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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 5/6: Interactive: "Blackwell Has a Visitor" 5/6: Public: "Blackwell Has a Visitor"
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| Hmm. Yesterday brought "The One and Only Octopus." Today brings "S01E15 "The Dire Duo"" . I said that this was going to be a six-episode arc. Do you think you see a pattern evolving? This one is in no way or form based on an animated episode, but fans of Spider-Man's early years will probably recognize the issue I used as source material. |
| "S01E14 "The One and Only Octopus"" starts a six-episode arc. Though this treatment follows "The Rise of Doc Ock, Part 1," this is where my alternate series starts to make a radical departure from the real-world series. Flashback: I started this project because I wanted to write my own "Superior Spider-Man" arc, but when I watched the episodes leading up to it, I was struck by how abrupt and unmotivated so much of the lead-in was. The twist just sort of popped up out of nowhere. I also thought that Dr. Otto Octavius didn't get as much lead-in and development as he could have. In the real-world series, he's just an asshole who teaches at Horizon, and who is in an accident and so becomes a super-powered asshole. From there it's just a tiny step to supervillainy. Given that the "Superior Spider-Man" is in part about the redemption of Doc Ock, I thought that we needed more time to see how an asshole can turn into a supervillain without realizing it, because if he doesn't realize that's what he's turned into then it's much more plausible that he could change back. So I spent time in the first dozen episodes showing Otto being a jerk, and now it's time to show him becoming a super-powered jerk. This, by the way, is the arc that absolutely kicked my ass while I was trying to write it. It exhausted me, and when I was done with it I wrote up one more episode (another very close adaptation of an original) and then stuffed everything into a drawer. |
| Today's episode in the alternate Spider-Man series: "S01E13 "Ultimate Spider-Man"" One of the things I really don't like about the Disney XD series is the way it gives everyone spider powers. (To paraphrase The Incredibles, when everyone is Spider-Man, no one is Spider-Man.) The only difference between the boys and the girls is that the girls are bossy and humorless, where the boys are goofy and clumsy. The only difference between Peter and Miles is that Miles is slightly nerdier. So, mazel tov: They robbed Peter of distinction without adding anything pleasant to the experience. But I did kind of like it that Peter got Miles to play with, so I bent far enough to add Miles as a Spider-Man- like colleague, though I thought it would better for the character if Miles, instead of suffering an identical spider bite and getting almost identical powers, used his brains to construct gear that mimicked Spider-Man's abilities. I also thought this would be a better demonstration of his talent and brains than giving him a lot of random, plot-saving techobabble in standalone episodes. It's also better if a character goes after something and gets it instead of waiting around for the writers to just bite him. Plot-wise, this one is fairly similar to "Ultimate Spider-Man", but with significant changes to certain details. |
| Another episode in the alternate Spider-Man series: "S01E12 "School of Hard Knocks"" Like yesterday's post (and tomorrow's) it borrows heavily from a story from the real-world series, and this one is almost identical to the original. The only real change is the identity of the student who helps the heroes inside the school. He was just a rando in the original; here, by making him the Kingpin's son, I saw a way of motivating some actions that I needed to occur later in the continuity. |
| The next alternate episode in the "Spider-Man" project: "S01E11 "Halloween Moon"" This one is more of a tweak to the real-world episode, not because the original is so great, but because there just didn't seem much point in doing more with it. Wherever possible, I tried making my own project easier by taking over as much as I could from the real-world series, and this was one that I brought over wholesale and only tweaked where necessary to tie it more firmly into the alternate continuity. |
| For the five people who are reading my "Spider-Man" project, there's a new episode treatment up: "S01E10 "Spider-Man on Ice"" There's nothing really to say about it. It's based on an episode of the same name, but with the guts torn out and replaced with a new bunch of guts. |
