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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 4/25: Interactive: "The Emerging Backstory" 4/25: Public: "The Emerging Backstory"
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| "The World Smashers" (public) + "The World Smashers" (interactive) Today's chapter is a one-off, and except for a non-canonical extra that should be coming soon, will be the last until I resume publishing and writing in December. I'll admit that not much happens in it. It's only there to set up a commission. That commission will start appearing in December when I return to BoM, but while I am publishing those I will want something else BoM-related to work on. We've had a lot of polls recently, as I've asked which branches should get continued. So let's have another poll to tell me which of those choices you want me to prioritize. Depending on which choice gets voted on, there may be further polls. [Poll completed and deleted]: "Will Plus Jenny" wins with 50%. I'm going to let this poll run through the end of the month, so it will be open awhile. |
| So, today brings the last of the alternate timeline: "The Wrong Guy for the Wrong Girl" (public) + "The Wrong Guy for the Wrong Girl" (interactive)There are seven more chapters after this one, but I don't know when they'll appear. This marks the third time that someone who can plausibly answer to the name "Chelsea Cooper" has gotten mixed up with someone who can plausibly answer to the name "Gary Chen." Why so many times? Hypothesis #1: I'm just not very imaginative and keep returning to characters and relationships I've played with in the past. Hypothesis #2: I know these two characters inside and out, and I know that in certain very special circumstances they will fly at and into each other. I'll leave it to you guys to decide which is the superior hypothesis. I'll also leave it to you guys (and the one who commissioned it) to decide if you prefer this evolution to the official one. |
| So, many moons ago I was commissioned to write the story arc that would begin with "Operation Freaky Friday" and proceed through "Anne and the Air Head" I had to take a break in the middle of it when I ran out of days for writing BoM chapters, and when I came back to it I rather foolishly resumed writing (at "Double Dealing and Double Dates" ) without studying the original commission description too carefully. As a result, I wholly forgot that it was supposed to end in one particular way, and by following my instincts I ended it in quite a different fashion. Fortunately, I did look at the commission contract before publishing, and when I realized what I'd done, I put aside the ending I'd first composed and wrote up another, one more in line with the original commission. That's the branch that ends with "Anne and the Air Head" .Today, though, I return to the point of divergence to give you the three chapters that I originally ended the commission with. It takes off at the end of "Trading Confidences" : Chelsea and Yumi have been successfully switched. As the next morning dawns, Will wants to go check up on the new Yumi, but his friends need his help. Today's chapter—"The Misplaced Girlfriend" (public) + "The Misplaced Girlfriend" (interactive)—shows what happens when he goes off to find the new Yumi. |
| Today's chapter— "Gemini Falls" (public) + "Gemini Falls" (interactive)—brings an end to the branch that details the infiltration and piecemeal conversion of the Brown family. I've been wanting to write something like that for a long time, and a long time ago someone wrote me to say he was surprised that more hadn't been done with a MILF. Well, I guess we can scratch that off BoM's bucket list. Originally, I ended yesterday's chapter ("Strategery" ) with Sydney proposing the five plans that now end "Gemini Falls" . That's the best place to suspend the branch, but it left the plan inside the house still unfinished. So at the last minute I did a quick rewrite so as to push that choice a little further back. It does mean that the sequels to the other choices at the end of "Strategery" will probably be almost exact reprints of "Gemini Falls." It also means that "Gemini Falls" might not be the chapter that launches sequels. But if/when I do return here, I do like the idea of Will and Sydney having for a day or two to pretend to be brothers. |
| I thought today's chapter—"Strategery" (public) + "Strategery" (interactive)—would be the last in the branch. But I wound up doing a revision that would let me push on ahead by one more chapter, so we're not done here yet. You'll get the last one tomorrow. After that, to anticipate: I'll be publishing a three-chapter stub in an earlier storyline, so that the commissioner of that story can see an untaken path that I wrote before revising to send it somewhere else. Then there will be a one-chapter one-off to set up another commission that I'm supposed to be writing but won't publish until December. |
| Again, it was a short round of Plot Plinko, with "Show the book to Jenny" being the winner. I will add that one to the list of branches to work on when I resume writing for BoM. Thanks to everyone who participated. |
| The tie-breaking GPs in Wednesday's poll went to "The Search for Support" , so that's the one the new poll is for: [Completed and deleted]. It sends us down a storyline that rugal composed. EDIT: Wow, there were just all kinds of problems with the poll link. Well, I was in a hurry. |
