nick) is wallowing instead. Whatever the situation, though, there are certain characteristic s I always keep when I write Brian: his sense of humor, his faith, his love of music, his devotion to his family, and the back story about his heart condition. I'm a Brian girl, and to me, those are all key components to what make Brian Brian, so even in an AU, those things stay a part of him.
AJ - Like I said in the other thread, AJ is one of my favorites to write as a supporting character, although I do like to write him as the lead sometimes, too. In his supporting role, he's usually either a source of comic relief or a source of conflict. He lightens the mood, cracks inappropriate jokes, and says the stuff no one else has the balls to say. But he's also most likely to react badly to difficult situations and have a total meltdown. Fun-loving AJ is my favorite, but dark, angsty AJ is good for drama.
Nick - Nick is similar to Brian in that I write him differently depending on the story. When he's in a supporting role, he's usually more immature and annoying, whereas when he's the main character, he seems more thoughtful and serious. I write him differently now than I did a few years, I think partly because of how much he's grown up and changed in past few years and partly because of how much I'VE grown up and changed. I used to write Nick as kind of a mess - insecure, angsty, emo, even suicidal at times. My Nick nowadays is usually more confident and chill about things. In serious stories, anyway. In not-serious ones, he's still silly and playful. I use a lot of mannerisms when I write Nick, like that smirk he does that says "You can't resist me; I know I'm hot," and waggling his eyebrows, licking his lips, putting his hand in his hair, all that stuff he does that is so hot LOL. I usually have an easy time picturing him and his body language as I write.
Female leads - My female leads are usually based on some part of myself or someone I know, or they're the kind of girl I wish I was, without being so idealized that they turn into Mary Sue. The character Jori in Secrets of the Heart, for example, is an exaggerated version of my sister. Cary in Curtain Call and Claire in Broken are both sort of my ideals, but with real qualities of the two opposite sides of my personality. Cary is the girly side whose personality is similar to how I am around most people in real life - kind of quiet and reserved, a little insecure, but trustworthy and sweet, a nurturer. Claire is the tomboy side whose personality is more similar to how I am online and among my closest friends and family - more outgoing, twisted sense of humor, not afraid of what people think, will say whatever, even if it's "Suck it up and stop feeling sorry for yourself." They both have characteristic s that I idealize, like their looks (Cary is classically pretty and can pull off red lipstick; Claire is more plain-looking, but has red hair - I love red hair!), Cary's musical talent, and Claire's spitfire personality, but my intent was that they also have flaws that prevent them from being Mary Sues or at least enough quirk to make them likable. I don't like female leads that are too perfect, but Anti-Sues that try too hard to NOT be perfect, yet are somehow still adored by everyone in the story (Bella Swan), are even more annoying.
-
Kevin - He's always the big brother, sometimes things get to him. But because of the things he's done for the others over the years, he's the one looking out and taking care of the other four as much as he can.
Howie - I try to write Howie as understanding yet understated. I just now started playing with the idea of the Nick/Howie bond (in RMTW), and I liked it cause people forget about him. That, or I use that to mock it and have him get revenge LOL. And in stories where Kevin's not on tour with them, I want to play with the idea of Howie having had to take on the leader role.
Brian - Understanding with his cheesy outgoing sense of humor lol. I like writing him as true to his faith but I've liked playing with things that make him question it. He's usually the one I send people to for advice if Kevin's not around. He has such a perfect life, that I usually give him hell in some form or another in a fic so that way I can take his character into new places.
AJ - AJ immediately gets my morbid sense of humor. He's the one who will say what he feels no matter what. And then I like to try and give him this twisted and sometimes detached perspective on things. I'll even do stuff like write him with depression cause honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he ever got diagnosed with that in real life.
Nick - He tends to be jaded, about what fame has taken from him, his family life. I like writing him as the brother always worrying about his siblings despite how they treat him. And then the one who needs the group more than anyone cause it's his only family. He gets little nuances like singing randomly or when he's nervous, and he gets my random train of thought cause we all know how random he is for real lol.
Female leads - usually they're built off of one aspect of myself at the time. Like Cali in Just Another Day had all my insecurities. I gave her the talents of one of my cousins, and flipped my favorite subject on to one she hated. She was really shy, which is what I used to be as a kid but wasn't when I wrote it. Riley, in Song For The Undead, is a bigger bitch than I could be lol, but its her biggest flaw. She has my temper though, my way of being cautiously detached if I worry about being hurt. She's definitely tougher than me, and far more cynical. I gave her my former love of journalism lol. Grace in Divine Intervention has my wry attitude about things, and my way of teasing when she gives Nick a hard time. She definitely will (once I write it) make mistakes that I wouldn't even consider though, back when she was alive, and have bigger regrets. So basically I take a couple of aspects of me, but not all, blow some up into flaws, and some into great qualities, and then toss in other characterizati ons from other people in my life to make someone new.
-
Kevin - I tend to write Kevin stereotypicall y as the older brother, leader type. He tends to be my role model and voice of reason in most of my stories. He loves and tends to be over protective of the rest of the boys, especially of Nick and AJ. When I write him and his relationship with Howie, I tend to have them be more friends than anything else. Two equals hanging out. With Howie, I tend to show the more fun side of Kevin. The one that likes to joke and have a good time. I usually make him pretty intense, and rarely give him comic lines. He's my straight man but does get a lot of ribbing from the others. LOL
Howie - I try to write him as the humble, nice guy. Always willing to listen to everyone. I guess he's my shoulder to cry on guy. Always the one people know will give them the time of day if needed. I do try to make him a protector as well because I see that in him, based on interviews I've seen where he talks about the younger guys. I like to showcase his relationship with Kevin and Nick the most. With Kevin, I usually make him the one who's not afraid to stand his ground and say what he thinks. I have always thought Nick and Howie have had a very special relationship and I try to pull that out as often as I can. I really do try to not make Howie fade in the background too much and I think I do okay with that.
Brian - He's the feel good guy. The one who always seems to be happy go lucky. The perfect life, the perfect,family. Doesn't complain a whole lot and because he's been so isolated, he's kind of close minded with things. That's generally how I approach him. I find him the hardest to write probably because I find him the hardest to relate to. I like to make him goofy but not over the top goofy but I also like to make him serious as well. I guess he's always the guy in the middle. I noticed I don't write him overly tight or close to any of them but just enough to keep that brotherly bond going with all five.
AJ - Is my comic relief. He's the one that has no internal censor and says whatever he thinks. Classic AJ moment is when I actually met him and he used the term "I woke up at the crack of ass!" LOL I have used that line in a fic and I think that sums him up. Underneath the tattoos and make up and whatever else makes AJ 'unique" I think he's the most normal personality wise. I think he's actually the glue that binds the guys all together. He seems to have a special relationship with all of the guys and I can see him being the one to never really take sides and instead see it from everyone else's perspective.
Nick - I do a very stereotypical Nick as well but he has SO many layers, that I feel like there is no such thing as a stereotypical Nick anymore. I enjoy making him the typical little brother. Care free and reckless but thoughtful. I try not to make him overly dumb because even as a kid, I never bought into that dumb blonde thing. I truly believe it was just an act. I think he has always been the most observant member of the group when it comes to watching other people's behavior. I like to make him shy, and a bit vulnerable but of course also a lot of fun when it comes to being around the guys. He lacks trust usually but not them. He would do anything for the other four in my world anyway. lol
Female leads - I don't really write female leads but my female characters tend to have a lot of my traits. I actually give Nick more of myself than I give the girls lol
-
Kevin- I've written him quite a few ways. Usually he is the annoyed big brother or a jerk....in Forces Of Nature he is very arrogant and snarky. Other stories he gives advice or is the go to guy. like that father figure Nick needs. However in Still The One he was a warm, funny guy. So he can be anything.
Howie- I don't include him much but I make him the business minded serious one. The one who took over for Kevin after he left, the leader. I've made him the "new Kevin".
Brian- He is usually the sidekick, the guy who'd do anything for his friends. I like him in my AU series, he's a cop with a ultra sensitive side....and a manly complex (no crying in front of girls). I love to write his relationship with Nick...carefre e and wise at the same time.
AJ- He's another comic relief, whether it be walking around in SPONGEBOB boxers, or cracking inappropriate jokes....he is also like a big brother to Nick. He gives advice even if it turns out to backfire, and tells things how it is. AJ is very straightforwar d, no bullshit.
Nick- I usually write him somewhat shy, a bit self conscious. He views the guys as his family more than his own, puts his friends over himself. He's the one who would do anything for someone he loves. I like writing him as the hopeless romantic, but I also write him as how he is in real life. I make him the jokester, childish at times but somewhat wise. He's the easiest for me to write.
-
Kevin - I usually have Kevin as the big brother/leader type. He's always there for the others, and likes to help in any way he can, whether they want his help or not. He's the serious one who keeps them all in line. Trustworthy, honest and very dependable.
Howie - I write him a bit like Kevin, but he's a lot more easy going and fun to be around. He's a peacekeeper and someone who can be trusted to confide in. He is also pranked and made fun of by Nick, when he's not winking in a corner, lol.
Brian - He's usually in the background and doesn't feature much in my stories.
AJ - I usually have AJ saying whatever comes into his head, no matter what it is. He's the entertaining one and the life of the party, but also a wimp, lol. I like to make him scared to do things. I also like to write him as a bit of a man whore (I've done that in romances).
Nick - I write him as outgoing but who deep down isn't all that confident. He likes to put on an act for people. He's childish at times, but dependable and loyal to his friends.
Female Leads - I usually base them on people I know, parts of myself or how I'd want to be.
-
Kevin: Just like most of you, even in mine he's always the leader/father. Especially, I love exploring his relationship with Brian and I always end up making him the overproctive cousin who chase around Brian because he doesn't want to eat. lol
Howie: mh... it depends. Most of the times, I forgot to add him. Poor Howie. He's usually the diplomatic one, the one who everyone goes to for an advice. When there isn't Kevin around, he's the father who looks after the other three, even if he isn't that strict with the food role. lol
Aj: He's my favorite supportive character. Since my stories are mostly slash, he's the one who helps Brian and Nick whenever they have some problems (yes, he even has played the part of cupid in one). I'm trying to explore his fragile side, the costant need to not be alone and have someone by his side, even if he's being used. I see him as a strong figure because, no matter how hard things have been, he's on his feet.
Nick: My Nick is a lot mature, even though he makes a lot of mistakes. But, especially with Brian, I love describing him as the guy who isn't afraid to love and to be the one taking care of his loved one. And it's really challenging because most of the stories that I've read, especially the Brian and Nicks pairing, as usually Brian as the strong one and Nick as the fragile one. I love playing with this cliché, showing how Nick can and grow and can be Brian's rock even though the difference in age.
Brian: the biggest thing that I love showing is his strenght. So, most of the times, I put him through hell just to show how he never fails to fall. Because I believe that behind a smile and a mask of being sure of themselves and a perfect life, there can be a lot of fears, insecurities or just bad things that he doesn't want to share with anyone. I always write him as the guy who bottles everything inside because he dosn't want to shatters the image that fans and the world, sometimes even his friends, has about him, as the guy who is always happy and who hasn't been through anything. The fact that he doesn't tell them doesn't mean that they didn't happen. And that's why I find him more interesting as a character than the rest of the guys. :)
-
Wanted to add that I like writing Nick as intelligent, I never went the "dumb blonde" route. He says stupid things sometimes but overall I like to make him smart.
-
Tonight's question:
Do you enjoy reading stories where the guys are way out of character?
-
it depends on if I am enjoying the plot or not. If I enjoy the plot then I will continue to read the story.
though I can't think of a plot that I could keep reading when the boys were way out of character.
-
I was reading the last thread but it was too big by the time I got into it so I was kinda overwhelmed. I wanna try to actually keep up now and post answers everyday. Sooo in the spirit of answering questions too, here's my character sketches of the guys:
Kevin
I usually write Kevin like a wise old sage. Kevin = Yoda. Seriously. Like a lot of you said, he's the father figure, he's the one that's gonna bust their chops when they're doing something they shouldn't be doing. But he's also the one that they turn to when they need help, regardless of how much trouble they think they'll be in for it. Kevin's the one that has the answers and feels helpless/useless when he doesn't. He's ambitious, and always has to have the last word. He'd rather fight a losing battle than admit he's wrong, even when he IS wrong and realizes he should really cave in a lot of times he'll just keep fighting anyways because that's his shtick. He likes picking on Brian, gives the Dirty Brow a lot, and usually turns up in hotel rooms awake and waiting like a panther when the guys are out late when they shouldn't be. In my stories, his kyrptonite is being recognized for what he is. Kevin gets really teary eyed when any of the Boys (especially Nick) thank him for being the strong fearless leader. Oh, and he's usually kinda grumpy, but he doesn't mean to be. Really. It's all in love.
Howie
Depending on how "in the story" Howie is really depends how I write him. Sometimes he's more like Kevin, sometimes he's more like Brian. If I have to write Howie for any length of time, he trends towards being a mixture of "intelli-Nick" and Brian with a dash of AJ-pre-rehab tossed in. Howie's kind of the melding pot of their personalities. He tends to say swears in Spanish (did you know there's whole websites dedicated to cussing in Spanish?) and likes to yell TEQUILAAAA in bars. His favorite past time is sleeping and drinking (he's really expanded since December as prior to Cruise it was just sleeping but cruise taught me a lot about our little Latin Lover). Howie's usually the one who talks when I don't know who else to have say what needs to be said. He's usually annoyed with Nick (in a loving manner). I tend to play him off of AJ the way Nick and Brian play off each other. I guess AJ and Howie are like Frick & Frack 2.0. With more liqor involved. TEQUIIIILAAAAA A!!
Brian
Brian tends to be a really thoughtful person with a playful personality. He's not afraid to goof off, but at the same time he knows when he's crossed a line. Or is about to. He's usually paired off with Nick, but he's the one that blends most easily with the other guys (for some reason Howie and Brian don't work well together when I write them and that may be because I find that in my opinion their two voices don't blend very well when it's just them singing - i.e., What Makes You Different Makes You Beautiful sung live...the CD version's okay but the live version, oy vey). Brian doesn't cuss a lot, so when he does he's making a point. Or he's drunk. Which by the way can we talk about how easy it is to get Brian drunk? He makes out with lamps when he does. Brian's Kentucky comes out when he says things like "Oh m'Lord" or "Oh m'gosh" - which he says frequently. Brian also enjoys prayer. But his favorite past time is kicking Nick's ass - I mean hinney - on the bball court.
AJ
I feel like AJ needs to be two separate categories:
Drunk AJ - Drunk AJ is quick to anger, drunk or drinking, and likes to cuss.
Sober AJ - Sober AJ is quick to anger, drinks Red Bull, and likes to cuss.
Wait maybe I don't need sepatate categories after all?
AJ is really a say-it-like-it-is-no-bars-held-shoot-from-the-hip kinda guy. If something rude needs to be said, AJ's on the job. He bulleys Nick sometimes but out of love and usually Kevin or Brian or Howie will yell at him. He gets emotional. He has a crappy past and he takes it out on people. Did I mention he likes cussing?
Nick
Ah Nick. Nick likes saying stupid things but is uncannily wise at times, he just doesn't realize it. He's learned a lot, usually the hard way, and continues to do so through the stories I write. He likes to eat when he's younger - especially twinkies and M&Ms - and when he's older he doesn't eat as much as he thinks about sex. Nick has a super power - it's his perviness. Nick is able to make almost anything perverted. He plays the blonde hair card a lot but the fact is the dude's not stupid. He just wants you to think he is so he can take over the world. Nick overreacts, he's a drama king, and he's hyper. He likes having episodes of ADD, and enjoys fish tanks. He hates Llamas. Well, he wants you to think he does anyways, secretly he loves them. Like a lot.
-
Tonight's question:
Do you enjoy reading stories where the guys are way out of character?
They aren't like automatically bad but I don't consider them Fan Fiction either, unless there's a reason the guys are out of character and that reason's explained in the story. IMO, if you're writing fan fiction about the guys you should be striving to at least get the personalities true to life or else it's original fiction. But I wouldn't NOT read a story because of that, I'd just see it as an OF in my mind.
-
Tonight's question:
Do you enjoy reading stories where the guys are way out of character?
No.
In fact, it was nice to see that our answers to yesterday's questions were all fairly similar, other than which Boy we tend to write about the most. I used the word "cliched" when describing how I write Kevin, but I noticed just about everyone else described him the same way, and it's because that's how we all see him; that's how he's always come across in real life, and that's what we love about him. Would we want to read him any other way? Personally, no.
I've read stories where the Boys are very out of character, and I just don't get into them as much. When I read fanfic, I want to read about the Backstreet Boys I know and love, not random men with their names. Even in an AU, they should be recognizable by their personalities, not just their names and looks. And if they are vastly different, there should be a reason for it, and it should be part of the story.
-
for some reason Howie and Brian don't work well together when I write them
I thought this was interesting because I kinda feel the same way about Howie and Brian. They're the only "pairing" that I don't really feel a connection with. Not that I think they don't get along or love each other the same as the other guys, but they just don't seem to go together as well. All of the other pairings have something interesting to play with...
Brian/Kevin = cousins
Brian/Nick = Frick & Frack
Brian/AJ = total opposites, but play off each other's sense of humor well
Howie/Kevin = the leaders, the mature ones
Howie/AJ = best friends when the group formed
Howie/Nick = Nick picks on Howie; Howie puts up with it
Nick/Kevin = big brother/little brother relationship
Nick/AJ = the "bad boys," both have demons
AJ/Kevin = Kevin saved AJ's life
Brian/Howie = ...??
They're both sweet, nice guys, who are close to their families, and they can sing high. That's all I got LOL.
-
I would read it if it was well written but I really prefer reading the guys as themselves or at least have some of their own traits. Even for AU they should still be recognizable.
-
Tonight's question:
Do you enjoy reading stories where the guys are way out of character?
If I'm enjoying the story then I wouldn't mind too much, it wouldn't stop me reading. I like them to be in character as much as possible though.
-
Tonight's question:
Do you enjoy reading stories where the guys are way out of character?
No, I do not lol
I'm kind of the opinion that if all you have in common with the BSB is the name, then it's not a BSB fanfic. I would probably classify it more as an OF and read it that way but it would probably annoy me the whole time lol
Little changes are okay. But when they are truly unrecognizable, no way.
-
Brian/Howie = ...??
They're both sweet, nice guys, who are close to their families, and they can sing high. That's all I got LOL.
Hahaha omg that list rules. That's so true. They're kind of the no man's land of the Backstreet fandom. Poor Howie/Brian. LOL I'm glad I wasn't the only one who saw that.
-
Tonight's question:
Do you tend to include a lot of flashbacks or changes in points of view in your writing and if so, how do you go about letting the readers know it's happening?
-
Tonight's question:
Do you tend to include a lot of flashbacks or changes in points of view in your writing and if so, how do you go about letting the readers know it's happening?
I've written stories with POV changes before. When I do, the POV change happens at the start of the chapter and it's denoted by a dek at the top with the narrator's name. Similarly, Jen and I use a dek to separate the halves of our collab chapters so people reading know when it's Nick (her writing) or Brian (my writing).
I do like doing flashbacks in my stories only because when I'm writing a first person narrative, I try my hardest to let the writing flow the way conscious thought would. I want the thought process to sound natural. So flashbacks are either indicated by italicized text or the way I book end the thought process leads to an obvious break between the narrator's train of thought and the flashback. For example, I'll have someone interrupt the person mid-thought, breaking the flashback or I'll have them "shake their heads" to clear the thoughts away, something like that.
The natural thought process is a lot of what gives my characters depth, I think, and is something I get comments on a lot (well its more people commenting on what the person was thinking than being like 'whoa awesome natural thought process', you know what I mean though right? lol).
-
Tonight's question:
Do you enjoy reading stories where the guys are way out of character?
Not if it's to the point where I can't recognize them. What's the point then? I mean you may as well call it an original fiction and move on. It's why I always make a point to write the Boys as true to life as I can while trying to keep my own spin on it.
Tonight's question:
Do you tend to include a lot of flashbacks or changes in points of view in your writing and if so, how do you go about letting the readers know it's happening?
Not a lot, no. I like to explain it in other ways. At times though, it's required so that you don't go about some weird way to show something. Usually I either label the date of when it happened, and go down in italics to show that scene. That, or I have the character musing over the events in his head, in italics. I'm not obvious about it. My big pet peeve is people labeling the POV or going "FLASHBACK" or something. Ugh, it's supposed to be subtle. The reader should know without you basically announcing it lol.
-
It is a bit tricky for me since I write everything on my phone, but when I want to do a flashback I just space it out a bit from the paragraph and then throw a sentence in reminding the reader it is in the past. If I am switching POV, (usually in 3rd person) I do the same thing since I cannot italicize or use any different fonts.
-
I try to use italics when I do a flashback or like Hannah, throw the flashback into a scene where the character can relay what happened and get pulled out of his thoughts. I'm not a fan of using the word flashback lol just like Rose said, the writing should be able to speak for itself. Just like a summary should be able to speak for itself without the use of a banner.
Points of view, I try to do the same as above but usually use the name of who is speaking at the top of the chapter.
-
I'm not a big fan of flashbacks. I've used them before, but I usually prefer to just tell the story in order and find other ways to work in the backstory. When I do use flashbacks, I put them in italics and separate them from the rest of the narrative with an extra line of space. Like a lot of you have said, it drives me nuts when I see flashbacks labeled "~*~FLASHBACK~*~". I prefer to think that my writing can stand on its own and that my readers are intelligent enough to infer that it's a flashback LOL.
As for point of view, most of my stories are written in third person limited point of view from one main character's perspective. Some of them, like By My Side, Secrets of the Heart, and Song for the Undead, change which character the POV is limited to each chapter or scene. In BMS, I didn't do anything special to signal that change because it was only between two characters. In Secrets, as well as Curtain Call, I label the chapter title with which character's perspective it shows. In Undead, we start each chapter with a journal entry written by that character (in first person), then go to the third person narrative showing that character's perspective. Just like with the flashback thing, I'm not a fan of labeling each scene with "~*~Brian's POV~*~" and "~*~Nick's POV~*~" etc. Especially when it happens multiple times in the same chapter. Stop switching POVs already!! LOL
-
It is a bit tricky for me since I write everything on my phone, but when I want to do a flashback I just space it out a bit from the paragraph and then throw a sentence in reminding the reader it is in the past. If I am switching POV, (usually in 3rd person) I do the same thing since I cannot italicize or use any different fonts.
You can use HTML tags to change the bold/italics of the text, even on your phone. To make a particular block of text italicized, use this tag <.i> before and <./i> after the block you want italicized. (Remove the . in those tags to make them work), switch out the i with a b to make bold. :)
-
For flashbacks, I usually just switch to italics and give some sort of notion in the character's inner monologue that they're thinking about this scene that happened. Actually one of the stories I'm writing now relies heavily on the use of flashbacks and this is how I plan to utilize them throughout.
-
Thanks for the tip, Hannah! I also saw my blackberry has a Word doc app. Was thinking about just downloading it and using it.
