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The Weekly Review - Edition 45
4 years ago
The Weekly Review – Edition 45
FEATURING
Notable News!
Intriguing Interview and Recommended Reads: Simplesabley and The Secret of Daphne
Who’s Who: October, Steve24833, Avery_Moore, Bucky and Romulus!
NOTABLE NEWS
In Newbie Central ForbiddenTales and Prosperity join the site!
In the Lounge Chris113022’s thread about how people found this site enjoys considerable popularity!
In the Parlour Room Interesting Comments remains the main topic of discussion!
In the Creative Corner EndMaster’s collection of excellent short stories is reinvigorated!
In the Writing Workshop TurnipBandit shares some of his creative writing!
ALSO: Check out my opposition, Bucky's Disappointment Periodical! It's nice to have some variety :D
INTRIGUING INTERVIEW: SIMPLESABLEY
1: How did you first find this site?
It's a little hard to remember that far back, but I'm pretty sure I came across it by chance just googling different writing sites at the time.
2: What made you want to join?
I'd always loved writing, but had never published anything for others to read. The concept of CYOA's was really interesting to me and I couldn't resist the challenge so I stayed.
3: What are your favorite aspects, members or stories on this site?
My favorite aspect of the site is the community. It's a no bullshit environment with honest feedback and advice. I've built some really wonderful friendships here over the years and even after being gone for a long period I was able to come right back and feel at home again.
4: What are your least favorite aspects, members or stories on this site?
I don't have much I dislike about this site, honestly. There are some random noobs that pop in and cause minor annoyance on the forums, but that usually leads to entertainment so I can't even complain there. As for least favorite stories, I have a thing about quizzes. With all the fancy quiz sites on the internet, people pop in here and make them on the editor instead. Why? It's a CYOA site not a quiz site, quizzes don't usually involve stories (If one does then I'd give it a pass on this hang up of mine).
5: What inspires your writing?
My imagination mostly and my emotions. Which can be good or bad, I take a long time to put anything out because I tend to rotate between one or two projects at a time as the inspiration hits. If I don't feel inspired then I usually don't like the quality of the writing I put out and end up junking large portions of it and trying again later. As for outside influences, I've always loved any sort of mythology and folklore, especially ghost stories.
6: What writing plans do you have for the future?
Currently I'm working on 3 projects. Two versions of The Many Fates of Hjordis (One being a CYOA and the other a novel version that is a long-term goal) and a Sci-Fi/Cyber Punk CYOA that will probably be the next thing published on the site for me. TMFOH CYOA is probably going to take a few years, it keeps evolving and parts get scrapped and redone but for the better in my personal opinion. I had to start up a WorldAnvil.com account just to track all of the worldbuilding I have for it, because the word document got kind of insane and I think it developed its own intelligence or something. I'm already about half way through the Sci-Fi CYOA and I plan to do a WIP thread on it eventually. It'll include dynamic page text that constantly changes to reflect player choices from things as simple as character health/appearance to things as complicated as past dialogue choice, companion opinion of the player character, and environmental effects of the player's choices, optional random encounters that start mini side quests, and of course the usual multiple paths and branching choices. I'll probably create a WIP thread for the Sci-Fi in the next couple of months as it gets closer to completion.
7: The Secret of Daphne is one of my favorite horror stories on the site, where did the idea for this come from?
Unfortunately, The Secret of Daphne doesn't have the most pleasant origin story. I've been pretty candid about it on the Discord, but not really on the forums so I'm not sure how many people really know about this. When I was writing Daphne, I was dealing with depression and had a prescription drug problem as well as an alcohol problem. The prescriptions I was on mixing with alcohol caused some pretty nasty side effects, including some vivid hallucinations and night terrors. The creepy scenes in Daphne are all based on my dreams and the waking dreams (if you want to call them that) I had during that time in my life. It was my way of working through it all and it actually did help. I'm happy to say that I'm in a much better place in life now and no longer take or need prescriptions and have not abused alcohol in years.
