*Magnify*
    April     ►
SMTWTFS
 
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Archive RSS
SPONSORED LINKS
Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/books/item_id/2156493-The-Book-of-Masks-Homepage/sort_by/entry_order DESC, entry_creation_time DESC/page/3
by Seuzz
Rated: 18+ · Book · Other · #2156493
A hub for the "Book of Masks" universe.
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
Previous ... 2 -3- 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ... Next
August 10, 2023 at 9:50am
August 10, 2023 at 9:50am
#1053909
I was pretty sure that "Jelena Petrovic" would be the runaway winner in the last poll, and I wasn't disillusioned. I was surprised, though, at how well (all things considered) "Bastian Jankowski" did. Anyway, final tally, adjusted for GPs:

Jelena: 12,933
Anne: 3033
Bastian: 2600

New chapters are up, along with a new poll: [Poll completed and deleted].
August 8, 2023 at 9:02am
August 8, 2023 at 9:02am
#1053808
The latest poll—[Poll completed and deleted]—is again deadlocked, thanks to the influence of some GPs that were voted. So, once again we enter a game of Sudden Death.

I have locked the vote, and invite people to vote with GPs. Only the first GP vote will be accepted and applied; any subsequent GP votes will be ignored.

There's a catch this time: Yes, the GPs will be voted in accord with the voter's preference, but there is no guarantee that this will break the tie in favor of the voter's choice. There is a chance, thanks to the way the voting rules are set up, that the GPs will alter the value of the Free Votes in a way that tips the decision in some other direction.

Well, that's the chance that you take.

EDIT: And the tie is now broken. Final standings, adjusted for GPs:

Scarlett Bard: 2515
Alpha girls: 2319
Ryder, Bastian, Kyle: 147 each

Because of the tie, there will be no chapter today.
August 6, 2023 at 9:17am
August 6, 2023 at 9:17am
#1053718
The latest poll—[Poll completed and deleted]—is tied. Rather than let it drag on, I have closed it to voting and instituted Sudden Death rules: The first choice to get GPs, in any amount, will be declared the winner.

To send GPs to break the tie, go to [deleted choice chapters] and send GPs using the form at the bottom of the page.

There will be no chapter today, because the tie vote during my writing hours meant I didn't know which choice to write.

EDIT: And, five minutes later, Sudden Death gives us a winner: "Replace a few key juniors." Any GPs sent in now will be refunded to the sender.
August 5, 2023 at 9:33am
August 5, 2023 at 9:33am
#1053675
As you can tell from the new chapter I've posted—

* Interactive: "The Boyfriend
* Public: "The Boyfriend

—the winner in yesterday's poll was "Keep the date with Luke." The vote was neck and neck through most of the day, but then it pulled away, even in the Free Vote. Adjusted for GPs, the margin was even larger: 9500 to 4500.

New poll to go with the new chapter: [Poll completed and deleted].

I've been posting new chapters at the rate of one a day, but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep this up. If I get up early enough and write fast enough, I can get a new chapter published before the day starts in earnest, but that might not happen every day for the coming week.
August 4, 2023 at 8:38am
August 4, 2023 at 8:38am
#1053621
Readers just couldn't wait for Will to make a change, so "Finish" dominated the first of the Plot Plinko Polls with 4600 adjusted points while "Wait" earned 1400 adjusted points.

The resulting chapter is now posted:

* Interactive: "Marching to a New Drummer
* Public: "Marching to a New Drummer

And there is also a poll to go with it: [Poll completed and deleted.]
August 3, 2023 at 8:21am
August 3, 2023 at 8:21am
#1053577
Today starts a new Plot Plinko storyline:

* Interactive: "The Piccolo Player
* Public: "The Piccolo Player

This time it's a little different, in that it was commissioned, with the commissioner choosing where to continue and giving some direction as to the desire tone, but leaving the plot evolutions up to me and to the readers. Each day that a chapter ends with a choice, I will put up a poll; and because I will probably not know the winning choice until after the poll is closed, I will probably be publishing every other day during this eight-day run.

The first poll is here: [Poll completed and deleted.]