-
Thanks for the tip, Hannah! I also saw my blackberry has a Word doc app. Was thinking about just downloading it and using it.
No prob bob! ;)
-
If I have flashbacks in my stories, I always use italics. As for POV's I would maybe have the characters name at the beginning of the chapter, or separate the paragraphs within a chapter to make it clear.
-
For different POVs I don't think that I've ever explicitly told the reader who's speaking, actually. One one story, it switches back and forth between Nick and the girl each chapter, so I think that one is fairly obvious, and in Running Up That Hill, the POV switch it just indicated by the "~~~" and the reader just has to figure it out. But in that one I'll try to make it obvious too. I'll reference one of their wives or where they are, and I try to make their voices each sound different too but I don't know how well I accomplish that lol
-
You do it well :)
I did the same exact thing in Why I'd blah blah blah. Because I switched POVs within almost every chapter, I would try to make sure people knew who it was just by changes in speech patterns and dialogue.
-
Steph, I never have a problem telling whose POV each part in Running is in within a couple of sentences. Nick's "voice" is especially distinctive from the other three, and the wives are good clues for the other three LOL.
-
Tonight's question:
Relating to that 50 Shades of Gray thread kind of lol
Have you ever read a fanfic because so many people have recommended it only to go, "Wow, that was a piece of crap?" The question is more if you didn't enjoy it, were you bold enough to actually admit it? Or did you just kind of play along and act like you thought it was the bees knees as well?
-
^ Obviously it would be best not to go into specifics so no feelings are hurt.
-
Tonight's question:
Relating to that 50 Shades of Gray thread kind of lol
Have you ever read a fanfic because so many people have recommended it only to go, "Wow, that was a piece of crap?" The question is more if you didn't enjoy it, were you bold enough to actually admit it? Or did you just kind of play along and act like you thought it was the bees knees as well?
I'm definitely one of those people that will give anything a shot. I like to be able to form an educated opinion on things. I can't have an opinion if I've never read it. I will tell people it's not for me but I usually give things the benefit of the doubt because I know someone will find it interesting/entertaining.
-
Yes, I've read things people have raved about and wondered what all the fuss was about. Luckily it wasn't on AC :)
-
I've read fanfics that others have raved about and not enjoyed them, but usually it's just a matter of taste, more than the quality of the story not being up to par. I can see why other people like what they like without liking it myself.
I would never say that I thought a story was a piece of crap to the author or the person who recommended it to me, even if I really thought it was, but I would say something like, "I couldn't really get into it that one" or "It just wasn't my cup of tea." I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings with brutal honesty, but I'm not going to fake-gush about something I didn't like just to make someone feel good either.
-
^ yup, same here.
I have read several stories based on people's opinions and have come out of it not really knowing why everyone loved them so much. It is a matter of personal taste I believe. Never once did I read something that a lot of people recommended and when opened it was full of grammatical errors and just bad writing. It's usually the plot or characters that I have a problem with.
I would only tell the truth to the actual author if they asked me for real feedback on it. Tactfully of course lol
I do however not hold back if I don't like something which I think by now, you are all aware of *coughsTwilightNKOTBcoughs* lol
-
I may have recommended some of those stories to you! *cough*Faceless*cough* ;D And vice versa; I didn't love every story we read for FFF back in the day either. But if we all liked the same things, there wouldn't be as much variety as there is in the stories being written, posted, and read on AC.
-
Strangely I haven't had that happen. Usually when people recommend a story to me I like it, unless it is a visual, I'm not really fond of those type of stories usually.
-
Tonight's question:
Relating to that 50 Shades of Gray thread kind of lol
Have you ever read a fanfic because so many people have recommended it only to go, "Wow, that was a piece of crap?" The question is more if you didn't enjoy it, were you bold enough to actually admit it? Or did you just kind of play along and act like you thought it was the bees knees as well?
Definitely LOL. Like everyone raves about that Oreos story, and I never once saw the appeal. And maybe there's something about it, but clearly whatever it was, I missed it LOL.
-
I may have recommended some of those stories to you! *cough*Faceless*cough* ;D And vice versa; I didn't love every story we read for FFF back in the day either. But if we all liked the same things, there wouldn't be as much variety as there is in the stories being written, posted, and read on AC.
Yes, it was the FFF days where that seemed to happen the most without a doubt! lol
-
The stories I've been recommended on AC have been ones I've enjoyed.
But when I first got into the Twilight books and read some Twilight fics, there was this one story which people were gushing over (it wasn't 50 Shades) so I thought I'd give it a go. It was absolute crap, the plot was ridiculous enough but it was full of typos too. I read a chapter or two and then clicked right out of there :)
I would never tell someone their story was crap as it's a matter of taste and obviously we all have different taste. If I don't like something, I stop reading it and don't review.
-
Okay time for a confession that maybe you all know but I feel like I'm holing up inside: I'm AWFUL at reading fan fics. I don't know why, I just am. It's really rare that a story catches my attention enough to finish it. Of course, that's true with regular fiction too. I don't know what my issue is, but I'm not one of those people that will finish a story just because I started it unless I really really like the characters a lot. So a lot of times I won't even start reading a story until the story's over. I don't do well waiting for upates and stuff. So I don't read things that are still being written so I'm usually behind the times for reading anyways. Part of this is so that I don't end up reading multiple stories and getting lost in the story lines and stuff since we're all writing about the same five guys it's easy to confuse who did what in which book and miss stuff. I'll always give a chance to things that come recommended from authors I know or recognize, but if it hasn't caught me within 2-3 chapters or I open it and the first chapter is hard to follow because of writing errors, I tend to lose interest and just never revisit, even though my intentions are good to try to give it a chance. But like I said, I'm capable of having that issue even with non FF stories. I have so many books with bookmarks in them on my shelf that I haven't finished reading it's ridiculous.
-
Tonight's question:
Do you use a beta reader? Or show your work to anyone else before posting it? Or do you feel more comfortable doing it on your own?
-
I do it myself. I usually write it, read through it once, put it on AC and hit "preview" and read through it a second time there so I can see how my HTML tags translated everything. The only exception to this is when I collab with Jen, then we both read each others obviously so we can write the next section.
-
I have so many books with bookmarks in them on my shelf that I haven't finished reading it's ridiculous.
Don't feel bad, it has been years since I read a novel cover to cover. I rarely ever read books!
-
Tonight's question:
Do you use a beta reader? Or show your work to anyone else before posting it? Or do you feel more comfortable doing it on your own?
I normally do it myself but as of late I have been writing and posting chapters in a Google doc for saka-steph to read/review because I don't plan on posting anything until it's done.
-
Tonight's question:
Do you use a beta reader? Or show your work to anyone else before posting it? Or do you feel more comfortable doing it on your own?
Most of the times I'm more comfortable doing it on my own or, maybe, I'm just stubborn and I want to do it on my own. lol But when I have a doubt or when I need some help with the plotting, I send pieces of the chaps to my best friend. An outer point of view it's always useful to catch things that I wouldn't see. Some times, i do it because I need some reassurances about my writing. I'm really insicure and I've always the fear that I'm writing only a huge mass of cliches and stupid things. lol
-
Tonight's question:
Do you use a beta reader? Or show your work to anyone else before posting it? Or do you feel more comfortable doing it on your own?
I've never had a beta reader; I always proofread on my own before I post a chapter and then do what Hannah said and skim through it after posting it to make sure it posted correctly - sometimes I catch a few more typos then.
I used to always have one person I could show my finished chapters to and get an opinion on before I posted them. It used to be my friend Bianca, and then I used Rose, but now that the days of chatting on IM every night are kind of behind us, I don't really do that anymore. I usually sit on finished chapters at least a day so I can come back to them after some time has passed and read them with fresh eyes before posting. That gives me a better perspective on them.
For collabs, though, we always show and proofread each other's parts before posting.
-
I've never had a beta reader either. I read it through, post it and hit the preview just to make sure it posts alright, then send.
With the collab I'm doing with Lore, we always send each other the chapters and proof read before posting.
-
A long time ago, I used to chat on IM with Kat or Swenglish and send them my stuff as I wrote it. Then a little later on, I would email chapters to Mersey & Maria. For the last few stories I just did it myself. After finishing a chapter, I usually let it sit a day then go back and reread it again before posting. I really should have read it once it was posted but never really did lol stupid formatting issues!!
-
I never outline my stories unless it was one based on a movie, like Jizzle Of Oz or When I Grow Up were. In those two cases, I did plan it a bit. As for the other stories I've written....I don't plan a whole lot. I don't have a beta but a friend who helps me with dialogue for the AU romance series I write. We spend time in yahoo chat roleplaying a bit. It really helps me. But for non AU ones I usually do everything myself.
-
I had a Beta for Chronos Project because I wanted to make sure the story made sense to someone else before reading it. But I got impatient. It was harder to get online at the same time as my beta so I just started rereading myself and then posting. I know I still probably miss some issues because my brain doesn't see them in my own work sometimes.
I typically don't use a beta because I want the people reading it to be surprised. I don't like to give away my plot ideas or twists before I post, unless it's a friend not involved in the fanfic world or if I'm really stuck on something.
-
My boyfriend used to beta Running Up That Hill for me LOL. I don't really have a beta for any of my other stuff, but as julilly mentioned I'm reading one that's she's writing :) When I did have a beta for my stuff in other fandoms, my beta would either never get back to me, or when he did he changed the story so much to the point that it was unrecognizable from what it had been in the beginning.
For the most part now I'll just post my stuff without anyone else giving it the once over. If I'm really unsure about it I'll ask someone to look at it (and actually, I've been doing that a lot more lately, cause my writing is so far out of my box now) but usually I just post without worrying about it too much.
I guess the logical next question to ask have you ever beta read for anyone else? I find I have a really hard time doing that, because either the story is well written and awesome, so I don't have much in the way of comments, or the story is horrible, and I try my best to be honest about that but there's only so much you can improve in a story that you're really uninterested in reading.
-
The only betareading I've done has been for my collab partners. Usually it's just proofreading/editing, but sometimes we make suggestions for each other that we go back and revise.
-
I have been a beta for quite a few people to the point where it was a bit overwhelming. I finally just stopped when I saw one in particular who kept making the same mistakes over & over and no matter how many times I told her about it she continued to do it because she knew I'd just fix it for her. lol
Now, I'll occasionally read something for friends but it's usually not fanfic and just another person's eyes before being sent to an editor.
-
Ugh, yeah, that is the worst when they don't take your advice, they just expect that you'll fix it up so they don't try to learn and grow as a writer because they have you to fall back on.
-
It was just her being lazy and taking me for granted lol
-
Tonight's question:
Are you ever compared to any writers out there or find yourself trying to emulate someone's style?
I really couldn't think of a question lol if anyone else has one, post away!
-
I read this funny fairy tale once called the Adventures of Captain Bluebear and I just laughed so hard through the whole book because of the way the author moves through the story. When I try to write humor, I try to make the story move in the same pace as that story did. When I write drama I trend towards a more descriptive feeling.
I've never had my writing specifically compared to anyone in particular by a reader, though.
-
I'm very influenced by what I read. I don't intentionally try to emulate other writers' style, but you can see their influence in my writing and the way it's changed from story to story over the years.
When I first started writing fanfic, I was fresh out of middle school and loved Lurlene McDaniel, queen of the tween terminal illness tearjerkers, and you can see her influence in almost every fanfic I wrote that first year or two.
Broken was a transitional story for me, style-wise, and that one, at least the first half, was influenced by what I was reading that semester of high school - classic literature for my AP English class, Harry Potter, and Swollen Issues. The classic literature spawned my awkward attempts at including symbolism, as well as my dream interpretation phase. Although I'm embarrassed to admit this for fear of insulting J.K. Rowling, I can see the influence of her style in the early chapters of Broken, which use a lot of parentheses with lines of dialogue or added information, something I'd never used before and don't really use anymore, although JKR pulls it off much better! And Swollen Issues inspired the plot and possibly also a lot of the over-the-top angst and melodrama, although maybe that was just me being a melodramatic teenager. The fanfic Cover Me With Dreams was a huge source of inspiration for the sequel BMS, which was my first attempt at a "grown up" romance.
When I started Secrets of the Heart, I'd been on a Stephen King kick - I think I'd started rereading 'Salem's Lot - and you can see the influence in the beginning of that story by how descriptive it is, especially with locations and stuff, which I'd never been so into describing before.
I don't remember what I was reading when I started Curtain Call, but I'm thinking it had to be something in first person (probably Jodi Picoult) because even though I hardly ever write novels in first person, that one always felt like a first person story to me. I find that when I've been reading a lot of first person stuff, I start thinking in first person when I go to write, and sometimes it's hard to transition back into the third. The opposite is also true - when I've been reading something that's written in third person and really flowery and descriptive, it's hard to write well in first.
As far as being compared to other writers... I think there's a group of us who like to write the same genre that I could see being compared to one another, but otherwise, I haven't really been compared to anyone that I can remember.
-
Tonight's question:
Does anyone have a question I could borrow? lol
Hpoefully one will come t me but I swear I can't think of anything at the moment!!
-
I'm surprised you've been able to keep going as long as you have! I would have run out of questions a long time ago LOL. But I thought of one! It's a two-parter.
How does music influence your writing? Have you written any stories or scenes based on BSB songs?
-
^ Good question! lol
I think the problem for me is everything i'm coming up with, we've already discussed at one point. I might just bring some of those up too just to keep this going but yes, now's the time to really jump in peeps! Because I think we all love this thread. The more debatable, the better. :)
Now to answer this question as a professional musician...mus ic doesn't influence my writing one bit lol
I hardly even listen to music because I really don't like a lot of what's out there these days. I enjoy peace and quiet and that especially includes when I write. I know a lot of you use soundtracks to get motivated to write scenes or become inspired. I can't even have the TV going on in the background.
As far as BSB songs or scenes I rarely if ever include lyrics or scenes where they're actually singing in my stories because I am horrible when it comes to remembering song lyrics to begin with lol The only exception to that rule was a song fic I had written way back for some kind of contest. It was Two Hearts and I think it was a Nick song, I used. I can't even remember lmao I FAIL! I really do. But even then, as you see by the title, I refused to use the actual title of the song for my story. I wish I had though because then I would have remembered what the song was. Unless he does have a song called Two Hearts? *rambles out of thread naked and confused* lol I am SO alzheimer's Nick.
-
^ LOL The song you're thinking of is "Heart Without a Home," or as I call it, The Metaphor Song.
-
thanks! I didn't think he had a song called "Two Hearts" lol
-
The Metaphor Song, haha!
Music heavily influences what I write. I find that I've always loved trying to find the story in a song. So it's definitely easy for me to use music to get inspired. There will be times when I know exactly what I'm going to write that I need the peace and quiet to get a perfect scene out of my brain. But when I'm just going with the flow and letting the characters do whatever they want, that's when I need some kind of musical motivation, and that's why Running Up That Hill is so music based. Plus, with that story I like to look back at the music I've used before to get myself in the mood to write it again. So that's why I always put the lyrics at the top it's more for me than for you guys LOL.
Anyway, In Pieces was based on my interpretation of that song. I think that's actually the only BSB fic I've done with a BSB song. I also did an Avatar story based on Downpour, since Avatar is so heavily based around the elements and the two characters I write about mostly are fire and water so that song seemed to fit. I even stole a line from the song for the title lol it was called Between the Lines of Reason.
-
Music does inspire ideas for stories. I've used song titles as story titles when I couldn't come up with one. If I have trouble doing that, I listen to my ipod and try to find a song that fits the story.
When I'm writing I listen to music, almost never BSB...or I watch a movie to get my creative energy flowing.
-
I do not have one single song on my iPod yet lol I use it for everything else except listening to music. Probably because I have no clue how to put music on it but even if I did, I would barely use it for that.
-
I use music for songs but only until I have a grasp on the story. Then I need quiet. In my head, music interacts with my writing like those musical interludes in movies... I hear the song and I can picture these like quick flashes of scenes and bits of dialogue that create a feeling or a general storyline. Then the music ends and the story moves into actually being formed. I very rarely will have a song playing while I write and if I do it's turned down very quiet so it's like background music and it's one song on repeat. Because eventually I lose the ability to really hear the lyrics if it's on repeat, it becomes a mood.
And honestly its extremely rare that my stories are inspired by BSB songs. I might use BSB songs at certain points within a story, because they do inspire scenes, but usually the "theme" or the major contributing song to the story isn't even them. Looking back at my "soundtracks" playlists, it's most usually been NeedtoBreathe that have inspired stories with their songs. Like Something Beautiful was after their song of the same title.
Oddly enough the Borrowed Time theme song is 2am by Anna Nalick, if anyone's curious.
-
Yeah when I began my clone stories it was inspired by a Weird Al Song "I Think I'm A Clone Now". For my romance series I was inspired by Shania Twain.
-
I used to be more influenced by music than I am now. Music usually doesn't inspire my ideas, more just feelings, like Hannah said. When I was writing Broken and BMS, I had a whole playlist of "Nick & Claire" songs that just fit the dynamic of their relationship, and I would listen to those songs to get into the mood. I also listened to a lot of classical music and movie scores when I was writing those stories, which did help me get into the zone to write, but also could be partly why those stories are so over-the-top melodramatic LOL. I wrote a lot of Broken to the Braveheart soundtrack - well, shit, how can you not be angsty and dramatic with Braveheart music playing in the background? LOL It's a great score, one of my favorites, but looking back, I think that explains a lot! LOL
I don't listen to music as much when I write these days. Sometimes it still helps to settle me down or get me in the right mindset to write, but more often than not, it just distracts me. If I'm writing a really emotional scene, sometimes it does help set the tone, like background music in a movie, but only with certain stories. It worked with Broken and BMS, but with Curtain Call, it always felt way too cheesy. I had to write Curtain Call in silence. Same subject matter, completely different tone. Actually, the one song that did really inspire me with Curtain Call was Queen's "The Show Must Go On." It was the anthem for CC.
As far as being inspired by certain BSB songs, I'm usually not. I can't think of a whole story I've written that was inspired by a BSB song. "Siberia" inspired a certain scene in BMS that I wish I had not written - shoulda saved it for a songfic! I name stories after BSB lyrics, but that's only when they already fit the idea - like "Watch Me as I Bleed" and "In Pieces" would be a very literal translation of the lyrics of that song LOL. The only song in recent years that has inspired me to write a whole story isn't a BSB song, but a James Blunt one, "Annie." I'm not a songfic person, but that song has a story to it that hooked me right away, and I always knew I wanted to write a short story based on it. It's a great song.
-
The Braveheart. Soundtrack is one of my all time favorite ones too. I hate the movie but would put it on in the background and just listen to the music before I bought the CD lol
-
Yeah, the Braveheart score is beautiful! That one, Titanic, and Pirates of the Caribbean are my favorite movie soundtracks, along with pretty much anything John Williams has done - Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.
-
I love John Williams too but my absolute favorite film scorer is Danny Elfman! I will listen to anything that guy scores!
-
Danny Elfman's good too! I also love James Newton Howard, who did ER and a lot of M. Night Shyamalan's movie scores, as well as tons of other stuff.
-
I love film scores in general. I almost double majored in that in college. I loved playing on scores when I was at college, it's such a fun thing to do and watch how the whole process works! Those people have some of the hardest jobs in the business.
-
Tonight's question:
Give your honest opinion how you feel about fanfic awards? Not just ours here at AC but in general. Do you think they mean anything? Which do you prefer, voted on or judged? Do you think some have been fixed? Have you ever run into a situation where you found out they were rigged?
-
Ugh God, fanfic awards.
First of all, I have to say that out of all the fanfic awards I've been a part of or just witnessed, the ones that are run here at AC are the best. They're always so well managed, they're always presented in a super entertaining way, and they're always fair.
I think I like the judged awards the best, to be honest, because I think that actually means more than a voted award. With voted awards, it's probably pretty easy to figure out who'll win. Whatever story is most popular, has the most reviews, got the most nominations, etc... those are of course more likely to win because more people will vote on them. But winning a judged award means that someone actually read over your work with a critical eye and still thought it was worthy of recognition. I know they're a lot of work though, and I was okay with the AC ones being just voted last season because they are such a large amount of work.
I've never run into any situations where I found out any awards were rigged, but I'm sure it's happened. There were actually awards that a couple girls ran in BSB fandom a few years ago that a bunch of us worked pretty hard on, but then the girl who was running them disappeared and we never got to find out the winners. So that was dumb. And they way they were kind of structured were a bit weird. Like, they were judged, and then the one that had the top three scores from the judging were voted on... and it was like, what's the point of judging then?
I could actually go on all day about fanfic awards LMAO so I'll stop now.
-
^ please do go on lol I love reading people's responses!
-
Oooh a couple of days of questions to catch up on!
As for BSB songs inspiring my writing, I don't think so as I never listen to music or the TV when I write. I need it to be quiet or I'd get distracted and not get a thing done. Sometimes I might listen to music and think of ideas, but by the time I get around to writing, I've usually forgot, lol.
I love the fanfic awards! I think they are fairly run and are a great way to bring everyone together and have a bit of fun. I don't think I've ever taken part in a judged awards, only a voted on one, but either way, I like the way it's done. I have seen awards on another site (not BSB) and the owner of the site won everything, lol.
-
SakaSteph said it all! I've run a couple of fanfic awards and participated in a lot more as a nominee, and of them all, the Felix Awards are definitely the best! What I like about them most is that they're fair and reliable, something a lot of the old awards were not. I was nominated in quite a few that never followed through on announcing winners, which was lame. I was also nominated in some where the only people who won awards were the owner's friends. Hm, suspicious much? LOL
All that aside, I do like the idea of fanfic awards. I think they're a nice way to spotlight and celebrate quality writers and stories. It's not like we write for money or fame, so to have some way of recognizing each other for our efforts, even if it's just with a title and a graphic, is really nice. I love how the Felix Awards have become like a major event, like the Oscars/Grammys/Emmys. I really do look forward to the night the winners are announced and what creative way they're going to be presented!
As far as how meaningful they are... at the end of the day, it's really just a title and graphic, based on someone's opinion - either a handful of voters or a judge - and so it's not something to brag about or get all bent out of shape about, but I'm not gonna lie, there's still a nice sense of satisfaction in writing a story that wins that title and graphic! Like Steph said, I think judged awards are more meaningful, assuming there's some sort of criteria used in judging and not just a random judge's opinion. When there's voting, it's really just a popularity contest - but it's still fun to win those and know that a lot of people like your story. It's the difference between the Oscars and the MTV Movie Awards - the winners may be different, but they're all grateful just to be given an award. The best movies are the ones who can win at both, meaning they're critically acclaimed AND actually entertaining, and the same can be said for stories. That's why my favorite awards are ones that use a combination of judging and voting.
-
I agree with the other comments made so far about the fan fic awards - Felix Awards rule! I do come from a biased standpoint though, as I'm not published anywhere else, have never been nominated anywhere else, and have never actually participated in other fan fic award ceremonies or whatnot. lol But from my biased little point of view, I think the Felix Awards are run very well. ;D
-
God you guys have no idea how amazing AC is until you go to other fanfic sites lmao.
