Young Writers Society

Hey there! If we haven't met before, I'm Jay. My DTs usually have long, drawn out first posts, but I wanted to make this one a little more casual. Let me know if you want to join this storybook!

And, before you go, make sure to subscribe to both the DT and the actual SB. I'll be posting some important character creation info in here soon.

I can't wait to write this storybook with you!

I'm in!

Awesome! I'll add you to the cast list, @TheMulticoloredCyr. Welcome to the storybook!

I'll post the actual character profile template in a later post, but I just wanted to explain how our characters are going to interact with the school. Some of this is taken straight from the manga/anime Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, some is just my own personal interpretation of the anime's inner-workings, and everything else is from me.

First things first: the show calls the supernatural people - both the mysteries and those that they look after - apparitions. Not all of them are ghosts. In the original show, there's usually some basis in Japanese folklore. It's not always true, but you might want to look into legends from around the area Ravenwood Academy is in if that's your jam.

If not, anything goes! I'd love to go for some more creative kinds of apparitions, but I won't say no if you really want to write a vampire or something like it.

Now, onto how the apparitions work.

Our guys in particular have three things: a domain, a tragic story, and something that's the source of all of their strength. I'll use the first true mystery that the gang encounters in the show as an example: the Misaki Stairs. If you want to watch the show, I'll make sure to keep my explanation as spoiler free as possible!

The Misaki Stairs isn't the stairs itself. It's the domain. If you step on a specific stair, you end up in the mystery's realm - it's basically the place between the side of "living" and the side of "dead". Humans are forgotten when they're in there, save for those who are more in tune with things like the supernatural, but they can't permanently die while they're in.

Every character is going to have a domain. You're free to claim whatever you want on the campus grounds, as long as it isn't already taken! That includes the lake and the forest around the school.

Here's some pictures of the Misaki Stairs:



Next up, you have the tragic story. Those stories are what shape the domain and their special object - in the case of the Misaki Stairs, a teacher died on the stairs centuries ago. The story doesn't have to come from when the academy was around. The stairs were made before it. The story can also be something that happens after the apparition is already at the school. In the case of one of the characters, their little tragedy (and special object) came around after interacting with a student in the school.

Lastly, you have the special object. In the case of the stairs, that object is something the teacher gave to one of their students. It's really based on what your character's tragedy is.

There's still some more stuff I need to post about before we can make our characters, but I'll save that for a second post.

I'm back again! Time to go into how our characters interact with the rest of the school.

The original story doesn’t outright state this, but there’s three kinds of apparitions: those who can only interact with a select number of living people, those who hide out as students or teachers, and those who were human but have been granted powers.

Here’s an example of each of them:

Type 1: Limited Interaction Apparitions

In the show, Hanako makes deals with humans. Humans normally can't see him - they have to either summon him through a little chant (kind of like Bloody Mary) or be someone who's already tuned into the supernatural. That can either be someone with an exorcist or someone with a connection to death. Since our characters are fairly powerful, mysteries in this category probably have something to offer to the regular students and faculty of the school.

Type 2: Hiding Apparitions

Time to go back to that second apparition I mentioned in my last post. That apparition pretends to be a teacher in the show's school. He's able to hide his less human features when outside of his domain. He's so good at it that exorcists haven't been able to pick up on it until they see him with his traits in the show. Theoretically, he's been in the school for awhile - so it wouldn't be a stretch for you to do the same if you like this kind of apparition!

Type 3: Humans with Apparition Powers

I won’t give away who the character in the show is, but they’re a regular old human that’s been granted powers by one of the older mysteries. (The first mystery is three apparitions instead of the usual one.) They have a special form that’s slightly different than their human form, and they’re able to use their apparition-granted abilities when in that form. But they’ll only fulfill that role while they’re in the school - once they graduate, they’ll be back to being a regular human. The show's apparition is a student, but a teacher could definitely do the same thing - they just wouldn't be able to access their powers while off campus.

Last, but not least, here's the CP template! Let me know if you have any questions about it.

Definitely, @hiraeth!

I'm sad that I'm too busy to join this (( (I've limited myself to 1 Sb at once)

Aight, my restraint is dead, gimme a spot please

@PrincessInk, I'm sorry you can't join, but I'm glad you like the storybook's premise!

@SirenCymbaline, sure thing! I'll go add you to the cast list now.

Though I just realised the school nurse type character I'm working on will probably won't be too active in the plot compared to the student characters, so while she won't quite be an npc, I don't feel fully right taking up one of the seven slots. Not sure what to do about that.

Still joining tho

Swinging over to hopefully claim a spot

This is way too late, but your spot has been claimed, @SebiGhoul!

And @SirenCymbaline is down for a spot, too.

I completely forgot to mention this earlier, but each of the mysteries have a special power in the show. The power usually has something to do with their backstory - Hanako, for example, has a knife he can use because he did something...questionable with it.

So feel free to give your character a special power when making your CP!

But of course, count me in!