* * *

Also, my thanks to Easy and to Puuuuuth for the Gift Points they sent me during the "Student Bodies" run.
August 2, 2023 at 7:46am
August 2, 2023 at 7:46am
#1053484
Today's chapter over in "Student Bodies wraps up one commission, and today also wraps up the second in what will be a sequence of "Plot Plinko" polls. The rankings, adjusted for GPs:

1. Annabelle Edwards: 11,800
2. Dallas Lockhart: 7400
3. Naomi Batson: 7200
3. Leah Parrish: 7200
5. Rebecca Leary: 800

So, tomorrow I will publish the "Annabelle Edwards" sequel to "Junior Jubilee, along with a new poll on how to continue it. We'll continue this way for eight chapters. Because each continuation will be subject to a poll, for the next week or so I will likely be publishing only every other day.

I forgot to publish "Junior Jubilee" over in the Archives. It is there now—"Junior Jubilee—along with the last four chapters in the catch-up run I've been publishing there.
July 28, 2023 at 3:52pm
July 28, 2023 at 3:52pm
#1053226
The "Choosing Cinderella" poll is now closed. The results (including GPs):

Junior Jubilee: 4733
Don't Forget the Jokers: 4600
Femme Fatales: 3233
Athletic Pursuits: 2600
One Step Below: 0 [How embarrassing!]

The sequel poll is now up: [Poll completed and deleted]. This poll asks you all to pick one of the candidates in "Junior Jubilee." Again, GP-modified rules apply as described in the poll. This poll will close on next Wednesday. And after that?

We play Plot Plinko. I will write a chapter for the winning choice and post a poll alongside it so you can choose where it goes next. I will write 8 chapters, but this will likely take us two weeks to run as likely chapters will have to appear every other day.
July 25, 2023 at 7:37am
July 25, 2023 at 7:37am
#1053025
I got quite a few gift points for the "Conspirators Three" run, but I forgot to thank them in yesterday's post. So, here's a standalone post today, thanking Puuuuuth, Sonicmetroid, Tal, and especially Easy for the their generosity and encouragement.
July 24, 2023 at 8:04am
July 24, 2023 at 8:04am
#1052991
Here's a reminder that today's chapter—"Anne the Winner Is ...—is interactive only because it is part of "Student Bodies. There's a plot recap in the blog entry below.

But I am also running a poll as part of the second commission I will be fulfilling.

That commission is to continue a short branch that begins with "In Search of the Perfect Hiding Face and continues down the line "The Assistant --> "The Advisor --> "Choosing Cinderella. (These chapters were written by rugal and have just been added to the Archives.) Background: Will gave the book away to Caleb, but then got a frantic phone call from Chelsea Cooper on account of her boyfriend, Gordon Black, has used that book to accidentally petrify himself. Will has thereby recovered the book and studied the spells in it, and has used a mask of Chelsea to trap and replace her with a doppelganger. He has since gotten the idea to improve Westside by replacing key students with doppelgangers under his control while himself adopting a low-profile impersonation.

The short branch above continues with Will replacing the gossipy Deanna Showalter with a duplicate and getting advice from her as to who he should impersonate. And this takes us to the poll, which goes with the choices at the end of the interactive chapter "Choosing Cinderella.

[Poll completed and deleted] will be open through Friday, July 29. Then will come a follow-up poll.

* * *

Meanwhile, what of those who read this stuff through the Archives because they don't want to fight their way through the WdC system? I've got some chapters for them, too.

"Getting to Know All About You --> "An Inside View --> "Who Goes There? are old entries in the "Book of Masks" interactive, but they may be new to readers of the Archives. There's more than thirty chapters in that branch, and during the time I'm posting new stuff in "Student Bodies," I will be posting those old BoM chapters, at the rate of about three a day, in the public Archives. I've got a bunch of unpublished sequel chapters in that line, so I'm doing "Student Bodies" I'll be getting the Archives caught up for when I get around to publishing those new chapters.

So, what's the plot recap for this branch?

