Backstreet stories put fans in action

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Jan 04, 2000 Source: Star-Ledger (City unknown) Submitted By: LLa7149622@aol.com Backstreet Dreams By Lisa Rose Holly's got it all. She's in with the most happening crowd at school, her boyfriend worships her and a 4.0 GPA is guaranteed to get her straight into Stanford. But then, she meets Nick, the flaxen-haired, puppy-eyed boy of her dreams while on summer vacation. There's an instant rapport between the two, as they share their mutual obsessions with world history, scuba diving and Beanie Babies. He's the type of guy you'd ditch it all for. But there's something nagging at her. Somehow, this handsome stranger looks familiar and she's got a feeling he's hiding something. One day, he drops the bomb. "I've got something to tell you. I'm a Backstreet Boy." Nick confesses. This is the latest entry on Holly's fan fiction page, a sprawling Web site that includes six near-novel-length sagas based around the Backstreet Boys. You'll find Holly's page along with thousands of other narratives through Yahoo's Backstreet Boys Fan Fiction index on the Internet (http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music/Artists/By_Genre/Rock_and_Pop/Backstreet_Boys/Fan_Fiction/). There's novels, plays, film scripts, poems and short stories all inspired by the teen popsters and mostly penned by girls between the ages of 12 and 18. Say what you will about their music, the Backstreet Boys are getting middle school and high school kids to flex their writing muscle outside the classroom. Most of the tales are PG-rated fantasies with plots centering on friendships-turned-love affairs, all-too-brief food court encounters and bizarre love triangles, with two Boys duking it out over the narrator. But there are quirkier selections such as the "Ode to the Backstreet Boys Toe Jam" and "Warriors of the Silver Millennium" which casts the fabulous five in a "Blade Runner" universe of crystal time machines and mechanical cats. Some scribes even take the challenge of writing from a Backstreet point of view, narrating first person as Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell or Nick Carter. Net Fan Fiction isn't exactly a new phenomenon. Computer-savvy Trekkies and "Star Wars" followers have been posting online chapters to those space epics since the days of text-based browsers. But with the Web now a mainstream reality, the fan fiction phenomenon has expanded beyond sci-fi musings. After all, the Internet is an outlet to indulge your most vivid daydreams with the comfort of anonymity. It only makes sense that teens would turn the Web to wax about the Backstreet Boys, custom-made fantasy fodder. Of course, there are some competitors out there. N' Sync, Ricky Martin and 98 Degrees all have fan fiction sites. And there's two anti-Britney Spears pages, where Britney-haters imagine the busty teen queen's untimely demise. Comment on this item. Next Item: They're like gods to us Prev Item: Being a Backstreet Boy