| To recap, for those who have forgotten or don't know what I'm talking about: Last summer I tripped onto reruns of Marvel's Spider-Man, which is a Disney XD animated series that is vaguely related to the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, in the sense that it portrays Spider-Man during his teenage years. I wasn't super-impressed by what I saw, though I appreciated certain aspects of it. (And deplored other aspects.) Then I found out that Season Three (which began airing last September) was to be an adaptation of the "Superior Spider-Man" arc from a few years back, and—for reasons obvious to any reader of BoM—I thought that was right up my wheelhouse. My original plan was to write my own adaptation of that storyline, which I would post here at WdC in conjunction with the broadcast, because it would be fun to see how what I came up with compared to what the official series came up with. After reviewing the first two series in their entirety, though, I decided to do something even more ambitious. I would basically rewrite the entire series up to that point because, frankly, I was underwhelmed by some of the choices they had made in those first two seasons. So I went back and designed my own, alternate version of the series. Replotted things, brought in some new-to-the-animated-series characters, adapted or carried over certain episodes that I thought did work, and basically just set up my own version of the thing. I had written 21 out of 38 episodes when I gave up out of exhaustion, and I had posted 9 of them. You can find those nine treatments in this new folder in my portfolio: "Marvel Spider-Man: The Alternate Series" . Needless to say, I did not reach the point of writing the "Superior" storyline, which I guess has come and gone in the meantime without my seeing it.Anyhow, my plan (time and energy permitting) is to get back into that project, and to at least finish "revising" the first two seasons. I have reread and done some editing to the treatments I already wrote, and have written a new treatment (for episode 22), and starting tomorrow I will resume publishing treatments from my backlog while pushing on into new episodes. For now, anyone who is interested to see what I've come up with can go read what I've got at the above link. If you want a sense of the pictures, movement, voices, sounds, and textures that would go with the words, you can watch the first episode of the real series on Disney XD's official YouTube channel: Horizon High, Part 1 . That will also allow you to compare their version of the first episode to my version: "S01E01 "The Tilting Horizon"" . |
| Masktix and Nostrum are still posting chapters while I turn my attention elsewhere. And because I have plans to contribute to Nostrum's branch (eventually), I am getting a jump on that by posting his chapters in the public Archives as well. Links to those will appear in the Latest section up above, on the "Archives" line. BTW, Nostrum tells me that he outlined the plot to "Little Stone Villa of Horrors" and its upcoming sequel while jamming out to this piece of music . I don't listen to music while writing or brainstorming. But I will say that if someone wrote an orchestral score to my last week of BoM-related activity, it would probably look and sound something like this. |
| Today's chapter— Interactive: "Liquored Up With Somewhere to Go" Public: "Liquored Up With Somewhere to Go" —ends my contribution to this branch, but it doesn't end the branch.** Masktrix is going to pick it up from here, and he's already got the next few chapters written. Yeah, this has been a bit of a co-production, as you might have noticed from the "assisted by" credits I've been giving him. This whole branch was mostly Masktrix's idea anyway. I was going to write "A Day That Starts Like Any Other" and some sequels, and when Masktrix separately mentioned that he wanted to pair Will up with some girls for some non-magical shenanigans (before the book got involved), I saw that my plans and his would neatly intersect. So I wrote "A Day That Starts Like Any Other" and "Things That Frighten You" , and ended the latter with an invitation to go off and find some girls. Masktrix meanwhile had shown me a chapter where Will met up with some Xavier girls at the minigolf course. I thought it was great, but in order to merge his projected story into the branch I had started, I told him that I would need to insert some business that would cover the Libra's peregrinations. As a result, I took the chapter he had written, broke it into two parts, and filled them up with the business I needed done. Hence, the "assist" credits on chapters I published, which could just as easily have been posted as Masktrix chapters with an "assisted by Seuzz" credit. Anyway, in today's chapter I carried the ball to the first down I needed to make, and now it's Masktrix's game. ** Except for the readers of the public pages. Sorry, but unless and until I pick up a sequel after what Masktrix will be writing, today's chapter is the last you're going to get here. * And what comes after that for me? TBH, I'm not sure. I said I would be working on Spider-Man stuff again, but I only got one more episode of that written while hammering out this branch with Masktrix. I have also been doing some consulting work with Nostrum, and writing captions for Achillesredux, and those seem to be ongoing projects. So I won't be publishing any more BoM chapters under my name for a spell, but I might still be doing BoM stuff behind the scenes. I talked about running some kind of poll based on suggestions I got from readers, but although I've got some suggestions I am going to hold off on the poll until I've done more Spider-Man work. But I don't think there's going to be a shortage of BoM chapters around here. Masktrix has some chapters in a backlog, and Nostrum has a whole glorious storyline plotted out. |