Will and Caleb have been playing with the book and have made a mess of things. They accidentally made a mask of Gordon Black, the bad-tempered basketball player, after pissing off Gordon's girlfriend, and then when they tried to use that mask in another plot they accidentally revealed themselves to Gordon. to their astonishment, Gordon seems pretty cool with it all, and even wants to use the masks to switch identities. So for the next little while, Gordon is going to be playing the role of Will Prescott while Will plays the role of Gordon Black.

Does that sound out of character for Gordon? Maybe it won't, after what Will finds out about Gordon and his life after he has become Gordon ...
July 23, 2023 at 8:37am
July 23, 2023 at 8:37am
#1052959
Today's chapter—

Interactive: "A Face to Meet the Faces That You Meet
Public: "A Face to Meet the Faces That You Meet

—is a cliffhanger and that's where I'm going to leave it for now. But don't worry, I intend to come back to it, as I explain in the commentary post: "Commentary: "Conspirators Three""  

Next up though is a total change of pace, a change of of interactives even. I started accepting commissions last week, and tomorrow I'll start publishing the first of them, over in "Student Bodies. Specifically, it will be a sequel branch to "A School Survey. The plot thus far: David in his flight from the base has possessed the bodies of the three Garner triplets at Westside High—Marc, Eva and Jessica—and has been practicing his powers on them. He now feels a lot more confident with his abilities, but not so confident that he can infiltrate and investigate the military base. So he is going to practice some more by extending himself by possessing others at Westside. He has five choices, two of which have been started. I'll start on a third choice tomorrow.

This line will run for 10 days.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, today also ends a really complicated and somewhat controversial series of polls. (I forgot to post a deadline for the polls, but the usual thing is to close the polls when the day that the last chapter in a branch gets published. I am closing it a few hours earlier than is traditional, but that's because today is likely to be very complicated for me, and I need to handle business while I've got a moment.) As I explained in the previous blog entry, this poll is going to have to end with two sets of results, one being the official results and the other some unofficial results that exclude some votes that excited my suspicions.

To start, here are the official results, as percentages:

Poll 1 Who Moves Where:
"Sydney Dates Kirkham" (47.6%); "Sydney Dates Will" (39.7%); "Will Dates Sydney" (12.7%)

Poll 2a Sydney Dates Kirkham as ...:
Lisa Yarborough (42.3%); Andrea Varnsworth (32.3%); Ximena Calderon (11.5%); Sydney's choice (10.0%); Mindy McAdams (3.8%)

Poll 2b Sydney Dates Will as ...
Andrea Varnsworth (27.4%); Dorothy Harmon (24.3%); Sydney's choice (23.4%); Jenny Ashton (17.0%); Danielle Davis (7.9%)

Poll 2c Will Dates Sydney as
Preston Spinks (31.0%); Geoff Mansfield (24.1%); Erik Carstairs (17.2%); Blake O'Brien (17.2%); Steve Patterson (10.3%)

And the unofficial results:

Poll 1 Who Moves Where:
"Sydney Dates Will" (49.0%); "Sydney Dates Kirkham" (35.3%);"Will Dates Sydney" (15.7%)

Poll 2a Sydney Dates Kirkham as ...:
Andrea Varnsworth (37.3%); Lisa Yarborough (33.3%); Ximena Calderon (13.3%); Sydney's choice (11.5%); Mindy McAdams (4.4%)

Poll 2b Sydney Dates Will as ...
Dorothy Harmon (26.4%); Sydney's choice (25.4%); Andrea Varnsworth (24.6%); Jenny Ashton (15.0%); Danielle Davis (8.6%)

Poll 2c Will Dates Sydney as
Same as the official results.

So what does this mean for sequels? Well, generally I am going to give first priority to the official results (however janky they seem to me), so here is the order in which branch sequels will (eventually) appear:

1. Sydney Dates Kirkham as ... --> Lisa Yarborough (official --> official)
2. Sydney Dates Will as --> Andrea Varnsworth (unofficial --> official)
3. Sydney Dates Kirkham as ... --> Andrea Varnsworth (official --> unofficial)
4. Sydney Dates Will as --> Dorothy Harmon (unofficial --> unofficial)
5. Will Dates Sydney as --> Preston Spinks (runners up in both official and unofficial polls)

These will be interspersed between commissions and other publishing runs, so it will be awhile before all of them appear.

