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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 6/29: Interactive: "Switching Husbands" 6/29: Public: "Switching Husbands"
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| Today you get a poll! Based on the events of "The Substitute Student" , should Will follow Sydney into the book shore to spy on her? Or should he proceed to the coffee shop? [Poll completed and deleted.] |
| So here is today's chapter: "A Confidence Artist" (public) + "A Confidence Artist" (interactive)Aw, yesterday turned out to be a cul-de-sac; today you're getting the chapter where Will has decided to steal that girl away from Caleb. But don't worry, I've put "Ambush from an Unexpected Quarter" and the sequel you voted for on my To Do list.You don't get a poll today, though, because today's entry ends only in a "Continue." |
| Time to switch storylines! Will, working alone, has made a mask of his friend Caleb and has been using it to prank him and to steal money from mutual friends. Will has now gathered the material necessary to make a golem; meanwhile, a sexy girl has approached Caleb and asked him to tutor her in math. I already polled you guys on which path to follow, and that's the chapter you get today: "Ambush from an Unexpected Quarter" (public) + "Ambush from an Unexpected Quarter" (interactive)And after you read that, you should vote in the new, follow-up poll: [Poll completed and deleted.] You have 24 hours. * * * * * This, by the way, is going to be the pattern around here while I'm publishing sequels to "A Plot Twist for Caleb Johansson." A lot of the chapters will end with a "Continue," but when I hit a chapter choice I will poll you on which way to go. And I'm going to poll you even though I've got a long storyline already worked out and written. * If you vote for the chapter that follows the branch I've written, I will publish it and ignore the alternate. * If you vote for the one-off, I will publish it, but then the next day I will back up and continue down the branch that I've already written. However, by voting for the one-off you will have told me you would like to see it continued, and I will put it on my list of branches to write in. And if the one-off ends in a chapter choice, I will poll you on which of those chapter choices to continue. So, is today's chapter the one-off or the continuation? You'll find out tomorrow. |
| Today brings the last of the seven chapters I wrote in this area: "The House of Professor Blackwell" (public) + "The House of Professor Blackwell" (interactive). They didn't do a whole lot besides force the crisis that had been brewing since they looked down and discovered that Lucy had been replace with a golem, but I hope it's a set up for (eventually) some fun and challenging stuff. Meanwhile, tomorrow starts the really big project that I was noodling with from the first of the year. It starts with "A Plot Twist for Caleb Johansson" (public) + "A Plot Twist for Caleb Johansson" {interactive) if you want to get up to speed. Obviously I don't want to say anything about what's going to happen, but I will caution that there is going to be a relative dearth of shenanigans. Mostly it's going to be about a new character. But I really like the character and I hope you guys do too. |
| So I'm switching things up a little today by giving you a twofer: Interactive: "Face Facts" --> "Mind and Muscle" Public: "Face Facts" --> "Mind and Muscle" While looking over "Face Facts" I decided it wasn't really worth publishing as the lone entry for the day, as it just hits the same events as yesterday with different details. So I'm giving you the sequel as well. One more chapter to go in this area, and then things are going to get interesting. |
| The last poll is now closed. There didn't seem much enthusiasm—no GPs got voted—but it met the bare minimum for me to take up the challenge of figuring out who Scott Frazier is and what would happen if he and Will partnered to study the Libra. Meanwhile, with "How to Sideline Yourself" we circle through a cul-de-sac in the current storyline. Tomorrow I will back up a chapter to "Dark Histories" and we'll take a three-chapter path down one of the other two choices.And yes, those are links to the Archives edition of BoM. It's the same material as in the interactive chapters, and it's easier to post one link than two. |
| So the vote in Part 1 was pretty overwhelming: You wanted Will to work with a partner. But which one? [Poll completed and deleted.] I'm not including Caleb because we've already got lots of Will+Caleb partnership action elsewhere. Poll will run for 2 days. It needs at least 15 free votes or 2000 GPs for me to act on it. |