I love you guys!
-
Just posting on fanfiction.net again has made me realize AC is in a class all its own! I used to read and post a little on ff.net back in the day, then stopped when they got rid of real person fanfics. I put up my Harry Potter crossover there just for kicks, since I hadn't posted anything there in a decade, to see what the response would be from a different audience of readers.
First of all, for as much as people complain about AC being glitchy, the EFiction script it uses is so much more user-friendly than ff.net.
Secondly, there are SO many stories on ff.net being updated all the time that my story instantly got lost in the shuffle, so it probably never even got read, let alone reviewed. I just got a review for it last night - the very first one since I posted it back in April.
Just realizing how HUGE that site has become makes me appreciate our closeknit community on AC. Sure, there are tons of stories on AC too, and people complain about not staying on the Most Recent page long enough or whatever, but I think AC is just perfect. Enough stories being updated to provide a good variety for people to read, but not so many that you can't keep up with them all. Enough people posting here that we can keep good discussions going, but not so many that we don't get to know each other.
I like it better here and now than back in the day when everyone had their own site, and you just had to keep track of people through IM, email, or maybe LD. Between Twitter and this forum, it's a lot easier to feel like a community of writers.
-
Our tight knit community on AC where we actually care about quality writing and support each other is the best thing ever. Like seriously, yeah the script might be a little glitchy, but FF.net is such a terrible user experience. I'll never, ever complain about not being on the most recent page for long enough after FF.net and how your story is instantly lost after it's posted. I've never even seen one of my stories at the top there, there's such high traffic.
I can't believe I'm actually going to tell you guys this (it is a testament to how much I love all of you) but 1DFF is like that too. It's built on the same eFiction script that AC is but like, you're lucky to stay on the first page of most recent for five minutes. I'm not even kidding. And it's not because people update their stuff, it's because (like FF.net as well) people will post empty chapters to bump their stuff.
Another thing I hate about that site is all the shameless self promotion. Your stuff will hardly get read if you don't go to the forum and beg people to read it. They have multiple threads where people are like "suggest me stories" and at first I was suggesting other people's stuff, but then I realized that was not going to work out for me, and now I'm just as bad as the rest of them! It's awful. But there's no other way to get people to realize you've posted something new.
They're also having a fan fic awards that is a mess, which is why I think it's kinda funny that mare posted the question about those awards, because I've been following that thread on 1DFF closely and shaking my head at the ridiculousness .
I mean don't get me wrong I have a few really good friends I've made on that site, but the majority of teenies there just like...ugh.
That was a very long rant and I'm sorry but I've been holding it in for a very long time LOL.
-
Having been a member and writer on FF.net in the past, AC is by far my favorite website and the only one I go to read fanfiction now. I've tried other sites but at the end of the day, AC makes me feel welcome. We are a group of friends....I've gotten to know a lot of you over the past few years and I love how you guys have helped me grow as a writer....givi ng advice or even suggestions. I really appreciate everyone here. I was a member of ff.net for a few years until they got rid of real person fics. I was supergirl64 on there and I had a few stories including a bsb/nsync version of survivor. I lost all of my work because I hadn't backed it up, and I'm glad I found AC to spark my interest in writing again :)
-
Aww, I love you guys! :) I never really had a group of people to talk shop with before AC. I had plenty of individual friends to talk about fanfic with, but not in-depth group discussions like we have here. This was the first message board I really started posting regularly on. I have a forum too for my site that was made around the same time as this one, but a lot of the people who go there are just readers, not writers, so I never felt like we could really discuss fanfic as well there as we do here. We could discuss my stories LOL, but that was about it. And that's really not as much fun as discussing the writing side of things.
-
This thread is like a big group hug now, I love it! This is the first forum I started posting regularly on too :) Everyone here is just so nice and helpful and it's just awesome to have a community of writers who want to help each other and support each other! I love all the random discussions we have on here. I felt so welcomed on this site as soon as I joined. It was just so easy to jump into conversations.
It got so sappy in here so fast lol <3
-
Steph, your description of the 1D fanfic site sounds more like the fanfic board on the BSB fan club forum, only much crazier. I was going to say that hearing about 1D fans makes me glad the BSB fandom has grown up, but last time I looked at the fanfic forum on the fan club, there were still people whoring out their own stories and being quite teenybopperish, so it's probably not as much an overall maturity thing as just this site setting higher standards than that. It was the same way with that Refresh forum that Tanja used to plagiarize our stories on; the "writers" there were so ridiculous, it made us appreciate how things are on AC so much!
I'm glad that we have rules in place to prevent the shameless spamming and that we've lifted ourselves above having to beg other people to read our stories. I think we owe Chaos, Mare, and Julilly for making this place such a great place to post, read, and talk about fanfic!
-
Yes, we definitely owe our wonderful mods a big thanks for working so hard to make this place so, so awesome. It doesn't go unnoticed!
I have never looked at the fanfic forum on the BSB fanclub, and I probably shouldn't be surprised that there are still teenies like that in our fandom, but I kinda am. And yeah, 1DFF is the craziest place in the world. There's some legit good stuff on there, but you've got to wade through a LOT of junk to find it. And I don't have patience, so I mostly just read what my friends write and that's it. I don't even look at the most recent page.
They hold character auditions too. Where you can ask people if they want to be in your story. That seems a bit weird to me, but to each their own I guess.
-
That's what they did on Refresh too! Must be a teenybopper thing, although I don't ever remember that being a big thing in the early days of BSB fanfic.
-
Yeah I don't remember that from the early days of BSB fic either, though I definitely added myself and my friends in my own stories, as I'm sure other people did as well. Maybe it's just because we didn't really have forums and stuff back then to easily do stuff like that?
-
Yeah, that must be it. Like I was saying, it just wasn't as easy to talk to a wider circle of writers. I pretty much just had people who gave me feedback and people who I gave feedback to talk to LOL.
-
This is the first Fanfic forum I've ever been on. There are only two message boards I go on, here and TDS. Before this I never talked to other writers, that's why I like discussing things here, it is nice to have people to talk writing with :)
-
Wow, I am feeling the love coming off this thread lol thanks guys, we are happy you all are happy :) all the hard work keeping this going must be worth it :p
-
I am glad that AC has been around and continues to be around. I was part of a couple other fanfic groups but they weren't nearly as diverse as this. It's nice that I can talk to a wide range of people. I have met such awesome people here I'd never know without this site. :) :cheers:
-
I'll join in and agree that this place and the mods are amazing :)
-
I almost don't want to change the topic but it's time for tonight's question lol
Have you ever placed characters or a plot/storyline from one of your stories into another one? Stephen King does that a lot so I was wondering what your thoughts were about this & I don't mean stories that are meant to be related like sequels or prequels but two totally unrelated stories sharing a cameo or mention.
-
I know I have done it in my stories, I wouldn't be able to tell you unless I re-read them though. I DO know that I consistently use Room 438 in all my stories if I need a hospital or a hotel room that is where they stay, room 438 ;) It is the only one I can tell you for sure I use to tie in my stories but I know I have more subtle ones in a few of my others.
-
Yessss, I love doing that! I've already said I do the room 1508 thing in the other thread. I've also made reference to a few of my stories in my other ones. The two Christmas stories I have aren't directly linked, but at one point Howie makes a remark about something that happened in the other story. I believe in Running Up That Hill I've also had the guys at some point make reference to a couple things that happen in other more reality based fics I've written. It's hard for me to stick my original characters into other fics though, because most of my original characters are girls who are Nick's love interest du jour. So it wouldn't make sense to have them show up really. But for other little references, yes, definitely!
In general I really enjoy it when authors do things like that. It's like a nice little nod to the people who are superfans and read/watch their entire catalogue. I also enjoy it when they do that on TV shows and have actors make reference to other characters they've played. They did that on How I Met Your Mother with Rachel Bilson. One of the characters asked her if she'd ever dated nerd guys before and she made the "Summer" face and said "Almost exclusively." Haha! I think they also made a joke with Alyson Hannigan in the vampire episode of that show.
Um anyway I totally derailed but yes, I love little nods like that!
-
No, I've not done it (that I'm aware of), but I love to see it in a story. Like with the Stephen King one I'm reading, it's great seeing places and characters from one of his other books that I loved.
-
I haven't done it either, but I agree with Steph; it's fun to see other writers, like Stephen King, do it. I love finding those little Easter eggs.
I think it's a little harder to do with fanfic characters because, as Steph pointed out, we use the same main characters in every story, and most of our original characters are their love interests, so it doesn't make much sense for them to exist in each other's stories. It works better in Stephen King stories, since they almost all take place in Maine but have different characters - you can imagine Maine as this whole crazy Stephen King universe where they all exist and scary things happen to them LOL.
I don't think I've ever done it with my own characters, but I had the idea once to give cameos to my favorite original characters from other people's fanfics. I never did it though; it was either an idea for a story I haven't written yet, or I changed my mind. I don't even remember LOL. In my collabs, though, we include cameos by characters from other stuff - 00Carter has Mulder and Scully from The X-Files in one episode and characters from ER in another; Song for the Undead is using characters from British zombie movies, 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead. In that case, it's just a fun way to pay homage to the stuff that's inspired us.
-
Oh, I also realized that I always make Nick have this weird obsession with eating at Chili's. I don't know why I do that, as I'm pretty sure with the health kick he's been on lately, he would never eat there. But yeah... in every fic I've written, if they go to a restaurant, Nick is always really quick to want to go to Chili's and eat an awesome blossom, lol.
-
I try to keep the guys exactly the same personalities in every story I write. Therefore, they have the same backstory. So you'll see me reference a backstory multiple times - like Brian and Nick hearing the single the first time in the homegoods dept of KMart, things like that. I tend to use the same "extra" names, too, like their bus drivers usually are named Chris, for example. I also repeat security guard names - some of which I know are actual guards and others I've made up (it's kind of sad, but I don't always remember which ones I've made up and which ones are names that actually exist). I like using the last names of other celebs for other extras - for example for lawyers, doctors, etc., unless they're a real person, their names are probably somehow related to some celeb or character I like. It just helps me to remember who's who.
I have crossed a few stories before by using the same character sketches. For example, I used the character sketch I created for The Goose from Saving the Day for Blondes in the bullies in the jail in Fix, but he went by a different nickname that was in the character sketch. I've also used Pop Stuff Online in more than one story, and I've used Amanda Golde as paparazzi more than just in the Something Beautiful stories - again, though, usually without actually using her name.
LOL Unfortunately for my readers, I see my characters like actors so I know when they're being used more than once but the reader may not because they don't know that I'm using the same character sketch.
-
References to other stories....hmm no I don't think I have done that. But one thing I've noticed is I like to use names with the letter A or use names of people I know in real life as characters, not sure if that counts for anything.
-
I do sometimes try to tie in some fictional events in my stuff. It's hard to do with the suspense stuff, although I have had SN epic idea for a short story one day lol I do add those elements into my lighter stories like Why etc... Like Kevin might mention going on a fishing trip with Nick might bring up the letter he wrote to himself when he was a kid. Stuff like that.
I have put people in cameos before, mostly in 5 BSBs in search of a plot. A lot of characters and fanfic writers made it into that one lol
-
I remember reading your Birthday Box story and smiling at the fact that Nick had his letter from the other story in the box :)
-
Thanks :) lol
-
Tonight's question:
Name some of your favorite 'old school' stories and what you liked about them. By old school I don't necessarily mean written a long time ago but that the story takes place at the beginning of the boy's careers. Pre Millenium days.
-
Since I'm answering first, I call Come Together! LOL
Come Together: http://www.dreamers-sanctuary.com/dwlyn/cometogether.html
The best fanfic that tells the story of how the Boys came together that I've ever read. It's well-written, well-researched, and very cute!
Cover Me With Dreams: http://absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=9184&warning=4
Mare's gonna kill me for posting this one because it's a Nick romance, not a group story, BUT it actually does a great job of showing what things were like back in those early days of Backstreet. It's Nick-centered (and little Nick is so cute!), but the other guys are in it a lot, especially in those parts.
It Stays With You: http://accidentalchaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=3154
I'm going to get back on Mare's good side now by posting one of hers. ;) It counts because it takes place in 1996, so you get the old-school dynamic between the boys... which, of course, is shattered when Nick and Brian get brutally attacked in their hotel. Yay old-school suspense!!!
Borrowed Time: http://accidentalchaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=10947
Finally, Hannah's doing an awesome job writing this story about the period leading up to Brian's heart surgery. Again, it's well-written and well-researched and does an awesome job showing the group dynamic, especially between Brian and Nick. I missed old-school Frick & Frack stories like this!
That's all I can think of. There really aren't that many stories set in the pre-Millennium days, I'm realizing. Any stories on my favorites list that take place back then do so because that's when they were written LOL. Not as many people go back that far when they write stories now.
-
There's only one I can think of and it's Mare's It Stays With You. I like the relationships between the boys, the suspense and just the way Mare's written it :)
-
Aww thanks guys! Yay to old school Nick & Brian torture. Just FYI I do have non suspense fics that take place during that time period as well. The Apartment, Total Kaos 24/7 and Little Cabin in the Woods. There's probably a lot more that I can't think of lol I wrote them all a long time ago so some are iffy lol read at your own risk.
Julie you stole Come Together!! Not fair!!
It's weird because a few stories are coming to my mind but I'm not sure of the time period so I have to check that out, then I'll be back lol
-
Okay, this is going to be annoying to do on the iPod lol
Here is at least one for now
Seven Days - I think this is pre Millenium. It's an epic, old school boys get kidnapped and are on the run in the woods, story. It's one of those after you go back and read it, it's a little silly but I still love it!!
http://absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=6728
Pretty much anything by Swenglish. She wrote most of her stuff during the old days. The only negative is most of them aren't complete & never will be.
http://absolutechaos.net/viewuser.php?uid=198
There's also those Marly stories that had ridiculously long titles!
Izzy had a great suspense as well that I can't for the life of me remember the name lol I know, big help huh?
And another one of my all time favs is Can You Keep a Secret which was an adorable Frick & Frack story. It is on Izzys site.
Here is the link to the site
http://www.reocities.com/ocean_izzy/
-
I don't think I've ever written a story set that far in the past. Seeing as how I didn't start writing fanfic until 2000, I think Guilty Roads (set in 1999) is actually the most "old school" story I've written, because usually my stories are set in the present or slightly in the future. Actually, my Harry Potter crossover is also set in 1999, a few months before GR, so I guess that would be my most old school. If I ever get around to writing the ER crossover I want to do, that would be really old school, either '95 or '97... haven't decided for sure yet.
I think I'm finding, through my many failed attempts at novelizing Broken, that I don't enjoy writing them as "kids" as well as I like writing them as adults. Or maybe it's just Nick and the fact that I didn't really like him until he was 22 LOL. I'd probably do a lot better writing an old school Brian story.
-
Millennium is probably my favorite time period, I love the stories Total Kaos 24/7 and It Stays With You of course. I also am really enjoying Borrowed Time. While I write a lot of AU I really enjoy reading stories from back in the day when the boys were younger. It was a great time in my life as well and I have so many good memories of the boys during millennium. Black and Blue is another favorite time period of mine as well which is why I love Running Up That Hill so much.
-
It's funny that I love the early time period since I became a fan so late & really didn't like any of their older songs at all lol I guess for me it was just the brotherly bonding thing. I don't really enjoy the stuff that takes place currently because at that point it's no longer about their brotherly bond but other stuff.
-
That's how I feel too Mare. Some of their older songs I don't like but I really love their relationship back then. Things change as people get older, I miss that brotherly love that they had then. I mean, they are probably still like that mow but I liked when the guys were blatantly obvious about it :)
-
I don't think I've read a lot of stories set in that time period. Well, I mean I did back in the day but I don't really remember any of them as being good, lol. Julie already mentioned Come Together, but I really loved that one just because of how simple it was. It was complex in its simplicity, if that makes any sense. The guys personalities and relationships were written so well and you could see shreds of how they would turn out to be in their younger selves. I liked it a lot.
I'm really enjoying Borrowed Time a lot. Loving all the Frick and Frack that is happening in that story, back before their relationship was so strained. I think Hannah is doing a really good job at portraying how their relationship sort of deteriorated and I know I'm super behind but I can't wait to find some time to sit down and catch up!
I think the only other story I've read set back then was Guilty Roads, and I really love that one too. I think taking 1999 Nick and sticking him in a place that is so far out of his comfort zone is really intriguing. I also like the relationships between the other guys in that one, how Kevin is in the hospital, and how the rest of them are worried about Nick in their own way. It's been a while since I've read it, but I remember that being a really good aspect about it.
And thanks for the Running Up That Hill mention, Tracy :) I'm glad you like it so much!
I agree with all of you on the fact that the guys relationship from back then is really interesting and a lot more bromantic than it is now.
-
Aw thanks for all the Borrowed Time lovin'... :-*
I don't know the title of it, but I read one once a long time ago - I think it was on AC but I'm not sure - kind of surrounding Nick's ADDish personality back then and the fact that he was really growing up with the BSB. I remember a specific scene where Nick had a pervy dream and didn't understand why he felt so horny afterwards and Kevin got woken up at 3am to explain sex to him all awkwardly LOL. It was a really long story but that particular scene stuck out so much, I've always kind of accepted it like it was true. LOL
-
Thanks for the GR mention, Steph!
-
Just finished reading Come Together, it is a cute story. Not a favorite of mine but she did a great job with their personalities. Thanks for recommending it everyone!
-
Aw thanks for all the Borrowed Time lovin'... :-*
I don't know the title of it, but I read one once a long time ago - I think it was on AC but I'm not sure - kind of surrounding Nick's ADDish personality back then and the fact that he was really growing up with the BSB. I remember a specific scene where Nick had a pervy dream and didn't understand why he felt so horny afterwards and Kevin got woken up at 3am to explain sex to him all awkwardly LOL. It was a really long story but that particular scene stuck out so much, I've always kind of accepted it like it was true. LOL
That sounds like one of those Marly stories possibly lol
-
After reading the diverse answers some of you had, here is the question. How do you tend to characterize the guys when you write them? Give us a few descriptions for each guy and if you write a lot of female leads what characteristic s do you tend to give them?
Kevin
Howie
Brian
AJ
Nick
Kevin - Older brother, fatherly figure
Howie - Most of the time, he's just kind of there. I don't know why, but I can't write Howie that wel.
Brian - Conservative bible thumping church boy
AJ - total freak, funny, out going, dirty and perverted
Nick - funny, but serious.
Females - I always try to put a little of myself in each female lead... whether it's the fact that she's chubby, or her career, or the fact that she hates her father.
-
Tonight's question:
Do you tend to include a lot of flashbacks or changes in points of view in your writing and if so, how do you go about letting the readers know it's happening?
In the latest stories I'm writing with Lisa (BiLittrell) we change POV's a good bit. We usually do it like this...
[Karsyn]
Story here
[/Karsyn]
Then a rule break.
For flashbacks, we usually blockquote them.
-
Tonight's question:
How do you come up with names for your original characters without them coming off sounding horribly Mary Sue like?
-
Names....I usually go in a name book and pick one based on its meaning or just the first name that comes to mind. Like Brandy in Forces Of Nature came to me from the song "Brandy (you're a fine girl)" and having someone singing it to her just seemed to fit. Names are always hard for me to choose.
-
I steal last names from my real life friends, lol.
For first names, I usually just pick names I like. Actually, thinking back to all my female characters, they all have first names of people I've known too. I tend to just go with girls names that were popular when I was younger, I guess. That way they're not cliche. I think if anyone went through my Facebook friends list, you'd find all the first and last names I've used, haha.
Chris in Running Up That Hill is actually based off of someone I know in real life, who acts (and looks) very Nick-like. It just worked out that Nick IRL also has a friend named Chris.
-
I'm jumping back in lol.
I pick names usually from baby name sites, or just names I like. Depending on the character, I'll go out of my way to find something that fits. Like in Undead, Riley got her name cause honestly I wanted something somewhat tomboyish, yet sounded journalistic lol. Her middle name came cause it sounds southern haha. But seriously, I could easily hear in my head "This is Riley Blake with the evening news..." lol.
Or in Divine Intervention, I just thought an Angel named Grace was a great fit. Plus for the time period she was in when she was alive, it's old fashioned enough to work. But usually it's just names I like.
My biggest pet peeve are names that are spelled just weird, like if you want to use a name, use the normal spelling! Don't use Safyre instead of Sapphire. Hell, don't use a gem name period LOL. I mean of course the irony of this is that I have what would be a Mary Sue name in a fanfic, but most people don't have names like that. Or when people use part of their names in every story. Like someone named "Katie" writes a story about a "Katrina", and then a "Kelly", and then a "Kristy", etc. It's like if you're doing a self-insert, be less obvious lol. One similar name can be a coincidence, several is just announcing it.
-
I don't like using my name in stories either. I only did it for Not The Other Guy, but Tracy in the story was kind of a villain. But for my stories I've noticed I do choose "A" names. Like Amber, or Amanda...I've also taken names from people on twitter. Renee. Alexis is my best friend's name and she is in Weird World.
-
I use names I like, but more importantly, names I'll actually remember lol I tend to go with very safe, boring names like Terry, Sarah, Sydney,Matt etc... Not a fan of weird names or over the top thought out names where you can tell the person writing the story spent too much time trying to come up with a name. lol And I hate when girls are named after guys and guys are named after girls. yes, I'm looking at you Baylee & Ava Jaymes lol
-
I like the Ava part of it lol.
-
I do too lol
-
It's kinda weird that you guys mention the weird spelling thing, because I got told once that I used the mary-sue spelling of Ashley for Ashleigh in In Pieces. But actually, when I was going to school I knew more Ashleighs and Ashleys LOL so I thought that was the more common spelling.
Also, I liked the idea that 3/5 BSB wives would have some sort of "Leigh" in their name, haha.
-
I don't think Ashleigh is a Mary Sue spelling. If it was Ashlee maybe? My take on the whole Mary Sue spellings is simple. If it's a real name, and pretty common, I don't think it's a Mary Sue name but if you put a random vowel in there or tack on a middle name or 'en' or "an" at the end lol then you are making it a Mary Sue.
Kind of like a you might be a redneck if...
You might be naming a character a mary Sue if... lol Although we should rename Mary Sue > Mari Syoo :P
-
Ashleigh is pretty common. That's not too bad, it's more when people go out of their way. Like Jaymes lmao. (Yes AJ...)
-
I either have recently heard the name somewhere and liked it or I've researched the name to some extent. For example, I'll find a list of names used in songs and pick a song I could possibly use in the story if I need to or a famous person who emulated the character's personality somehow (or was the exact opposite!)... Most of the time though, the names just sort of come to me when I go to type it for the first time.
The most outlandish name I've used was Charlie (short for Charlotte) in Bodyguard and that was primarily because Charlie was a tomboy and needed to be initially mistaken by Nick to be a man.