| Yesterday I said I was going to publish some chapters early in BoM, in order to set up an arena for Masktrix. (Which he is not obligated to play in; he only expressed an interest in it.) That chapter is now up: Interactive: "A Day That Starts Like Any Other" Public: "A Day That Starts Like Any Other" Yes, that is very early. Will has just got home with that book he found at Arnholm's, and he's decided to bury it in his room and forget about it. It will be followed with ... two or three chapters? Maybe? I also said that after that I'd be moving to a non-BoM project, and hinted that I'd be returning to my "alternate" Marvel Spider-Man. After reviewing those files, I've decided that, yes, that will be the project I tackle. At the very least, I'd like to finish outlining my alternate version of Seasons One and Two. Then we'll see if I've got the gumption and energy to write out my own version of the "Superior Spider-Man" arc that Season Two pointed toward. |
| Just because I am working on something else—see below—doesn't mean I won't be coming back to BoM. There are places I would like to pick up again. I just don't have the enthusiasm at the moment. In the meantime, though, I'd like to hear from you guys about what you'd like to see. I thought about running a poll, but I don't want to offer the same few areas again. But neither do I want to commit myself to a commission. So here is my attempt to meld the two: Write to me with your preference for where you'd like to see the story continued. I will sort through them, and post some of them at least in a poll so the community as a whole can express a preference. A few guidelines: I am not looking for story or plot ideas. I want the freedom to make up whatever I want. I am asking for chapters that you would like to see continued; developed situations (like Sydney and her Brotherhood idea) you would like to see developed; characters or character sets you'd like to see get some face time. That sort of thing. You can post in the comments here, in the forum, or through email. If you don't have a WdC account, you can reach me thru seuzz -at- writing.com. I'm not going to post a deadline for submissions. We'll see how things look after a couple of days, but I will look to be posting a poll around about the end of the week. |
| At the start of the year I outlined my writing plans: I was going to be flexible this year. I wasn't going to dedicate huge blocks of time to particular projects, as I tried to do in 2019. Instead, I would set aside smaller blocks--a week or two, maybe--and either work on them until the deadline passed, or press on past the deadline until I had lost enthusiasm. I started by dedicating the first two weeks to Book of Masks. And here we are, in the middle of March, still on Book of Masks. A bunch of commissions kept me busy, and I wound up working with Masktrix to set up a whole new setting for BoM adventures. But I've reached the end of my string, I think. Commissions are fun, but they take a lot out of you. Starting tomorrow I'm going to publish a very short line of chapters early in the story—very early—to help set up an area Masktrix has expressed interest in. And then I'm going to go work on something else. I'm not sure what. I'm leaning toward that Spider-Man project; I don't like leaving things unfinished. In the meantime, everyone who has been emailing me with questions and ideas and BoM-related projects—you know who you are—you keep right on doing that. I'm not tired of BoM. I'm just tired (for the moment) of coming up with my own stuff. |
| New chapter from me today: "Vee Is for Visit" That is a sequel to Masktrix's "What Chance Have You Got Against a Tie and a Crest" , which ended with Will tied up in some kind of underground dungeon. He had been impersonating Abigail "Abi" Steiner of the St. Francis Xavier School, but Abi's friends had turned the table on him, stripped him of the disguise, and imprisoned him.It ends with three choices, and over the next three days I'll publish those sequels. In the meantime, readers of the public "Archive" pages can continue to catch up to where interactive readers are with seven new-to-them chapters, starting with "Mix and Match and Masks" . |
| Today's chapter— Interactive: "The Grounded Girl" Public: "The Grounded Girl" —ends the commission. Then, on to something new. But what? I'm not sure yet. I will have to kill some time while I decide. But I'll have some new things for you while I think about it. As Masktrix was setting up the St. Francis Xavier School, I contributed a few ideas and wrote a couple of chapters in order to get those ideas down. For those readers with WdC memberships, who can easily access the interactive: You will be getting those extra chapters while Mastrix finishes off his "Going Alloway" branch. For those who read the Archives: You will be getting the 27 or so chapters leading into the new stuff. To avoid overloading you, I'll be posting it in seven-chapter chunks, starting today with "Unexpected Exhumations" --> "The Apprentice Becomes the Master" . To set the stage: Will has been trying to get rid of the magical grimoire he purchased, while at the same time trying to prevent it from falling into the hands of a bunch of bullies. In "Things Best Left Buried" he has just recovered the Libra from the bullies, and has to decide what to do with it.I should finish publishing the new interactive chapters right about the time that I finish catching everyone else up, so that everyone will be on the same footing when I'm ready to start in earnest with a new branch. |