| While we're still trying to figure out one new storyline—[Poll completed and deleted]—let's have another. Background: Will has given the Libra away, but he has been roped into shenanigans by his friend Keith and some of Keith's friends, who have been impersonating some of the cheerleaders and trying to make Will popular. Will does not want to impersonate anyone, but Keith (who has been impersonating Cindy Vredenburg) has suggested that he (Keith/Cindy) could start going out with Will ... "A Change of Mind" (public) + "A Change of Minds" (interactive) |
| So now we've got five chapters setting up some alternate destinations/partnerships for Will and the Libra. Would you like to see any of these in particular developed? Let's have a poll! [Poll completed and deleted.] It will run for two days and must get at least 15 votes, or it's not going to be worth it to me to concentrate on it. |
| So it was a real barnburner of a game between Andrea Varnsworth and Kim Walsh in the girls' division. Kim's early solid lead gradually evaporated, and though she briefly tied it after Andrea took the lead, Andrea finally won. Over in the boys' division, Band guy (TBD) stomped Chorale guy (TBD) into the mud. And what was all this for? Well, it was for something I need to write. But I can't even tell you what it is that I'm writing because it's the sequel to one of the storylines that I'll be publishing in March and April. So, I hope you all won't groan too loudly when I tell you that it'll be six to eight weeks before you see the consequences of this poll. And if it's any consolation, the characters who made it into the Top Two and the Final Four will also get a bit of love. Meanwhile, here's a new chapter: "The Hot Potato" (public) + "The Hot Potato" (interactive). It backs up to a different choice made earlier. Will has still got the Libra, but now he wants to get rid of it. |
| So, today is March 1. As promised, I've resumed publishing in BoM on a daily schedule. Here is what it's going to look like. * First up are 5 chapters taking off from "Opinions Sought, and Opinions Unwelcome" (public) + "Opinions Sought, and Opinions Unwelcome" (interactive}, in which Will has just bought the Libra and shown it to his dad: "The Project Master" (public) + "The Project Master" (interactive). They are a foundation piece designed to set up possible alternate destinations for the Libra and/or partnerships for Will, so I'll warn you that not much is going to happen. Once they're up, I'll poll you guys on which of the branches you'd like to explore. * Second is a 7-chapter commission taking off of Tal's recent work. He's got ideas on what he wants to happen, but I'm going to leave it to him to write those [and Tal, I'm giving you a very direct look from under lowered brows when I say that] and instead curve off in a different direction. * Then will come a 12-chapter storyline that introduces a new character and sets up a new kind of relationship for Will. You've already seen the start of it here: "A Plot Twist for Caleb Johansson" There will be polls along the way asking which paths you'd like to see taken. In fact, here's the first one: [Poll completed and deleted]* Then I will leave BoM to return to "Student Bodies" for the first time in years to post an 11-chapter storyline. * After that— Okay, that 12-chapter storyline I mentioned above? Actually it's a 28-chapter storyline, and I'll return to conclude it. I just figure that you'll want a break halfway through a month-long serial. * Then I'll give you three short storylines (16 chapters total) that extend the sophomores' adventures after "The Copyist" (public) + "The Copyist" (interactive).* And after that? I don't know. It depends on what chapters I write this month, and what you give me to write. * * * Today brings more poll madness as well: [Polls completed and deleted.] That will be the final round for the championship. |
| So it turns out that there's a limit to the number of books that you can have at WdC. I've organized the Archives as a collection of books, and I've already just about bumped up on the book limit here. That means that, less than a week after unveiling the Archives, I'm going to have to figure out a different way of doing them. Gah! EDIT: Okay, I think I've found a way to finesse it. Originally I had each volume set up as a Novel, which are limited to 100 entries. But as a journal/blog, they can each hold 725 entries. That will be more than enough for now, and if I ever do get close to adding more than 2175 chapters to the archives, there are Book items here I can delete to free up more space. So, touch wood for now, I think everything is going to be okay. EDITx2: I think the "The Book of Masks: Archives" are now all caught up with prequels that will lead into or are related to the stuff I will start publishing tomorrow. |
