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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 7/1: Interactive: "Solving Other People's Problems" 7/1: Public: "Solving Other People's Problems"
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| ThePrussian has already launched the commentary thread for the current branch— Which is totally okay! I don't mind early talkbacks at all! I'm flattered, in fact, when I don't have to make them myself! —in the forum. So, you can go over there to speculate about what's going on and who's involved, if you wish: "Commentary: The Needle Skips" And me? I still have to finish writing this branch. I've been goofing off with other writing projects, but need to buckle down onto this one. |
| Today's chapter— * Interactive: "A Final Confrontation" * Public: "A Final Confrontation" — wraps up the current branch. The chapters didn't get a lot of views, so I don't think they were widely popular. But there were some people who got pretty into it. ThePrussian said some unnecessarily kind things about this part of BoM—"Commentary: "Dodging Out of Dodge"" —and I got a lot of GPs and even some emails from other readers who liked it, and I am grateful to Easy, thatdude, the-knight-croisant, and ThePrussian for them. Those were very encouraging.So what's next? Well, I'm taking my life in my hands, sort of, by plunging into a commission that I haven't finished writing yet, and have had a hard time with. I think I've got the first five chapters in shape for publication, but that's as far as I've gotten, and those five chapters got rewritten, revised, shifted about, cut, reworked, merged, and centrifuged a lot of times. I'm hoping that the chapters that follow will come more easily and quickly. But where are these chapters going to appear? They are going to pick up from "An Overwhelming Question" . That's the branch where Will lost the book--he had it stolen from out of his house, apparently--and wound up getting involved in a weird way with Stephanie Wyatt. And it ended on a fairly alarming note, with Will up in his dad's office at Salopek as something blue was shoved into his face.Tomorrow's chapter will pick up where that last one left off. |
| First of all, big thanks to Masktrix for taking over storytelling duties for me the last two weeks or so. I really enjoyed the chapters, and being on the other side of a Plot Plinko! Rugal has something going on still, I think, but I'm going to jump back in with a series of chapters that's been sitting on my hard drive for ... (checks files) ... more than a year! It starts with: * Interactive: "The Return of the Native" * Public: "The Return of the Native" That's a sequel to "An Embarrassment of Cameron Hubers" , which was a branch that's been in suspension since I was a little boy, it feels like. The back story:While messing around with the book, Will and Caleb made a copy of Gordon Black, the thuggish basketball player, and then accidentally revealed themselves and it to him. Instead of killing them, he forced Will to wear his mask while he (Gordon) took over Will's life. WtF? Well, it's because Gordon has a shitty home life, Will discovered. One thing and another happened, and Will put Gordon's life on a different track. He stood up to Gordon's abusive father, but that got him kicked out of the house, so he (as Gordon) moved in with Caleb. He also fixed some relationship problems that Gordon was having with Chelsea. There were some other hijinks involving the football squad, but this sequence in the branch closes and opens with Will and Gordon stripping themselves of the masks and returning to their previous lives. Will they have learned anything from the experience? Will there be further shenanigans? Tune in to find out! |
| Today's chapter— * Interactive: "Party Tardy" * Public: "Party Tardy" —brings this branch to a climax and temporary stopping point. Don't look for it to continue beyond this point any time soon. My plan for this branch is to backtrack to earlier chapters and graft on alternate branches. Oh, and if you've anything to say about the chapter, there's a commentary/talkback thread in the forums: "Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Clover Mystery" .* * * What comes next? I'm stepping back from publishing anything for a little while. Instead, Masktrix will be publishing chapters in the "Conspirators Three" branch, continuing from "A Face to Meet the Faces That You Meet" . This was a fun thing for me and I hope too for him (it was his idea). He wrote it Plot Plinko style, giving me chapters privately and asking me to pick the choice for continuation. So he gets all the credit for the chapters; I must shoulder any blame for the direction the story took.I would like to do some writing while Masktrix is publishing, but I am currently on a small hiatus. A dog I was caring for had to be euthanized last Monday, and I haven't been in the mood for anything but rote work and mind-numbing entertainment. But even if I am not writing, I will still be checking in here every day. |
| I'm skipping publication today. I was up until 1:30 this morning at a veterinary hospital with a sick dog, and I'm too exhausted to want to deal with anything. (The dog, to be clear, is not mine. It belongs to an elderly neighbor I have been lending help to. Still, the stress of dealing an elderly man in a declining condition is not improved by helping his elderly dog who also in a declining condition.) Monday update: I'm not exactly tanned, rested, and ready -- I'm pallid, tired, and looking forward a fairly shitty day -- but there's nothing to stop me from publishing. So here's the next chapter in the branch: * Interactive: "Pickalittle Talkalittle" * Public: "Pickalittle Talkalittle" |
| Today's chapter— * Interactive: "A Self-Made Girl" * Public: "A Self-Made Girl" —brings Plot Plinko and this branch to a close. Tomorrow, Clover Mystery returns in a sequel to "Who's Who at Westside High" . The story thus far:The book of magic that Will found has somehow gotten lost in the school's drama department, but he's had lots of other things to worry about. He's made new friends with some new-to-him people, including some girls who seem to be quite interested in him. At the same time, he started getting teasing texts from someone calling themselves "Clover Mystery." All of this climaxed in a bizarre way when he found himself body-swapped with a classmate, Jack Li. And then there was another body swap that put Jack into the body of basketball hooligan Steve Patterson, and put Patterson into Will's old body. As near as any of them can tell, Chelsea Cooper has been the one responsible for the shenanigans. |
| Yesterday brought the last poll in the present game of Plot Plinko, and thanks to some GPs it was as close as it could be without being another tie: Grab Jelena: 12,400 Keep the date with Bastian: 12,200 Because I didn't know which one was going to win, I don't have a chapter prepared. But here's a consolation prize: * Interactive: "Needs and Desires" * Public: "Needs and Desires" That's an alternate sequel to "The Junior Menu" . The tie-breaker sent the story down the "Pick Scarlett Bard" route, but this one sends it down the "Pick an alpha girl" route. |
| I don't even know why I bothered to run a poll yesterday. I knew what the results would be, and they were what I guessed. "Switch with Scarlett" beat "Stay as Annabelle" by a decisive margin: 3380-1520. New chapter is up, along with a new poll: [Poll completed and deleted] |
| 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]. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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.] |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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 ... |
| 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. |
| 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! |
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