the tale of mama and papa backstreet.
So the MTYG reveal has happened, and I'd like to thank ariadnem for writing me Agreement.
This year I wrote my first Howie/Kevin, Five Times Howie Didn't Lose It for wilde_stallyn. This means I have officially written all intra-BSB Kevin pairings for Sesa! \o/
As usual, the assignment gave me enough panic to last me for a month. While I do love Howie/Kevin and the dynamic between them, I literally could not think of a single story idea. I'd been given a wonderfully flexible assignment, and yet I still couldn't think of anything. In the end I decided on a five things story that charted the development of Howie and Kevin's relationship. They've always been Papa and Mama Backstreet to me, and when Kevin left I honestly was telling people it felt like Kevin had left Howie alone to deal with the terrible trio by himself.
At first I had a candyshop AU idea, inspired by a shop near me that sells handmade rock candy (the worker were all young men and their official job titles were *Candymen*, okay, and I thought the idea of AJ in a tank top pulling and rolling melted sugar was really hot!), but that didn't work out. Then when I was helping
chalcopyrite with her story I mentioned that I wanted to base them on the tiny clips of Howie and Kevin on their days off that I had. They're mostly files from the old online fanclub, and had Howie and Kevin at a dude ranch, Howie and Kevin getting up early to watch a hot air balloon festival (no, really), Howie and Kevin shirtless and gorgeous in the middle of the Caribbean...you get the picture. It was meant to be something along the lines of Five Ways Howie And Kevin Spent Their Days Off. But I still didn't have much of an idea.
And then, not knowing where to start, I literally had to stare at starafar's Backstreet Chronology post until something made sense. I don't know how I started off with them in Stratford-upon-Avon, but there is actual footage from 1995 where AJ says they visited Shakespeare's birthplace, and me loving that town way too much, decided to make the story start there. Initially I wanted them to visit the Teddy Bear Museum, which is a real place, but is now in London instead of Stratford (booooo). And then I found out that they sold bears called William Shakesbeare. THEY'RE REAL. And how could I not include an adorable detail like that?
The other four times were a bit arbitrary, but I really wanted to show just how important they were to each other, especially with emotional support, and unfortunately I had to include the time when Caroline passed away. It remains a horrible fact that Howie did not fly back in time to say goodbye to her because he was at the VMAs, and that he had to fly back to the Boys almost immediately after because they had a string of state fair performances (including York, PA). They also really did have to fly off to Argentina less than a week after she passed on, and I can't imagine how he must've felt. Making Howie cry was like making the baby Jesus cry, but it had to be done, and I spent a very long time making sure I didn't screw up that section.
Kevin does indeed own a log cabin out in rural Kentucky, so I thought hey, sexytiemz in hot tub in the middle of nowhere. :D I also didn't want to just whitewash over the wives, so I thought giving them open marriages -- with the knowledge that they'd always go back to their wives at the end of the day -- was the way to go. The log cabin was initially meant to be a "We're snowed in. Wanna fuck?" kind of thing, but it didn't sit well with the whole emotional support for each other theme I had going on.
I really didn't want to write any AJ into the story, the minute he gets into it he runs away with all the best lines, but I was so stuck with #4 that I had to insert him in just to get the story moving again. I think I managed to not have him run away with anything this time. Also, this is the second time I've written Kevin leaving in a Sesa story, and it does not get easier. /o\ Then with Kevin as Howie's wedding present, I thought that'd be a nice way to round out the story and tie up loose ends. Again, it was hard keeping AJ out for the bachelor party shenanigans. *g*
Despite writing this at the last minute (again), I'm actually quite pleased with the story. I really should write more Howie/Kevin soon. Thanks to chalcopyrite, msktrnanny, iconis and nopseud for all the help and putting up with my panicked email babble. *g*
comments at Dreamwidth. Comment at either place.
This year I wrote my first Howie/Kevin, Five Times Howie Didn't Lose It for wilde_stallyn. This means I have officially written all intra-BSB Kevin pairings for Sesa! \o/
As usual, the assignment gave me enough panic to last me for a month. While I do love Howie/Kevin and the dynamic between them, I literally could not think of a single story idea. I'd been given a wonderfully flexible assignment, and yet I still couldn't think of anything. In the end I decided on a five things story that charted the development of Howie and Kevin's relationship. They've always been Papa and Mama Backstreet to me, and when Kevin left I honestly was telling people it felt like Kevin had left Howie alone to deal with the terrible trio by himself.
At first I had a candyshop AU idea, inspired by a shop near me that sells handmade rock candy (the worker were all young men and their official job titles were *Candymen*, okay, and I thought the idea of AJ in a tank top pulling and rolling melted sugar was really hot!), but that didn't work out. Then when I was helping
chalcopyrite with her story I mentioned that I wanted to base them on the tiny clips of Howie and Kevin on their days off that I had. They're mostly files from the old online fanclub, and had Howie and Kevin at a dude ranch, Howie and Kevin getting up early to watch a hot air balloon festival (no, really), Howie and Kevin shirtless and gorgeous in the middle of the Caribbean...you get the picture. It was meant to be something along the lines of Five Ways Howie And Kevin Spent Their Days Off. But I still didn't have much of an idea.
And then, not knowing where to start, I literally had to stare at starafar's Backstreet Chronology post until something made sense. I don't know how I started off with them in Stratford-upon-Avon, but there is actual footage from 1995 where AJ says they visited Shakespeare's birthplace, and me loving that town way too much, decided to make the story start there. Initially I wanted them to visit the Teddy Bear Museum, which is a real place, but is now in London instead of Stratford (booooo). And then I found out that they sold bears called William Shakesbeare. THEY'RE REAL. And how could I not include an adorable detail like that?
The other four times were a bit arbitrary, but I really wanted to show just how important they were to each other, especially with emotional support, and unfortunately I had to include the time when Caroline passed away. It remains a horrible fact that Howie did not fly back in time to say goodbye to her because he was at the VMAs, and that he had to fly back to the Boys almost immediately after because they had a string of state fair performances (including York, PA). They also really did have to fly off to Argentina less than a week after she passed on, and I can't imagine how he must've felt. Making Howie cry was like making the baby Jesus cry, but it had to be done, and I spent a very long time making sure I didn't screw up that section.
Kevin does indeed own a log cabin out in rural Kentucky, so I thought hey, sexytiemz in hot tub in the middle of nowhere. :D I also didn't want to just whitewash over the wives, so I thought giving them open marriages -- with the knowledge that they'd always go back to their wives at the end of the day -- was the way to go. The log cabin was initially meant to be a "We're snowed in. Wanna fuck?" kind of thing, but it didn't sit well with the whole emotional support for each other theme I had going on.
I really didn't want to write any AJ into the story, the minute he gets into it he runs away with all the best lines, but I was so stuck with #4 that I had to insert him in just to get the story moving again. I think I managed to not have him run away with anything this time. Also, this is the second time I've written Kevin leaving in a Sesa story, and it does not get easier. /o\ Then with Kevin as Howie's wedding present, I thought that'd be a nice way to round out the story and tie up loose ends. Again, it was hard keeping AJ out for the bachelor party shenanigans. *g*
Despite writing this at the last minute (again), I'm actually quite pleased with the story. I really should write more Howie/Kevin soon. Thanks to chalcopyrite, msktrnanny, iconis and nopseud for all the help and putting up with my panicked email babble. *g*
comments at Dreamwidth. Comment at either place.