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[nicksgal]

My college library was awesome because it had like eight floors, so if I needed to go there, I could always find some empty area to work where no one would bother me.

That's huge! I feel like ours was taller than I think, but it was very squat and wide more than tall. Many nooks and crannies. The "library" in my sorority house, less so. I did most of my writing in my room.

That's probably true, but I'm never going to be the first to bring it up LOL.

I'd say I would, but I also won't even tell my husband or anyone who asks specifically what I'm writing about. I just say "demons" when they ask what it's about. Then I always get "You can't say 'demons' with zero context" as a response, lol. But you asked what it's about and it's about demons! I've clearly answered the question!

LOL I used to read fanfic at my mom's work!  My mom's a computer teacher at the middle school I went to, which is basically right across the street from where my parents still live.  The summer I discovered fanfic (1999), she got mad at me for tying up the phone line all the time by getting on the dial-up and wasting printer paper and ink printing out fanfics to read offline, so she let me come over to the school computer lab where the internet was faster and read while she worked.  I found out what visuals were while I was on one of the school computers - whoops LOL.  I wasn't writing fanfic yet then though.

She just hated me being home alone if she had to work on the weekends, so she dragged me with her. Which worked out, because I could use one of the computers at her work for BSB to my heart's content! LMAO, I also found a visual at her work and clicked right out of there so fast! 11-year-old me was not prepared for that at the time, lol. At least your mom is pragmatic, if you tied up the phone line and wasted precious printer ink, at least you could do it at her work where it didn't do those things (as much). I once printed one of my fanfics that I wrote at my middle school and it wasted so much paper and ink! I'm not even sure how I got into the computer lab to do it, but I did. My BFF watched the door for me, lmao. I'm not usually that bold.

Haha, great points!  As far as actually outlining chapter by chapter, I'm like you - I don't usually do that all in advance, but more as I go if I do it at all.  My outlines are typically more timelines of events and when they happen, character info, and research notes.  If the timeline doesn't matter as much or if the story takes place in a short window of time, it's more just a synopsis of all the major events in the order they happen that I add to as I figure out more.  That's what Bethlehem's outline was, whereas My Brother's Keeper has the timeline-style outline because it takes place in a specific period of BSB history.

As usual, just trying to justify our bad habits, haha.

Yeah, same. I'd call mine more of a chapter-by-chapter synopsis for going back and looking up things I reference or to keep track of what characters are doing. I know in the beginning I used to have a handwritten one, that I can't find, but I specifically remember writing down what Nick was doing in green pen, Howie in purple, Brian in aquamarine, Kevin in blue, and AJ in yellow (written over with orange because I couldn't read it). I want to get back to that again, actually, because it would help me keep character arcs straight.

Always impressed with y'all's timelines. I'd keep it accurate if I did it, but I just have no interest in actual timelines, haha.

No, no he does not.  But at least he's always resurrected for a new story.  He's like the Jason Vorhees of BSB fanfic LOL.

lmao We have a Samara!Brian, Jason!Nick, is AJ Willy Wonka? lol

I haven't heard of the GOT one, but that sounds interesting too.  Fangirl was a really fun and relatable read!

I'll have to check it out. I have a pile of "want to read this books" that hasn't gotten any smaller since I've been busy writing again.

[RokofAges75]

I once printed one of my fanfics that I wrote at my middle school and it wasted so much paper and ink! I'm not even sure how I got into the computer lab to do it, but I did. My BFF watched the door for me, lmao. I'm not usually that bold.

LOL I'm sure you were not the first to do that, but I'm glad your friend stood guard so you didn't get caught.  Stories are always so much longer on actual paper than they seem online!  I actually only printed one of them, the first fanfic I ever read, and that was like 50 pages, which seems like nothing now, but was a lot of paper to print.  That's the one I got in trouble for, so I never did it again (except for when I printed out all of Broken so I could see what it looked like - but I specifically bought my own ream of paper and ink for that and did it on my own printer.)  Nostalgic hoarder me still has both that first story and Broken in binders though, so at least it didn't go to waste LOL.

Always impressed with y'all's timelines. I'd keep it accurate if I did it, but I just have no interest in actual timelines, haha.

Thanks!  I'm loving this one so far.  I realized last week I have never actually written about Nick in his hot mess phase.  When he was in it in real life, I was writing Broken and BMS, in which he was not that much of a mess.
 Then I wrote a bunch of AUs in the mid-2000s, and by the time I got to Curtain Call, Nick had gotten his shit together.  So it's kinda fun writing him at the tail end of his hot mess phase at the beginning of 2008 - not that I would ever want to see him go back to his old ways in real life, but it's a different side of him as a character that I haven't ever really explored before.