| Wow. Here I am, a week after posting the last chapter in the branch I was writing, with the delayed sequel: Interactive: "Playing the Victim" Public: "Playing the Victim" During that time I was engaged in an intense, fruitful, and very fun back-and-forth with Masktrix (and a few side quests with other people) about his chapters. We've got the St. Francis Xavier School pretty well set up by now, so there's a structure for some adventures there. And in setting it up we back-and-forthed ideas for things to happen at it. You can see the start of one of those ideas in Masktrix's current chapter, "Going Alloway, Part 1" . Check it out.But with the really intense stuff done there, I finally have time to get back to finishing the branch I left suspended last week. I have today's chapter, and I have tomorrow's too, and I've got the outline for Tuesday's, and there will be four more after that. And then? I don't want to think about it, because then I'll start thinking about Xavier's, and then I'll be right back in the distractions! |
| Masktrix was kind enough to give me a partial credit on the chapter he published today: "What Chance Have You Got Against a Tie and a Crest" . In fact, everything before the section break is his, and all the ideas after the section break are his as well. I only contributed an edit and a dialogue polish to the second section in order to simplify some exposition. Between that and a couple of other things, I was not able to write a sequel to "Project Genesis" for today, and I might not be able to write one for tomorrow either. But it's just a temporary delay, and maybe a useful one. I have no clear idea what comes after "Project Genesis" except that the sequel chapter will be titled "Playing the Victim," and a day or two away from the branch may clarify my thinking. |
| Just so yesterday's post doesn't sit at the top of the feed, here are links to the chapter I should have finished and posted yesterday: Interactive: "Jack of All Trades" Public: "Jack of All Trades" In the meantime, you can go read what Masktrix has to say about his chapters, and give him feedback, in the forum: "BoM/TWS Message Forum" . |
| I don't have a chapter ready. I was distracted yesterday, by things BoM-related and unrelated. The unrelated things are of no intrinsic interest or importance. The BoM-related stuff involved writing captions for Achillesredux for some BoM-inspired pictures. But I think Mastrix is publishing enough to keep y'all entertained for the duration. |
| New commission/storyline starts: Interactive: "A Kind of Professional Consultation" Public: "A Kind of Professional Consultation" This was a really hard chapter to write, and frankly I'm surprised I got it done in time to be published today. (But maybe, on reading it, you'll think it should have cooked longer.) Everything in it kind of surprised me. Not until I sat down to actually write it did I realize the impersonation that was going to occur inside it. But given where the story has been commissioned to go, it was just obvious what had to be done first. Then as soon as Will put that mask on, I had to find out for myself everything that would be inside it. So I spent a massive amount of time setting up a kind of thing that I've been tiptoeing around up until this point. Even the revelation at the end of the chapter—which may seem too pat and coincidental—was a revelation to me. I already have a map of Saratoga Falls all made up, and many, many months ago, when Sydney first appeared, I started sketching in ley lines using suggestive-seeming landmarks around the city that could be used as anchor points. And today, when I extended out those ley lines to see where else they would intersect, I discovered that one of the intersections was just north of— But that would be a spoiler. Read the chapter to find out. |
| Today's chapter— Interactive: "Arsenic from a New Face" Public: "Arsenic From a New Face" —finishes up a commission. There was a last-minute change in plans connected to that one, and I did some last-minute revisions which caused me to miss publishing yesterday. But it's up now. Tomorrow I start a new commission, one that will run for 10 to 14 chapters, in all probability. It takes off from here: "Mental Kudzu" . Those of you with WdC accounts may recognize that chapter and its two sequels already. For those who read the public pages, they might be new because they haven't been published in the Archives before. Background:It's a story with Will and Sydney. Sydney has discovered that her stepfather murdered her father, and wants to get revenge on him. Will is willing to go along with this. But Sydney has also proposed forming a "Brotherhood of Baphomet" using golems, and in this branch Will thinks this would take things too fast and too far. |
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