I like unique spellings but not forced crazy ones. For example, in my OF fiction I tend to spell it Bryan not Brian. No offense to Mr. Littrell of course. LOL
-
*coughs* I sometimes use an "L" name for the female lead because ooooh I don't know... *whistles* Lots of times I use friends names chosen randomly. I know with Julie in CP it is what I did. I needed a name for the main character and was saying the line where the guy says her name the first time and kept putting a name in the sentence and Julie popped in once and it worked so I went with it.
I use baby name books too and put the name into the story like I did with the Julie scene and see how it works.
-
Wow, you guys are making me feel bad with all this baby name book stuff. I just use an easy name and go with it. LOL
-
I do the baby name thing too! I may even have an account on babynames.com with a whole bunch of names saved on a favorites list LOL. I also love behindthename. com because it gives more background info on where a name came from and its popularity over the years. Actually, one of my favorite sites to go to when I can't think of a name, usually for minor characters, is the Social Security site. They have great lists of popular names from each decade, each individual year, even each year by state. Great for historical fiction! http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/index.html
I tend to only use the baby name sites if I'm stuck and need ideas for names, or if I have it narrowed down to a few choices and can't decide - then I'll look up the meaning and see if there's one that fits better than others. (And yes, I will fully admit to being one of those people who spends way too much time coming up with character names!) I do like the favorites list on babynames.com because it's just a big list of names that I like, which is usually how I name my main characters. I think pretty much any name I've ever considered naming a future child has gone to a character at one point or another. One of my newer favorite girl's names is Analiese, which was Anne Frank's full name (spelled Annaliese). It's a German name, so it worked well for the Amish girl in Guilty Roads.
I prefer classic names, nothing too weird or too trendy (although classic names are the trend nowadays!), although I try not to use names that are overused either in real life or fanfic. I'll probably never name a character Alyssa, Ashley, Stephanie, or anything like that - no offense to people with those names. I try to choose names that fit the character. For example, with Cary in Curtain Call, I knew she was going to have this whole 40s/50s vintage vibe to her, so I definitely wanted her to have a classic name. Her name is Carolyn, which was a popular name in those decades, and she's also named after her mother (Carol), who was an important part of her back story. I like nicknames, and I like them to be derived from the full name and spelled as closely as possible, so I went with Cary instead of Carrie or Cari because Carolyn only has one R and a Y instead of an I or E. Also, it made me think of Cary Grant, which, even though he was a guy, worked with the whole retro thing.
Sometimes I pick names that I don't personally like, but that fit the character. Claire in Broken was one of those. I didn't like the name Claire at the time (it's grown on me since, after writing it so many times over the years!), but that was why it worked for her - I wanted her to have a name that was plain and simple and not overly "pretty"-sounding, like Isabella or Madelyn or something, because that's the type of girl I wanted her to be.
I've used myself as a character in a fanfic once before, back in my teenybopper early days, and since then I've modeled characters after myself (usually in collabs, it seems), but I'm not into blatant self-inserts. I think creating an original character is way more fun than writing a barely-disguised version of myself with a slightly different name. I wouldn't make a very good female lead anyway!
-
Hmmm names I've used.
Michelle, Alexis, Tracy (duh), April, Jessie, Brandy, Amanda, Katie, Julie, Julia, Renee, Amber, Lisa, Audrey, Nancy, Celine and Linda for girls. For Nick's son I used Bryan and Alexander, Bryan for Brian because it would cause confusion, and Alexander for AJ, the two important people in Nick's life during the series.
I like to pick whatever names I like but I also browse that baby name book. It has 10,000 names in it lol
-
I'm not sure I agree with the whole spelling thing. I mean, some people have funky spelled names. Not everybody is named Mary or Sally or Carrie. Look at me. My name is Karah-Leigh.
And I used my name, without the hyphen in my very first story I ever wrote. She was totally Mary Sue and everything I wished I was, but at the time I didn't know any better. I also used Karah in "Six Degrees" but that was only as a joke and something my co-writer wanted to do (she was in italso).
I've used different names in stories... Harley, Tara, Karsyn, Emmileigh, Melinda/Mindy, Charlie (Charlotte), Julie, Elizabeth, Shelby, Macie, Georgia, Savannah.... that's the only ones I can think of.
I look at baby name sites sometimes, but sometimes the name usually plays part in the story. Like for instance, the character Georgia is from Florida... and that plays into the story.
-
I've used friends names, Welsh names like Seren and Carys (which might have sounded weird to some, but not to me, lol). I've also used my own name in the past when I first discovered fanfic as everyone on the site I went on did the same thing.
In my historical one, I did look at names which would've been used in that time.
-
Karah - I didn't know you used Charlie (Charlotte) too. Which story was she in?
I think using unusual spelling can be used in a good way and then theres a line where it goes over the top. If it's hard for the reader to figure out what the name is because of the crazy ass way its being spelled I think it's too much. I feel like Saphyr or whatever it was would be hard to figure out. Plus it just looks kinda ugly. lol Sapphire isn't much better as a name but thats a whole other discussion and a matter of taste/opinion of the reader/author. But going cuckoo trying to make a name stand out by altering the spelling - without having a reason IN the story for the crazy name - just makes it harder for the reader to figure out how to pronounce your character's name.
Like those Francine Pascal books in the Fearless series. The character's name was spelled Gaia and they pronounced it Guy-uh and she had to make the character tell someone that at least 40 times a chapter, I can only assume so that everyone knew how to pronounce it.
However, I've got a story I'm working on where there is a character named Female, but she pronounces it Fe-mah-lee and there's a reason/story behind it within the story and she actually goes by "Miley" because she got so sick of explaining the story to people.
I really think it's jst a matter of having a purpose, thinking it through, and not randomly throwing crazy spellings and names in just to seek attention or "uniqueness" to the character through their messed up names. If there's a reason for it, then yeah why not? There's truly people with crazy names all over the world, and it can add character depth and all that fun stuff.
-
Tonight's question:
Have you ever written a story and then found a lot of inconsistencie s in either the plot or a character after it has been posted? I ask because of finding a few glaring errors in my last one lol
-
I have, yes indeed I have. Outlining has helped some lately but I still find them regardless.
-
Tonight's question:
Have you ever written a story and then found a lot of inconsistencie s in either the plot or a character after it has been posted? I ask because of finding a few glaring errors in my last one lol
Sigh. Yes.
That is why I am now waiting until things are complete before I start posting them, so I can go back and change details before I am stuck with what I have.
-
Yes. Which is why I'm rewriting 4 clone stories into Weird World. There was a lot of inconsistencie s and I thought it was too drawn out. It holds up so much better as its own single story.
-
Yes. It's the worst when that happens and it really bothers me. This is the biggest problem with In Pieces, actually. Ashleigh's friend is the one who gives Nick her number so that he can get back into contact with her. Then, when Ashleigh goes out with Nick, her friend turns around and is all judgmental and calls her out, saying after what he did she shouldn't have gone out with him at all. WTF lady, you're the one who gave Nick her number in the first place.
It annoys me every time I think of that story, actually.
-
I'm sure I do, but inconsistencie s with characters and plot usually aren't my problem - I have a pretty good memory for details, and I do a lot of outlining, rereading, and fact-checking, which helps with that.
What annoys me about my older stories are things I could have done a much better job at researching in order to write accurately and did not. One of my early fanfics was a story about Brian getting addicted to painkillers, and being a naive 15-year-old at the time, pre-AJ's rehab, all I really knew about drugs and addiction were what I'd learned in DARE and 9th grade health class LOL. Needless to say, that story is embarrassingly bad. Even with Broken, I put a lot of effort into researching Nick's medical issues and, other than giving him a type of cancer that is more common in children, did a pretty solid job of it, but I dropped the ball on Claire's side of things. This is why I don't write anything without looking it up nowadays and probably spend more time "researching" than I spend actually writing LOL.
-
I've found some incosistencies going back through, but I reread the last 2 chapters every time I sit down to write a new chapter before starting so I do an okay job remembering plot bits and little details in my stories that I bring back up and use later in the plot. I plant a lot of these along the way.
I also research things pretty heavy before I use them in a plot, or I've got personal experience with the topic on hand, or something that I'm basing my story on. For example, Brian's sickness in Something Beautiful was the same as my mother's and even though I edited out almost all the medical-related scenes that I'd written for the story in favor of it being more about the road trip than the sickness (SB was sooo different before I started posting it I swear it was lol), it carried a certain amount of authenticity simply by being something I knew about.
But yes I have problems with inconsistencie s more in the fact that I'll come up with a REALLY STELLAR idea and then I can't use it because somewhere it contradicts something I've already posted. (cough, Time Watcher has this problem, cough... Which is why I can't finish it yet because I need to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B without contradictions, or find a Point C I like better than Point B).
-
I usually go back and reread the last chapter I write before going on to try to prevent inconsistencie s, especially in my action/ adventure ones like Lurks & Whatever the Night which have so many plot twists & turns going on.
With the latter one though, I caught two huge mistakes long after I posted it. One I caught a long time ago and that was a scene where a barn exploded & then a few chapters later there they are in the barn lol the other I just found since Julie is reading it, after she mentioned Shea I had to go back and read it and sure enough I had changed the location if the tear without any explanation at all!! lmao
I give anyone who has read this story credit for not asking me wtf happened to the stadium? I know I would have asked! I find the biggest mistakes I make, go back to the names again! I tend to forget what my smaller characters names are and I have to go back and search so I can remember and not randomly start calling them something else lol which I'm sure I've probably done at one point.
-
Karah - I didn't know you used Charlie (Charlotte) too. Which story was she in?
LOL Yep, for "Turn Right." She's a NASCAR driver. The guys are picked as the celebrity spokesmen for NASCAR for the year (like Kelly Clarkson was a few years ago), and they have the film a commercial with the driver... they don't realize Charlie is a girl. LOL
I almost used the name Andy, but went with Charlotte because it's the home of NASCAR lol
-
Tonight's question:
Have you ever written a story and then found a lot of inconsistencie s in either the plot or a character after it has been posted? I ask because of finding a few glaring errors in my last one lol
I'm usually pretty good at remembering, especially for small details that might not seem like a big deal at first, but plays a bigger part in the story later. I also tend to make notes sometimes too and go back to it every so often.
-
I usually go back and reread the last chapter I write before going on to try to prevent inconsistencie s, especially in my action/ adventure ones like Lurks & Whatever the Night which have so many plot twists & turns going on.
With the latter one though, I caught two huge mistakes long after I posted it. One I caught a long time ago and that was a scene where a barn exploded & then a few chapters later there they are in the barn lol the other I just found since Julie is reading it, after she mentioned Shea I had to go back and read it and sure enough I had changed the location if the tear without any explanation at all!! lmao
I give anyone who has read this story credit for not asking me wtf happened to the stadium? I know I would have asked! I find the biggest mistakes I make, go back to the names again! I tend to forget what my smaller characters names are and I have to go back and search so I can remember and not randomly start calling them something else lol which I'm sure I've probably done at one point.
I wondered about the stadium/museum thing, but they did say the tear could be somewhere NEAR Shea Stadium, as in somewhere outside it, so I thought, "Well, maybe the museum is in that same area." I think I went to that museum in 2008, but I don't know NYC well enough to know where Shea Stadium is relative to the museum and didn't care enough to look it up, so I just went with it LOL. I did wonder how they had figured out it was at the museum, though.
I don't think I even noticed the barn thing, but skipping between past and present so much made it harder to keep track of stuff like that, so you probably did yourself a favor there.
-
That and the long gap between the Shea & the museum chapter although for all I know, I may have explained it in the alternative ending and don't even remember lol FAIL!!
-
LOL It's okay. Even Harry Potter has inconsistencie s, but if it's a good enough story, no one really cares!
-
I have a major inconsistency in one of my romance stories, but it's too late to change it now, lol. These days I tend to read back on the previous chapter, and I'll also read through if I can't remember something from early on in the story.
-
After what Steph just said, here's a follow-up question: Does anyone go back to old stories and revise to correct their inconsistencie s? I don't mean quick fixes like correcting typos, but revisions that require you to do some actual rewriting.
And going along with that, have you or would you ever rewrite an old story from scratch just to make it better?
As a reader, how would you feel if the author of one of your favorite stories rewrote or changed it?
-
There is someone I am friends with who seems to rewrite her story all the time....and now she is changing the characters to include her friends. If you're gonna rewrite it, do it for yourself and not to make your friends happy.
I am rewriting my clone series for the reasons I stated earlier but I am leaving the original stories posted so people can still read them. I am adding things to You Give Love A Bad Name but not rewriting the whole story, just to clear up errors that were pointed out. For me going back to edit after it was written is okay.
-
I acually rewrote one of my older stories because when I had the issue with the provider of my friend's site that hosted mine, got mad at her he deleted her site with no real warning. It was after my computer's hard drive crashed so I lost a lot of stuff. Messing With Magic was lost so I decided to rewrite it from memory so I could post it on AC.
I do remember recently going through Fighting Fate and having to change the color of the girl's eyes cause I had them two different colors. HEH. That didn't require a major rewrite but it needed to be corrected.
I have thought about rewriting More Than That. It is one of my first fanfics written and I've grown so much I would love to give that story a "better shot" but at the same time I hate to mess with my "classics".
-
I haven't ever thought about going back and rewriting anything. Even with the mistakes, most have been around and read by now with those mistakes so I really feel no urgency to fix them. Maybe if I were to post it somewhere new where people were going to be reading it for the first time, I may go back and fix some mistakes. I would never completely rewrite a story unless I was changing it to an OF.
As far as reading, I wouldn't go back and read a reworked version of someone's older story. If the plot didn't appeal to me the first time, it wouldn't the second or on the flip side, if I enjoyed it as us once why bother reading it again? lol
-
I had considered going back and re-writing In Pieces, or at least fixing some parts that were wrong. Like the concert they go to being at the MN State Fair instead of at the Target Center like it is in the story.
I have actually had it happen where I go back to read something, only to discover it was completely different than what it was the first time I read it! The writing had definitely improved... but it wasn't the story I had loved originally anymore. If she had re-written it and left the original there, I honestly probably would have read both, and I still read the re-worked version anyway... but it just wasn't the same. The nostalgia factor was gone. It was like watching a re-make of a movie. Those are fine, because the original movie still exists. I don't mind re-makes honestly, just keep the original there.
And holy crap, this is so weird because they announced today they're remaking Sailor Moon LOL. And I'm SO EXCITED. But it's the same deal, if they were to re-make that and destroy all copies of the original series, I'd be really upset because though I'm sure this re-make will be a thousand times better, obviously the original has a huge nostalgia factor for me and I love it to pieces. So there you go! So I guess my take on it is, go ahead, remake it, but leave the original there too!
-
If they left the original version up, I'd read both to see how the two compare. I just don't like it when someone rewrites like every few months and acts like that was the original story all along.
-
Yeah that would be super annoying! It would be hard to follow a story that was constantly changing. Going back and making minor changes is one thing (like, I go back all the time and fix typos I find) but to constantly be in the process of re-writing? If you're going to do that then wait until the story is finished to post.
-
See I leave little notes on the story when I have added something to it, like I'm doing on YGLABN. All I'm doing with that is making it easier to read. I wrote it on my old phone so the spacing is terrible. Not completely changing it.
As for the person I was talking about, yeah it is annoying. She changed POV and everything.... I just don't want to read it anymore.
-
Yeah but that is in the same vein as fixing typos I think. I have no issue with that.
Changing POVs would make it a completely different story I would think!
-
I don't think I'd go back and change my old stories, I'll just leave the typos and other stuff there, lol. At least if I go back and re-read them one day, I'll see whether I've improved.
As for other people re-writing their stories, I don't think I'd read a re-written version unless it was turned into an original story and changed a hell of a lot. It would also have to be a story I loved the first time.
-
I've thought about it.... especially with "Right Kind of Wrong" and "I Wanna Be Bad" because I think they are poorly written. RKOW was one of my earliest stories and IWBB is just too massive to even deal with. LOL
-
Tonight's question:
Do you enjoy reading and or writing AU fics? What is it about them you like or dislike?
-
Tonight's question:
Do you enjoy reading and or writing AU fics? What is it about them you like or dislike?
AU is my absolute favourite genre. I just feel like there is so much freedom to break outside the "same old plot". I love reading a good AU fic, too.
Canon is fine, too but sometimes I just like to read/write something a little different.
-
Going back to what I posted earlier about rewriting, the only fanfic I've rewritten is Code Blue, and I will never do that again! When my original co-author quit, the new co-author and I decided to go back and make some changes in the characters' roles that we thought would make the rest of the story stronger, so we ended up rewriting a lot of the beginning from scratch. We were going to rewrite the whole thing, but it got to be so tedious that we ended up just using a lot of the old story and just correcting the inconsistencie s caused by the details we'd changed in the first few episodes. I do think the second version of the story was better, but the rewrite took so long that it killed our momentum, and we never quite did get it back. I will never make that mistake again!
I do want to rewrite Broken as an original novel, but I think of that project as a complete separate entity from Broken. I would never change the fanfic Broken or take it down in place of the OF one (unless I got it published and had to, but to be honest, they would be so different I'm not sure anyone would even know!). I'm all about the nostalgia; that's why all my old crappy stories are still online, so the few people who actually enjoyed reading them back then can still find them if they ever want to revisit them, and so I can go back and laugh at myself and relish in how much I've grown as a writer since then. I would never change those.
From the reader point of view, it would drive me nuts if someone constantly changed their story, like the people Steph and Tracy were talking about. If someone wants to rewrite an old story and post it alongside the original, that's fine, but don't go all George Lucas and REPLACE the original. I'm such a nostalgic person that I still have all my old Disney movies on VHS and have refused to buy certain ones on DVD because they've added in new songs and stuff that weren't in the original. As a special feature, that's fine, but don't stick it into the original movie. I like things to stay just as I remember them!
-
I generally don't write AU in any fandom that I write in. I don't know why that is! I've never really branched out and tried it. I think I might have for a challenge once, but in all of my stories, BSB are still BSB. I guess the timeline might be a little altered, obviously, because it is fiction, but I try to keep my stories as true to life as possible.
Oh actually, I was writing an AU BSB story, but then I scrapped it from being BSB and started re-writing it as original fiction and got a lot further.
I don't think I've actually read that many AU stories. I'm not against reading them or anything, just haven't found many that have looked overly interesting. I was reading On The Rails and that one was really good. I also read Satin and Silk, which was also really good. Maybe I need to try reading more AU historical fiction for BSB? I'm cool with reading AU as long as the guys still act like the guys and have the same personality/looks etc. Those two stories were really good for that, as I recall.
-
As far as AUs, I've learned to appreciate them. I originally didn't want to read anything that wasn't about The Backstreet Boys being "The Backstreet Boys," but I read a couple of good ones for Mare's old fanfic discussion group, Between the Lines and On the Outside, that changed my mind. I loved those two stories because, even though the Boys weren't "The Backstreet Boys," they still seemed like themselves, in terms of personality, and the brotherly bond was there or developed through the story. To me, that characterizati on is crucial in an AU. They don't have to be famous singers, but they should still seem like Brian, Nick, AJ, Howie, and Kevin.
I wrote my first AU back in like 2001 at the request of someone who gave me the idea; it was one of those "Brian has a long lost sister" types (except he was actually the long lost brother who'd been abducted), and I hated it. Code Blue really opened me up to writing AUs; I hated the idea of it at first, too, but I gave it a shot and ended up loving writing that story. 00Carter and Song for the Undead have been some of the most fun stories to write, and they did so much for my opinion of AUs that I'm now writing one on my own, Secrets of the Heart, and enjoying that too.
What I love about writing AUs is the complete creative freedom it allows. It's definitely a bridge between fanfic and original fiction, because even though you're still using the same characters, you can make them seem more like original characters by putting them in different lives. I will always prefer writing the guys as BSB, but it does sometimes get tedious writing about the music business, touring, recording, being famous, and all of that. Sometimes it's nice to put them in a world where all of that isn't part of their lives, where they can be doctors or secret agents or survivors of the zombie apocalypse or just normal people. It's like playing dress-up.
In terms of reading, I still much prefer canon BSB stories, but I've read enough good AUs to not be turned off by a story simply because it's AU. If I can still recognize the guys as themselves, and the plot sounds good, then I'll give it a shot.
-
On the topic of revision/rewriting - I've attempted rewriting full stories, but it feels really contrived, like I'm plagerizing myself and it sucks so I've never actually successfully finished rewriting a story. Which is kind of why I'm having issues converting Something Beatiful to an OF, I think. Meh! With Something Borrowed I'm finding myself going back to revisit bits and pieces as reviews come in correcting issues in the story to keep the story realistic. For example I currently have Chapter 26 up on my Word doc and am about to work on it because I worded something wrong and a review came in and I realized I needed to word it differently in order for it to make sense. But I leave notes when I do such things and it won't change the storyline any. I think original copies should always be left available whenever anything is rewritten, especially drastic rewrites.
Moving onto AU... I have a hard time getting into AU because it honestly is like if it's gonna be AU, it might as well be OF. It just seems like if I'm gonna write about the Backstreet Boys, I should write about the Backstreet Boys, not five guys with the same names and personalities. But that's a me-thing. I don't hate on the genre at all, I think it's really hard to maintain personalities - especially of BSB - outside of their world they inhabit because they are who they are because of all the little things they've been through together. It's just not something I'm particularly good at writing.
-
I personally love AU. I've written both AU and non AU stories. Non AU is a bit tricky for me when I get into Howie and Kevin because I don't know much about them. I love them, just not enough to write them often.
I love writing AU because like Julilly said there's so much you can do with them, its like playing dress up. Make them have whatever jobs you want and stick them in any number of situations. To me that makes me use my creativity more. As for reading, I read both. I love reading stories about them being BSB more but I've read some awesome AU stuff as well.
-
I was kind of against AU's at first, but after writing about being a BSB after a while can get old, so writing an AU is kind of refreshing a little. I mean, they are still the same guys, just not Backstreet Boys.
It really depends on the subject matter for me if I read it or not. Like if Nick was fighting aliens, I probably wouldn't read it because I'm not into sci-fi... but if Nick was a doctor (paging Dr. Carter lol), then maybe.
-
Those of you who write both AU and canon BSB stories, do you find that your BSB ones are more popular than your AUs? I've only written a few AUs, but I tend to get more feedback on my BSB ones - then again, that could be because most of the recent BSB ones have been Nick-centered, whereas the AUs are about other guys or the whole group. But seeing as how most of us have said we prefer reading about them as BSB, it makes sense.
-
I have to agree about that, but then again, my AU ones were more of the less reviewed genres to begin with LOL.
-
Good question Julie. For me personally both my canon and my AU stories get about the same amount of reviews, depending on what the story is about. Like Figured You Out was canon and had so much feedback (because it was a suspense) and Weird World is sci fi....WW doesn't get as much but it does get some. Some of my one shot AU did decently, like the one where Nick's a gynecologist (hehe), I think it all depends on the type of story since some genres are more popular than others.
My Nick romance AU series does VERY well review wise. Some of them have 100+ reviews.