I'll have to check it out. I have a pile of "want to read this books" that hasn't gotten any smaller since I've been busy writing again.

Ugh, same!  I haven't been reading anything except fanfic (and forum posts LOL) lately because I've been writing so much.  Here it is Sunday night, and I haven't even watched any of my shows because I would rather write while the inspiration is there.  Sunday is my favorite TV night, so you know I'm inspired when I choose writing over watching Walking Dead and 90 Day Fiance LOL.

[mare]

I have been the total opposite. I can’t seem to read fast enough, but that’s all I seem to be able to do lol not much else.

[nicksgal]

LOL I'm sure you were not the first to do that, but I'm glad your friend stood guard so you didn't get caught.  Stories are always so much longer on actual paper than they seem online!  I actually only printed one of them, the first fanfic I ever read, and that was like 50 pages, which seems like nothing now, but was a lot of paper to print.  That's the one I got in trouble for, so I never did it again (except for when I printed out all of Broken so I could see what it looked like - but I specifically bought my own ream of paper and ink for that and did it on my own printer.)  Nostalgic hoarder me still has both that first story and Broken in binders though, so at least it didn't go to waste LOL.

They really don't seem as long online! I think it's because there's no page breaks and its just continuous scrolling. 50 pages seems like nothing! I guess even when typing in google docs, I don't really notice the length until it gets to the end of the document and starts being ridiculously slow. And then I say, "Oh, this is 100 pages long." And then I split it and the next part becomes 100 pages long, and so on. PBox on its own is easily 500-600 pages long if I printed it out. When it's online, I tend to think of them more in "Oh this is x words? That will take me about x minutes to read" than "x words is x pages of writing." Glad you saved both of them. And printing that first one taught you to be more stealthy in your fanfic reading, lol. I also have the printed version of that fanfic. Thanks [redacted] for letting me print it rather shadily! Our education system at work!

Thanks!  I'm loving this one so far.  I realized last week I have never actually written about Nick in his hot mess phase.  When he was in it in real life, I was writing Broken and BMS, in which he was not that much of a mess.
 Then I wrote a bunch of AUs in the mid-2000s, and by the time I got to Curtain Call, Nick had gotten his shit together.  So it's kinda fun writing him at the tail end of his hot mess phase at the beginning of 2008 - not that I would ever want to see him go back to his old ways in real life, but it's a different side of him as a character that I haven't ever really explored before.

Yay! Glad you're loving it! I think it's good to try it if you've never written hot mess Nick! He's definitely a wild card! And fun to dabble with, sometimes... I realize I say this and any present-day story I started during that time never got finished and PBox Nick is an emotional wreck, but not as much of a hot mess. Beta Sigma Beta Nick was probably the closest I got to successfully and sustainably writing hot mess Nick, but that was only in the AU parts -- Nick in the "canon" parts was very much 90's Nick. It's probably easier writing hot mess Nick knowing that it's a moment in time and not forever. Whereas back then, we spent a lot of time going "Oh Nick, I love you, but..." Or maybe that was just me. At least I hit 22 and ended up saying "Still not sorry for worrying about you, Nick, but sorry for judging your decisions."

Ugh, same!  I haven't been reading anything except fanfic (and forum posts LOL) lately because I've been writing so much.  Here it is Sunday night, and I haven't even watched any of my shows because I would rather write while the inspiration is there.  Sunday is my favorite TV night, so you know I'm inspired when I choose writing over watching Walking Dead and 90 Day Fiance LOL.

Same, or writing forum posts, lol. Woah, that is inspiration! You skipped your favorite tv night to write! Good for you!

I had the most unproductive weekend. I wrote a sentence on Friday. I did nothing on Saturday... Well, I wrote 1,000s of words here, but nothing novel-wise. Yesterday, I was feeling pretty inspired and got 543 words of PNecklace written, was still thinking about it during weekly meal prep and feeling pretty inspired, then found out we had a snow day today at like 3pm when we finished cooking. And my motivation drained. So I wrote a few notes for myself on the things I had been thinking about while chopping potatoes and cauliflower, then watched the NCAA tournament bracket announcement show and played on my phone or checked here. I got a second wind of inspiration as I went to bed and wrote another 169 words on my phone. Today feels like a solid inspiration day, so I think I can be a little more productive, especially since refreshing the forum constantly would be silly since 9-5 weekdays are slower here, haha. Wish me luck, basically!

I have been the total opposite. I can’t seem to read fast enough, but that’s all I seem to be able to do lol not much else.

What are you reading right now, Mare?