As for GPs that were voted: If you voted GPs for a winning choice, either official or unofficial, you forfeit your GPs, which will be divided amongst readers who voted GPs for losing choices; unless no GPs were voted for losing choices, in which case winners will get their GPs back.
July 21, 2023 at 7:57am
July 21, 2023 at 7:57am
#1052872
I can't prove anything, but I'm calling shenanigans at the polls.

Sometime overnight (night of July 20-21) a flood of new votes came in, mostly concentrated on "BoM Poll 1: Who Moves Where?" and "BoM Poll 2a: Sydney Dates Kirkham as ..." , though the other two polls also saw an uptick. What is suspicious is that in the first two polls all the new votes were concentrated on one choice: for "Sydney Dates Kirkham as ..." in the first poll, and for "Lisa Yarborough" in the second (which is the follow-up poll to the choice "Sydney Dates Kirkham as ..." This looks an awful lot like ballot-box stuffing.

But I can't prove anything, so I can't and won't throw out the results. Instead, this is what I'm going to do:

Whichever choices win the polls, those are the chapters that I will (eventually) write. But in my spreadsheet I have started keeping a second set of figures which subtract the suspicious votes, so as to keep a separate, parallel running tally of what the vote would be if those suspicious votes had not come in. And whichever choices win this parallel, adjusted poll, I will also (eventually) write those chapters too.

To calculate the adjusted vote totals in "BoM Poll 1: Who Moves Where?" , subtract 12 from "Sydney Dates Kirkham as ..." To calculate the adjusted vote totals in "BoM Poll 2a: Sydney Dates Kirkham as ..." , subtract 7 votes from "Lisa Yarborough." In "BoM Poll 2b: Sydney Dates Will as ..." , subtract 2 votes from "Jenny Ashton" and 3 votes from "Andrea varnsworth." No adjustments are being made to "BoM Poll 2c: Will Dates Sydney as ..." . All GPs, both those already voted and those that come in, will be applied to both the official count and to the adjusted count.

Look, the goal of these polls is not to have a popularity contest. It is to give readers a voice on where the story goes next, and to write new chapters for you guys. As I say, I can't prove that there is anything hinky going on with the official poll results, and so it wouldn't be fair for me to throw them out -- I will definitely write chapters for the official winning choices. But to prevent people from feeling they got cheated, I will also write chapters for the choices that I calculate would have won if this cockeyed flood of votes hadn't happened.

And I hope this will make all the voters (even for the losers in both scenarios) happy because it will mean more chapters over all!
July 16, 2023 at 9:19am
July 16, 2023 at 9:19am
#1052668
Whew! Today is complicated in the BoM multiverse.

In this just-completed chapter run, Will has assumed the identity of David Kirkham, the school bully who was hassling him into breaking up with Sydney, and made a hash of it by accidentally forcing his compliant doppelganger into for-really and for-true breaking up with Sydney's doppelganger. So what comes next for Will and Sydney?

Yesterday's chapter—

* Interactive: "Like a Boss
* Public: "Like a Boss

—gives Will entertaining three options for "getting back together" with Sydney (who is at the moment impersonating Kelsey Blankenship). The first is to slip Sydney into a girlfriend for Will/Kirkham. The second is to turn Sydney into a girl who can date Will's pedisequos. The third is for Will to give up on Kirkham and find himself a new identity that can date Sydney's pedisequos (as well as Sydney herself).

And there is now a poll that asks readers to choose one of these options: [Poll completed and deleted]

Today's chapters—

* Interactive: "A Girl for Kirkham + "A Girl for Prescott + "A Guy for Sydney
* Public: "A Girl for Kirkham + "A Girl for Prescott + "A Guy for Sydney

—expand on these three choices, giving candidates for Will to choose from. Each of these chapters also comes with a poll:

* [Poll completed and deleted] asks which girlfriend for Kirkham he should give to Sydney, assuming that he puts her in for a girlfriend for Kirkham.

