Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => Featured Story of the Month => Topic started by: mare on January 01, 2012, 09:37:23 AM
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Happy New Year!!
This month our featured story is Save a Prayer by Steph. I know this one was a favorite of many of us so I hope you take the time to come in and tell us what you loved about the story and ask Steph questions about her writing process etc...
Lets start by reading chapters 1 - 5 by next Monday.
Here's the link to the story: http://absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=10625
I'll be back with questionjs as the month goes on.
Happy Reading!! :)
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1) Tell us one thing about your story that no one else knows?
2) How long did it take you to write this entire story?
3) Give us a summary different from the one you have posted on AC, with a few more spoilers to make people tune in.
4) What made you come up with the concept of this one?
5) Who was your favorite character in this story and why?
6) You had to know this was coming, who was your least favorite?
7) Are all the boys in this one? If not why did you choose to exclude them?
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Yay, congratulation s, Steph!
I remember being excited when I read the premise of this story, thinking it was going to be like the old story "Survivor" by Cecilia and J-Kat about BSB competing against NSync on Survivor the reality show. Even though it sounds like a spoof, that was actually a really good story!
But "Save a Prayer" was so much more!! I love the turn it took at the end of Chapter 5; that set the course for the whole rest of the story, and it was amazing!
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Congrats Steph! I love this story, I too thought it would be like "Survivor" (which was actually one of my faves back in the day). But it was definitely on another level. I love where you took the story. What could've been an easy comedy went to a dark and realistic place and I loved every moment of it!
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Thanks so much for featuring me! I really didn't expect anyone to like it, especially with the things I did to them, lol :)
1) Tell us one thing about your story that no one else knows?
It was originally going to be called Battle of the Boybands. I was going to have NKOTB in it for just a couple of chapters, but thought it would be more fun the way I did it :)
2) How long did it take you to write this entire story?
About three months, but I had it outlined from the start.
3) Give us a summary different from the one you have posted on AC, with a few more spoilers to make people tune in.
When the Backstreet Boys signed up for a new reality survival show, little did they know it would soon become more than just a game...they were going to have to fight for survival for real in the ultimate game of life. But who would win and live to tell the tale?
4) What made you come up with the concept of this one?
I like action/adventure/disaster movies and thought it would be fun to write the boys into one. I also got a few ideas watching Bear Grylls.
5) Who was your favorite character in this story and why?
Nick, because instead of being the young foolish one we often read/write about, he's the strong leader in this.
6) You had to know this was coming, who was your least favorite?
I liked all the BSB but I suppose you could say Jordan was my least favourite, LOL
7) Are all the boys in this one? If not why did you choose to exclude them?
All of them are in it apart from Kevin. The reason he's not in it is because it's set around the time that NKOTBSB was formed and as he wasn't a part of that, I thought I should leave him out. I do love Kevin though :)
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I'm glad you went the way you did with the story and one of the things I liked best was Nick as the 'Kevin' lol I didn't even miss Kevin in this one and usually I find myself looking for him.
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Yeah, I'm glad I wrote Nick the way I did. Not that I don't like messed up Nick, because I do, but it was nice having him as the Indiana Jones type hero for a change :)
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I also loved Nick as the leader! He was believable that way, even though we're used to seeing him as the whining, bumbling victim who gets hurt and messes things up for everyone else LOL. I like that you hurt Howie instead and had Nick be the one to take care of all the other guys.
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Yeah, I'm glad I did that to Howie as so often I don't really include him much in my stories.
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Poor Howie lol
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LOL I know, Howie is usually ignored, so being the one who gets hurt is actually a good thing for him.
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I'm sure he would think otherwise lol I am going to make a Howie saves the day month for a story challenge next month.
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LOL They just don't understand how we operate. We hurt them because we love them; it's a compliment! Haha. Howie Saves the Day sounds like a great challenge!
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Congrats Steph!! Gonna start reading today ;)
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Thanks Erika :)
Yes, we torture them out of love, poor guys, lol
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Yay Steph! I love this story. I also like that Nick took charge in this story and became a strong leader. What made you choose to have Nick take over and not one of the others?
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LMAO Mare, I love the idea of a Howie Saves The Day challenge! Especially since I always make him the villain lmao.
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Yay Steph! I love this story. I also like that Nick took charge in this story and became a strong leader. What made you choose to have Nick take over and not one of the others?
Thanks Lore :)
I chose Nick to be the leader because usually he isn't. Usually we see him as the youngest, weakest, messed up member and after the way he's turned his life around over the past couple of years, I thought it would be good to have him lead instead of be led. It was either Nick or Howie and I'm glad I decided on Nick.
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I love that you decided to have it be Nick. It really fits the Nick of today rather than the Nick before he got himself together. Like Mare said, it also compensates for the lack of Kevin (which is understandable since it's NKOTBSB era) in a subtle way.
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Happy Monday!
Time to start reading the next set of chapters, so let's read chapters 6 - 10 by next Monday.
