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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 5/4: Interactive: "Getting to the Root of Things" 5/4: Public: "Getting to the Root of Things"
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| I'm sorry, guys. I will start setting a timer or something to remind me that I have to publish. The trouble is that Minecraft has come out with major updates lately, and I'm totally distracting myself with that. |
| I've got some people to thank for GPs; some of them dropped some major coin on me: *Achillesredux * Kenny * Easy * Tal Thanks, guys! |
| Yeah, I missed posting yesterday. It was Easter, there was stuff going on, I got distracted, and it was late before I remembered I needed to post something. So I held off a day. And I've skipped over to a closely related branch. It's still Will and Caleb dealing with the sophomores, and Will is still trying to find a new identity. In this branch he's settled on becoming Lindsay Cho, who is one of the sophomores. She's the least friendly of the bunch, though, and Will has been worried that she'll catch on to the fact that her friends have started playing around with the masks. So he figures the best way to keep her from finding out is by becoming her. As "Leaving as Lindsay" (public) + "Leaving as Lindsay" (interactive) opens, he is waking in Dane Matthias's bedroom after getting Lindsay's memories, but he still has to change his body ... |
| Did yesterday's main entry get lost in the flood of ticky-tacky add-ons? Here it is again: "Chez Colson" (public) + "Chez Colson" (interactive). And here is today's chapter: "The Party Boy" (public) + "The Party Boy" (interactive). And there were some more little chapters that I overlooked yesterday. They've been added too. |
| Did yesterday's main entry get lost in the flood of ticky-tacky add-ons? Here it is again: "Chez Colson" (public) + "Chez Colson" (interactive). And here is today's chapter: "The Party Boy" (public) + "The Party Boy" (interactive). And there were some more little chapters that I overlooked yesterday. They've been added too. |
| Yesterday brought the last poll in the story of Will and Sydney, but it doesn't bring the last chapter. I will be continuing from the spot where left off, but I have to write something first. Meanwhile ... First, the storyline I launched yesterday continues with "Chez Colson" (public) + "Chez Colson" (interactive). Second, I will be posting [EDIT: "have finished posting"] a large number of alternate choices following on "Body Swapping as a Solution" , each one wending down to the point where the action can resume.** There's no plot development in any of these chapters—they either just repeat material you've already seen, or they just further winnow the choices—but I wanted to get all of them onto the record.If you are interested in continuing any of the storylines I've set up, go ahead. (That's the reason I have posted all these branching nodes.) But you should probably contact me before you do. Most of them are wide open and not intended to lead anywhere specific, but there are a few where I mean for certain ... replacements ... to be made. ** I won't be posting those chapters in the Archives, though; only in the interactive. These chapters will be showing up in the Archives only if or when the branches they establish get continued. |
| Okay, so as promised yesterday, there are actually two new chapters from me today. One of them is very short and does nothing except set up another round of choices in the last storyline, and it's only there to set up a poll: "Invalid Item" . Like yesterday's poll, not all the interactive choices are included. Here is the actual chapter: "A Team Play" (public) + "A Team Play" (interactive)Meanwhile, as promised, here is the start of another storyline: "Anyone for Tennis?" (public) + "Anyone for Tennis?" (interactive). Background: Will needs a new identity, but at the same time he is wondering about how Gordon Black—who unwillingly has been thrust into the form and life of "Will Prescott"—is handling things. So he has decided to take over the life of someone that Gordon/Will has started hanging out with.Oh, and yes, yesterday's poll only ran for 19 hours because I was late getting it up. But the winning choice was beating the other two-to-one, and that wasn't going to turn around in five hours. |
| And to no one's great surprise, the "coven" option won yesterday's poll. Here's today's chapter: "Coveting a Coven" (public) + "Coveting a Coven" (interactive) and the associated poll: [Poll completed and deleted].Now, here's the thing about the poll: It only includes two of the four options that appear at the end of the chapter. That's for a couple of reasons. First, the two choices you have to vote between will lead to a further winnowing of options; the other two choices would dump directly into new action. Second, I am polling for a storyline to write, and the choices I am offering are leading to characters that I've already decided I want to use. Meanwhile, we are past the point where I've composed any additional story, so there can't be any more "wrong choices." We purely in a winnowing phase now. That's going to be boring—today's chapter already repeats material that you've seen elsewhere—and the upcoming chapters are going to be very short. So starting tomorrow I am going to move into another section of the story to publish new chapters so that you'll get some genuinely new material. But I will continue to publish short chapters and polls in this section until we reach point where the action can resume. |
| So, yesterday's chapter—"The End of One Road" —turns out to have been a wrong turn, the first since the beginning of the present storyline. Don't worry, I'll work on the branch that you chose. But today we back up one and take the path that you avoided: "Body Swapping as a Solution" (public) + "Body Swapping as a Solution" (interactive). Here's the associated poll: [Completed and deleted] Yes, this is the start of a long series of choices. I'll have more to say about it all tomorrow. |
| So, yesterday's poll result was a runaway. Let's see how things go when there are four to choose from: [Poll completed and deleted] Oh, yeah, spoilers. You should read today's chapters first: "The End of One Road" (public) + "The End of One Road" (chapter). |
| So I hope the last couple of chapters weren't too ... uh ... attenuated. There was a spell that needed performing; some facts about golems that needed putting on the record; and Will finally getting comfortable with the idea of being with Sydney. It could have been longer—I actually cut out a full chapter that (on rereading it) I realized was just me as an author getting used to things. But here we are entering a crisis point: "Will Versus the Competition" (public) + "Will Versus the Competition" (interactive). You can vote on the first step toward attacking the crisis here: [Poll completed and deleted] |
| New chapters—"The Basics on Baphomet" (public) + "The Basics of Baphomet" (interactive)—and a new poll: [Completed and deleted]. Yesterday's was pretty close. I wonder what a three-way contest will yield. |
| So, Sydney's had another bright idea. You can read about it in today's chapter—"How to Replace a Stepfather" (public) + "How to Replace a Stepfather" (interactive)—and vote on whether to act on it in today's poll: [Completed and deleted]. |
| So, it's been a few weeks since I've thanked people for the GPs they've tipped me. I held off on posting thanks until after I'd finished posting chapters in "Student Bodies," because I was getting tips all during that run. But that run is completed, it's Saturday, and I've got a lot of people to thank: * Tal * Clockworkorange * dreadnaught * Puuuuuth * TheSkyMarshall * Wordsmitty * Easy * Achillesredux * proteus359 * araki * Feros * smitch GPs are tiny things in terms of money, but they are very big morale-boosters. My thanks to all you guys for them. |
| Yesterday concluded my side jaunt into "Student Bodies" ; today I return to Will's adventures with Sydney McGlynn in "Stuff Gets Real" (public) + "Stuff Gets Real" (interactive), which is the choice you guys voted for. The same deal will hold as the last time I was in this branch: Each time we come to a choice, I'll let you guys vote on it in a poll, and you'll get the chapter you voted for. If you vote to continue the branch I actually wrote, we'll continue down it. If you vote for the other one, you'll still get the chapter you voted for, but the next day I'll return to the real storyline. But I'll put the branch you voted onto my "to do" list. Here is the next poll: [Poll completed and deleted.] |
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