Young Writers Society

Thanks for checking in sound. I've got my laptop fixed and I'll put up the dream post by Sat.

Oh I'm so happy to hear that Zenith! I'm glad you got your computer fixed and I look forward to your post!

SO LIFE HAS BEEN A BIT BUSY the last two weeks or so, but I've finally caught up to reading the last post and omg Tara's dream... WAKE UP TARA!!! AAA

That's like, definitely nightmare material

ALSO @sheyren I know you posted in the discord but give us a heads' up for when you think you'll be able to get your post up!!

How are you guys doing?? My brain is still mush but I'm doin okay lol

I’m doing good! Just waiting for Shey to post so we can start planning the next round of wake posts.

OKAY!!!! Now we start wake time posts!

Okay, I have an idea - what if when Clyde screamed in his dream, he also screamed in real life? I feel like a loud blood-curdling scream would draw attention. At that point, Rachel is awake already, so maybe she goes running to Clyde's room to see if he's okay/check on him?

And also, maybe sometime around 3 or 4pm, when Rachel, Jessie, and Clyde are up, they start to realize like, Tarana has been a sleep for a long time. Maybe Jessie's the one to mention it and goes in to check on her/knocks on the door, hears no reply, and then Jess goes in and wakes Tara up. (This could easily be @Zenith's post! We could collaborate on it or not, whatever works for you and your schedule!)

Those are the ideas I have for posts but if anyone has ideas for things in-between let me know!!

In this case - maybe @Elinor you'd like to go first? Collaborating w/@sheyren I assume! As long as you're both cool with the idea lol

Also there's no rush on these posts! But I do like communicating when we're planning on getting to them so I can plan in my head and know the SB is keeping momentum!

Hi @sheyren -- I'm cool to collaborate on a post. Let me know what works for you as far as scheduling.

I also was thinking about how to up the ante in future cycles, and was thinking our characters could have a dream within a dream to the point they're thrown off as to what's reality and what's not.

Also, we've discussed there being an additional clause in the contract that they wouldn't have known about before. The only thing I potentially thought of is that the doctors would move them to another place where they'd be isolated.

No smart TV, no Alexa, no outdoor space, communal kitchen stocked with all kinds of food. Just, alone in a room, maybe a few books, either meals brought to them or an individual kitchen.

That would make it harder to collaborate, but we still could in dreams (say we want to make them more and more realistic, I'm imagining the rest of Rachel's dreams will take place at the facility anyway), or do this closer to the end.

Not really a specific question but I'm curious as to what you have in mind for the rest of this storybook, @soundofmind as I imagine there has to be some kind of twist-- I'd hate to see this just go out with a whimper!

OKAY, So first, I will consolidate, or uh, make sure all the ideas are in one place. So! Here's the extra ideas from the discord server.

Zenith's suggestions:

I was thinking that since in every wake cycle the characters merely interacted, so maybe in this one we could do something different to stir up the drama
Like maybe the people conducting the drug trial introduced a new clause in the agreement that wasn't there previously
And it's unreasonable and has severe psychological consequences.
What that maybe I have no idea

My reply:

How would they know about the added clause?
You think maybe a doc would stop by?? INTRODUCE A NEW NPC CHARACTER???
Or maybe they learn about the new clause by one of them violating it (or almost violating it) and a doc/security person comes by to enforce it
and they're like "i don't remember that in the agreement" and the person comes w/receipts and shows the new clause
We'd just have to think about what that clause would be
hmm
We already have no contact w/outside world going on

Elinor's idea:

So I just had a thought
It might be too late to do it this time but maybe for next dream cycle
We could play with our characters having dreams within a dream to the point where they don't know what's reality and what's not

Zenith's most recent idea:

For the clause, how about the participants being put in chambers that triggers hallucinations like a virtual simulator or something
We can do it in the next dream cycle though and also the dream within the dream thing. In the wake cycle maybe we can have them moved to the new advanced facility.

TLDR; In this coming wake cycle we want to introduce a new dynamic of drama. I'm thinking of combining these ideas together because I like them all.

So here's my idea for moving forward in a list of posts to come:

1. Rachel hears Clyde's blood-curdling scream and runs to check on him. Rachel attempts to console Clyde, but he's very clearly disturbed and may or may not want to talk about it. @Elinor and @sheyren > this could be from either Clyde or Rachel's POV but I'm leaning towards Clyde's pov? Ya'll can talk it out what you think would be better though

2. Jessie, Clyde, and Rachel are awake and it's early afternoon. They realize they haven't heard anything from Tara all morning and get concerned. Jessie goes to check on her and has to wake her up. Since I want this to be from Tara's POV, though, most of this can be explained through Jessie. This can start with Tara waking up either from Jessie shaking her awake or knocking on the door. The post can then follow Tara waking and coming out into the main room. I imagine things will be tense and everyone will be kind of stressed at this point. The post can end with a knock on the front door. @Zenith, Tara's POV, written with @soundofmind

3. Everyone looks at each other. Jessie will ask if anyone else heard the knock and someone can confirm. Jessie and Rachel meet eyes and come to a silent agreement to check the door together. The door opens before they get there and a doctor enters in announcing they're being moved to a different facility. The doctor will explain that they have concerns for everyone's safety after the incident with Noah, inform them Noah is cared for and okay, and that they'll be moved shortly. They'll also "remind" everyone of the new clause added to their agreement... which I still need to figure out the specifics for. @soundofmind, Jessie's POV, anyone who wants to collab with me can!