-
I was gonna say, I bet Nick romance AUs still do pretty well, even if other genres of AU don't as much LOL. Song for the Undead has done really well with reviews, for not being a Nick romance, so can't complain!
-
Yeah, Undead definitely shocked me with how well it got received. I really expected it to not get much attention because of the fact it's an AU Group Horror/Angst story lol.
-
Yeah in the Nick AU romance series I do, 2 of the four stories have 100+ and the other two have about 30-40 each. The read count is higher. I used to be so disappointed with review count but when I stopped caring so much about how many I got and looked at the read count...I'm just glad someone is reading. For me I just want feedback, it isn't so much about the amount of reviews anymore. One of my stories has over 10,000 reads so I can't complain.
-
Tonight's question:
Do you enjoy reading and or writing AU fics? What is it about them you like or dislike?
Yes and yes. I love reading AU but I don't know what it is the makes me love them. Maybe it's the curiosity to see the guys in a world that it isn't their or see how they act if something different happened to them.
As for writing, currently I'm writing an AU and I'm literally loving it. As it being said, it's the creative freedom, the fact that you can create your own world. Another AU that I've started (and still has to be finished) is one where Brian is half angel, with wings and such, and the most interesting thing about that story was creating and plotting the whole angel's world and their people.
-
Yeah in the Nick AU romance series I do, 2 of the four stories have 100+ and the other two have about 30-40 each. The read count is higher. I used to be so disappointed with review count but when I stopped caring so much about how many I got and looked at the read count...I'm just glad someone is reading. For me I just want feedback, it isn't so much about the amount of reviews anymore. One of my stories has over 10,000 reads so I can't complain.
Yeah, read count is always higher. One reason is because it counts every view, so anytime a person goes back to reread a chapter or just clicks in and clicks out again, it ups the read count. But with any story, you're going to have lots of people who read and just don't review. Take the number of reviewers you have and multiply it by ten, and that'll give you an estimate of how many people have probably read it.
-
See that's what kinda bugs me, people keep saying "just look at your read count" but since it counts when someone just clicks on a chapter (maybe they didn't read it), its a bit frustrating because you don't know. Back when I first started I know I was a bit whiny about that whole thing, I didn't understand then. Took me a while to figure things out :)
-
Those of you who write both AU and canon BSB stories, do you find that your BSB ones are more popular than your AUs? I've only written a few AUs, but I tend to get more feedback on my BSB ones - then again, that could be because most of the recent BSB ones have been Nick-centered, whereas the AUs are about other guys or the whole group. But seeing as how most of us have said we prefer reading about them as BSB, it makes sense.
My AU definitely has less reads/reviews than canon stories.
Here's my thing though... what makes something canon, really? I can say that Hawk and a Handsaw is canon because the Boys are "the Boys" but they're not, really. Nick is dead, which he obviously isn't in real life and the band is no more, which isn't true either. Does that mean it's actually AU or does it still qualify as canon just because they're singers?
-
Tonight's question:
Do you enjoy reading and or writing AU fics? What is it about them you like or dislike?
I personally love writing AUs because unfortunately I'm not as big of a fan as I used to be and I don't have the patience or time to keep up with the BSB world. lol. Plus, I have so much more fun making the guys something out of the ordinary.
Although most of the stuff I have written in the past few years has been AU I still get a good amount of feedback and reads. I had a lot of fun making Nick a UFC fighter in Fight Me and Nick (pretty much) an underwear model in Just One Kiss. I don't think I change their personalities much when I write them in AU, I'm not sure tho.
I also like reading AU although I don't read as much as I wish I did. I suck! :shrug:
-
Yeah and if you replace the wives etc with fictional people but keep them
BSB does that make it AU? I've always wondered that myself.
-
I always considered my story Separate Ways as an AU because of the fictional family I created for him. Even though he's a BSB that's the only thing that was real in that one & since that's the crux of the plot to me it's what made it an AU. But I think I didn't label it that because I knew it was only AU in my head lol
As for reviews, my AUs get far less reviews then my other stuff.
I have written two AU series and they were fun but I think overall I enjoy reading and writing the non AU stuff more. Since what draws me to read fanfics about the boys is their brotherly bond so I tend to only be interested in reading AUs where the boys are brothers or related etc... On the Rails is the one exception for me. I LOVED that story! And wish it would be updated one day lol
-
I would say anytime you're making major changes to the canon, or the way things are in real life, besides the fictional plot of the story, it could qualify as an AU. In any fanfic, there are going to be things that aren't really true or haven't really happened to them - Nick didn't die and come back as a ghost, neither did he get kidnapped by a psycho fan, neither did Brian carve MINE into his flesh, neither did they all get into a plane crash and pick bot flies out of Jordan Knight's brain - but that's what makes it fiction. In all of those stories, they were still The Backstreet Boys, and the rest of their universe was pretty much as it is in real life. Even when you're writing about real events, like Steph with Running Up That Hill or Hannah with Borrowed Time, you're still taking creative liberties on some things, fictionalizing conversations and scenes that probably didn't really happen because there's no way to know how it all went down exactly. But the guys are still clearly themselves, the Backstreet Boys, in those stories too. I don't consider any of those AU.
Obviously, if they're not famous singers, that's AU, but I agree with Mare that even if you keep that aspect, but make huge changes in other aspects of their lives (like making them all brothers), that could be considered AU. With Tracy's example of replacing their real families with fictional ones, I think that could be considered AU too, but it's definitely walking a fine line. In Steph's story Rewind, Nick had a fictional wife and kids (but he was also older, so that was Future Nick's family), but his past fit the canon, so I never thought of that one as an AU.
-
Also, I use the word "canon" for lack of a better term, but I think "canon" is really a term that better applies to non-real-person fanfics. Real people's lives are always changing, so the "canon" changes constantly too. I think it's easier to know what's considered canon and what's not when there's only a set amount of material to base it on, like with a book series, TV show, movie, etc. It either happened, or it didn't, so I think it's easier to decide whether something qualifies as AU or not.
For those stories in our fandom where it's hard to decide, it's just down to however the author sees it and chooses to label it. There's really no right or wrong answer; it's a matter of interpretation .
-
Thanks for the explanation Julie :) I was wondering because in Weird World I gave Brian a fictional girlfriend and Nick one. But I think that should be ok cause Brian wasn't married yet.
-
Yeah, I think AU is really in the eye of the beholder. There are some stories that aren't labeled as AUs that in my head I see as an AU like Hawk and a Handsaw, Julilly. I do see that one as an AU for some reason lol I also kind of see Ritz's Other Side one as an AU too. Ones that the plot outweighs the realism of the BSB just being five guys in a group that have random things happen to them.
-
Ones that the plot outweighs the realism of the BSB just being five guys in a group that have random things happen to them.
I think you've definitely hit the nail on the head with that, Mare! I suppose if a story starts out with them being BSB, and having the BSB history, but quickly morphs into something else entirely and strays so far away from them being BSB, then it constitutes as AU, at least in part. Especially when you bring supernatural elements into the mix as with the stories you mentioned.
-
^ poor nail :( lol
-
LMAO yes, indeed.
-
I love reading and writing AU's just as much as reading them as Backstreet Boys. I like that with an AU you can have them be something completely different, like a fighter, preacher, actor, model, etc. But I do like to be able to tell that they are who they are supposed to be.
I'd never really thought of a story being AU if the wives/girlfriends/kids were changed. But then again, I didn't know what AU was a few years ago, lol.
-
neither did they all get into a plane crash and pick bot flies out of Jordan Knight's brain
I think you'll find that actually happened.... :P
-
I think you'll find that actually happened.... :P
Would it be considered in poor taste to say, "I wish"?
-
Tonight's question:
If you could ask anyone to write a sequel/prequel to any of the stories out there that do not belong to you, what would you choose and why?
-
Okay, since this question seems to be a dud, does anyone else have one? lol
-
It's a good question, but I'm having a hard time with it because I'm not really a big fan of prequels or sequels. All of my favorite stories that are finished are just perfect in where they start and stop. Some of them already do have sequels that I couldn't get into, and others have sequels that I love, but again, they ended in the right place.
But I did think of one: "Remember Me This Way" by Jen (not Rose's story).
http://www.dreamers-sanctuary.com/hosted/rmtw.html
I'd ask her to finish the original first LOL, then write a prequel. The way it's set up is that it starts with a prologue, then skips ahead four years. A prequel set within those four years that were skipped would be fun. But sadly, it'll never happen.
-
Hm, this question is difficult! Most of the stories I've read are either perfect on their own and don't need anything else, or they already have prequels and sequels attached to them, lol.
I just scrolled through my list of favourites and couldn't find anything. What a boring answer to this question LOL.
-
I got a question: if you could choose a favorite character from one of your stories you've written, who would it be? It could be a bsb or original character since we all write the boys a bit differently.
-
My favourite character that I've ever written was actually Nick in February Stars. That story is old, and it's just a one-shot I wrote randomly one day a long time ago, but I loved writing him in that. It was the first time I'd tried true, first person Nick angst and I had a great time doing it. He's just so sad in that story because everyone else is growing up around him, and he feels so alone, and then when he feels that slight bit of hope at the end... yeah, I just really enjoyed writing Nick in that way, in the bridge between the younger him, and the older him before he got really deep into his issues.
I also love my original character of Brittany in my new story I'm working on. It's the first time I ever did a true character sketch before writing, where I decided her backstory and a whole bunch of stuff. I think it worked out really well because it does make her seem like a more legit character instead of just a random girl who's there to cause drama.
-
Yeah, I knew mine was going to rough because I dont really even have an answer for it either lol
-
I'll have to think about yours, Tracy.
-
My favorite BSB character would be either Dr. Rough from 00Carter or Broken Nick. Dr. Rough is my favorite way to write Howie, as an evil genius supervillain with a Napoleon complex, an eye twitch, and a love for genetically-altered animal minions. Broken Nick is a drama queen, but I lived in his angsty little head for too long to not be attached. I love him because he really turned out to be a dynamic character who changed so much over the course of the two stories, not just physically. It was fun to knock him down repeatedly so he could pick himself back up again... figuratively and maybe a little bit literally too. :P
For non-BSB characters, I think it'd have to be Claire from Broken. She was the first well-developed original character I ever created, with a real personality and a backstory and whatnot. I felt like I knew her so well, I knew exactly what she would say or do in any situation, and when I wrote against that instinct for the sake of creating drama, I knew that too. That was the first time I'd felt that way about one of my characters, and I learned a lot from writing her that I've been able to use in creating other characters.
-
My favorite BSB is going to be a tie between Borrowed Time Brian and Something Beautiful Brian. They're very similar Brians, actually, because they're both dealing with similar situations... My favorite original character is hands down Amanda in Something Beautiful.
-
I got a question: if you could choose a favorite character from one of your stories you've written, who would it be? It could be a bsb or original character since we all write the boys a bit differently.
Oddly enough I really love writing Drums in 00Carter. In real life, I'm definitely not a Justin fan, this character was created purely to mock him. But he's not completely evil, and he's not exactly good either. He's this victim of circumstance manipulated into something darker. It's just really interesting writing his mindset cause he's a great example of that shade of grey rather than black or white.
As for a BSB character, either RMTW Nick, or Undead AJ. RMTW Nick is just because as heartbreaking as it was, there's something so beautifully strong about him as he tries to cope with this burden life threw at him. It was great writing his deterioration just cause it was a new angle I never tried to write before. And with Undead AJ, because we slapped him with depression, and kept his addictions, it gave him such a different perspective than the others in that story. it's a detached, cynical, ironic view with a dash of humor mixed in. It's just refreshing to have that in that story lol.
-
My favorite BSB is going to be a tie between Borrowed Time Brian and Something Beautiful Brian. They're very similar Brians, actually, because they're both dealing with similar situations... My favorite original character is hands down Amanda in Something Beautiful.
Oddly enough I really love writing Drums in 00Carter.
As for a BSB character, either RMTW Nick, or Undead AJ.
Love all of these characters!!!
-
This was a hard question for me, because I love all my original villains lol but I'm going with a non villain and saying Mike from Separate Ways. He was Nick's long lost brother who had to deal with all those feeling of watching Nick grow up rich & famous while he was stuck with a poor, abusive alcoholic father. It was fun writing him.
My favorite BSB would probably be a tie between Why I'd Do it all Again Nick & Fly Fishing Nick. I loved writing all his emotions in those two. lol
-
Tonight's question:
If you could ask anyone to write a sequel/prequel to any of the stories out there that do not belong to you, what would you choose and why?
I can't really answer this either as I'm not a fan of sequels unless there is more to tell. Most stories I read end just right, or the writer has already done a sequel.
-
Hmm, I think my favourite BSB character would have to be Nick from Rewind because he was such a mess in the future, and even when he had the chance to do it all again, he still made a few wrong choices.
Favourite non-BSB is Jordan in Save A Prayer, LOL. I was cruel to him :)
-
Tonight's Question:
What plot or story was the furthest outside the box thing you have ever written?
-
I wrote a challenge entry about Nick being a pirate hunter lol. It was super outside the box for me because it was all action and it was alternate universe. I challenged myself even further with it by not using any dialogue, since I usually rely heavily on dialogue and tend to not include enough description.
It was really difficult for me to write!
-
Wow, Steph, I can't imagine a story without any dialogue, unless it was just about one character by himself. That does sound like a challenge!
Besides challenge stories that are meant to be outside the box, like the killer monkeys from outer space one I wrote for the April Fool's challenge, I think the most "out there" stuff I've written has been for 00Carter. Aliens, moonwalking penguins, shootouts at Disney World, sword fights on pirate ships, Zambonis rigged with bombs... these are things I never thought I'd be writing, especially all in the same story. But 00Carter brings out my creativity and tests my writing abilities like no other story ever has, and I love it for that.
-
Yep it was basically about Nick by himself and I don't even think it cracked 1000 words haha
-
I think "Miracle" was pretty out there for me - a drug that brings the dead back to life? It was different. Although the writing style was my typical shtick - the drama, the high emotion, the brotherly factor. I don't know. Fear of Flying - the now imfamous Llama story - really was out there if we're gonna go for WTF-edness. Again though, it was similar to my typical writing style when I write humor. Fast paced, slap-stick, etc. Hmm I'm gonna have to think about one where I really stepped out of my usual writing style.
-
I thikn Whatever the Night May Bring was my most outside the box story. Tears in the universe, Trump president, people hunting down stars, Canadians taking over the world, dopplegangers killing one another, the end of the world lol Yup, that one definitely was out there for me.
-
Um. I'd have to say Remember Me This Way. It was my first step into a true psychological/medical angsty story. Now I'm comfortable there but everything about that story was new. I never wrote a straight up bromance, no med story on my own just dabbles from Code Blue. So everything about that was a first for me. I think that's why I'm as satisfied with that story as I am.
-
Wow I missed quite a bit today. I need to answer my own question.
For the sequel question, I don't have an answer because if the writer intended for one there would already be one written.
Favorite BSB character for me is Nick in the Nick and Amanda series. He goes through so much durimg the course of the series, from dealing with his rotten childhood to meeting his brother for the first time, becoming a parent, losing his wife....Nick goes through quite a bit and it was like seeing him grow up over the last few years. I've grown attached to that character and all of his flaws.
For non BSB character I'd say Valerie in Figured You out. She's so different from anyone I've written before and it was fun to push the limits with her to see how crazy she could be.
Pushing myself out of my comfot zone? Definitely Figured You Out and the accompanying challenge I wrote, entitled I Should Be Thankful. Both of those were darker than what I was used to writing at the time, it was my first suspense story and I will forever be amazed at how it turned out. Another story is the snippets I wrote for 1000 Ways to Kill Nick Carter as that was the first time I experimented in writing semi gory stuff :)
-
I have a question...
What's your favorite character (one BSB one original) from someone else's story?
-
Great question. For BSB, it is a really hard decision but I love how Brian is written in Song For The Undead, his story is so sad....and I am surprised I picked Brian. But seriously the way he's written is the best, how he goes from being such a man of faith to quickly losing it...then gaining it back.
For non BSB...I love Max in What Lurks Around The Corner. He reminded me so much of Snape, and he was mysterious...b ut was my absolute favorite for the way he was like family to Nick and tried to help him through the awkward situation he was placed in.
-
Tonight's Question:
What plot or story was the furthest outside the box thing you have ever written?
I'm not sure, maybe Rewind with Nick being a 40 year old loser who gets a second chance. Or Games where Nick and AJ are being hunted down by computer game monsters.
-
I have a question...
What's your favorite character (one BSB one original) from someone else's story?
I like AJ in Song For The Undead as he starts off really negative about life, and then when the end of the world happens, he becomes this gun toting zombie killing hero!
Non BSB character, Cary in Curtain Call. She's not just some random chick hooking up with a BSB, she's such a great character and goes through a lot with Nick in the story.
There are loads more I would've liked to pick, but I'd be here all day listing them.
-
Tonight's Question:
What are some of your favorite group centered stories & why?
List a few group centered stories you have written. What do you enjoy most about writing these types of stories? If you don't write them, why?
Group centered means there really is no one Main lead but most of the boys play equally important roles. No females or original characters as leads either.
-
Thanks for mentioning Max, Tracy! I'm glad you find him Snapish lol
-
Tracy and Steph, thanks so much for mentioning Brian and AJ from Undead and Cary from Curtain Call! That means a lot that they are some of your favorites! :) Rose has written almost all of the AJ parts in Undead, so she's really the one who has made him the awesome character he is. You know I love my angst, so Brian and Cary have been two of my favorite characters to write as well!
I will be back to catch up on answering the last couple of questions later!
-
Awww thanks for the mentions of Brian and AJ from Undead? Julie's written all the Brian parts so she made him the deep amazingly angsty character that he is. I love him because of his deep personal journey. :)
Ironically I need to think about my own question LOL.
One of my favorite group stories is "Why I'd Do It All Again". It's just a really sweet and cute bonding story of their return after their hiatus. It's a perfect dramedy with everything that was going on back then. The other one is an oldie lol, "Total Kaos 24/7", it's an oldie but it's rally cute and a funny story about the early days.
I think RMTW is a group story, since one of the main focuses is how the group is dealing with Nick. And I just started "Here I Stand", a story about the group now that Kevin has returned and everyone trying to adjust to that fact. I think my favorite thing about writing these type of stories is really playing with the dynamics of the group. You get to do these great bromance scenes and get to what makes them the group they are.
-
For group stories, When I Grow Up and Incomplete are probably the only two I've ever written.
For reading, Total Kaos 24/7 is one of my favorites, I also like A Million Little Things. Basically all of Mare's group stories would make this list because she does such a great job at it. I also love Borrowed Time, if that counts for one and Running Up That Hill. I'd be here all day listing stories.
I would love to write another group story one day, I just haven't been inspired yet. Those kind of stories are fun to read because I love all the bromances and brotherly relationships.
-
Aww thanks for the group mentions guys! I love writing group stories & telling the story from all angles. Love reading them too!
I think Running up That Hill is a great example of a group story. All of the guys combining to tell the same story.
I've written a few of them, the ones you guys mentioned are the ones that come to mind. Why I'd Do it All Again. A Million Lillte Things (which I don't really remember lol) Living at the Top & Long Road Home I think are the ones that really fit in this category.
-
As far as your question, Rose. My favorite BSB is tough because there are too many stories and it's kind of hard to keep everything straight. I would say Nick from Ground Zero I guess is one of my favorites.
Non BSB I would probably have to go with Hambelina because she is adorable lol
-
I don't think I've written any group stories by that definition, except maybe some of the shorts or Fear of Flying. Yeah, Fear of Flying was a group story because they all told the stories and there were no main non-BSB characters.... and Miracle, too.
I tend to write from a first person perspective and focus on one group member's feelings. I think the reason I do this is because I like to get into the psychology of the story. I like the idea of putting Nick into a room alone with a goldfish and having the entire story come out of him telling the goldfish the story. Bwahaha I should do that.... and maybe the goldfish could talk back....
ANYWAYS.... before I end up storyboarding. ... I'm gonna say RMTW was a really good example of a group story.
I have a bunch of the other ones being mentioned here on my list of stories to read. I have a hard time writing and reading at the same time though so I haven't started them yet.
-
Awww, thanks Hannah.
I think my fave character BSB wise is probably Curtain Call Nick, I think it's probably one of the most realistic portrayals of Nick these days. He's cocky, he knows exactly what his power over women is, he's a bit of an ass, but he's still our Nick lol. Random and everything else.
Non BSB character - I'd probably say, I think her name was Bella, in Thirteenth Step actually. I just really loved her tragic story. I think second place goes to Chub-Chub lmfao.
-
Aww thanks for the group mentions guys! I love writing group stories & telling the story from all angles. Love reading them too!
You know, this is my first time writing a story from all five perspectives without any original characters POV. I gotta say it's kinda neat LOL.
-
Tonight's Question:
What are some of your favorite group centered stories & why?
List a few group centered stories you have written. What do you enjoy most about writing these types of stories? If you don't write them, why?
Group centered means there really is no one Main lead but most of the boys play equally important roles. No females or original characters as leads either.
I think the only group centred stories I've written are Save A Prayer and Story of My Life, the rest probably have random other characters in them or are mainly Nick focused.
As for my favourites by others, I love Why I'd Do It All Again, Running Up That Hill, Ground Zero, A Million Little Things, Remember Me This Way and probably more but I can't think right now :)
-
I have a question...
What's your favorite character (one BSB one original) from someone else's story?
I'm having a hard time narrowing this down to just one of each!
If I'm being honest, the first thought that popped into my head was Nick and Ciara in "Cover Me With Dreams," which would kill two birds in one stone! I've gushed about that story on here plenty of times; it's probably my favorite fanfic of all time, and the reason for that is the characters. Nick in that story represents everything we love about Nick and every different version of Nick all rolled into one. We get young cute Nick, older messed up Nick, goofy Nick, sexy Nick... The author, Heidi, had Nick pegged, and he's just so endearing! Meanwhile, Ciara is an interesting female lead; I like her and enjoy reading parts about her even if Nick's not in them. She was based on a real person in the author's life, and I think it shows in how realistic and multi-layered she seems.
Two of my other favorite original characters are Amanda in "Something Beautiful" and Kara in "The Market." I like female leads who are likable and relatable, not perfect Mary Sues, but not annoyingly flawed Anti-Sues who try too hard not to be perfect either, and Amanda and Kara, as well as Ciara, fit that perfectly. Amanda in SB was especially interesting BECAUSE she was so flawed, or at least was doing something awful for a good chunk of the story, but was still a good person who felt guilty about it deep down.
I also love how Brian and Nick are written in that story, as well as in "Borrowed Time," but I think my favorite Backstreet Boy in a story recently is Steph's Nick in "Running Up That Hill." He's SUCH a mess, and I'm so glad Nick's not that way in real life anymore, but I just love the way that he thinks. Steph does such a great job getting inside his head, and his scenes are usually my favorite part of every chapter because they're so entertaining.
-
Non BSB I would probably have to go with Hambelina because she is adorable lol
LOL Thanks, Mare! I loved Hambelina in her limited story time too.
