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Stops and Starts

So I just closed the last polls. Here's a word about the results.

In the Plot Plinko poll "Leave Caleb in the dark" was the runaway winner. So much so that yesterday I did some preliminary thinking about where to take the story. And after thinking about it ... Well, with rugal's permission I'm going to rewrite "Getting Familiar with the Unfamiliar"  to give it a different climax and a different choice, and one consequence is that Caleb is going to disappear from the scene, rendering this last poll moot. But, in a sense, my revision will still respect the vote. That vote was to ignore Caleb's presence, and removing him from the scene is another way of ignoring him, and leaving the focus on Will and the original quartet.

Nor will the revision materially change the story. I just want to simplify the ending in order to focus on a different and more manageable crisis. And I've already made some nearly invisible changes to earlier chapters in the branch, changing the timeline without altering the fundamental plot.

Meanwhile, the "Next Story Choice" poll ended with a victory for "Convert another family," but the vote was closer than it appeared, with a big batch of GPs for "Convert people at Fort Suffolk" taking that choice to within a whisker of an upset.

I thank everyone for their participation in both polls, the results of which (knock wood) will appear early next year.

For now, I've started publishing another Will-and-Sydney-and-Baphomet love story, starting here:

* Interactive: "Freshman Frolics" 
* Public: "Freshman Frolics" 

That branch was not written in conjunction with Masktrix, but it was written with him in mind, after he queried whether I had plans for that area. I said I did, and after a short exchange of emails I saw that my plans could set up ideas that he was playing around with. I'm sure I won't be alone in hoping that he'll follow up what I wrote with another one of his smashing storylines.