| So today wraps up the novella "Invalid Item" : "Invalid Entry" (public) + "School for Demons, Chapter 22" (interactive). I had fun writing it, particularly after figuring out where it was heading and how it was going to climax. Things will get busier starting tomorrow, when I resume daily publishing of BoM storylines. Tomorrow will also bring the climactic poll in the competition I've been running. |
| The second round of the final starts today and runs through tomorrow: [Polls completed and deleted.] That's: Fatima Zahedi vs. Andrea Farnsworth Soccer player (TBD) vs. Band guy (TBD) The winners here will face off against Kim Walsh (girls' division) and Chorale guy (boys' division) on Friday, March 1. |
| And then there were four: [Polls completed and deleted.] Kelsey Blankenship vs. Kim Walsh Orchestra guy (TBD) vs. Chorale guy (TBD) |
| Welcome to 1.14, the Village and Pillage Update! No, wait, that's Minecraft ... Welcome to Version 3.0 of "The Book of Masks" publishing empire. Version 1.0 was the interactive itself. Version 2.0 was the interactive plus a blog for updates. Version 3.0 is my stab at making the BoM universe more accessible. What are the changes? First, this page is now "The Book of Masks Homepage," a title to reinforce its new status as the hub of the BoM universe. It will continue as a blog for updates, but the "About" section above will now carry a richer set of links, making it easier and quicker for interested readers to find everything related to BoM. Second, new chapters (by me at least) will be posted in both the original interactive and in the new "The Book of Masks: Archives" which will replace the "Invalid Item" Unlike the "Temporary Static Collection" it is organized in interactive form; better still, its chapters will not be deleted after a certain date but will be permanent additions. Although it currently collects less than 8% of all the BoM chapters, I will be slowly adding old storylines to it. I will be deleting the "Temporary Static Collection" by the end of March and maybe sooner.Third, I have added yet another edition of BoM: "The Book of Masks (Abridged)" . This is a non-interactive selection designed for new readers who might be daunted by the size and complexity of the interactive. I've chosen truncated storylines that introduce important characters, magical techniques, and plot points so that new readers can (I hope) get their bearings before plunging (I hope even more) into the real interactive.There may still be some tweaking to be done, but this is basically the way I want to organize and collect things. |
| So, I said I wouldn't start publishing new BoM chapters until March 1, but I'm here now with an early one: "Another Personality Takes the Stage" . It's a one-off I needed to post in order to get a project ready. Don't look for any sequels to it any time soon. And yes, the public version of the chapter — "Another Personality Takes the Stage" —is in a new kind of location. Don't be shy about going to the "Table of Contents (Vol. 2)" and looking around, if you haven't been following my notes in the message forum. In fact there are two ToCs to check out: "Table of Contents (Vol. 1)" and "Table of Contents (Vol. 3)" EDIT: Oh, and there's another chapter I discovered that I had to publish in order to get that project ready: "A Plot Twist for Caleb Johansson" (interactive) and "A Plot Twist for Caleb Johansson" (public). That one will get a sequel—it will get a very long sequel—but it will be several weeks before it shows up.Here's a hint about what's going on: Big update coming tomorrow. Meanwhile, I was looking over and revising some of the early BoM chapters, from the first year I was writing it. Whew! (1) A lot of the mechanics are seriously inconsistent with the later evolutions. (2) A lot of the chapters are pretty short. (3) I sure liked to use adverbs in the speech attributions. Bleargh! Remember, new polls!: "Invalid Item" and "Invalid Item" |
| The last batch of polls for the Elite 8: [Polls completed and deleted.] Amanda Ferguson vs. Andrea Varnsworth Charles Hartlein vs. Band guy (TBD) Coming next: The Final Four! |
| The third of the Elite 8 polls are now up: [Polls completed and deleted.] |
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