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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 4/23: Interactive: "The Faltering Will" 4/23: Public: "The Faltering Will"
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| Oof. Okay, yeah, so I disappeared for two weeks. Nothing huge, but there was some stuff going on that made it hard to post or visit. Appointments, favors, errands, just a lot of little shit, all hitting at exactly the hours of the day that ruined things for me. Was it 14 solid days of it? No, but something would happen every few days, and when I was out the other side of one commitment I'd see something coming up in a day or two that I knew would ruin things again. It just seemed easier to step away completely and let the storms blow over. I'm actually back earlier than I thought I'd be. Originally I had a weekend commitment that was going to keep my sidelined, but it got cancelled at the last minute yesterday afternoon. So here I am, picking things up where I last left off: * Interactive: "The Face Factory" * Public: "The Face Factory" |
| I have sixteen chapters written in this branch, but I'm going to break off here with— * Interactive: "The Games That Some Girls Play" * Public: "The Games That Some Girls Play" —for the time being. There have been no masking shenanigans, and Will seems to have even forgot about the book. So what's going on? I'll leave that to you guys to speculate about: "Commentary: "The Mystery Box"" * * * Tomorrow brings a return to another section that hasn't gotten any love in awhile, though it's a lot more recent than the above. It starts at "Magic on the Loose?" Will's life has gotten very complicated. Or perhaps I should say that his lives have gotten complicated. Buckle up, because there's a lot to review. It started when he and Caleb teamed up to play with the book. They started off making masks of each other, and swapped places for a few days. But Will lipped off to Chelsea Cooper, and in order to avoid being murdered by Chelsea's thuggish boyfriend, he swapped places with said boyfriend, Gordon Black. That didn't work out so hot, because he didn't have Gordon's memories or ability on the basketball court, so he moved Gordon's mask onto that cheerful stoner, Dane Matthias, and took Dane's place. That too led to unexpected quandaries after he accidentally pissed off the drug dealers in Dane's life. Before all was said and done, Will had exposed the magic to a group of sophomores. One of them, Lindsay Cho, was determined to destroy all the magic, but the others want to play with the masks. Will has secretly gotten rid of Lindsay and has been impersonating her while Caleb is impersonating a sophomore named Michael Duncan, so that they can also hang out with their new partners. Meanwhile, the sophomores have all decided to move up two grades by stealing the identities of some people in the senior class; Will and Caleb will go with them, into new identities of their own. The latest complication has come swinging in from Eastman High School. Two of the basketball players from that school, Frank and Joe Durras, have switched over to Westside, and that set off a reorganization of the basketball squad, with some of the players being tossed off it to make room for the Durras boys. And also for "Will Prescott"—really Gordon Black—who also tried out and surprised everyone by being really good, but that's more or less just a bit of gossip. Frank and Joe Durras would be plausible and popular impersonations for Will and Caleb, because (as Caleb put it) "the school's already losing its shit over them." But there's another reason to impersonate them: They are interested in why Gordon Black (who is really Dane, and has turned into the kind of cheerful stoner that Dane was) got tossed off the basketball squad, and something he has told them has sent them to talk to Dane Matthias. "Dane" is a golem under Will's control, so he naturally told them nothing. But some pretty strange stuff happened during that interview, which might bear investigation. The branch continued from there, with Will and Caleb shying away from the Durras boys. But tomorrow will bring a divergence, where Will (at least) decides that maybe Frank and Joe should no longer be themselves, and that he and Caleb should get to be them instead. |
| Well, I told you this was going to be a short run, and here's the last chapter in it: * Interactive: "The Girl in the Palm of Your Hand" * Public: "The Girl in the Palm of Your Hand" Separately, I've posted an almost content-less "Commentary" thread in the forums about this branch: "Commentary: "Of Paralysis and Procrastination"" Why?I liked writing the commentaries on the "Doppelganger" plotline, and I liked better that it seemed to give some readers permission to ask questions and post comments of their own. So I think I'm going to start doing that from now on. In this case I don't have much to say about this very short four-chapter branchlet, but Mia is a character that other authors have sometimes mentioned an interest in. Maybe one of them will pick it up from here, or will at least say something in the forums. * * * But what about tomorrow's chapter, I hear you cry. Set the Wayback Machine for "The New Job" . Will has been experimenting with the book's spells, to the point of copying his face and mind into a blank mask, and gathering dirt for a golem. But it's expensive, and to pay for it he's taken a job at his dad's work, where he has become friendly with another Westside student who works there, Sean Mitchell.That chapter branched in two, but I deleted one of those branches (a single chapter, actually) though I moved it to the NC-BoM interactive. But tomorrow, I'll bring it back (with some serious revision) as the start of a new branch. I was pitched a story idea, and after giving it some thought I realized that this long dormant section of BoM could be reactivated as a playground for that idea. |
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