A while back, I started writing the first in a series about a boyband who rise to fame via a reality TV talent show. Yeah, I know it sounds familiar to the One Direction story, but I’m trying to make it different as much as I can.
I want to write it to show some of the things that these lads go through – the constant working, the media attention (good and bad), and the insane attention from fans, particularly on Social media. I will admit, being a One Direction fan (judge me lol) has seriously inspired me to write this series as some of the things I have seen fans say about them was amazingly sweet and heartwarming (especially when they were going through really bad times in their personal lives), the fans have raised so much money for charity in the name of the guys, and been generally supportive. Then, there’s the other side of the fandom.
Some ‘fans’ are absolutely appalling. They are disgustingly rude and inappropriate in comments on Twitter and Instagram, they demand attention from the guys, and try to force others to do the same and see things that aren’t there. Because of sites such as Twitter, fans have a whole new sense of ‘ownership’. (That’s not quite the right word, but I’m going with it.) Because the guys were always so open in their interaction with fans on Twitter, and open about their personal lives on Instagram, many fans took this to believe they constantly deserved more. The demands for attention from their idols became insane and crass, the request for follows lost their sweetness and endearing qualities, and in general, there was a sour tone across the fandom. This cause some of the band members to withdraw from social media, which made things worse, but I don’t blame them for doing so. The air of “we made them famous, we deserve more” was strong in the fandom.
Along with the insane positivity, I wanted to show the different sides to fame (as I see it) and how it could affect the person in the public eye.
As I started writing, I automatically thought about publishing the book, but was unsure how to market it as it doesn’t fall under any of the usual umbrellas I write under. I left it sitting (unfinished) on a USB stick for almost a year before I decided to post it over on Wattpad. I hoped to get honest feedback, and to get the impetus to finish the book and move on to the next in the series.
So far, six chapters have been posted, and I would love more feedback (don’t we all?). If you’d like to read it, click on the picture below (designed by the amazing Clare Dugmore) to head over to Wattpad. Feel free to leave a comment telling me what you’ve liked and disliked so I can make notes on how to improve the story. I’m hoping to dive back into it soon to finish it, or at lease get more chapters written before I run out of content to post.
Comments