It’s been almost twenty-three years since Dreamer’s Sanctuary was first launched, and the time has come to make some major changes to the site.
But, first, a little back story: I had just turned fifteen when I created Dreamer’s Sanctuary as a place to post the fanfiction I had been writing about my favorite boy band for the past few months. I’d never even heard of fanfiction until I stumbled across some while searching for Backstreet Boys fan sites. Once I figured out that what I was reading was a fictional story about my favorite Backstreet Boy, I eagerly finished it and went looking for more. I quickly became obsessed with BSB fanfic, first as a reader and then as a writer.
Since my first experience with fanfiction was in the BSB fandom, it never occurred to me that writing fictional stories about celebrities might be considered taboo by other fanfic communities. In fact, it wasn’t until I discovered FanFiction.Net (FFN) that I found out that, traditionally, most fanfic has been inspired by fictional media, such as TV shows, movies, and books. When FFN banned real person fanfic (RPF) in 2003, I was disappointed but not discouraged. After all, I still had my own personal site where I could continue posting my work. In response to the FFN purge, archive sites such as Absolute Chaos grew in popularity, giving the BSB fanfic community a place to read, share, and discuss stories. However, over the last decade, the fanfic corner of the BSB fandom has shrunk drastically, and Absolute Chaos has been abandoned, forcing those of us who were still using it to go elsewhere. Like many fanfic writers, I moved my stories to Archive of Our Own a few years ago, but I missed the sense of community I’d enjoyed on the Absolute Chaos discussion boards. Hoping to find it elsewhere, I recently joined the Fanfiction subreddit on Reddit. That is where I learned that most other fanfic writers find RPF weird and creepy.
I’ll be the first to admit that writing fanfic is a weird hobby. That’s why I’ve always kept it a closely-guarded secret, posting my stories under a pen name to prevent people I know in real life (outside the fandom) from finding them. But I never thought writing fanfic about the Backstreet Boys was any weirder than writing it about Pokemon or My Little Pony.
That being said, I’ve always had a bit of a complex about the content of my fanfic. Since the beginning, I’ve been subjecting my five favorite celebrities to all sorts of serious illnesses, injuries, and deaths in my stories. I always justified it by telling myself it was just fiction, but that didn’t stop me from feeling guilty about the things I wrote in stories such as Broken, Curtain Call, Sick as My Secrets, A Heart That Isn’t Mine, and My Brother’s Keeper. But the positive feedback I received from readers made it easy for me to brush my own insecurities aside and continue writing content that made me uncomfortable. Lately, though, the feedback has been lacking, and those pesky insecurities keep creeping back into my brain.
From time to time, the few people in my real life who know I write ask me when I’m going to write “a real book.” Just a couple weeks ago, a fandom friend who I met through fanfic asked if I’d ever considered transitioning to original fiction. I’ve often thought about trying to convert some of my fanfics to original fiction by changing the characters’ names and details that clearly associate them with the Backstreet Boys. This conversation, coupled with my growing anxiety over writing RPF, sparked renewed interest in doing so.
Since I have the upcoming week off work for spring break, I’ve decided to spend it filing the serial numbers off my fanfics, so to say. When the new Dreamer’s Sanctuary debuts next week, it will no longer be devoted to Backstreet Boys fan fiction. Instead, you’ll find original stories featuring the Frontage Road Fellas, a fictional boy band made up of five talented members that fit the same boy band tropes you’re used to.
First up is the bad boy, Bartholomew John “B.J.” McClean. Then there’s blond, blue-eyed heartthrob Dickolas “Dick” Garter, the baby of the group. For added flavor, we have the spicy, nacho cheesy Irish Latino, Herbert “Herbie” Dorito. And let’s not forget the reassuring older brother, Richard Kevinson. Finally, we have my personal favorite: the sweet, Southern boy next door, Bryan Lyttrell! Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
To be clear, I will not be deleting my old stories but merely revising them to get rid of the problematic RPF label. You’ll still be able to read about all your favorite characters, including Broken Dick and Claire, Hemophilia Herbie from Song for the Undead, and Quadriplegic Rick from My Brother’s Keeper and The World Will Be Waiting.
It will take me a while to make these changes, but since I know there are a few of you who have been looking forward to the next chapter of The World Will Be Waiting, I went ahead and edited that one first so I could still share it with you today. Click here to read Chapter 25!
I hope to have the full site back online sometime in the next week! In the meantime, you can email me or tweet me with feedback. The original versions of my BSB fics will also remain on AO3 until I find the time to revise them there, which probably won’t be until summer.
Thanks for your continued support! I hope you’ll stick with me for this exciting new era of Dreamer’s Sanctuary!
Sincerely,
Julie