| Yesterday's poll is still open because there's a tie: [Poll completed and deleted]. Sudden death will resolve it on it being broken by someone, either with a free vote or some GPs. Meanwhile, I have written the last chapter for this branch, and it will come on Sunday. EDIT: ... And finally a tie breaker came in with GPs. But I'll until tomorrow to put up a new poll. |
| New poll: [Poll completed and deleted] New chapter: "Sunday Dress Up" (public) + "Sunday Dress Up" (interactive) |
| Well, that didn't go the way I expected. I was expecting to get a nice, long series of polls out of this. Something to keep us interested and occupied during the 45-day hiatus. I wasn't expecting you all to vote instantly for the one unwritten choice at the end of the first chapter. I promise I will honor your choice—I was intending to do something with it anyway—but I still want to find an undeveloped branch deeper in the interactive to work on. So let's start over again: [Poll completed and deleted] |
| I am just about done writing new chapters for BoM: today if I'm in shape to do it after getting a crown replaced, I will finish composing the 30th chapter I intend to publish, which will fulfill my September commitment to give you guys a month's worth of content. I will even give you a bonus, as I will have to write at least two or maybe three chapters beyond that to get the current branch to a stopping point. You will be getting new chapters at least through Saturday, and maybe Sunday. I've written some additional chapters beyond the month's commitment, which means that I have a running start on December's chapters when that month comes. And I may be back early, in November, with some more chapters that I have been commissioned to write. But to keep us all interested during the hiatus-to-come, how about we do some polling? It's been a long time since we've played "Plot Plinko", and I think I'd like to let you guys pick an area for me to write in. "Plot Plinko" is the long way of doing it, but it means we're likely to end up in an area that hasn't been explored. To review the rules: We start at the beginning of the interactive, and you guys vote for which choice you want to see the plot continue with. The next day we advance to the winning chapter and vote for the next plot choice. And so on and so forth, until we reach a dead end, which is where I will pick things up and continue. First poll is here: [Poll completed and deleted]. Further rules, describing voting procedures and how to give your vote extra heft with GPs, are described there. EDIT: To answer a question in the comments, it doesn't matter if the choices lead to chapters I wrote or which other people wrote—all will be available as choices to vote for. The idea is to find a place that the voters want to go. * * * Meanwhile, I have to thank thatdude and an anonymous benefactor for dropping way too many GPs on me yesterday, and for the generous words they appended to the gifts. It's been a long time since I've thanked the people who have sent in small tips as well, but I know I have to thank Easy as well for the small but consistent donations he has passed along to me. They really do lift the spirits! |
| New chapters are up! I've decided to pick up one of the places we left Will and his girlfriend Sydney. They have decided to create their own Brotherhood of Baphomet by hijacking the bodies of some of their classmates and turning them into magical robots that they can inhabit. In the branch I've picked to continue, Will (who is being persecuted over his romance with Sydney) decides that the school's "Caveman Club" would have the kind of beefy guys he wants control of. If you are reading the interactive, start with "Clubbing a Caveman" , which is a short one, and proceed on to "Rhapsody in Brown" .If you're reading the public chapters, you'll have to pick up the story a little sooner with "Group Activities" , where Will acquires some new troubles. That will lead in to "Any Club That Would Have You as a Member" , which combines several short chapters into one, before fetching up in "Rhapsody in Brown" .This is a branch I had started a couple of months ago, but it died in the bud with "Rhapsody in Brown," and I'll have to hustle a little to stay ahead of you. At the moment, I have only 2/3 of the sequel chapter written. EDIT: And now I've got the chapters for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday written. Three cheers and a tiger for me, if I do say so myself. |
| Well, the results of yesterday's poll kind of surprised me: You voted to move the sophomores up to the senior level. But in thinking about it, I can see it leading to some fun stuff, so I'm very happy to respect the results. But it means no more polling. Meanwhile, today's chapters—"Twenty-Five Places to Hide" (public) + "Twenty-Five Places to Hide" (interactive)—bring us to the end of the current branch. I would have posted another chapter in the line if we had continued polling down through yesterday's chapter, but I guess I'll have to poll you some other time on which direction you'd want things to go from here.Do you get a chapter tomorrow? One way or another you will. I just have to figure out which branch I want to pick up. |
| ... for another day: [Poll completed and deleted] Also, another chapter: * "Blasts from the Past" (public)* "Blasts from the Past" (interactive} |