[nicksgal]

Today feels like a solid inspiration day, so I think I can be a little more productive, especially since refreshing the forum constantly would be silly since 9-5 weekdays are slower here, haha. Wish me luck, basically!

In the spirit of being totally useless and not productive, I decided to see what my word counts were like around this time (14th of the month) for all the other months that I've been keeping track (since November).

• November: 20,412 words
• December: 10,370 words
• January: 20,891 words
• February: 11,027 words
• March: 7,900 words

I broke the pattern, oh noes! lol I'm going to call this fairly consistent. Anyway, all this being said, I think I'm going to do the Camp NaNo in April if anyone wants to join me. It's a little less of a commitment than November's event since you get to set your own word count goal for writing or editing, rather than the 50,000 words of writing November requires for completion. Not sure what my word count goal will be yet, but my plan is to have PNecklace finished by the end of the month; about six months of committed writing, that would be pretty good work! I have about 60,000 words left to go (based on chapters left and my typical chapter length goals); I think I can do it!

Now I'll stop stalling, take advantage of this Monday snow day, and go write, lol.

[RokofAges75]

I have been the total opposite. I can’t seem to read fast enough, but that’s all I seem to be able to do lol not much else.

I go through phases like that too.  It's usually either/or for me... either I write a lot, or I read a lot.  It's hard to find the time to do a lot of both, and although I love to read, I tend to choose writing when I have the time and motivation because I'm always like, "I can read any time, but I can't write any time, so I should write now."  And then I realize it's been a while since I've read an actual book.  I have a pile of half-finished, barely-started, or not-started-yet-but-someday books waiting on my night table.

[RokofAges75]

Yay! Glad you're loving it! I think it's good to try it if you've never written hot mess Nick! He's definitely a wild card! And fun to dabble with, sometimes... I realize I say this and any present-day story I started during that time never got finished and PBox Nick is an emotional wreck, but not as much of a hot mess. Beta Sigma Beta Nick was probably the closest I got to successfully and sustainably writing hot mess Nick, but that was only in the AU parts -- Nick in the "canon" parts was very much 90's Nick. It's probably easier writing hot mess Nick knowing that it's a moment in time and not forever. Whereas back then, we spent a lot of time going "Oh Nick, I love you, but..." Or maybe that was just me. At least I hit 22 and ended up saying "Still not sorry for worrying about you, Nick, but sorry for judging your decisions."

Yes!  Especially the part I bolded.  Back when Nick was a hot mess, I was happier writing about a fictional version who wasn't (or was at least less so).  But now that he's moved on to a new and better phase of his life, it's been interesting to look back and work some of his real life drama into my fanfic.  It makes me appreciate the personal growth he's made since then even more.

Same, or writing forum posts, lol. Woah, that is inspiration! You skipped your favorite tv night to write! Good for you!

I had the most unproductive weekend. I wrote a sentence on Friday. I did nothing on Saturday... Well, I wrote 1,000s of words here, but nothing novel-wise. Yesterday, I was feeling pretty inspired and got 543 words of PNecklace written, was still thinking about it during weekly meal prep and feeling pretty inspired, then found out we had a snow day today at like 3pm when we finished cooking. And my motivation drained. So I wrote a few notes for myself on the things I had been thinking about while chopping potatoes and cauliflower, then watched the NCAA tournament bracket announcement show and played on my phone or checked here. I got a second wind of inspiration as I went to bed and wrote another 169 words on my phone. Today feels like a solid inspiration day, so I think I can be a little more productive, especially since refreshing the forum constantly would be silly since 9-5 weekdays are slower here, haha. Wish me luck, basically!

I told myself I would watch my shows tonight because nothing else is on (except Snowpiercer, which I have already fallen a few weeks behind on - whoops).  But I wrote before school again this morning and am hoping to write more tonight, so we'll see.  I didn't watch Walking Dead last Sunday night either because I got sucked into the Meghan and Harry interview, and I didn't end up watching it until Saturday night because I wrote most of the other nights.  Too much inspiration and not enough time... it's a good problem to have!

I figured you must have had a snow day today when I saw what time you posted on here.  We had shitty weather here today too - rain, then freezing rain, then back to regular rain.  Not cold enough to get any snow, but some of the trees were covered in ice on the way home, while the grass is starting to get green... very weird looking. 

Don't feel bad about having an unproductive weekend.  We all have weekends like that, and you weren't feeling your best.  I hope you had better luck writing today!

[RokofAges75]

In the spirit of being totally useless and not productive, I decided to see what my word counts were like around this time (14th of the month) for all the other months that I've been keeping track (since November).