I think my fave character BSB wise is probably Curtain Call Nick, I think it's probably one of the most realistic portrayals of Nick these days. He's cocky, he knows exactly what his power over women is, he's a bit of an ass, but he's still our Nick lol. Random and everything else.
Thanks, Rose! CC Nick came out so different than all the Nicks I'd written before, and hopefully that's because he was more realistic than the more sweet and sensitive version of Nick I've written in other stories.
-
Tonight's Question:
What are some of your favorite group centered stories & why?
List a few group centered stories you have written. What do you enjoy most about writing these types of stories? If you don't write them, why?
Group centered means there really is no one Main lead but most of the boys play equally important roles. No females or original characters as leads either.
Two of my old favorite group stories are "Where Can We Go From Here?" and "Come Together." We've already discussed CT in this thread, but I like WCWGFH for similar reasons - it does a great job showing the Boys' brotherly bond back in the good old days, this time in the face of tragedy. Whereas CT is based on the real life story of how the group came together, WCWGFH is centered around a fictional bus crash and how they pick up the pieces afterwards.
I've read some great group stories recently on AC too. Steph's "Running Up That Hill" is awesome because it shows four different points of view in every chapter, all of the guys except AJ, who is the catalyst of the whole story. Mare's "Whatever the Night May Bring" also did an awesome job showing each of the guys' perspectives as they went through this crazy experience in a parallel universe. Despite the sci-fi nature of the story, they are still the Backstreet Boys, and their bond never wavers. Steph's "Save a Prayer" is another good one about the guys having to work together to survive in the jungle. I love group stories where that bond between them is tested by some kind of tragedy, but still prevails.
The group stories I've written recently that don't contain original characters are mostly short stories for challenges, like "Hybrid" and "Watch Me as I Bleed/In Pieces." I don't do a lot of stories, especially novels, that are just about the five guys in equal roles. All five of them are always in my stories, but usually the focus is on one or two of them, and I often involve original characters as well. I like writing about the guys' relationship, but more in the context of how it's either tested by tragedy or how it helps them get through a tragedy, usually something that has happened to one of them. Original characters just allow me some more creative freedom and keep things interesting for me.
-
Thanks guys again for all Thr mentions and yes, Rose her name was Isobella lol I named her after my cat.
-
Today's question: while it's in my head lol
How did you come up with your pen name/screen name & if you were ever published would you use your real name?
-
My screenname comes from a name I used when I did Star Wars roleplay with some friends on myspace when myspace was the it thing. I had a whole backstory to my character, my name was Delphina Starlight. When I came to AC I was still going by Delphina so I used that name for almost everything. The Carter part came for obvious reasons.
When I was on Fanfiction.net my penname was Supergirl64 for a long time.
If I was ever published, not that it will happen any time in the future...not sure what name I would use. My last name seems kind of boring, I would probably make up a last name or something.
-
I will get caught up on answering all the questions later, I just wanted to that you all so much for the Running Up That Hill love :) And thanks Julie for mentioning Nick from that one as your favourite BSB character!
-
Today's question: while it's in my head lol
How did you come up with your pen name/screen name & if you were ever published would you use your real name?
LOL on fanfic.net my sn was something along the lines of AngelofDarknes s if I remember right. Some stupid angsty teeny name LOL. So when they banned RP fanfic and I migrated over here to AC, I decided to keep it simple cause I was over it. I mean hell a lot of people think Rose is a nickname for a longer name in real life anyway lol. So yeah. It was just something no one used yet.
If I ever get published, I'm using my real name. First off cause I'll be too damn proud not to :P. Second, because honestly my name's too unique as it is I don't think I COULD come up with a good pen name lmao. I mean my name's Rose Smiley (just the last name's spelled differently as anyone who's met me in person/fb knows) for heaven's sake lol. That sounds like a pen name as it is right? So why not just use my real one.
-
I think the only group centred stories I've written are Save A Prayer and Story of My Life, the rest probably have random other characters in them or are mainly Nick focused.
As for my favourites by others, I love Why I'd Do It All Again, Running Up That Hill, Ground Zero, A Million Little Things, Remember Me This Way and probably more but I can't think right now :)
Aww thanks Steph!
I swear this thread is just full of fluffy love lol.
-
Remember Me This Way is definitely one of my choices for group story, I have so many I'd be listing all day. But def RMTW and Ground Zero for sure.
-
Thanks Tracy :)
-
My penname was because I love penguins. I always have. So I shortened it to sound cool and it comes out Pengi. At the time when I made up the screen name, I just liked the way it sounded. Then I go on cruise and Steph informs me that "Pengi San" is actually the Japanese word for "The Penguin" and she thought that I knew that all along and I just felt so awesome because no really I had no clue. I have since used the name Pengi as my creative alter-ego in ever facet, including my Graphic Design work, where my "company name" is "Hello Pengi" and my catchphrase is "My name is Hannah but everyone calls me Pengi" and my logo's a Penguin. I've already published Graphic Design work using the name Pengi and I completely intend to publish under the name Pengi - no lastname! - if/when I ever get published. But it won't be a secret what my real name is, either. More like J.K.Rowling, whose real name is common knowledge. Everyone at my college knew me as Pengi. One kid had no clue my name WASN'T Pengi and got all confused at graduation and was like "wait.... that's a NICKNAME? Seriously?" cos everyone there called me that all the time. LOL
-
When I first started with my website online I was kind of embarassed at what I was doing so I wanted to hide behind a different name. I had another site where I did the same thing, hid behind an alter ego but that site died before CYDMR came along.
As a group the girls of CYDMR are Purple Lipstick which has a connection to Nick in a dream a friend of mine had which consisted of a certain part of Nick being a tube of purple lipstick in her dream. I am sure you can figure out which part. So to tell us apart on the site I decided that each girl would have their individual name be purple in another language so that we all really were still Purple Lipstick :)
I would definitely NOT use that name in publishing, I don't wan to explain that! LOL.
I am using Lorena Lee to publish. It is my first and middle name... When I first decided I wanted to work on a book to publish I was already married and did NOT want to use Williams as there are several Williams' already. I shelved books, I saw this. So I was going to use my maiden name when I published because there were no authors with that last name that I saw on the shelves. I told hubby and he seemed upset that I wasn't going to use his last name but opted for my maiden name. To remedy I decided no last name, just first and middle.
-
Today's question: while it's in my head lol
How did you come up with your pen name/screen name & if you were ever published would you use your real name?
When I submitted my first fanfic to be hosted on a website, I was only 14 and had been warned about the dangers of giving your real info out online, so I made up a pen name. At the time, I was more worried about my friends, who were all still BSB fans at the time, finding my story than I was about To Catch a Predator type people. Nowadays, it's more my students I'd be worried about finding my stuff! I picked an ordinary-sounding name so that no one would even suspect it was a pen name. Julie was the name of this girl I was jealous of because she was going out with the guy I liked LOL, and I think Lewis was just the first last name that popped into my head, although it may have been the character Susan Lewis from "ER" that inspired it.
As far as RokofAges75, that's been my screenname for all things BSB/fanfic-related for almost as long, since 2000. It's completely Brian-related, since he's always been my favorite. He got that Rock of Ages tattoo, so I combined that with his nickname and 75 for the year he was born.
If I got published, I think it would depend on what kind of material I was publishing, but if it were anything I would be embarrassed to think my students, colleagues, or RL friends might read, I'd probably stick with a pen name. It's weird considering how much we share of ourselves on here, but I'm super reserved about my writing in real life, to the point that no one but my family even knows I do it. Maybe the honor of being published would give me the confidence boost I'd need to share my writing with other people, but somehow I doubt it!
-
My screen name is quite easy, we all know the Carter part, but the Orange part is after Jason Orange from Take That, who is my other boyband love :)
(http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh599/stephjane2901/jason.jpg)
(For anyone who doesn't know him)
I decided to use a name like that rather than my real name because I didn't want anyone seeing what I'd posted. No one knows about my writing, not even my closest friends (they are the ones I'd dread finding my stuff). I was known as Steph4Jason on another site.
If I ever published anything, I'd go back to my name before I got married, or maybe Stephanie Jane (which is my first name and middle name).
-
Lots of questions to answer...
What are some of your favorite group centered stories & why?
I definitely love Why I'd Do It All Again and A Million Little Things by Mare. Those are stories that I've gone back and revisited numerous times just because they're so well written. Mare does a great job of getting inside the boys' heads and creating fiction around real life events. They're really fun reads that flow really well. I just love them.
List a few group centered stories you have written. What do you enjoy most about writing these types of stories? If you don't write them, why?
Running Up That Hill is the first time I've really tried to write something about the group that's longer than a one-shot. It's fun because I get to transport myself back to that time and really dig deep into what the boys might have been thinking. I try to connect that time with little hints as to what would happen in the future for the boys themselves and as a group. It's an interesting project and character study for me.
What's your favorite character (one BSB one original) from someone else's story?
Lately it's been Brian in Borrowed Time. Hannah does an amazing job at getting in Brian's head and creating the build up to him needing his heart surgery. He's an extremely sympathetic character, and for me, that's really hard to do with Brian because sometimes he just bothers me. But in this story it's very easy to see why he's going through what he's going through and it's very realistic. If I were to guess how Brian was back in 1998, I'd say he'd be like this.
Original character... I'm going to go with Cary from Curtain Call. Julie did an excellent job in crafting her back story so that she fits perfectly into Nick's situation, but she's also her own character and her own person enough that she doesn't just seem like a plot point. She's so different than the type of girl I normally read about Nick associating with that I couldn't help but root for her and Nick to get together haha. But honestly, she's just a very real, very well developed character.
How did you come up with your pen name/screen name & if you were ever published would you use your real name?
Oh God LOL. First of all, my old penname from the FanFiction.net days is horrid and amazing. It was sNICKers. And I still use it to post Avatar fiction sometimes. I'm sure people on there wonder why the hell the NICK is capitalized. God, what a dorky nickname lol. I don't even know how or why my 13 year old self decided on that.
For Sakabelle... it's kind of weird. I've used this name for everything for nearly ten years. It's actually two parts. The "Saka" comes from my love of pink... my old anime nickname used to be Sakura (those pink cherry blossom flowers they have in Japan and use excessively in girls comics.) The "belle" is a shortened version of my medieval roleplay persona, Annabelle De Riston, from when I used to be into that. I merged the two because I created a LiveJournal and I had friends on there from both groups. I like the name and I've stuck with it for everything ever since. Even though I'm not really involved with either of those crowds anymore. It's really easy to find anything and everything I've ever done by this name, including AC, which my real life friends have discovered more than once. To counter that, when I started posting more Avatar stuff on FanFiction.net, I didn't use sNICKers or Sakabelle because a lot of my RL friends go on that site and I never, ever wanted them to find my Avatar stuff. So I created an entire fake alias, fake name, fake back story. I even changed my age I was so terrified of them finding out it was me! It's the same one I use for 1DFF too because if anyone ever found that, I would probably die. I could live with people finding my BSB fic I think... but not that.
I'd probably go by my real name, Stephanie Ives, if I got published. Don't see a reason not to. If I ever got published no way I'd be able to keep my mouth shut about it, so I might as well use my real name! lol
Or actually, if I got published writing trashy romance novels, I'd use my first name and the Italian version of my mom's maiden name - Bevacqua. Stephanie Bevacqua sounds like a good trashy romance novelist name. Haha!
-
I love that you have planned your penname for trashy romance novels. :D One of the many things that makes you adorable Steph!! :patpat:
And thanks for the Borrowed Time shout! :)
-
Today's question: while it's in my head lol
How did you come up with your pen name/screen name & if you were ever published would you use your real name?
screenname.... the one on here, my site name... my twitter.... when I signed up, the boys at work were calling me Princess Karah of the Sports Department lol
I'm doing the self-publishing thing on Amazon and my pen name is Presley Collins... my middle name and my grandmother's maiden name. I thought it sounded good together and since I work in media, I didn't want to use my real name.
-
I love that you have planned your penname for trashy romance novels. :D One of the many things that makes you adorable Steph!! :patpat:
And thanks for the Borrowed Time shout! :)
LMAO Thanks Hannah.
-
Thanks for the love, Saka Steph & you constantly crack me up with your infatuation with 1D & your utter terror of anyone finding out lmao
The only name I have ever written fanfic under is Mare and of course that's just short for my real name, Marianne.
My other SN I use on other boards & twitter bitybella is just what I used to call my cat because when I first found her she was so tiny. Even though she's about 30 pounds now, the name stuck lol
I decided to use my real name for publishing because I was proud and wanted everyone to know lol
-
:P
Thanks for the love, Saka Steph & you constantly crack me up with your infatuation with 1D & your utter terror of anyone finding out lmao
I'm glad I amuse you with my deep, dark secret lol
-
Steph, at least you aren't in your 30s and have Jonas Brothers on your iPod like I have LOL
-
I do have them on my iPod though! :D
Ah I love how we can all share our dorkiness with each other lol
-
I have to agree Steph is my favorite twitter. She cracks me up daily.
-
lol thanks Tracy
-
I have no shame. I have the Jonas Brothers and One Direction on my ipod, not to mention when one direction comes on I squeal like a 14 year old.
-
Steph, thanks for mentioning Cary, and LOL at sNICKers - I like it! :P
-
I totally forgot what SN involving Kevin I was trying to use, but it was already taken no matter how much I tweaked it. So then it gave me a few options and there was Kevmylove and I thought...well he is my love he just doesn't know it...ok just kidding... I sound crazy like Valerie now sheesh. no...it caught my eye and now I use it for anything involving BSB.
So am I the only one that talks to my mom, hubby and best friend about BSB fan fiction? I've been doing it for so long they know it's a part of me and what I like. They also know about all you wonderful writers...alth ough my outlook has changed through all these years. lol.
-
I used to talk to my boyfriend about my BSB fics. He even used to beta Running Up That Hill for me! One of my friends here in Winnipeg is also a FanFic nerd (not in BSB fandom though) so we talk about fic in general together sometimes and have writing days for the fandoms that we both write in.
-
my mom, brothers, husband and a few co-workers know I write fanfiction. In fact I got enough guts to mention that I write fanfiction to the guy that my friend and I go to lunch with. My mom is the only one who is snarky and she uses it when I mention writing to publish. "Are you still writing fanfiction?" in that tone... grrr.
LOL. and my best friend is not in the BSB world any more and she is the one who got me into fanfic so I talk to her all the time. LOL Once I warm up enough I don't care that much and tell people. My boss I think even knows I write fanfic but I don't talk about it much with her.
my screen name on the other hand, lol is privleged information... heh only online friends and a few real life friends know it.
-
I used to talk to my boyfriend about my BSB fics. He even used to beta Running Up That Hill for me! One of my friends here in Winnipeg is also a FanFic nerd (not in BSB fandom though) so we talk about fic in general together sometimes and have writing days for the fandoms that we both write in.
My bestie used to write too but now she says the BSB are a waste of time. She still talks to me about my writing tho. It kinda sucks when the only person you can do BSB activities with is no longer interested :(
my mom, brothers, husband and a few co-workers know I write fanfiction. In fact I got enough guts to mention that I write fanfiction to the guy that my friend and I go to lunch with. My mom is the only one who is snarky and she uses it when I mention writing to publish. "Are you still writing fanfiction?" in that tone... grrr.
LOL. and my best friend is not in the BSB world any more and she is the one who got me into fanfic so I talk to her all the time. LOL Once I warm up enough I don't care that much and tell people. My boss I think even knows I write fanfic but I don't talk about it much with her.
my screen name on the other hand, lol is privleged information... heh only online friends and a few real life friends know it.
Yeah the hubby sometimes gets on me about fan fiction and that it's a waste of time.
I know where the SN comes from...hehe
-
My bestie used to write too but now she says the BSB are a waste of time. She still talks to me about my writing tho. It kinda sucks when the only person you can do BSB activities with is no longer interested :(
Mine, thankfully, doesn't view it as a waste of time. She is still open about it... and she helps me when I need research help :)
-
Steph, at least you aren't in your 30s and have Jonas Brothers on your iPod like I have LOL
I have that AND one direction and I turn 32 technically tomorrow. *hangs head*
-
I tried to explain fan fiction to my Mom but it goes over her head.
My co-workers, the cool ones anyway, know I write it for the most part. Some people are ashamed, but I'm not lol
-
I'm sure the people I work with know I write because a couple of them follow me on twitter. I try not to explicitly say what I write though. If any of them have figured it out, they haven't said anything. And most of them are dorks anyway who play Magic and stuff so they're in no position to judge my nerdy hobby :P
My boss knows I write fiction, and telling him that actually helped get me a promotion at my job. So...win? Now I write at work all day! A very different type of writing, but I still write. And it's kinda cool to be able to use the skills I basically learned writing fan fiction at my job. I don't get to be overly creative or make up stories or anything like that, but I do still get the practice on how to word things and make it flow nice so someone will want to read it and pay attention to it.
-
My mom knows about fanfic, but that's about it. And honestly the main reason was cause one year Julie made me this Drums doll from 00Carter out of one of those old NSYNC dolls for Xmas, and I had to explain it when she saw it in my room LMFAO. I tend to keep quiet about it. People know I write and sometimes the plots (like Undead) but I don't actually tell anyone I write fanfic. It's why you'll never see me mention anything related to it on FB, the most I'll do is possibly mention BSB stuff.
My twitter USED to be exclusively my online world. Until my cousin found my twitter when he moved out here and followed me. I now have to watch what I say cause if he knew I wrote fanfic, I would NEVER hear the end of it LOL.
-
I talk to people about my writing. Sometimes I will get a good idea, like for Figured You Out I had no idea how I was gonna end it. I had wanted to kill Nick off originally but his idea was better (for those who haven't read it I won't reveal his idea)
My best friend has known about my Fanfic writing for over ten years. When we graduated high school she and I drifted apart (possibly the cause for my writing hiatus between 2002 and 2009). When she and I started talking again, she asked if I still wrote, turned out when I was posting at AC she had been reading the stories! She also said she remembered them from when we talked about them in high school. We are really close now, I've gotten her hooked on fanfiction and she even helps me with dialogue for my romance series. Figured You Out was the first story I had written without help in that. She still reads my other work and helps me post my new stories since I don't have a computer.
-
My dad actually told my aunt when I got the Felix Award for suspense, they were all proud of me and my dad asked me if I was gonna print out the banner and frame it. I said no because that just seems crazy. Most people are cool with me writing, I've had co workers read my stuff and said I have a knack for it. Then I also get the people who are snarky and ask if I'm ever gonna do any "real" writing.
-
I have that AND one direction and I turn 32 technically tomorrow. *hangs head*
I also have 1D and The Wanted on mine, lol
-
I love The Wanted, not even gonna lie lol. But their music seems a little more mature than One Direction's. But... I will that "What Makes You Beautiful" song that is freaking everywhere I go lately, has grown on me.
But hey, I'm also only 25 :P.
-
I am just getting into The Wanted, and I absolutely love One Direction. I own their CD and I like Big Time Rush's new album Elevate.
-
Going back to Erika's question, my immediate family - mom, dad, sister - are the only ones in my real life who know I write fanfic. When I started, I still shared a room with my sister, so I could only hide it from her for so long. Eventually my mom "found" my website (I think my sister told her, but she would never admit to it) and asked me about it. I made her vow never to read any of my stories, and she promised she wouldn't. I actually think she's kept that promise because in all these years, she's never mentioned any specific storylines I've written about, and I've written enough weird stuff that I kind of think she would, if she'd really read any of it. I don't think she cares enough to. She's the only one who ever asks me about my writing, though, and usually it's with the same attitude as Lore's mom. "When are you going to write a REAL novel? You know, not about the Backstreet Boys?" My dad is clueless about computers, so he's never seen my site and never asked about my writing. This is fine with me; I don't want them coming to my site or reading my stories or my Twitter!
-
I also have 1D and The Wanted on mine, lol
I have The Wanted too. LOVE them. :) Imke sent me all their songs minus the ones on the American album.
-
She's the only one who ever asks me about my writing, though, and usually it's with the same attitude as Lore's mom. "When are you going to write a REAL novel? You know, not about the Backstreet Boys?"
don't you LOVE getting that tone when being asked about it?
-
My sister knows about fanfic now but she's the only person in my RL who does. She doesn't judge me at all for it, at least not to my face. She reads House fanfic lol
-
don't you LOVE getting that tone when being asked about it?
I just roll my eyes at her and change the subject. It's so awkward talking about fanfic with her, and I don't want to say too much and get her interested enough to go poking around on my site. Stay away, Mom!
-
My sister knows about fanfic now but she's the only person in my RL who does. She doesn't judge me at all for it, at least not to my face. She reads House fanfic lol
My sister used to make fun of me, but it was good-natured. She actually wrote a one-shot as a joke one time for me to put it on my site... it was twelve years ago, so I don't think I have it anymore, but it was cute.
-
Going back to Erika's question, my immediate family - mom, dad, sister - are the only ones in my real life who know I write fanfic. When I started, I still shared a room with my sister, so I could only hide it from her for so long. Eventually my mom "found" my website (I think my sister told her, but she would never admit to it) and asked me about it. I made her vow never to read any of my stories, and she promised she wouldn't. I actually think she's kept that promise because in all these years, she's never mentioned any specific storylines I've written about, and I've written enough weird stuff that I kind of think she would, if she'd really read any of it. I don't think she cares enough to. She's the only one who ever asks me about my writing, though, and usually it's with the same attitude as Lore's mom. "When are you going to write a REAL novel? You know, not about the Backstreet Boys?" My dad is clueless about computers, so he's never seen my site and never asked about my writing. This is fine with me; I don't want them coming to my site or reading my stories or my Twitter!
Hahaha I can't imagine your moms reaction if she read some of your stuff!! My mom wishes I would write something real too, but she just let's me be. Instead she always asks why I don't write about Kevin. lol.
My dad actually told my aunt when I got the Felix Award for suspense, they were all proud of me and my dad asked me if I was gonna print out the banner and frame it. I said no because that just seems crazy. Most people are cool with me writing, I've had co workers read my stuff and said I have a knack for it. Then I also get the people who are snarky and ask if I'm ever gonna do any "real" writing.
LOL @ your dad. Well...when I told my hubby he was thinking I won a large sum of money or something. I was like "uh...no these things are just for fun!"
-
^ my husband wanted to know what I got for winning too!! LOL. silly boys.
-
My sister used to make fun of me, but it was good-natured. She actually wrote a one-shot as a joke one time for me to put it on my site... it was twelve years ago, so I don't think I have it anymore, but it was cute.
This reminds me that Randy owes me a BSB one-shot! Dammit LOL.
I'm trying to get my non-BSB fanfic friends into BSB fanfic with limited success. It's an ongoing project lol
-
Funny story.... one night at work, I updated one of my stories on MC and one of my best friends, who worked with me in sports (who knows pretty much every secret of mine), found MC open on the computer. I left it open by mistake and he started reading.
His remark: "It was really good until Nick started to take off his pants and then I stopped."
LMFAO!