* [Poll completed and deleted] asks which girlfriend for pedisequos-Will he should put her in for, if he decides to pair her with the pedisequos.

* [Poll completed and deleted] asks who he should turn himself into, if he's going to date Sydney's pedisequos.

You are allowed to vote in all the polls, so that you can influence the ultimate direction of the storyline even if the results for the first poll don't move it down a branch that you prefer.

Why all the complicated polling? Because two big decisions have to be made back-to-back, and I don't want to have to pile a dozen or so choices into a single poll. That would just fragment into the kind of confusion where no meaningful plurality would be possible. So I want to channel it. First, by asking which of the three general choices should Will make? And then, for each of those choices, which ultimate choice should he make?

There's also a commentary thread for the just-concluded run: "Commentary: "From Bitch to Bully""  

* * * * *

"But what comes next?" I hear you cry. Well, it ought to have been a run of chapters in the Doppelganger storyline, the sequel to the last chapter where you voted to see Kendra Saunders next replaced. But the last week has been way too frantic and I've not got nearly enough chapters written for it, so I'm going to publish something else I've been working on. It starts off with "A Conspiracy of Two.

These are very early days in the story. Will has been messing around with the book a little and has shown it to his best friend, Caleb Johansson. Together, they have made two masks. But they are leery about experimenting with them, and need a guinea pig. Who will they use it on? Themselves? A friend? An enemy? Three choices have already been made and explored. Tomorrow I will post a fourth.
July 13, 2023 at 12:02pm
July 13, 2023 at 12:02pm
#1052559
I lost my Kindle last week. It seems to have ... evaporated. I have no idea where it went.

So, I have had to order a new one, which ate up a huge percentage of the Gift Card balances I have accumulated over the years. I am now very interested in rebuilding that balance, so I am very interested in doing commissions. (The way I do commissions, I typically ask to be paid with Amazon Gift Cards.)

I do have old emails from people with commission ideas, and I'm not rejecting those -- I'm going back to look at the ones I still have in my Inbox. But I am making a general announcement so that anyone who had or has an idea they want to commission from me can send it in.

My standard commission contract can be read at "Commission Contract.
July 10, 2023 at 11:24am
July 10, 2023 at 11:24am
#1052419
Today's chapter—

Interactive: "Flirtations with Disaster
Public: "Flirtations with Disaster

—almost didn't get published today on account of me having so much else to do. But I managed to squeeze it in during a spare 30 minutes, and I even have enough time before I take off to make a blog post.

Anyway, today's chapter rounds off the latest run in the "Keith's Konspiracy" branch. This was written in gratitude to a reader who dumped a million-plus GPs on me during my hiatus. I'm not done trying to give him his GPs' worth, but I'm not going to pursue this branch any further for the time being. So there's no new poll today.

* * *

Speaking of polls, we have another set of poll results to announce. It was a very tight race in the public results, and no surprise that it was the three female candidates bunched up far in the front. And there were no dramatic come-from-behind victories by numbers four and five. But the final result wasn't even close, because almost all the GPs went to a single choice. (And because it was a run-away, I don't feel guilty about closing the poll an hour early on account of some scheduling conflicts on my end. Unless someone came in at the last second and dropped a giant GP bequest, the results weren't going to change.)

Kendra Saunders: 17,350
Catherine Muskov: 5,610
Olivia Byrne: 4,590
Ian Patton: 1,530
Anthony Kirk: 510

But one GP voter did make off like a bandit. Because he was the only one to vote for a losing choice (Olivia), he gets all the GPs voted in this poll. Meaning his 500 GP investment turned into 12,750 GPs.

BTW, there's a thread in the forum talking a little bit about the mechanics of these polls, what they are intended to do, and how they are not simply "buy a winner" contests: "GP Polls"  

* * *

And what comes next? A new branch in the Will-and-Sydney storyline. Background: Will and Sydney are impersonating Kelsey Blankenship and Amanda Ferguson, but both hate the way David Kirkham has been persecuting Will, both he himself before the switch and his doppelganger afterward. They have lured Kirkham out to the Donna Motel to turn him into a pedisequos. In the already-written branch, Sydney took over Kirkham's identity, but in the previous-to-the-last poll, a couple of passionate voters were able to send the story down an alternate path where Will impersonates Kirkham. The new storyline will branch off from "Ambush at the Donna.