4. They're taken to a facility where they're isolated in one room with meals brought to them, and only a bed and a few books on hand. Maybe we can each do a different post for this, which I'll explain a bit in the next paragraph:

Here's where I think we can have fun with the twists - maybe the wake time realities can begin to split, and we can leave the answers of what's real open to interpretation and a bit blurred. Like, maybe the location switch is the mark of realities blurring and blending. Like, the truth is they're all being isolated, but maybe for Clyde, his "reality" is that all four of them are stuck in a room together. And maybe for Jessie, she starts "waking up" and sleepwalking to other rooms (when in reality, she's just in the one room by herself) and visits the others. Maybe Rachel tries to escape and dreams she succeeds, and maybe Tara willingly immerses herself in her dream world and that becomes her reality.

Then there can kind of be like, alternate endings, and it can be a "which ending is real, or are any of them real?" situation - and if we wanted, we could end the SB with a POV switch to a doctor reflecting on the true ending, which maybe is just all of our characters stuck in a deep sleep unable to wake up, which would be real spooky hoohoo

These are just some of my ideas! Let me know what you all think!

Oh I really like the idea about each one of them having a different ending and the readers left to wonder what actually happened.
By the way, how many more sleep/wake cycles do we have left? And also, I'll be free this week but not get time next week because of college stuff. So hopefully, we can adjust according to that.

@sheyren I'm down to collaborate on a post, just let me know-- Clyde's POV could work.

I like the idea of them being isolated, and of them having a different concept of reality by the end, but I do like the idea of this all being anchored by a "true ending". Rather than them all still being asleep, I like the idea of them returning to their lives but a bit shook up. Thoughts?

Hmmmm maybe they all wake up but it's like, way later than the trial was supposed to go for? Like, they wake up and think it's only been two weeks, but when they meet their family or friends it's like "bro... it's been two months" or something?

In answer to your question @Zenith I think we have about 4 dream and wake cycles left!

Also, Zenith, if you want to work a time so we can work on your post I think we could write it before Elinor and shey get theirs up and that way you have it done and can just post it right after Elinor and shey post theirs! I don't mind working ahead if it works better for your schedule!

@sheyren Just poking you to see where you're at and wanted to check in <3

Sounds cool. I'll just fix a time this weekend and tell you.

Hmmmm maybe they all wake up but it's like, way later than the trial was supposed to go for? Like, they wake up and think it's only been two weeks, but when they meet their family or friends it's like "bro... it's been two months" or something?

The only thing with this idea is that I've gotten every impression thusfar that this takes place in the real world, and I don't see how that could happen without the doctors getting sued the ever living hell out of them. It seems more likely and more realistic something drastic would happen and the experiment would get cancelled, much as The Stanford Prison experiment was, especially after Noah was removed.

Hell, Stanley Millgram got tons of flack for the Millgram experiment even though he didn't do anything wrong and the results just triggered people.

But those two experiments were responsible for a lot of reform in these kinds of experiments which I can say firsthand from being test subjects in several (nothing anything overnight or to this degree, but regardless).

I know we're at 7/12 and have been doing every other night, maybe would get to 9/12 before it's cancelled and our characters get picked up amidst public backlash? For fun we could write journal entries 8 and 9 to drag it out a little more.

Oooooh, you have a point there, lol. I didn't even think of the real life repercussions haaaa

I'd be cool with the experiment getting cancelled and there being public backlash! Admittedly, I'd need help figuring out how to write that because that's a bit out of my realm of experience and I don't know much about those kinds of things exactly?

Maybe we could do a few more journal entries and posts following the different splits of perceptions of reality if you guys want!

I wouldn't overthink it, but I imagine how it would go is we'd get abruptly cleared out from the facility and the doctors are all frantic in giving us our money, letting us go, etc when we're waiting for people to pick us up. When we go home we could hear more about it on the news about a sleep study that went out of control.

Like I said, I wouldn't overthink it but I can help with this if need be. Though I'm certainly no expert either-- I'd read about Stanford Prison Expirement if you're curious because that's what this made me think of from the get-go.

Also, I realize we don't have a place this specifically set. Canonically Rachel lives in Virginia, in the suburbs of DC, so we could say the facility is there if that works for everyone?

Hmmm, DC could be a cool location. I know Jess is from AZ but could've traveled for it. I'm cool w/DC if everyone else is?