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Stacy in Bloom | 21: Never Gonna Give You Up
Title: Stacy in Bloom
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Canon (Season 5 – 1988)
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Rating: T
Summary: With her sister and best friend halfway around the world, who else is there for Stacy to turn to…but Ryan? When the consequences of their actions become clear, the two must decide if pursuing each other is worth breaking up the band.
Mega-meta resource thread: http://luxken27.livejournal.com/137711.html
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5873801/21/
Holy wow – I can't believe this story has received 50 reviews! When I first started posting it a year ago, it was literally on a wing and a prayer. And now, here we are, over 90,000 words in but only halfway finished, and I'm astonished and humbled by the reception of the story. Whether you've been with me since the beginning, followed me from another fandom, or found this story somewhere else along the way, I just wanted to take a moment and say that I truly adore and appreciate each and every one of your thoughtful, wonderful, supportive comments. They not only totally make my day (I love receiving feedback!), but they fuel my motivation to continue building this story and its universe.
In honor of my 50th review on this story, I've offered to write a gift!fic for that lucky reviewer, who has graciously accepted and given me a prompt I'm very excited to work with. I didn't advertise that I was planning to do this because I didn't want people to comment like they were in competition with each other. This is simply my way to reward you guys and offer some small token of thanks for reading, reviewing, or otherwise letting me know how much you're enjoying this jaunt into my head-canon. (I will be offering this again, on the off-chance that this fic reaches another milestone review amount, but other than this note, I will not be advertising this fact.) It's been so much fun to watch Kids Inc fandom grow over the last year, and see the section at FF.net simply explode with stories. I encourage everyone who wants to write to do so (and drop me a link! I'd love to read it!), and everyone who enjoys reading the stories to let the authors know.
As always, I invite you to check out my LiveJournal for news, notes, explanations, clarifications, and spoilers for this and all of my fics =) I love chatting with readers and even just fellow fans, so if you leave me a way to get in touch with you, I'm more than happy to reply to reviews or answer questions or even just sit and squee with you! Feel free to email me, PM me, or drop a comment at my LJ.
Again, thank you all so much! Now, on with the notes, LOL! :)
Now that I've seen this chapter in its entirety, I can't believe I ever thought I could just squish it onto the end of the previous one, LOL. Obviously, there's quite a bit of background in this chapter, both the laying of foundation for future arcs of the storyline, as well as the big wrap-up of the current one, that of Brian's bargain. The bandmates have figured out how to beat him at his own game, which is good, because now there's hell to pay for choosing the cheesiest and most staged of numbers to grace the stage during season five. And that tops off the list of references this week, most of which are musical in nature:
[+] The title song is from the episode that launched this story in the first place, 5x11, "The Open Book." It's also one of the two shippiest numbers that was performed on the show, and I chose it for that very reason. I figured, if the producers could stage something that exploits the natural chemistry between Ryan and Stacy [the actors], then I could use it for equally nefarious purposes in this story :P I think stacking the "Say You Will" performance on top of "Never Gonna Give You Up," topped off by (SPOILER ALERT) the recreation of the final performance in Dirty Dancing sends a pretty darn strong message about the state of this relationship, for good or ill. (And believe me, there will be both sets of circumstances, positive and negative, as the news about Ryan and Stacy's romance continues to spread.)
Here are the performances mentioned in this chapter:
(If you look closely, you'll actually see Ryan giving Brian the stink-eye at the very beginning of this performance, which is what ultimately sealed the deal on the way I wrote his reaction to doing this number in the story.)
Help! (embedding disabled - boo!)
[+] Two songs were inserted into the piece because I think the would've made damn fine "end of the semester yay!" choices for the final Saturday night concert of the year, excepting, of course, the New Year's Eve concert.
...which Fergie covered as a duet with Charlotte Church on the latter's talk show in 2007:
[+] The Billboard charts were printed on a weekly basis as part of Billboard magazine in the days before the internet. I simply allowed the kids to follow the same method I did when choosing which songs to perform during the big NYE event. I really was surprised by the relative strength of popularity of the Dirty Dancing soundtrack - the first of its kind, I believe, to chart as long and as high as it did - but I certainly remember singing all the songs from it when I was a kid because it really was everywhere.
I had actually planned to use "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" as the big blowout number for the NYE concert about two months before the Black Eyed Peas' first single from their new album dropped, although obviously I didn't get the chance to actually produce and polish this chapter until now :P But I certainly had a laugh about it the first time I heard "Dirty Bit" on the radio, and it merely reinforced my notion that it'd be the perfect song for Ryan and Stacy to sing, since Stacy actually sang it, LOL. I simply took it as another sign that the universe was firmly on my side.