I'll be back with some questions a little later.
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I'm always curious, did you plan out most of the events before you started the story, or did you just kind of go with the flow and write it more spontaneously?
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It was a bit of both really Julie. I always knew that all of the NK's were going to be killed off, and I knew from the start that I wanted the bot fly part and some of the other stuff. Some of it I just typed as it came into my head and some things I planned. I always tend to write that way. I wish I could be more organised and outline it all, but I generally just have a rough idea of what will happen.
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The bot fly scene is the most epic scene in the entire thing. I practically cheered as I read that LMAO. Yeah...I'm weird :P
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I loved that part too, even though it was really gross, lol. I got the idea for it after watching something on TV about a man who walked the length of the Amazon. He had to have a bot fly removed from his head and it looked so disgusting, I thought it would be good to have a total infestation of them in someone's head :)
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I agree with Rose! It takes a lot to gross me out anyway, but it takes true talent to make me cringe and squirm with words alone. The part was awesomely disgusting!! Loved it!! ;D
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Yes, that was pretty gross! but I get grossed out easily.
Was there any point that you considered letting Howie die?
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^that's a good question, Mare. :) I want to know that. too.
Hi Steph! congrats on being featured. You know I love this story though action/adventure isn't usually my thing. But somehow you managed to hooked me into this awesome story.
My question is was the crashing of the helicopter really an accident? or did you somehow think at first that it could have been a plan of someone holding a grudge to NK or BSB members? I hope I made sense, I can't express my question clearly... lol
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Mare, I really did consider letting Howie die, but then thought it would be cruel for him to get out of the plane crash and survive time in the jungle only to die from an infection just before being rescued. It was very tempting though and only the fact that there would be no more BSB made me reconsider and keep him alive (sorry Howie, I love you really).
Ritz, yes the plane crash was really an accident. The plane was such an old heap of junk that it shouldn't have been flying. The TV show researchers/planners didn't do their planning very well and should never have let them go up in it. But I suppose they were trying to keep costs down, hehehehe :)
Julie, I kind of grossed myself out as I was writing it, lol. Definitely my favourite part of the story :)
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Hey gang!
Sorry i'm posting this so late. I should really post a little earlier on Mondays since Steph is way ahead of me time zone wise lol
It's time to read the next set of chapters so lets do chapters 11 - 15 by next Monday!
I am loving all the questions and insight.
I know you've told me this before Steph, buy how did you come up with the name Save a Prayer for this story?
Did you plan anything else gross to happen to the guys and change your mind before having them rescued?
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What made you decide on Howie to injure? LOL.
AJ had the snake scare, Howie was injured I don't recall anything really scary happening to Brian, why was that? or am I forgetting what you did to him?
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Hey gang!
Sorry i'm posting this so late. I should really post a little earlier on Mondays since Steph is way ahead of me time zone wise lol
It's time to read the next set of chapters so lets do chapters 11 - 15 by next Monday!
I am loving all the questions and insight.
I know you've told me this before Steph, buy how did you come up with the name Save a Prayer for this story?
Did you plan anything else gross to happen to the guys and change your mind before having them rescued?
Good questions!
The story name came from the Duran Duran song Save A Prayer. It's one of my favourite songs but the video in particular is what made me decide on the story title. The video for the song is shot in Sri Lanka and shows the band in the jungle there, so I just thought it would be perfect seeing as I would be stranding BSB in the jungle. Also because they were praying they would get out alive, lol.
I was going to have a few more gory bits, like Howie having to have his leg amputated with a machete. I was tempted to have a giant snake eat someone, or have them attacked by a group of angry monkeys, or for the rope bridge to break and someone fall into a crocodile infested river and get torn apart. There might be a few more ideas too, but I can't think right now :) I even thought of just having Nick survive it and live to tell the tale.
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What made you decide on Howie to injure? LOL.
AJ had the snake scare, Howie was injured I don't recall anything really scary happening to Brian, why was that? or am I forgetting what you did to him?
I decided to injure Howie because I see him as the new sort of leader of the band, he seems to be the business mind of the band, so I wanted him to be the vulnerable one and having to depend on the others.
As for Brian, I did make him walk across that rope bridge when he's scared of heights and he did get a nasty cut to his face. But I suppose he's the one I forget about like others forget Howie, lol :)
Thanks for all the questions everyone :)
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So how close were you to going ahead with the "Howie having to have his leg amputated with a machete" scene, and what made you decide to save his leg at the last second? You know I was gearing up for a gory choppage scene! ;D
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So how close were you to going ahead with the "Howie having to have his leg amputated with a machete" scene, and what made you decide to save his leg at the last second? You know I was gearing up for a gory choppage scene! ;D
Yes, how close was it to coming off competely?