* * *

Finally, my thanks to Puuuuuth, Easy, and Wordsmitty for GP tips for chapters written in the just-concluded thread!
July 10, 2023 at 7:47am
July 10, 2023 at 7:47am
#1052412
... so I'm not sure I'll even be able to publish.

EDIT: Company is coming in ... the house needed a last-minute tidy ... the dog had to be boarded ... a neighbor has to be taken to a doctor's appointment ... I haven't even eaten anything yet today ...

But I did find 30 minutes to revise and edit today's chapter and get it published.
July 2, 2023 at 12:16pm
July 2, 2023 at 12:16pm
#1052017
Today's chapter—

Interactive: "A Junior Partner
Public: "A Junior Partner

—concludes the latest stage in the Doppelganger Plot. There's a thread about it in the forums:

* "Commentary: "A Coup Quashed""  

And a poll for where the storyline should go next: [Poll completed and deleted.]

Next up is a return to YouTuber shenanigans with "Crushing It as Cindy To recap: Will has been recruited by a group of seniors, friends of his friend Keith, who are using the masks to replace and impersonate cheerleaders. Will has turned himself into Cindy Vredenburg as part of a side-plot with Keith to torture Keith's nemesis, Seth Javits. But Keith needs an impersonation of his own, and in the poll conducted last week you guys voted for him to impersonate Yumi Saito. That's where things will pick up again tomorrow.

* * * * *

As for the just-concluded poll ... Ho ho ho!

It seems that some people learned from last time, when some heavy GP voting gave Yumi Saito the win; and it appears that many others didn't. Or maybe most of the readers and voters were ambivalent about their choices, so they didn't try backing up or defending those choices with GPs.

Whatever the explanation, this poll was an even more dramatic repeat of last time, with the leader in the Free Vote (that would have been Kim Walsh) getting badly skunked by some come-from-behind favorites, to finish in third place.

But the upsets aren't over there, for the number two Free Vote getter, Alana Ocampo, also fell to an onslaught of GPs, to finish in fourth. Only poor Blake O'Brien, stuck in last place in the Free Vote, remained mired where he started, despite a hefty GP gift that at least made his last-place finish slightly more respectable.

For much of the voting period, it looked like Mindy McAdams was going to win the vote, albeit narrowly. But in the end, two giant GP bequests rocketed David Kirkham, who in the Free Vote was a distant fourth-place finisher, to a very comfortable win. Final standings:

David Kirkham: 31,120
Mindy McAdams: 20,680
Kim Walsh: 17,800
Alana Ocampo: 16,740
Blake O'Brien: 9,780

Kirkham wouldn't have been my own first choice, but I'll admit I'm intrigued by the possibilities of a Will-as-Kirkham storyline that moves in counterpoint to the Sydney-as-Kirkham storyline, so that we get an idea of how much of the development and choices reflect Kirkham's imposed personality, and how much reflect those of the people impersonating him. So while this isn't the line I would have picked for myself, I'm actually pretty excited by it.

* * * * *

Finally, but not least, my thanks to ThePrussian, Easy, Wordsmitty, and Puuuuuth for some GP tips during this last run of chapters. They seemed to like stories about parliamentary procedure, but I remain wary of turning this interactive into a kind of CSPAN with magic beans.
June 27, 2023 at 12:13pm
June 27, 2023 at 12:13pm
#1051670
Wow, what a wild poll that last one was!

Stephanie Wyatt scored tops in the Free Poll, and she spent most of the week maintaining a healthy lead there. And maybe that led to her supporters getting complacent, so they didn't spend many GPs on her.

If so, it was a big mistake, because in the final tabulation Stephanie got absolutely wrecked, finishing a very distant third.