The next chapter of this fic will be the much-anticipated Big Date. Amusingly enough, my 50th reviewer requested a romantic Ryan/Stacy fic as her gift, so I'm getting a double dose of the good stuff right now. It's actually been quite fun trying to plan two very different dates, but that's definitely what NYC is good for :D
Stay tuned! Lots of good stuff is headed this way, and I know I can't wait! :D
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And I ALMOST made that 50th reviewer mark. It's very kind of you to do a giftfic for her. Good luck!
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LOL, neither can I. I promise, when I first started this story, I had no idea it was going to be this long or involved! o.O I don't know if there are going to be another 90K words added to it or not, but I feel like I'm half finished with the storyline. My plan is to write out the entire school year - and, well, we're only at Christmas now :)
Is it wrong that I thought about listening to Christmas music last night to put myself in the mood to write this Big Date?
And I ALMOST made that 50th reviewer mark. It's very kind of you to do a giftfic for her. Good luck!
*nods* I had a bit of trepidation when I decided to do this, because what if it was someone who didn't have a log in and I had no way to access them? I was going to put a note on this chapter, telling them to get in contact with me, but luckily, it worked out - she also commented on my LJ, so I was able to snag her there.
The gift!fic is going to be SO MUCH FUN, OMFG. Lots of angsty romance with a side order of protective bigsis!Renee. I'm almost ready to write it, that's how quickly this idea developed and how excited I am about its possibilities. And its been a lot of fun just corresponding with this person - I feel like I've made a new fandom friend, hehe! =)
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OMIGOSH woman! That's quite a plan. Wow, I'm intrigued to see where you take the story then.
And its been a lot of fun just corresponding with this person - I feel like I've made a new fandom friend, hehe! =)
I'm happy she came to you on LJ! It's always good to make new friends, especially in such a small fandom. :D
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The second half of the story will deal with wrapping up the Julliard storyline, Stacy's birthday, and the prom, and will end during the summer vacation. I'm quite excited about the things coming up, because its been awhile since I've been able to really work on them and flesh them out.
The chapter after the big date? Is one I've had in my writing notebook for at least six months, LOL. And I know I have notes about the prom storyline lurking in there too, somewhere :P
I'm happy she came to you on LJ! It's always good to make new friends, especially in such a small fandom. :D
With the exception of Michael Glickman (and Dawne, to a certain extent), everyone I've met via this fandom has been absolutely, totally, and completely awesome. I just can't quite get over it, after having to deal with IY for so long, where you practically expect your friends to eventually stab you in the back, you know?
I love chatting with people about this show. It's been amazing to watch the fandom gain steam over these last few months and see more people come out of the woodwork. If my fic encourages that in any way? LOL I'm game! :D
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Having only two nutballs to deal with in the fandom is actually pretty good, considering. LOL.
I felt the same when I went to the Heroes fandom. The crazies were manageable, and boy was it a relief to get away from the IY fandom when shit hit the fan.
The great thing is you can always come back. Unfortunately something, or someone, always manages to drive you away again. If we didn't love IY so much it may not be worth it. :D
If my fic encourages that in any way? LOL I'm game! :D
And that is the best reward ever!
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Welcome to my head-canon, LOL. Rewriting an entire season of a show is more involved than I bargained for, but man is it fun. World-building is one of my favorite things to do in original!fic, so being able to bring that over here and work within the confines of fanfic? It's so much fun.
I hope everyone is enjoying the ride! I've not really heard otherwise. I'm shocked at how many people seem to be getting really into it, because that's definitely never happened before - it seems I'm always Doing It Wrong, so this is a very pleasant experience, to say the least. :P
Having only two nutballs to deal with in the fandom is actually pretty good, considering. LOL.
Seriously. I can count the number of KI fans I know of on one hand, but the cool people still far outweigh the crazy ones.
The great thing is you can always come back. Unfortunately something, or someone, always manages to drive you away again. If we didn't love IY so much it may not be worth it. :D
Definitely! Though I'd haveta say, if I didn't have stories to finish (or stories to finish reading), I probably wouldn't go back voluntarily. I mean, not until you get out of it do you realize how crazy and messed up the fandom really is. I'm grateful for the sane people I met there, and they're just about the only reason I've still got a toe in and some interest in not abandoning my projects.