Young Writers Society

I'm still here too!

@MeherazulAzim16, that's great! @TheMulticoloredCyr and I were trying to figure out what we do if you decided you didn't want to be a part of the storybook anymore because of Razzy and John's interactions, but it looks like we won't have to figure that out.

It looks like @niteowl is the only person we're not sure of right now. I'll give niteowl a few more days to see if she still wants to do this - then I'll figure out if we need to add more members to the group or not. If there's four of us still interested, that should be enough to keep this storybook going without more writers?

Hey there! I’m on the fence about staying in. I did like this story a lot but I also haven’t been around YWS in general as much and I don’t know if I see that changing for a while. So I’ll have to think about it.

I really should have replied to this sooner, but I completely understand, @niteowl! If you want, we could write Zenia/Jason out of the story in a way that would let you slip them back in if you ever decided you want to write the story again.

In the meantime, let's get down to planning!

The pad is thankfully up right now, but I'm not sure there's anything there that we haven't already talked about in the past in the DT. Our cast is down to Jane, Hawthorn, John and Razzy. Zenia/Jason might be involved in the story, but they're not definitive.

Our last post ended with John interacting with Razzy at the crime scene, so it might be best for @TheMulticoloredCyr to post next? If not that, maybe @PrincessInk could go? I know the original plan was to wait for a Seran post before we switched over to Hawthorn, but it's still a possibility.

(I could also go, too, just to get the storybook up and running again)

Speaking of Seran, we have to figure out what we need to do to get him out of the agency. My original thought was that we could have the group get some negativity press attention thanks to how important Arielle Stone is, but we could also have Seran have to help out his family. His CP says he has a lot of siblings, so I'm sure someone in his family could use the help!

@ShapeofVoid, what do you think? I know you're not writing for this storybook anymore, but I thought you might want to get the final say on what happens to Seran's character.

Last but definitely not least, we need to figure out what we're doing about writers in this storybook! If niteowl decides to drop out (permanently or temporarily) we'll be down to four writers and four characters in the agency. I'm happy to bring other writers into this, but I'd also love to stick with just the four of us!

(I could also have Nathan have a slightly larger role in the plot - he wasn't really going to contribute to it, but it might be a fun dynamic to add in.)

Just wanted to tag @MeherazulAzim16 as well, since I tagged everyone else in this post.

I don't think a post from Raz is neccessary, not right now, at least. It would kinda bog down the pacing since there's not really anything new to add save for more interactions between her and John, and her looking over the crime scene, both of which are things we can get a little later on. Plus, a scene from her perspective right now would probably lead to a weird pacing issue where it seems to take the group longer than it should to get to the crime scene from outside, since I'm not the most comfortable writing characters I am almost completely unfamiliar with and only have relatively small samplings to try to write from. I'm also not at all used to collaborating.

I think the next post should be from another member of the agency since the last post ended with them showing up. We know what Raz is up to, and it's meant to be ambiguous what lead up to her getting here (since that lead up is really boring and not worth spending a whole post recounting). It would be nice to get a post set a little bit back where the group interacts a little - maybe makes note of the fact that Raz left on her own, as usual, and will probably beat them there, also as usual (sets up some of the norms for this group) - and more dynamics are fleshed out a little more.

They could then arrive and we get everyone to the crime scene, so yay for putting everyone in the same place, and whosever perspective the post is from can move the plot along by finding a clue or something.





Different topic: If they're going to get negative press coverage, what will the focus of it be? As in, will the headlines read something like, 'paranormal investigators make a mockery of recent death', or something more like 'Locals break into crime scene'

@TheMulticoloredCyr, that's a good point! I didn't think of the pacing.

Would you like to go then, @PrincessInk? I can always whip out a Jane post if I have to, but I'm definitely down for you going next.

Also, about the negative press coverage: I was definitely thinking more of the first option - I feel like Arielle hiring our agency would definitely be cause for a scandal.

Good, that was my preferred option. More dramatic. More personal.

That's what I strive for in my writing.

sure!! I'll try and give it a shot (I have a post for another SB to wrap up and then I'll go and write for this one!)

Are we still going with my char to go and interview possible witnesses? And maybe along the way he encounters some press haha?

edit: also how is the agency going to play off against the police? have the police done an investigation already/are we competing or working together or ignoring them?

ach i'm not sure what to do with seran

killing him off so early would seem weird, so maybe the 'sibling needs help' idea could work - and then as the story progresses maybe he mysteriously dies? maybe that could be worked into the plot somehow? like maybe he was very close to the answer of some mystery or something and then he mysteriously vanishes something something

a lot mystery

Ooooh that sounds like an interesting idea @ShapeOfVoid! I'm not sure if he would be able to mysteriously vanish/die - it might not fit all that reveal with the reveal I have planned for the mystery - but we could definitely keep that on the back burner!

And @PrincessInk, that's great! Interviewing possible witnesses sounds great to me, as well as having the press show up. Even if the press has nothing to do with Seran leaving, I'm starting to become really fond of including it in the plot.

The police have already done an investigation - they just kept running into dead ends. I think they've basically given up on the case at this point, but they'll definitely be a little miffed that our group is trying to do their job despite that.

@PrincessInk, how's that post coming along?

ahhh I'm sorry for not responding!! I've been inactive here for a week, and sadly I think that's going to continue. I'm going on hiatus so I probably need to drop out of this SB. I'm so sorry but I'm going to be busy from now on with school and so forth and I think it's best for me if I cut down what I do in my free time

I'm sorry you have to drop out, but thank you for letting us know, @PrincessInk. <3

That leaves us with three confirmed writers. I can write the next post, but I think we need to decide what we're going to do with this storybook - and its characters - going forward.

Do we want to keep going with just three people? Do we want to get more characters or find someone to write for the characters that are technically NPCs right now? Or should we let this storybook rest and start over in a another form/drop it all together?

@TheMulticoloredCyr and @MeherazulAzim16, what are your thoughts?

After talking to the remaining members of this storybook, I've decided to put this storybook to rest. I'm sad that it never got a chance to get farther into the mystery, but I'm happy that I was able to at least start it with all of you! Your characters were all fascinating - so I hope you do more with them someday.

This is actually one of the few stories I had an ending planned for, so here's how the plot would have gone down:

The agency would have eventually discovered that Arielle wasn't actually Arielle. Arielle was Angie, who switched places with her sister through magic I hadn't exactly decided on yet. She wanted her sister's much more luxurious life. But she also wanted to seem like she was actually distraught over her sister's death, and knew that the media would make a fuss over Arielle not caring more about her sister's death becoming a cold case.

Which is why she came to the agency.

She didn't think they would solve the mystery - they didn't really have the credentials. But it would have been enough to seem like she was doing something, and that was all that she really wanted.

Of course, our agency would have actually solved the mystery. After revealing the truth, the group would have become pretty well known in supernatural circles - cementing their legacy for a series of future storybooks.