8: Ciara’s Game was another fantastically written story, though I am not familiar with the Saw series, what do you
think makes horror stories like this so appealing to many people?
Personally, I believe horror stories of this variety appeal to people because of the psychology behind it. Who doesn't love to watch a bad person punished? If that punishment is brutal and specific to their "sin" it thrills us even more. Most people also enjoy a good redemption story, mix that into a revenge story at the same time and now you're appealing to even more people. A lot of people do write off the Saw series as 'torture porn' and they aren't wrong to do so. I usually don't like those kinds of movies/stories myself, but Saw is my exception. I just love all the twists and turns the story takes and the different character arcs. It's shocking, thrilling, and keeps your mind working to try and figure out what the twist will be before it happens.
9: Any funny stories to relate?
Funny stories? I usually have at least one. What comes to mind is what I now refer to as the Satan's Boiling Asshole Incident. So, my husband and I own 5 acres of land in rural SC. We're working on homesteading, but still building everything up. A neighbor/family friend of my husband's has been letting us borrow his skid steer to do grading work around our property for the past half a year without any issues. With the rainy season in full swing, we'd been having a lot of flooding issues and my husband wanted to put in a pipe in the ditch along the road to help the water go into the creek rather than into our pasture. It was only about 30 minutes of work, no big deal. He gets it done then pops his head in the door to let me know he's running down the road to our elderly pig farmer neighbor to go pick up our order of sausage and pork chops.
About five minutes after he left, I hear a knock on the door. It's some rando dude I didn't recognize, asking if my husband was home. When I told him he wasn't, he then informed me that our skid steer was on fire. It is at this point that I discovered we didn't have a fire extinguisher. We should have, but somehow that got missed in the final inspection on our home (I'm not sure about other states, but in SC it is required that one be present in a home to pass inspection). Thankfully the skid steer is parked near my chicken coop and my husband had a hydrant and water hose installed in it for watering animals easily. So, me and random dude run down the hill to get that hose going on the fire (To add to this imagery, I'm 5 months pregnant at this point and I run like a damn penguin). It turns out the hydrant cracked at some point and when I turned it on water sprayed me in the face, but enough is going down the hose to make it to the fire so we have that going for us at least.
Rando gets the water arcing onto the fire which is not going down at all. I'm calling my husband when the fuel tank explodes like Satan's fiery asshole after Taco Tuesday. This got the attention of my old timer neighbor across the creek. I holler at him to see if he has a fire extinguisher. He does, so I make like a line-backer and bust down the hill and across the pasture so he can throw it to me from across the creek. Then I run back up the hill as my husband Bo Duke's it over the ditch and across the pasture in my car to get to the fire. I give him the extinguisher... which then proceeds to not work.
Turns out the extinguisher expired in 1995. My husband shakes the holy hell out of it and it finally gets up enough pressure to work just enough to put out the worst of the fire so that the water hose can get rest.
By now, elderly neighbor is hanging out with us and observing the drama, Rando hands over hose duty to my husband so he can go to work, and I'm just glad to finally not have a literal ball of fire on the property. Skid steer is a total loss, we believe a rat's nest was up in it and that got hot from the engine then melted the wires after the engine was turned off, starting an electrical fire.
We all try to calm down and chat for a bit, ten other men from around the mountain have magically appeared to observe the scene, and I'm ready to go back to the house and just take a nice cold shower. Only, when I go to get into my car, I realize that my husband accidentally locked the keys in it with the car running when he pulled a Bo Duke earlier. So now we have to break into my car because I don't have a spare key (Don't even say anything, my husband said enough about that already, thank you). So here I am with witnesses, trying to help my husband break into my car. They thought it was hilarious. We finally got into it and I was able to escape to the house. And that's the story of the Satan's Boiling Asshole Incident.
10: Finally, any words for new authors?