| ... a new poll [Completed and deleted] ... and new chapters: "The Last Day of Life as Lindsay?" (public) + "The Last Day of Life as Lindsay?" (interactive). |
| I am supposedly working on a non-BoM project, but I am still working on BoM in odd moments because I would like to have a backlog of chapters in place when I resume it in December. The current storyline is one I want to continue, but I'd like to give the readers a say in where it goes. Besides, it's fun taking polls—I like knowing what you want. So let's have some polls to see what you'd prefer to see in this branch. I'm going to give us a running start, though. The first poll doesn't have to do with the choices at the end of today's chapter, but with the choices at an earlier chapter. We'll then move down the branch until we reach the terminal point. The first poll is for "The Popular Kids" : Will is disguised as Lindsay, and he has just learned that Andy Jensen, who is disguised as Andrew Webb, want to date Lindsay. Does Will go along with this, or does he look for another option?There are two ways of casting a vote: Free poll: To vote in this poll, go here—[Poll completed and deleted] GP poll: To give your choice more weight, click on one of the chapters below send me a tip through the form at the bottom of the chapter. * Start dating Andrew: [Voting choice deleted per completion of poll] * Find another option: "The Complicated Love Life of Lindsay Cho" In the final vote tally, each vote in the Free Poll will be worth 1/2 the average of the GPs contributed during the round. GPs voted for losing choices will be refunded in full to those who voted. GPs voted for the winning choice will be divided among those who voted for losing choices, in proportion to their share of GPs voted for losing choices. In other words, if you vote GPs for a losing choice, you will get your GPs back and will likely collect a dividend proportional to the size of your GP vote. If you vote for the winning choice, your GPs will count as a kind of commission payment for seeing that storyline continued. The poll closes at 3:00 PM (EDT) on Wednesday. |
| So, the story resumes elsewhere: "The Homework Party" (public) + "The Homework Party" (interactive). Yesterday's entry gives the backstory. Oh, and I'm sorry if I quickened interest yesterday with another new chapter, only to disappoint y'all with the news that Saratoga Falls has acquired some new neighbors. I tried folding those details into the "Settings" chapter, but it was already full so I had to make a new one. |
| Today's chapter -- "Anne and the Air Head" (public) + "Anne and the Air Head" (interactive) -- brings that thread to a conclusion for now. Tomorrow I jump over to a very different place: a sequel to "The Complicated Love Life of Lindsay Cho" (public). Background: Will and Caleb are entangled with a bunch of sophomores, and have been working to give those boys some new identities while taking new identities of their own. (This has been after a number of recently concluded adventures.) Will has been worried that one of the boys' friends, Lindsay Cho, will discover the body swapping, and in order to keep Lindsay under control has secretly swapped lives with her. But Lindsay's friends have also decided to keep close tabs on her, and have hit on the plan of having one of their disguised friends try to become Lindsay's boyfriend. Will has been fighting off their attentions while working with Caleb (also hidden in the sophomore class with him). But Will has had just about enough, and has been casting about for some way of handling it. EDIT: Meanwhile, I have still been writing BoM chapters. I think I'll wait till Monday to make a fresh start on the project. |
| So I sat down yesterday to write chapter three of the new book, and realized in short order that: 1. While writing the first two chapters I had invented more than was on the page. 2. What I had invented but not written would be necessary for the two chapters that were to follow. So I realized I was going to have to revise those first two chapters, and maybe even throw them out and start over. And after I realized that I realized I was probably going to have to do this multiple times with the first few chapters of the book. Because I am literally making everything up as I go along, and so am apt to create stuff that will be needed in the chapters that are already written. This is probably another reason not to post chapters until I've got things well under way. So I didn't write a new chapter yesterday, I just daydreamed out the sort of stuff that I'm likely to need. Then I wrote another chapter for BoM. |
| So in my last entry I said I would be publishing chapters of the new project. I've got two of them written, but I'm going to wait until I've got a week's worth before I start publishing. That's to give me a little bit of a buffer in case I change directions early on in the project. I'm not totally writing into the dark with this one. I've an idea for what it's about, where it's going to go, what sort of obstacles the characters are going to meet, and how it's going to resolve. I've even got a pretty good idea about how long it's going to be. (I haven't set a word count target, but I get the impression it's going to be about 75K words, which is about 45 BoM chapters.) Now it's just a matter of making up the stuff to go inside that shell. |
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