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So how close were you to going ahead with the "Howie having to have his leg amputated with a machete" scene, and what made you decide to save his leg at the last second? You know I was gearing up for a gory choppage scene! ;D
I really really wanted to chop it off and even wrote it. But then I thought about them touring and and couldn't imagine him doing his dance moves with one leg, lol. I sometimes wish I'd chopped it though.
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Howie the peg leg! lmao
I can see him on the cruise yelling "This is Howie do it!" Holding his wooden leg over his head and whistling. (sorry Howie)
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LMFAO Mare!!
And Steph, I know what you mean. The no more dancing would be a bummer. So you actually wrote the scene? Can you post it here as a bonus feature? LOL
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If I hadn't deleted it, I'd post it Julie. I always delete the parts that I don't keep in the story so that my word document stays nice and neat. I could give it a go and see if I can remember what I wrote though :)
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Aww, that's okay, don't worry about it!
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Howdy! Time to start reading the next set of chapters. Let's read chapters 16 - 23 by next Tuesday.
:)
I'll be back with questions later when my brain is working lol
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Would you ever consider writing a sequel to this? Maybe about the after effects? Or are you considering writing another adventure anytime soon?
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What was your favorite part of the story to write?
Was there any part that made you squirm while writing it?
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Good questions Mare!
No, I won't be doing a sequel as there's nothing much more to tell. They got out alive, end of story, lol. I suppose there are the after effects they have to deal with, but I'll leave that up to other people's imaginations to guess how they dealt with it all.
My favourite part to write was probably the part where the plane was going down and crashed. Nick was understandably terrified as the plane was heading for the ground, but once down on the ground and relatively unhurt, he took charge of the situation and became a hero.
The Jordan bot fly part did make me squirm a bit as I was mentally picturing it as I wrote it...gross!
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Just sat down and read this story all in one sitting! You did a terrific job, especially with the gore - I mean bot flies in the head :shock: = awesome!
Loved the idea for the story and you executed it very well. I hated to see all of the NKOTB boys offed (what can I say... Donnie Wahlberg is yummy :shrug: ), but totally understandable and I'm glad you didn't kill AJ or Howie!!
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Just a thought : Do you think, steph, if you let Howie or Brian lead the group, the story would be as awesome as it turned out with Nick?
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Just sat down and read this story all in one sitting! You did a terrific job, especially with the gore - I mean bot flies in the head :shock: = awesome!
Loved the idea for the story and you executed it very well. I hated to see all of the NKOTB boys offed (what can I say... Donnie Wahlberg is yummy :shrug: ), but totally understandable and I'm glad you didn't kill AJ or Howie!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read it. It was a bit mean of me to kill them all, especially since I do actually like Joey, lol, but I wanted to kill people off and they seemed perfect due to the NKOTBSB thing.
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Just a thought : Do you think, steph, if you let Howie or Brian lead the group, the story would be as awesome as it turned out with Nick?
I'm not sure I could write a story with them taking the lead, I feel more comfortable with Nick or AJ as the main character when I write.
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I was really glad you killed all the New Kids! I was willing to put up with them for the sake of an awesome premise by a great writer, but I hate crossovers LOL.
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I'm not that into crossovers either Julie, although this is my second one (the other was Games and was a Supernatural crossover). I don't think I've ever read any to be honest. But I knew this story wasn't going to be a real crossover as they were only in it to be killed off, lol.
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Today is the last day to get your questions or comments in to Steph!
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I loved reading this story and discussing it with you again this month, Steph! Hope you write more adventure stories like this one; you're really good at that genre! The gorier, the better!
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I agree, Steph! You know how much I loved this story as well as your other action/adventure Supernatural crossover! You're really great at this genre! I do disagree about the gore though lol
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I am liking everything you've been writing so far ... you know that! Keep up the awesome work.
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You are a great writer and we are looking forward to more "Save a Prayer" kind of stories in the future.... :)
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Wow thanks everyone for taking the time to read my story and post in here :)
I'm sure there will be more action/adventure stories to come from me in the future as I like that kind of thing. I also enjoyed writing gore, lol. At the moment my latest story is building up to some action, but it's AU, historical with some romance in it, so I know that kind of thing doesn't appeal to everyone.
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You know, I've been meaning to check out your new one... I just keep forgetting to do it when I actually have time to sit down and get into it. I will definitely do that at some point. I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction (even though I love history - weird, right?), but your beautiful banner attracted my attention when you first posted the story, which I think was during some crazy busy time in my life where I didn't have time to actually read the first few chapters right then, and I mentally added it to my "to read" list, then never followed up on it LOL.
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Not sure if I left a comment, but I enjoyed Save A Prayer a lot and I liked a lot of the things everyone else said as well. I love survival type stories. I'm gonna check out the new one as well, I need something new to read :) congrats on being Featured Steph!
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Thanks Tracy :)
And Julie, don't worry, I know how it is with finding time. There are loads of stories I keep meaning to read and haven't. And I know the story isn't to everyone's liking as I realise historical AU isn't for everyone. I just write what I feel like writing :)