• November: 20,412 words
• December: 10,370 words
• January: 20,891 words
• February: 11,027 words
• March: 7,900 words

I broke the pattern, oh noes! lol I'm going to call this fairly consistent. Anyway, all this being said, I think I'm going to do the Camp NaNo in April if anyone wants to join me. It's a little less of a commitment than November's event since you get to set your own word count goal for writing or editing, rather than the 50,000 words of writing November requires for completion. Not sure what my word count goal will be yet, but my plan is to have PNecklace finished by the end of the month; about six months of committed writing, that would be pretty good work! I have about 60,000 words left to go (based on chapters left and my typical chapter length goals); I think I can do it!

Now I'll stop stalling, take advantage of this Monday snow day, and go write, lol.

Wow, you were super productive in November and January!  Hopefully you're more productive for the rest of March, especially if you want to write 60,000 words between now and the end of April!

I've never tried keeping track of a monthly word count that way.  That is probably helpful for setting a goal for Camp NaNo.  I have never done that before either, but I'd be willing to give it a try.  I've always wanted to do NaNoWriMo, but November is never a good month for me.  April is more doable because at least it starts with my spring break.  It doesn't have to be a brand new story/project, right?  I can just set a word count goal for what I'm currently writing?  That would be good for me.

[mare]

Answering your question, Dee. I just finished The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett. It was really great. I’m now reading Slaughterhouse Five. I promised myself I’d read at least one classic book a year that I’ve never read before. It’s really weird and funny and strange. Very Kurt Vonnegut lol

And I’m the same way too, Julie. Physically all I seem to be able to do is lay in bed or on my recliner so reading is the way to go for me. When I had the writing bug, I barely read anything except maybe a few fanfics I was following.

[nicksgal]

I'm going to come back and respond to all of this, but I need someone to appreciate this that is not my husband, because his response was "Okay, sorry you spent your time doing that instead of being productive." (still mostly productive)

In the name of quick research, I tried looking up videos of birds falling without being injured/able to stick the landing and stumbled on a bunch of videos of baby birds attempting flight for the first time instead. So, have some videos of baby birds attempting flight because they look like tiny puff balls bouncing off the ground that should have some sort of accompanying silly sound effect.

https://youtu.be/8BjYZnJEYwI or https://youtu.be/ZbOCsQbeaZM

I did stumble on one where the baby bird probably shouldn't have been trying to jump, but a predatory bird and fox wanted to nom on them. It went less well and made me sad.

Back to writing while feeling inspired and working hard!

[RokofAges75]

Aww, cute! Thanks for only sharing the successful ones LOL. I can't handle sad animal videos.

[FrickingKaos]

Sorry for not being so chatty in the last few days, I’ve had a really crazy weekend with work and today is my day off so I am here and there. I did manage to write a little bit over the weekend and almost have a new chapter of History written.


I was going to answer questions but they are pretty buried so I am going to try to answer at least one lol

there’s nothing that I’ve ever written that I didn’t post, other than a death I started for 1000 Ways last year, I never finished it so I never posted it but it’s in my drafts on Google Docs somewhere. I also still have the beginnings of that Brian romance story that I was playing with too. Not sure if I want to post it or not, I’m undecided.

I’ve never regretted writing anything but looking back on my older stories recently, there’s things I would change or tweak to make them bettter. I don’t because it’s good to reread them and look back to see how I have grown as a writer. I used to use such short chapters and very little description so it’s nice to see how I have improved in that area.

As for my most popular story? If I had to guess I would say You Give Love A Bad Name only because I know it’s my most read story on Wattpad so it could very well be the same case on AC too. On Wattpad it has 10,400 hits on it.

[nicksgal]

Yes!  Especially the part I bolded.  Back when Nick was a hot mess, I was happier writing about a fictional version who wasn't (or was at least less so).  But now that he's moved on to a new and better phase of his life, it's been interesting to look back and work some of his real life drama into my fanfic.  It makes me appreciate the personal growth he's made since then even more.

It's like real life character development! Once again, Nick just screams protagonist, lmao. I appreciate it too. In the right crowd, he's got a good head on his shoulders.

Ooh, that actually reminds me of something I was reading today about things people notice about men who are insecure in their masculinity and one of them was something like "Put their friends down constantly. Real men constantly celebrate and love their brothers for their accomplishment s. Insecure men are always trying to one-up everyone or make others look small so they look better." And my first thought was definitely "Nick versus Justin" rather than anyone I knew in real life, lol.

