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 |  A hub for the "Book of Masks" universe. |
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The Interactives "The Book of Masks"  : A high school student discovers a grimoire that can make magical disguises."The Wandering Stars" : Sequel to "The Book of Masks.""Student Bodies" : A high school student is turned into a blue goo that can possess people.For non-WdC Members "The Book of Masks: Archives" : Dodges the "Servers Busy" barrier!"The Book of Masks (Abridged)" : Introductory storylines for new readers.Community "BoM/TWS Message Forum" : Community for readers of the interactives."BoM/TWS/SB Wiki" : Notes and documentation for authors. Spoilers!Current Polls None The Latest 5/1: Interactive: "Armed to Strike from the Shadows" 5/1: Public: "Armed to Strike from the Shadows"
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| The poll was pretty close for most of the day, but "Just cruise as Kelly" finally broke out to win decisively. There were also a couple of GP votes for it, so the result wasn't even close. I'll get to work on the sequel after posting this note, so I can publish it tomorrow. Meantime, here's a new "Student Bodies" chapter: "A School Survey" . |
| Today's chapter is up: Interactive: "The Kid Sister" Public: "The Kid Sister" The sequel won't appear until Friday at the earliest, because readers get to vote on what the sequel will be: [Poll completed and deleted] A quick note on the "Start a plan" choice: Though the chapter ends with Will/Kelly thinking about guys he could get Kelly in trouble with, there will be opportunities for other plans. Earlier in the chapter, for instance, he briefly wonders what Blake would think (likely nothing good) if Kelly showed up at the Warehouse. So there are a number of plans that Will could come up with, not only those he's thinking about at the end of the chapter. If "Start a plan" gets chosen, readers will have a say in which plan gets adopted. Tomorrow, to keep the flow of new material coming, there will be a sequel in "Student Bodies," to "The Many Faces of You" |
| Today brings the conclusion of the most recent storyline. Tomorrow I resume the branch I anticipated last week: "Girls, In and Out of Character" But it's not going to proceed in a straight line this time, either. Tomorrow's chapter will end in a "Continued," but the chapter after that will end with a choice, and I've decided to run a poll there. In fact, I'm going to run a poll each time that we hit a choice in that branch. And that means that I won't be able to publish every day because I'll have to skip some days while waiting for the poll results. You'll still be getting new content, though. One of my commissions is to continue a branch in "Student Bodies," and the day after I post a poll I will publish a "Student Bodies" chapter instead. I figure that SB is different enough from BoM that it won't be disorienting for daily readers to flip between them. And it won't last long. I only plan on writing six more sequels to "Girls, In and Out of Character," and at most four of them will get polls. |
| I wrote the following in reply to something that a correspondent wrote in an email—that correspondent can out himself in the comments if he wants—and decided to post it in the blog, as it might be of mild interest to my readers by shedding light on where I like to work in BoM, and why. ... For me it's not a matter of having a "wheelhouse," or of having characters or groups that I feel more comfortable writing. (Though I am more comfortable with some than with others.) If I stick to certain branches and arenas (like those I'm currently working in) and avoid returning to old ones, it's more likely because I am creatively "done" with them. Preface to help clarify what follows: Robert Heinlein (I have read) wrote story drafts that resembled interactives. That is, he would improvise his stories, writing "what happened next" until he hit a cul-de-sac out of which he could not think his way. Then, instead of abandoning the story or starting over, he would back up to the point where (he felt) it had gone wrong, and strike out in a new direction. Again, from that divergent point, he would improvise until he hit a cul-de-sac. And again, he would back up to find another point for a divergence, and plunge onward again. And so forth and on, until he finally hit the words "The End." So (if I understand this right) if you laid out the complete set of drafts for one of his novels, you would get a structure like BoM, with a single long trunk extending from first chapter to last, and a lot of branches shooting off it (and shooting off each other) terminating with unresolved, alternate plots. Back on topic: BoM is not and never will be a novel. It is a playground (for me, at least), but I think my creative brain does its stuff by striving to create coherent, first-to-last storylines. Every once in a while it succeeds. The first time was with the branch where Will went to work for Blackwell, met Frank and Joe, had to fight an anima-possessed Frank, and ended up joining the Stellae. [Terminal chapter: "New Spells, and a New Complication" ] The second time was a sequel to that story, where Will trained in Los Angeles with Kali while having adventures in London, Saratoga Falls, and Cuthbert. [Terminal chapter: "Christmas Spirits" ] There are other places that also have something like a beginning-middle-end.I never return to these areas. I have no interest in returning to them. I'm not interested in finding out what alternate thing happens if Will apprentices himself to Blackwell, then meets Frank and Joe, because I've told a story where that happens, and I'm happy with the way it turns out. It feels finished. Well, that's one reason I don't return to an area. The other reason is that I just get frustrated with it and abandon it as unprofitable. That's much more common. If I'm playing around lots (at this time) with Will and Sydney, with Will and the sophomores, and with Will and the YouTube crew, it's because I'm not frustrated with them yet; but also because I've not stumbled onto a complete "story" yet either. Will I find one? I've no idea. But I'm having fun until I do—or until I'm not having fun anymore. Am I "more comfortable" with these characters, these groups, these areas? Rather the opposite, I think. I'm dissatisfied with them, because they haven't reached a state of completion, but I'm not so dissatisfied that I want to chuck the whole thing and go look for something else to do. |
| So, is this the day that I'm supposed to announce my plan for the year? Do I even have a plan for the year? Last year I broke my writing schedule up into monthly jobs: one month of writing BoM, and two months writing other kinds of fiction. It didn't work out as well as I would have liked, but I did manage to write one novel, and to fuss around with some other stuff. I'd like to do something similar this year—and I'd like to work some more on those half-finished projects—but I think I want to break the year up up into shorter increments. One of the problems last time, I think, was that the blocs of time were too big. I didn't even write as much BoM as I wanted to or could have, because I didn't have the enthusiasm to fill a whole month with it. For the other projects it was even worse. Some of those two-month blocs felt like an endless desert, empty of feature and enervating to the spirit. So this year I'm going to be more flexible, both in plan and in spirit. I am still going to plan things out in blocs, but I'm going to make the blocs smaller and I'm not going to designate them or their contents until I'm ready to turn to them. That way (I hope) I can stretch out writing cycles that are being productive, and can shut them off when I feel my attention or interest flagging badly. * * * And since today is the first of the year, I suppose I'd better get started. So I hereby declare the first fifteen days of January (at least) to be a BoM-writing period. I have one branch that I promised you guys I would write, and I also have two commissions to fulfill. That's about sixteen chapters I still have to write, which is easily doable in fifteen days. And there are two other people I've heard from who have said they are interested in commissioning stuff from me; if they set something up with me within the next two weeks, I might make all of January a BoM project. * * * In the meantime, two other pieces of business. First, the new chapter: Interactive: "Magic on the Loose?" Public: "Magic on the Loose?" Second, the polls results. "Kelly O'Brien" and "One of Bridget's girlfriends" were neck and neck all through the voting. But although "Bridget's girlfriends" won the Free Vote, a largish GP vote came in for "Kelly O'Brien" that tipped the victory the other way. So that's the chapter that I will write and publish. My thanks to everyone who voted and played. |
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