For new authors, I suggest writing what you want to read. If you don't like what you're writing, why should anybody else? Start with small goals and make bigger ones as you meet those small goals. Build yourself up achievement wise otherwise you'll set a too big goal and not meet it, then that becomes the norm. Also, learn to take criticism. I know it's hard to hear someone criticize a story that you put your heart and soul into, but you'll be a better author for it. Take the criticism and advice, learn from it, and grow as a person. Also read lots of books.
RECOMMENDED READS: THE SECRET OF DAPHNE
A Horror story with a Difficulty of 7, Length of 6 and Maturity Level of 7.
The Secret of Daphne is a really good kind of traditional horror story with excellently thematic writing and a very vivid imagination. Both coding and items are used to good effect and with a multitude of endings there are some quite interesting branches tucked away if you can find them. A story which can be enjoyed in one reading or savoured by following all the branches this is one of the site’s best horror stories and a personal favourite of mine.
WHO’S WHO: OCTOBER, STEVE24833, AVERY_MOORE, BUCKY AND ROMULUS!
21: October
Joined: 2006
Last Active: 2014
Top Stories:
Notable For: October is another of the first generation of site members who has long since vanished from view. In his time, he was a vocal and enthusiastic presence on the forums, provided some helpful articles, ideas and solutions to a few bug problems and also took full advantage of the daily point feature to a near-Kumquat level. Worth mentioning and recognized for his many hours of contributions by some of the rarest and most sought-after trophies.
22: Steve24833
Joined: 2015
Last Active: Currently Active
Top Stories: Achilles (Science Fiction), Fear the Psyker (Fan Fiction), In the Pale Moonlight (Horror), Prometheus Academy (School) and Saoirse (Edutainment).
Notable For: Steve... love him or hate him (probably the latter) there is no denying he is an exceptionally gifted author, probably the best overall talent on the site after EndMaster as shown by his featured stories in five different categories, possibly a record. Steve is a very vocal presence on the forums (though not so much lately) and has churned out 15 exceptionally well written stories. Check out his profile page for some great quotes about him by various site members (Mizal’s and Berka’s are particularly good).
23: Avery_Moore / Briar_Rose
Joined: 2012
Last Active: Currently Active
Top Stories: Tower of Riddles (Puzzle) and The Price of Freedom: Innocence Lost (Everything Else)
Notable For: Briar, who since 2019 has been active under the Avery tag, is hands down one of the nicest members to ever grace this site with their presence. As well as being an extremely likable presence in the forums she is an exceptional author, her Tower of Riddles is one of the best-written stories in its category and her brilliant Price of Freedom is a favorite of many of the site’s members (check out its sequel and other content on Patreon and Facebook).
24: Bucky
Joined: 2014
Last Active: Currently Active
Top Stories: Various
Notable For: Bucky is another site member whose activities on the site have indisputably made it a better place. He might be best known for hosting a series of writing competitions (9 since 2016) that have generated well over one well-written hundred stories, including at least a dozen of a very level. Bucky is an awesome presence in the forums and a very good author himself, having written 4 stories including the very fun state capitals with zombies.
25: Romulus
Joined: 2011
Last Active: Currently Active
Top Stories: The Raven (Fan Fiction)
Notable For: One of the longest-active site members Romulus is a little quiet and perhaps not that well known by some of the newer site members but he is a genuinely fantastic author and talented poet. His story Raven is a worthy homage to Edgar Allen Poe’s original while his other 6 stories are all well-written (some of them were also previously featured unless my memory deceives me). A fellow enthusiast of the daily point feature, his many trophies attest to his impressive abilities as an author.
CONCLUDING CREDITS
Notable News: ForbiddenTales, Prosperity, Chris113022, EndMaster, TurnipBandit and Bucky.
Intriguing Interview and Recommended Reads: Simplesabley.
Who’s Who: October, Steve24833, Avery_Moore, Bucky and Romulus.