I told myself I would watch my shows tonight because nothing else is on (except Snowpiercer, which I have already fallen a few weeks behind on - whoops).  But I wrote before school again this morning and am hoping to write more tonight, so we'll see.  I didn't watch Walking Dead last Sunday night either because I got sucked into the Meghan and Harry interview, and I didn't end up watching it until Saturday night because I wrote most of the other nights.  Too much inspiration and not enough time... it's a good problem to have!

If you wrote before school, you almost gotta keep the momentum going if you can? Or take a break because you deserve it. I see both arguments. That interview was wild! I think I'd rather have too much inspiration and not enough time rather than loads of time and no inspiration. I can confirm that no writing gets done without inspiration.

I figured you must have had a snow day today when I saw what time you posted on here.  We had shitty weather here today too - rain, then freezing rain, then back to regular rain.  Not cold enough to get any snow, but some of the trees were covered in ice on the way home, while the grass is starting to get green... very weird looking. 

Don't feel bad about having an unproductive weekend.  We all have weekends like that, and you weren't feeling your best.  I hope you had better luck writing today!

I am bold enough to write at work if I have nothing else to do, no one is around, and I'm feeling inspired. I am not bold enough to check the forums. Or play on my phone... I figure writing looks like doing work, so unless someone sneaks up on me and says "Who stabbed what now?" they would never know, lol.

That's what Saturday was like. Loads and loads of rain. Then our fourth largest snow storm in record-tracking years. And then snow day number two tomorrow! It's a sign to write. Also a great time to be recovering from the vaccine if it had gone more poorly. Extra days. It's always super weird when it's green out and there's ice. It's like that here a lot just because of the sun being out most of the time, even when it snows.

I was just mostly bummed that Sunday felt like an inspiration day and ended up being a wash. But you're right, we all have days and weekends and weeks like that. After all that, I ended up finishing the chapter I was working on and writing about 1,300 new words today so far. Next chapter is fun because I basically have two versions of it written, I'm just figuring out how to splice it together the best so that it's the most interesting. So I'll go back to having several documents open at once, the worst, lol.

[RokofAges75]

I hope you've enjoyed your day off, Tracy!  Glad to hear you got some written over the weekend.  I also hope you'll finish that Nick death and post it at some point!  What has you undecided about the Brian romance?

[RokofAges75]

It's like real life character development! Once again, Nick just screams protagonist, lmao. I appreciate it too. In the right crowd, he's got a good head on his shoulders.

Ooh, that actually reminds me of something I was reading today about things people notice about men who are insecure in their masculinity and one of them was something like "Put their friends down constantly. Real men constantly celebrate and love their brothers for their accomplishment s. Insecure men are always trying to one-up everyone or make others look small so they look better." And my first thought was definitely "Nick versus Justin" rather than anyone I knew in real life, lol.

Haha, that is so true!  I love how our boys embrace their "feminine" side.  They're not afraid to share their feelings or cry in front of other people or tell each other "I love you" or, in AJ's case, wear nail polish and eye makeup and women's clothing LOL.  They must be fairly confident in their masculinity to do those things.  I also think their willingness to emote and show their love for each other makes them more fun fanfic characters to write.

If you wrote before school, you almost gotta keep the momentum going if you can? Or take a break because you deserve it. I see both arguments. That interview was wild! I think I'd rather have too much inspiration and not enough time rather than loads of time and no inspiration. I can confirm that no writing gets done without inspiration.

I've been writing all evening and haven't even turned on my TV!  I guess no Walking Dead or 90 Day Fiance again tonight.  I'll catch up when my inspiration runs out.  It is rare for me to be on such a roll this early on in a story (especially a story I was stuck on for three years LOL), so I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

That's what Saturday was like. Loads and loads of rain. Then our fourth largest snow storm in record-tracking years. And then snow day number two tomorrow! It's a sign to write. Also a great time to be recovering from the vaccine if it had gone more poorly. Extra days. It's always super weird when it's green out and there's ice. It's like that here a lot just because of the sun being out most of the time, even when it snows.

I was just mostly bummed that Sunday felt like an inspiration day and ended up being a wash. But you're right, we all have days and weekends and weeks like that. After all that, I ended up finishing the chapter I was working on and writing about 1,300 new words today so far. Next chapter is fun because I basically have two versions of it written, I'm just figuring out how to splice it together the best so that it's the most interesting. So I'll go back to having several documents open at once, the worst, lol.

Yay for another snow day tomorrow!  And congrats on finishing your chapter!  I hope you can keep the momentum going and take advantage of the extra writing time tomorrow.  Snow days are the best because there's no pressure to go out and do anything with your unexpected day off.  You can just stay home and do whatever you want.

I hate splicing!!!  And yet, it makes me happy to be able to use excerpts from old versions of a scene in the new one.  I just hate the process of putting everything together.