-
Karah... Wait, he said it was good up UNTIL Nick took off his pants? *shakeshead* Boys just don't get it. :D ;)
As for who knows I write FF... ugh. Well I kinda half-admit to it. I wanted to include writing on my resume somehow, so I put on there that I had won an award on a "writing community" online, and that I had friends who beta-read stories I was working on. When my professor asked to read one of the stories... I kind of balked. I gave her a couple chapters of Something Beautiful, and I told her, "heres' the thing. I'm still working on characters, and to write the storyline for the rough draft, I used the Backstreet Boys" - which is partially true as I'm working rewriting/revising SB for a novel, but y'know. So she read the exerpt I'd given her and she really liked it.
But that's the closest I've come to telling anyone about my BSB fiction - at least the serious stuff. I've told my sisters about the Llama story and a few of the funny one-shots, but never that I write dramatic things. LOL I think they'd think I was freaking insane if they knew I made up stories about my favorite band coming down with horrible dieases and going through traumatic experiences and stuff.
-
I have a question... Has anyone ever written a story - or thought about writing a story - where one of the Boys is actually the "bad guy"?
-
I wrote a one-shot about Howie being an undercover assasin. He gets this assignment to kill Nick but end up killing Kevin in the process as well LOL.
I also had planned out this really dark story where Nick snaps from all the Lauren hate and goes around murdering fans. The guys would obviously know about all the BSB fans dying so it would have been about Nick being so messed up in the head that either he's not realizing he's doing this or the guys start to catch onto him as they try to solve the mystery. I dunno I didn't have it all ironed out and I never got around to actually writing it.
-
I have a question... Has anyone ever written a story - or thought about writing a story - where one of the Boys is actually the "bad guy"?
Howie is the main villain in 00Carter, but that's more of a spoof kind of story. There's also the round robin Revenge of the Slaughtered, in which Nick goes around murdering fans - but again, not a serious story. I don't think I've ever written a serious story where a Backstreet Boy is a villain. It's difficult to turn them into true villains without taking them way out of character. Not saying it can't be done, though!
-
When I asked the question, I was thinking about writing a story that I've written an outline for a couple different ways and one of the ways actually makes Nick out to be the bad guy. LOL That's why I was asking. ;)
-
I have a question... Has anyone ever written a story - or thought about writing a story - where one of the Boys is actually the "bad guy"?
YAY! And this can serve as our question of the day today! :)
The only time i've ever written a boy as a 'bad' guy was Howie in the 5 BSB's story and that was just to have a little fun with him being annoyed he never really had the leads. I don't think I would do this mainly because of the dicsussion we had before about out of character things. I have seen summaries where one of the boys is a rapist or murderer or something and I just am not interested to see them in those roles. Not to say there's anything wrong with someone's creativity taking them in that way, just doesn't interest me to want to read or write about it, unless they were framed or something.
-
lol Not quite THAT bad. I just mean we have a lot of 3-way Love Triangles on AC with original characters playing the exboyfriend that's jealous of a BSB (I'm thinking of Hunter-Olivia-Nick in the Coaster Series actually as I say this), but what about ones where the Backstreet Boy was actually the one people were rooting AGAINST? It's not really a "bad guy" role, but you know. Not the romantic hero role that everyone is used to seeing them in.
-
Oh, I definitely would never read or write one of those. I think I'd probably read one of the guys as a murderer before I read a love triangle story lol but I'm Wednesday Addams so...
-
You'd definitely have an easier time making a BSB a villain in a love triangle type story, although personally, I think the best love triangles are the ones where there isn't a clear "bad guy," but where alll the points on the triangle are sympathetic characters. Like in The Notebook... sure, I think everyone rooted for Allie to go back to Noah, but I didn't hate James Marsden's character; he seemed like a good guy. And in Pearl Harbor, who didn't like Josh Hartnett's character? Choosing between Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck back in 2001 would have been a hard choice! LOL
-
You'd definitely have an easier time making a BSB a villain in a love triangle type story, although personally, I think the best love triangles are the ones where there isn't a clear "bad guy," but where alll the points on the triangle are sympathetic characters. Like in The Notebook... sure, I think everyone rooted for Allie to go back to Noah, but I didn't hate James Marsden's character; he seemed like a good guy. And in Pearl Harbor, who didn't like Josh Hartnett's character? Choosing between Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck back in 2001 would have been a hard choice! LOL
Yes, that would've been a hard choice!
-
I had Nick as a serial killer in a one shot, but it seems to have vanished off AC, weird!
In the story me and Lore are writing, we have one of the boys as the bad guy.
-
I just found serial killer Nick story, lol. It was part of Revenge of the Slaughtered :)
-
In Weird World I guess you'd call Kevin a villain...plus for a one shot I had Brian murdering AJ with a weedwhacker. I've written a couple of one shots for Revenge of The Slaughtered as well. I like to think of Nick as evil, I think its strangely sexy.
-
^ I know what you mean; it IS strangely sexy! We are so weird LOL. I think it's the banner... those blood spatters just make him even hotter.
-
But did we find muffin man Nick sexy? LOL
-
That muffin man song still gives me the creeps and I have not touched blueberry muffins since LOL
-
I had a muffin with jam in it last week, and I thought of the story as the jam oozed out, lol.
-
I have written a few of them as bad guys. It's kind of fun to make one of them evil for the pure fun of a fiction. :)
-
I have a question... Has anyone ever written a story - or thought about writing a story - where one of the Boys is actually the "bad guy"?
Totally. I have a story called Stockholm Syndrome where Brian is the ringleader of a group of criminals lol Back in the day, one of my first AU stories, I wrote a story about bank robbers and again Brian was the leader. He always ends up as a bad guy! Lol
-
I have AJ as a hitnan in Sinistee Devotion. I made Kevin a bad guy in Because of You and I have AJ and Nick as really bad henchmen in The Body Shop.
-
I had a muffin with jam in it last week, and I thought of the story as the jam oozed out, lol.
LOL! Awesome.
-
I guess when you write an AU about them, it's easier to make them a believable bad guy then if you just leave them as part of the group?
I don't think it would bother me as much to read them as not them then it would to read them as the BSB and be bad asses lol
-
Yeah, I do think it's easier to make it believable in AU because you can give them a different back story or put them in more extreme circumstances.
-
I always seem to make Kevin a asshole in my stories. Like in Forces Of Nature he's a really arrogant, jerky weatherman. I love making him mean.
-
I guess when you write an AU about them, it's easier to make them a believable bad guy then if you just leave them as part of the group?
I don't think it would bother me as much to read them as not them then it would to read them as the BSB and be bad asses lol
I do recall reading a story once though where all kinds of shit was happening on tour and the "bad guy" was Howie. Had it been AJ or Kevin I might have believed it as canon but Howie? I bet he doesn't kill spiders lol
-
I believe it. Remember, he's Stealth D lol
-
Aww poor Howie! I can see him killing a spider. I can see AJ dressing as a transvestite and killing hookers or something. And then taking a MySpace type picture of himself afterwards & posting it on Instagram lol
-
Howie seems harmless, I couldn't imagine him hurting anything lol not even a bug.
-
I've written the Boys as a bad guy, I've had AJ kill Nick, Howie kill Nick, Howie just go psycho on all four, Brian as a deranged murderer, all in one shots lol. And Revenge of the Slaughtered was kinda my idea LOL.
But for an actual story, I do have one I outlined for AJ, but I never got to writing it.
-
I've written the Boys as a bad guy, I've had AJ kill Nick, Howie kill Nick, Howie just go psycho on all four, Brian as a deranged murderer, all in one shots lol. And Revenge of the Slaughtered was kinda my idea LOL.
But for an actual story, I do have one I outlined for AJ, but I never got to writing it.
LOL! Poor Howie!
-
I can see AJ dressing as a transvestite and killing hookers or something. And then taking a MySpace type picture of himself afterwards & posting it on Instagram lol
Best. Comment. Ever.
:notworthy:
-
LOL Thanks, I try!
-
LOL Thanks, I try!
LOL The only thing missing was a reference to a "MURDER BOOOOOOOOMB!" video on socialcam.
-
True lol
-
I wrote Nick has a psychopath once that ended up killing the girl he was "in love" with and was having his baby.
Oops LOL
-
Sadly I want to read more Evil Nick stories. he's so hot when he's angry and violent lmao
-
Aww poor Howie! I can see him killing a spider. I can see AJ dressing as a transvestite and killing hookers or something. And then taking a MySpace type picture of himself afterwards & posting it on Instagram lol
I can imagine that too! Would love to read a story about that, lol.
-
Aww poor Howie! I can see him killing a spider. I can see AJ dressing as a transvestite and killing hookers or something. And then taking a MySpace type picture of himself afterwards & posting it on Instagram lol
LMFAO!
-
Aww poor Howie! I can see him killing a spider. I can see AJ dressing as a transvestite and killing hookers or something. And then taking a MySpace type picture of himself afterwards & posting it on Instagram lol
LMFAO that would be an epic story.
-
Here is a question: how much research do you do when it comes to writing a story? Does accuracy mattert when it comes to real places and events?
-
Depends on the story. I tended to do less research for my Nick romances, just because the stories were about him and a made up character anyway, so there wasn't much point. For Running Up That Hill I have done a TON of research, because I don't want to leave out anything that happened during the break or get something wrong. (Even though I have already gotten stuff wrong but whatever)
To me accuracy really does matter in terms of real places and events. I wrote about Sea World, and I was on their website looking up times, when they opened, what shows were playing that day so I could get it right. Same thing with appearances the boys do, if I'm writing about it I'll always watch it first. And sometimes doing that helps, because I pick up on little gestures and things that they do that can add to the story. When I was writing 'Total Request Live' I did that, and there was this one point at the beginning where Nick looks right into Kevin's video camera and says something. So I definitely added that bit into the story. I think it makes things seem more real and plausible.
I've never written a story that takes me completely out of my comfort zone (such as your College story, Tracy) where I would have to do a ton of research about the setting and that sort of thing before even beginning to write, but I imagine if I did, I would do a ton of research for that as well.
-
Borrowed Time is the first time I've done some really heavy, detailed research. Usually, I'm really vague with dates and settings. I've messed up before too and described something and been called on inaccuracies. But BT is the first time I've actually gone back to rewrite and fix things if I'm called out on it... Typically, I'll do little bits of research, but nothing major. Like what Steph was describing with the Sea World thing. I'll do things like look up jokes for someone to tell or if I need a good hook, I'll look up like a story or a science fact or something for the characters to talk about. I usually have a vague idea in mind of what I need for them to be chatting about and just find what I need. For example, in the next chapter of Borrowed Time, I actually looked up Norse symbols for love. I knew what I needed, and I just went hunting for it. Things like that. Detailed research that includes keeping track of BSB schedules and videos and real people and events and things like that is all new to me.
-
When I research, it's mainly about the topics I'm writing about more so than the boys themselves. That really is one of my biggest flaws when it comes to writing, my lack of wanting to research. I hardly if ever watch old appearances or look up facts like Steph does. I'm sure my lack of doing that probably bothers people when they read and are like "she got that all wrong!" but that's why I also try to stay away from being really specific on things when it comes to touring etc...
I did research PTSD for It Stays & Wormholes etc... For Whatever the Night. lol
-
Here is a question: how much research do you do when it comes to writing a story? Does accuracy mattert when it comes to real places and events?
I do a LOT of research. For Undead, for example, I pretty much know the layout of the MacDill base by heart now LOL. I Google Earth places, to see what they look like. In "Walked Out Of My Dreams" I wanted to be completely accurate and put Brian in a place where literally NO ONE would realize who he was, so I went and found the most isolated place on earth (which took a lot of searching lol). Then I google earth'd it, looked up all this info, so I could describe it like I've actually been there. With Remember Me This Way, I still have countless pages, case studies, videos on things like MRIs, CAT scans, so that I wrote as if I was experiencing it myself.
Even with something like Divine Intervention, I have articles bookmarked from around the time the story takes place in. I have a timeline I found with things that were going on then, the tour dates saved for when I write into the Unbreakable tour. In one of my older stories, I wrote Nick at The Grove, a place I've never been. In a review I got asked if I've been there cause I wrote it that accurately.
I'm pretty anal about research LOL.
My whole thing is that it's so easy to research now, there's no excuse not to if I plan on using real places, real events, etc. I feel like I should know exactly what you're writing about.
But I know I am one of the queens of research lol. (Julie being the other haha)
-
Hey! Laziness is a good excuse for no research! :p lol
-
LOL I actually deleted where I said it's being lazy cause I was trying to be nice :P.
-
I do a ton of research and fact-checking! I usually can't write more than few sentences without googling something, which is partly why I write so slowly and get so easily distracted these days LOL. It's become like a compulsion!
Most of my research is on medical stuff, locations, or stuff with the Boys, like Steph and Hannah were saying. I think the most research I've ever done for a story was for Curtain Call, because I was writing about a real medical condition and a real person and a real time in history, the TIU tour. So besides all the medical stuff I wanted to write accurately, I spent a lot of time looking up stuff on cities and venues and hospitals and reading Nick's old tweets and concert reviews and watching soundcheck videos, etc. etc. etc. I was super anal about it, but it made the story believable, and that was important to me.
I know not everyone cares about accuracy, but I do think it's important. It takes away from the story when something is unbelievable or just blatantly wrong. In our age of technology, it is SO EASY (and free) to look things up on the internet that there's really no excuse not to.
-
I tend to not research the romance stories, Fighting Fate and Of Love and TIme really did not have any research involved. I researched some for my older story More Than That but I didn't really do a lot of researching until Chronos Project. I researched the time periods, I researched the area of LA that Julie lived in and enjoyed it. I have done some research for Severed Identities but it hasn't required a lot.
-
I do some research, but not overdoing it. I try not to write about places I don't know because I want it to feel real.... so that's why a lot of my stories are based in the south like Nashville or Charlotte or Atlanta or Tampa.
As for real life events.... I try to include a lot of those, but I don't overdo it like I know some people have done that I've read. I mean, after all, it's FICTION.
-
I find writing only in places I've actually been to be rather limiting. I like expanding, challenging myself. Even though it takes a lot of research, the fun is in seeing if I can write it as if I've convincingly been there myself. For me, it's making sure I never stay in a box, writing wise, testing how far I can go creatively.
And yeah, it's just fiction, but fiction should be believable though. Intermingling real events or doing a bunch of research can help make your story come off as something real.
-
What would constitute as overdoing it? A lot of my favourite stories are the ones that are so strongly based on real-life events (particularly centred around the boys relationships) it's conceivable that they could have happened, so I'm curious as to what the line is for you.
-
What would constitute as overdoing it? A lot of my favourite stories are the ones that are so strongly based on real-life events (particularly centred around the boys relationships) it's conceivable that they could have happened, so I'm curious as to what the line is for you.
I have to agree. Look at how Julie mixed in her plot with real events in Curtain Call. Like when she had a chapter about the TIU show here in Vegas, which was at the stage at Mandalay Bay, which is in their "beach". If I didn't know better, I would think she had been there, and she wrote based off of what she asked me about it and videos she looked up.
-
For my romance stories, I don't really research much because it's just girl meets boy and blah, blah, blah. I make it up as I go along. But I do uses places which aren't familiar as I can hardly set them in south Wales :)
For Save A Prayer, I did a bit of research and got the ideas from the TV, for example Bear Grylls.
With Maybe Tomorrow I'm actually having to research events, places and just generally that time period. It's probably not very accurate in some places, but my excuse for that is that I'm lazy, lol. When I do start researching, I end up getting carried away and spending a whole evening looking stuff up and then I've lost the will to write.
-
For my romance stories, I don't really research much because it's just girl meets boy and blah, blah, blah. I make it up as I go along. But I do uses places which aren't familiar as I can hardly set them in south Wales :)
For Save A Prayer, I did a bit of research and got the ideas from the TV, for example Bear Grylls.
With Maybe Tomorrow I'm actually having to research events, places and just generally that time period. It's probably not very accurate in some places, but my excuse for that is that I'm lazy, lol. When I do start researching, I end up getting carried away and spending a whole evening looking stuff up and then I've lost the will to write.
I know EXACTLY how that can be LMAO. It's great but it's also a huge distraction too.
-
Curtain Call, yes, that was good example of telling a totally fictional story with real life thrown in to make it conceivable.
But what I'm talking about is the stories that are set around fictionalizing a real life event. I love those types of stories because they're almost like watching a behind the scenes documentary. I feel like I'm learning more about the guys themselves and their personalities through reading those. Like you get an inside look at what one fan's interpretation is of what might have gone on in the boy's real lives. Those stories have always been so interesting to me because all of us perceive the boys a little differently, and yet they're still the same guys we know and love, so it's fun to read about what we think may have happened when the camera was shut off.
-
When I do start researching, I end up getting carried away and spending a whole evening looking stuff up and then I've lost the will to write.
LOL That happens to me too! I have a lot more focus with researching than writing, weirdly enough. Usually I enjoy it, though; it's kind of like a fun challenge.
If I followed the old "write what you know" rule, my fanfics would be so boring! Why stick to what you know when you can look up what you don't and still write it convincingly? Sure, it's just fiction, but since we're writing about real people, I like to use as many details from their real lives and the real world as possible to make my stories realistic.
That's not to say I never use details I am familiar with, but I tend to use those for my original characters if they fit. I'll make them from the midwest if it works just because that's the area of the country I know best, so it's one less location I have to spend time researching, and I've written a couple of characters who are teachers because that's a career I know well.
But in general, I usually have to stretch myself way outside my realm of firsthand experience to write the kind of stories I want to tell, and I'm not afraid to do that. It's fun!
-
but my excuse for that is that I'm lazy, lol.
I don't think it's necessary lazy if your facts are different. Writer's are known to take leeway with facts in order to produce a more exciting story.
I think, maybe, what Karah means with the overdoing it is when writer's stick so close to the actual facts that it's more like reading a biography than a fiction story. That is typically not the case when an author knows how to wind the facts into the plot of the story. Julie knows what to use and how to use it to make the story believable and interesting.
-
Curtain Call, yes, that was good example of telling a totally fictional story with real life thrown in to make it conceivable.
But what I'm talking about is the stories that are set around fictionalizing a real life event. I love those types of stories because they're almost like watching a behind the scenes documentary. I feel like I'm learning more about the guys themselves and their personalities through reading those. Like you get an inside look at what one fan's interpretation is of what might have gone on in the boy's real lives. Those stories have always been so interesting to me because all of us perceive the boys a little differently, and yet they're still the same guys we know and love, so it's fun to read about what we think may have happened when the camera was shut off.
Thanks Steph, and thank you Rose, too, for the CC mentions!
I also love the stories that are based on real events if they're done well, and that is where research is really SO important. You're doing an amazing job with Running Up That Hill, and so is Hannah with Borrowed Time. We've talked about the story Come Together on here a lot lately, and there's another example where it's clear the authors did a lot of research and filled in the gaps with the fictional stuff that make it a cute fanfic and not just a biography of the band. I really appreciate that attention to detail when I read.
-
Curtain Call, yes, that was good example of telling a totally fictional story with real life thrown in to make it conceivable.
But what I'm talking about is the stories that are set around fictionalizing a real life event. I love those types of stories because they're almost like watching a behind the scenes documentary. I feel like I'm learning more about the guys themselves and their personalities through reading those. Like you get an inside look at what one fan's interpretation is of what might have gone on in the boy's real lives. Those stories have always been so interesting to me because all of us perceive the boys a little differently, and yet they're still the same guys we know and love, so it's fun to read about what we think may have happened when the camera was shut off.
I love those too! I mean you know I love Running Up That Hill, even though I need to catch up again. Probably after the reading challenge LOL. Your story is great example of that. Mare is another one who pulls that off SO freaking well and you just feel like you're a fly on the wall watching as these events happened. I'm trying it myself right now, and I find it just really fun to do, almost like a character study.
-
I don't think it's necessary lazy if your facts are different. Writer's are known to take leeway with facts in order to produce a more exciting story.
I think, maybe, what Karah means with the overdoing it is when writer's stick so close to the actual facts that it's more like reading a biography than a fiction story. That is typically not the case when an author knows how to wind the facts into the plot of the story. Julie knows what to use and how to use it to make the story believable and interesting.
I think that's why Saka-Steph asked Karah to clarify. Cause honestly, I've never seen a fanfic that read more like a biography on here cause it was that overdone LOL.
-
I think that's why Saka-Steph asked Karah to clarify. Cause honestly, I've never seen a fanfic that read more like a biography on here cause it was that overdone LOL.
I haven't seen one like that in a LONG time. Sometimes I tend to obscure facts because I feel that I do not have the ease that some of you have when integrating the BSB facts with the fiction. LOL
-
Thanks Julie, glad you think so :)
I definitely think it's true what you said about those stories filling in the gaps. They're almost the bridge between fan fic and real life and to me that's what makes them so appealing. The boys themselves are the reason I like BSB fanfic in the first place, so I think it makes sense that stories that are very much set around them and things that actually happened to them would be appealing.
Plus, there's already so much real life drama that happened to those boys, that it's hard to not utilize it! LOL.
Oh, thanks Rose as well for the mention of my story LOL you guys reply on here so fast I had to come back and edit!
-
Thanks Julie, glad you think so :)
I definitely think it's true what you said about those stories filling in the gaps. They're almost the bridge between fan fic and real life and to me that's what makes them so appealing. The boys themselves are the reason I like BSB fanfic in the first place, so I think it makes sense that stories that are very much set around them and things that actually happened to them would be appealing.
Plus, there's already so much real life drama that happened to those boys, that it's hard to not utilize it! LOL.
You worded that perfectly, it's neat trying to use fiction as a behind the scenes sort of deal. As for what I bolded, truest statement in the thread lmao.
-
I haven't seen one like that in a LONG time. Sometimes I tend to obscure facts because I feel that I do not have the ease that some of you have when integrating the real stuff with the fiction. LOL
Yeah Rose is right, that's why I asked for clarification because I haven't read any that read like a biography - they're always entertaining for the reasons I already mentioned :)
-
Yeah, that's why I will always prefer "canon" BSB stories to AU. AU allows you to make up more, although I still do plenty of research in my AUs too, just not as much about the Boys and the group obviously. There's still plenty of creative license to be taken in canon stories, too; I just don't think there's such a thing as "overdoing it" when it comes to researching and including real details. Like Lore and I said, you don't want to make it sound like a biography or an encyclopedia, but I don't think I've ever read a story that did sound that way.
-
Yeah, that's why I will always prefer "canon" BSB stories to AU. AU allows you to make up more, although I still do plenty of research in my AUs too, just not as much about the Boys and the group obviously. There's still plenty of creative license to be taken in canon stories, too; I just don't think there's such a thing as "overdoing it" when it comes to researching and including real details. Like Lore and I said, you don't want to make it sound like a biography or an encyclopedia, but I don't think I've ever read a story that did sound that way.
Yup and sometimes the more research, the more it feels like you're getting an inside look into their lives. Which, for me, makes it more entertaining. It's how I originally got into fanfiction to begin with, I'd read stories like that and feel like I "knew" the Boys more. If that makes sense.