In fact, she was in third place almost from the moment the poll went up, as lots of readers dumped huge GP gifts onto other choices. For awhile it was touch and go who would win the top spot, but in the end one choice pulled away for a fairly decisive win. Final standings:

Yumi Saito: 61,000
Andrea Varnsworth: 48,991
Stephanie Wyatt: 20,209
Kendra Saunders: 12,436
Kelsey Blankenship; 6,218

I guess one reader spoke for many when he wrote, explaining his GP vote: "We never get to somebody else impersonating [Yumi], so could be interesting."

* * *

Meanwhile, I'm halting the current storyline with today's chapter—

* Interactive: "The Girl at the Drive-Thru Window
* Public: "The Girl at the Drive-Thru Window

—even though I have written past this point with a further six-chapter run. But I'm going to give readers a chance to pick another path in this area. So, that's the subject of the next poll, whether to continue the story with Will and Sydney as Marcos and Alana, or to back up to a different choice earlier in the branch. To keep things manageable, I'm giving specific alternate choices at specific places: [Poll completed and deleted.]

This poll will run a little shorter than the others, through July 2.

* * *

And where do we go from here? Back to the doppelganger plot, which ended last time with "The Hunger. Will was ready to pick a junior partner to help him with his scheme to run the school by replacing key students, and you guys voted to make Michelle Estrich that partner. Tomorrow we'll see how that starts to work out ...
June 23, 2023 at 7:40am
June 23, 2023 at 7:40am
#1051478
If you send GPs in the latest poll, but you send them through the anonymous system so that I don't know who you are, your GPs will count in the final tally. But if your choice loses, I will not be able to return those GPs or send you a "loser's bonus" (if any).
June 21, 2023 at 12:28pm
June 21, 2023 at 12:28pm
#1051418
Today's chapter—

Interactive: "Crushing It as Cindy
Public: "Crushing It as Cindy

—rounds out the storyline that started with "Your Two Faces. Two related items to go with it:

Commentary thread in the forum: "Commentary: "Cindy for the Win""  
New poll: [Completed and deleted]

The poll of course has to do with the choice at the end of today's chapter: Keith has given Will a number of names of girls he might impersonate, and left it up to Will to choose. I'm giving the choice to you guys. Same rules as in the last poll: Each voter gets a single vote in the poll, but you can add weight to your votes by sending GPs via the tip forms in the chapters linked to in the poll. Poll closes on June 27.

* * *

Speaking of polls, the results in the last poll surprised me, not only by the fact that one choice was the runaway favorite among the voters individually, but who it was: Michelle Estrich.

She was the winning choice, but the weighted vote was much closer than the basic poll would show. After GPs were factored in, here are the vote totals:

Michelle Estrich: 8750
Victoria Rodriguez: 7917
Laura McGregor: 2917
Christian Padilla: 2083
Meghan Farris: 2083

Two more votes for Victoria, and it would have been a tie between her and Michelle.

* * *

Meanwhile, what comes next? A sequel to "The Cherry, Hung with Snow

This is a storyline with Will and Sydney. They're building themselves a Brotherhood of Baphomet, and have replaced three classmates so far. Will is currently impersonating the chilly Amanda Ferguson, while Sydney (after impersonating Kelsey Blankenship) has assumed the identity of David Kirkham. (Kirkham was hassling Will; this was their way of taming him.) At the moment Will (Amanda) and Sydney (Kirkham) are still at the Donna Motel, where Sydney has gotten drunk on Kirkham's testosterone, but they are getting ready to part for the day, and are looking forward to Will's next impersonation.

* * *

Finally, my thanks to Easy, Tal, and Puuuuuth for the Gift Points they donated me during this storyline. It was my pleasure.

706 Entries · *Magnify*
Page of 36 · 20 per page   < >
Previous ... 2 -3- 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ... Next

© Copyright 2024 Seuzz (UN: seuzz at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Seuzz has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Log in to Leave Feedback
Username:
Password: <Show>
Not a Member?
Signup right now, for free!
All accounts include:
*Bullet* FREE Email @Writing.Com!
*Bullet* FREE Portfolio Services!
Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/books/item_id/2156493-The-Book-of-Masks-Homepage/sort_by/entry_order DESC, entry_creation_time DESC/page/3