-
I've did more research for my AU then any of my "canon". *shrugs*
-
LOL Sometimes I have a hard time separating what I read in fanfic from what is real! Like, Kevin calling Nick "Little Man." I've read that so many times, especially in Mare's fanfics, and I know I've used it in my own too, but has he ever really called him that? I honestly don't know if that's an old pet name for real or just a cute fanfic thing LOL.
-
I've done plenty of research for the AU I'm writing now, too, and Rose and I did a lot for Undead as well. It was just a different kind of research - not BSB research as much as research on locations and other details to make the story believable.
-
LOL Sometimes I have a hard time separating what I read in fanfic from what is real! Like, Kevin calling Nick "Little Man." I've read that so many times, especially in Mare's fanfics, and I know I've used it in my own too, but has he ever really called him that? I honestly don't know if that's an old pet name for real or just a cute fanfic thing LOL.
....you know, I have no idea LMFAO. I use it too and I can not for the life of me remember where that originated. Holy crap that's kinda funny LOL. I know I picked that up from Mare's fics and it sounds so natural that I use it in mine over the years. But that's a good question, has Kevin actually called Nick that? LOL.
I've done plenty of research for the AU I'm writing now, too, and Rose and I did a lot for Undead as well. It was just a different kind of research - not BSB research as much as research on locations and other details to make the story believable.
Yup, it's why if we ever went to MacDill Air Force Base, we'd know our way around naturally LOL.
-
LOL Sometimes I have a hard time separating what I read in fanfic from what is real! Like, Kevin calling Nick "Little Man." I've read that so many times, especially in Mare's fanfics, and I know I've used it in my own too, but has he ever really called him that? I honestly don't know if that's an old pet name for real or just a cute fanfic thing LOL.
I'm so glad I'm not the only person this happens to LOL. I think he actually did used to call him that... but maybe now I'm thinking he didn't? I don't know! And going back to Come Together, I've just accepted that story into my Backstreet canon life since I know so little about that 1993/1994 time period lol
-
I know I used it once toward the end of Curtain Call; I thought of it as I was out on a walk, and it literally brought tears to my eyes, so I was like, "Oh, I have to put that in, even if it's cheesy!" But as far as I know, Mare is the queen of the Little Man thing, and I only came up with that from reading her stuff LOL. When she comes back, she can tell us if she got that from anything or just made it up.
-
Am I the only one who's gonna go crazy trying to remember if the "Little Man" thing was real or a fanfic thing now? LOL
-
I'm so glad I'm not the only person this happens to LOL. I think he actually did used to call him that... but maybe now I'm thinking he didn't? I don't know! And going back to Come Together, I've just accepted that story into my Backstreet canon life since I know so little about that 1993/1994 time period lol
There is a lot of truth in Come Together. A lot of it came from this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Backstreet-Boys-Official-Biography/dp/0752224069 which I hadn't read when I first read Come Together, but bought later on and was like, "Ohhh, so that's where all that info came from!" It has a lot of great stuff about each other their childhoods and how the group came together. Just goes to show the power of research! It was believable even when I didn't know what was fact and what was fiction, but finding out that a lot of it was based in fact made me appreciate it even more.
-
I'm sure there are other things besides the Little Man thing too... I'm trying to think of some others...
-
You know if I was going to write about the early days, I'd use that and the book AJ's mom wrote back in the day since it covers a lot of their formation info. Yeah, I've thought about doing an early days fic recently LOL.
-
There is a lot of truth in Come Together. A lot of it came from this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Backstreet-Boys-Official-Biography/dp/0752224069 which I hadn't read when I first read Come Together, but bought later on and was like, "Ohhh, so that's where all that info came from!" It has a lot of great stuff about each other their childhoods and how the group came together. Just goes to show the power of research! It was believable even when I didn't know what was fact and what was fiction, but finding out that a lot of it was based in fact made me appreciate it even more.
I actually own that book but I don't think I've ever read it lol. I got it as a gift a really long time ago and my teeny self was just like "A book? No hot pictures of Nick? No thank you I'll stick with Tiger Beat." But maybe I should dig it out of my BSB box and give it a read! That's cool how well researched that story was!
-
I don't even own that book but now I kind of want it, knowing that's how Come Together was researched LOL.
-
I actually own that book but I don't think I've ever read it lol. I got it as a gift a really long time ago and my teeny self was just like "A book? No hot pictures of Nick? No thank you I'll stick with Tiger Beat." But maybe I should dig it out of my BSB box and give it a read! That's cool how well researched that story was!
It's funny you say that because I discovered just the other day that I had never read the Kevin chapter before LOL. There's like a chapter about each of their childhoods, along with chapters about Lou and the formation of the group and the early days, and I've read most of the book, but apparently I skipped the Kevin chapter, because I was looking through it the other day when I was trying to decide what role to give him in my AU and was like, "I seriously don't think I've ever read this before..." I learned so much more about the camp that his dad ran when he was a kid and all of that.
-
I might have to get that book, quite curious to read it.
-
I'm gonna be honest, for a lot of my stories I never bothered to do research, prime example is Figured You Out. I used what I knew and went with it, it turned out pretty well. For one of my 1000 Ways snippets I did a little research to find the death by latex allergy idea. (it is hard coming up with a unique death)
This college story is probably the first time I'm doing research extensively, because for one - I didn't go to college, nor did I live in a dorm...and two - I don't know a thing about fraternities. I've been doing a lot of searching on wikipedia and googling...ask ing around and taking notes. I hope it pays off, because I wanted to be accurate. Usually I don't put much thought into the story and just write about locations I know. Like I did with Weird World, I kind of made things up about California but not about New Jersey. With the college story I am going way out of my comfort zone in a few levels as you will see when I post it.
-
lol as much as I would love to take credit for the little man thing, it's all Kevin. He called Nick little man on some interview I saw a long time ago & I took it & rolled with it.
I never researched anything for Why I'd Do it all Again but like I said, I never really focused on specifics like venues, cities or what they were singing in concert on any given day. All I cared about was their interactions. Without the research I would still like to think it came off believeable. I'm far too lazy to look up all that stuff. That's why I'm not in grad school as of yet lol I do look up things when I need to though, I just don't often feel that need lol
-
I'm gonna be honest, for a lot of my stories I never bothered to do research, prime example is Figured You Out. I used what I knew and went with it, it turned out pretty well. For one of my 1000 Ways snippets I did a little research to find the death by latex allergy idea. (it is hard coming up with a unique death)
This college story is probably the first time I'm doing research extensively, because for one - I didn't go to college, nor did I live in a dorm...and two - I don't know a thing about fraternities. I've been doing a lot of searching on wikipedia and googling...ask ing around and taking notes. I hope it pays off, because I wanted to be accurate. Usually I don't put much thought into the story and just write about locations I know. Like I did with Weird World, I kind of made things up about California but not about New Jersey. With the college story I am going way out of my comfort zone in a few levels as you will see when I post it.
That's how the research thing really started for me, being forced to do it in order to write something I had no clue how to write otherwise. For me it was Broken that taught me how to research. I really only researched the medical stuff in that story and made up the rest, but in the sequel, I started looking up more, and by the end of BMS, I was pretty hardcore about researching. Like I said, it's become like a compulsion for me LOL.
-
lol as much as I would love to take credit for the little man thing, it's all Kevin. He called Nick little man on some interview I saw a long time ago & I took it & rolled with it.
Well that's good to know it came from real life! I really always thought it was a fanfic thing LOL.
-
Let me be very clear.... I never said that adding real-life events to stories is wrong or wasn't right or anything of the sort. I just made a point to say that some authors use WAY too many real life events as if they are trying to write an autobiography. It's called fan fiction for a reason, why not add some fiction to it? The boys haven't hired anybody to write their story professionally .
For instance, I'm reading Hannah's "Borrowed Time." it's about real events but she adds enough FICTION into it that makes it enjoyable. In fact, I love it and can't wait til I get time to read more.
As for locations, unless I've been there personally, whether it's my comfort zone or not, I don't want to write about it. Granted, I write about Los Angeles a lot, but that's because you see it all the time on television, etc. Does that make me a bad writer? No it does not.
-
I don't think anyone was calling you a bad writer. Mare admitted she doesn't research but her stories are well written and the guys have a good bond which is what she focuses on. I think people can write well if they research a lot, some people like to research, but I also think that people who have very little of their real life or don't have any of their actual life write well. I love Kevmylove's stories and her stories are all AU, I really don't know how much she researches. I don't dissect her stories to find out, just like I don't dissect RMTW by Rose that I am reading to find out what is real. They are all still fiction so I don't take anything for fact whether I know it was researched or not, it is still fiction. I don't read fiction to learn anything new, I read to be entertained. If a story brings an interesting fact to light then I will research to see if it is true or not.
-
I don't think anyone was calling you a bad writer. Mare admitted she doesn't research but her stories are well written and the guys have a good bond which is what she focuses on. I think people can write well if they research a lot, some people like to research, but I also think that people who have very little of their real life or don't have any of their actual life write well. I love Kevmylove's stories and her stories are all AU, I really don't know how much she researches. I don't dissect her stories to find out, just like I don't dissect RMTW by Rose that I am reading to find out what is real. They are all still fiction so I don't take anything for fact whether I know it was researched or not, it is still fiction. I don't read fiction to learn anything new, I read to be entertained. If a story brings an interesting fact to light then I will research to see if it is true or not.
Those are all great points! Yeah, I don't think anyone was insinuating that people who don't research or "overdo" their research are bad writers. We were just having a discussion about it. Seeing as how we all have different backgrounds and personal experiences and all write different types of stories, different levels of research are going to be required to make our stories seem believable.
The last part of your post brings up some other interesting questions:
When you read, do you ever fact-check other people's info, or do you just go with it?
If a glaring inaccuracy stands out to you, do you say anything to the author or let it go?
And as a writer, have you ever been called out by a reader for writing something that was inaccurate? If you have, how did you handle it?
-
I don't know that much about BSB history other than the stuff that is well known, so if there are inconsistencie s in a story I usually won't notice them. I wouldn't tell the author either unless it came up in a private discussion. I am observant but not that observant LOL.
-
Yeah, I just think it depends on the kind of reader you are. I'm line you, Lore. When I read I'm just doing it for the joy of reading. I'm not a stickler for facts but I can see how it might bother some. I also think it depends on your level of fandom too. Inaccuracies font really bother me too much because for the most part, I don't realize they are inaccuracies lol big things like spelling Brian's last ne wrong or using Nicholas instead of Nickolas does tend to bug me, but it usually takes something like that.
Lol since I can't even tell you what songs are on what albums, I have no room to complain about that stuff.
Whether its all fact, some fact or entirely fiction, as long as it's well written people will read & enjoy.
-
Fat fingers McGee strikes again with all the typos above, but since AC is being so glitchy afraid if I go in & try to change things I will lose the post! lol
-
Well said mare. I read for the pure joy of reading. If there are mistakes it doesn't bother me unless they are grammar or punctuation errors, but factual mistakes I tend to overlook especially if it is a good story I'm reading.
-
Despite my analness with my own stories, I'm not a fact-checker in other people's stories either. I'm like you, Lore, where if I read something that intrigues me and makes me wonder if it's true or not, I'll look it up, but that's just to learn, not to check on the writer. I usually just go with the flow unless there are so many glaring errors that I can't maintain my suspension of belief. But in that case, I probably would have stopped reading already. Good writers are usually creative enough to make something seem believable even if there's no truth or reality to it at all.
As far as calling somebody out, I would never do that unless the author specifically asked. In that case, I'd be willing to help, but I don't like to be the one who's always pointing out mistakes in reviews. Contrary to what some may think, I don't want to be seen as a know-it-all LOL.
I have been called out by readers before. Sometimes it's helpful, and sometimes it's kind of annoying. When I was writing Broken, there was this girl who was a med student in another country who would constantly challenge me on stuff, and it drove me nuts because I knew I was doing the absolute best I could to get things right. Apparently I should have been running everything by her before I wrote it! I know she was just trying to help, and she was usually right, so what I learned from that is to fact-check before I write, while I write, and after I write and not be afraid to ask people with experience for help, instead of trying to look up everything on my own. At the end of the day, it's just fiction, so it doesn't matter if it's all 100% accurate or not, but if I can tell the story I want to tell and be 99% accurate at the same time, I'd like to be! That's just me being anal though.
-
^ what I would have learned from that is it might be fun to slap med students lol
-
To answer Julie's questions, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't point out mistakes research wise unless it was a big one like I mentioned before like *pssst there is no Roy in the Backstreet Boys* or if it's something in my profession I know I could help out with, but again that's only if the story is still in progress & the author has asked for help.
I have never really been called out for things, that I remember anyway. But if I was, not sure it would bother me and depending on how big the mistake, I'd probably let it go or fix it.
-
I very rarely describe scenes specifically enough to make people notice inaccuracies in places. I tend to focus more on describing body language and character location, but leave the actual settings up to the person reading to imagine. For example in the chapter of Borrowed Time when the fellas went to a pub in Ireland, I didn't describe the pub itself, I just went with the smells that a pub would smell like and the lighting. Like the pub itself could be any number of pubs, I was so nondescript with it, yet I got comments on how freaking realistic the pub sounded. But really all I described was the guys IN the pub, their body language, tones, etc.
The only time I've ever been called on something was when I was working on Time Watcher and I had the guys perform at Brian's old High School and I made it sound really hokey and back country. I mean that's how Brian's always made it sound! So I based it off the high school here because it's kinda hokey and back country here. I got a comment from a girl in Lexington tho that was like pissed off because I'd assumed Kentucky was all rednecks. I was like ohmy because I did'nt know... LOL Having been to Lexington, KY now I'm like whoooaaa does Brian describe home differently than it really is.. LOL Cos um sorry Brian but Lexington does NOT equal a "small town" by ANY MEANS. Lmao
I didn't fix it in Time Watcher, but every time someone points anything out to me for Borrowed Time, I'm going back in to fix it.
-
LOL Just to clarify, I don't know if the person was actually "pissed off" or not, I kinda read the comment that way. I don't remember who posted it. Sooo if it was one of you guys, SORRY. LOL.... I can't seem to edit that post to clarify the remark, LOL. Oh well.
-
I think I have pointed out an error or two in a couple of stories but they were friend's stories and I don't intend them to go back to fix them, more an FYI type comment. I haven't done it in ages though because why should I point out errors in people's stories if I likely make them myself.
I would only point out very obvious errors now like Mare's example, "there's no Roy in The Backstreet Boys" other than that I want to read to escape and be taken somewhere else, to experience something else not to double check if everything is right. When I do look stuff up, like Julie, it's out of my own curiousity, not to correct them.
I have never had anyone point out an obvious mistake but I DID have someone point out that one of my storylines had a Misery component to it well actually called my story just like it... I was like NOOO I borrowed some aspects but it is not JUST like it. LOL.
-
Wait. There's no Roy in the Backstreet Boys? But I thought Roy was the cute blonde one?! ???
-
I love Roy. lol
-
I just saw a quote on Quotes for Writers that seemed applicible to this... LOL
"A good writer will research to find the answer, but a great writer knows how to bullshit their way out of having the question asked."
LMAO I found that hilarious. I don't know how much stock we should put in it as writers but I thought it was funny anyways.
I think all my school essays were pretty solidly rooted in that quote's philosophy.
-
I don't mind how accurate the facts are in a story, as long as I'm enjoying the story and it's presented well, I'm happy :)
-
I just saw a quote on Quotes for Writers that seemed applicible to this... LOL
"A good writer will research to find the answer, but a great writer knows how to bullshit their way out of having the question asked."
LMAO I found that hilarious. I don't know how much stock we should put in it as writers but I thought it was funny anyways.
I think all my school essays were pretty solidly rooted in that quote's philosophy.
Yes! I love that. :-D
-
Research?!? EW! That's one of the reasons that I write AU, because I can not spend time researching the guys and their lives...no way! Funny though because I did do research on guns, ways to die, hitmen for Sinister Devotion. I also did research on weddings and what goes on when planning one for Just One Kiss and lastly...I definintely did UFC, MMA fighting, times, weights, events, fighters research for Fight Me. Ok wow...I guess I do research.
I don't really pay attention to inaccuracies.. .I don't think I would even know if there is one. lol. I've been called out before, but usually becasue I'm writing AU and I'll say something backstreet boyish...like mention fans. LOL!!!
I have a question...Whi ch one of your own stories is your favorite? Why?
-
I know what story everyone thinks I am going to say. LOL.
Amnesia is still one of my all time favorites that I've written. I haven't read it in a while but I just loved what I did with it and it was a blast to write. Being one of the first fanfics I've ever written I am sure I have quite a bit wrong and leave a lot to be desired, but I still <3 it.
The rest of my stories all go through their time at the top of my favorite list as I'm writing or just after I wrote but Amnesia has stayed at the top.
Don't go read it and ruin my buzz by telling me it's horrible now. LOL.
-
I just saw a quote on Quotes for Writers that seemed applicible to this... LOL
"A good writer will research to find the answer, but a great writer knows how to bullshit their way out of having the question asked."
LMAO I found that hilarious. I don't know how much stock we should put in it as writers but I thought it was funny anyways.
I think all my school essays were pretty solidly rooted in that quote's philosophy.
LOL They don't call it a B.S. degree for nothing!
Pretty sure I put way more effort into my fanfics than I ever put into papers for school LOL.
-
^how silly is this, I am a math major but I got a B.A. in Math... WTF!! they didn't have a B.S. in Math for my particular math major. lol
Perhaps we should start a new thread for Question of the Day again, lol this one is loooooooooooon g
-
Favorite story I've written. That is a hard one....but I am gonna go with Not The Other Guy. I actually did research on the NYC subway system and NJ transit for one chapter where Nick and Amanda take the train to new york city, as a result now I know the subway very well. Its just a cute story....lots of fun moments and I loved writing it.
The other story I would choose is Jizzle Of Oz cause it was just fun to do the Wizard Of Oz in a new way.
-
Everyone knows my favorite is Something Beautiful and I think everyone knows it's because I wrote it dealing with stuff in my life. I mean Nick's character in that story was dealing with feelings I was dealing with concerning my mom, and Brian's character was meant to explore her side of it all when she was diagnosed with Leukemia and the things she said about dying. When she was sick, she kept saying she didn't want to be in the hospital, that she wanted to go home and not have to go through chemo anymore and just live because chemo was taking her life away. And we all insisted she'd get well and talked her into the chemo. After everything was over, I really wished that I'd listened and helped her spring free and gotten her to go on the road trip she wanted to go on. That's what Something Beautiful was really about. Even though it was about Nick and Brian it was about what I would've done differently if I'd known better and had just listened.
Wow that sounds really depressing. On an up note, my second favorite story is Fear of Flying because everyone needs a good Llama story in their life and Fear of Flying is the Llama Story. LOL Anyone who is like WTF over my Llama obsession should read it to learn about Llama... I'm just saying. ;)
-
I can't decide which of my stories is my favourite, it's a toss up between a Take That one called Patience (a romance with random girl who happens to be called Steph, lol) and Save A Prayer. I wrote Patience a few years ago, it was one of my first fanfics and so kind of holds a special place in my heart. Save A Prayer I like because I got to torture some people and strand the boys in the jungle for a while :)
-
I'll start a new thread for us :)
-
Now that I know where all of this Roy chat on twitter came from... LOL
When you read, do you ever fact-check other people's info, or do you just go with it?
I usually just go with it, I don't fact check unless it's something I know a lot about or I'm beta-ing. And I'm sure people hate my beta-ing for that.
If a glaring inaccuracy stands out to you, do you say anything to the author or let it go?
Same answer as above.
And as a writer, have you ever been called out by a reader for writing something that was inaccurate? If you have, how did you handle it?
YES.
I got a review on Running Up That Hill back when it first started saying that they didn't go to a LL game but it was a Boston Red Sox game. I didn't go back in and fix it though because there really was no point and it had already been posted. Plus it was such a minor detail that wasn't really relevant to the story that I didn't bother. The point wasn't which baseball game they missed - it was that it was missed because AJ was going to rehab. Or whatever happened in the first chapter of that story because I can't remember LOL.
Back when I was getting my Avatar fiction beta-ed hardcore, my friend would point out tons of things that were wrong from the show and I'd go fix them. Well, in one instance he was wrong, and I got a review letting me know how wrong I (but really he) was. Then I wondered if I would do better at writing Avatar fiction without his help... so I setup a whole fake account on FF.net and wouldn't you know it, fake me is better at Avatar fic than the real me. It's what began my career in fan fic experiments ha!
Oh and you know what's an inaccuracy that no one has ever pointed out to me, but annoys me to no end? The plot of In Pieces revolves around these girls following BSB around on the Black and Blue tour. All summer long. With no interruption. I feel like I'm writing Running Up That Hill to make up for that lol
I have a question...Whi ch one of your own stories is your favorite? Why? [/color]
Hmmm... Nothing Good Happens After 2 AM. I had a lot of fun writing that one and I think I did a good job with it. I'm pretty proud of it too because it got me a runner up felix award :)
-
I am the source of all the Roy talk huh? I feel so special! lol
-
As a whole, I guess Curtain Call would now be my favorite of my own stories because it's the best-written of all the finished ones. But I think my favorite collection of scenes would be the ones I've written for 00Carter because they are the most creative.
-
I don't think anyone was calling you a bad writer. Mare admitted she doesn't research but her stories are well written and the guys have a good bond which is what she focuses on. I think people can write well if they research a lot, some people like to research, but I also think that people who have very little of their real life or don't have any of their actual life write well. I love Kevmylove's stories and her stories are all AU, I really don't know how much she researches. I don't dissect her stories to find out, just like I don't dissect RMTW by Rose that I am reading to find out what is real. They are all still fiction so I don't take anything for fact whether I know it was researched or not, it is still fiction. I don't read fiction to learn anything new, I read to be entertained. If a story brings an interesting fact to light then I will research to see if it is true or not.
Well said Lore. No one said anyone was a bad writer so I'm not sure why anyone would think so. When I talk about research, I mean myself. Because I'm my own worst critic. Really good writers usually write well enough that's believable with or without research. The way Mare writes, for example, isn't centered around events. But, you're so enraptured with the fic you're not thinking about them anyway.
I just saw a quote on Quotes for Writers that seemed applicible to this... LOL
"A good writer will research to find the answer, but a great writer knows how to bullshit their way out of having the question asked."
LMAO I found that hilarious. I don't know how much stock we should put in it as writers but I thought it was funny anyways.
I think all my school essays were pretty solidly rooted in that quote's philosophy.
It's amazing how I BS more for papers than for my own fiction LMAO.
-
Gah, I could have sworn I answered the questions I think Julie asked but I got so busy at work the board timed out or something.
I don't think I would ever call out a fan fiction or even fiction writer for something that's not accurate in a story (say Nick writing a song with Steve Perry for 'Now or Never'), because it's fiction. If it was an autobiography, then I might yell or speak up or even a news story.
Damn, I'm so tired I forgot what the other questions were LOL That's the one that stuck out.
I really don't think researching and using real life stuff is bad. I guess fiction is just an escape from reality for me, so I try not to use too much of it myself.