The Weekly Review - Edition 7
What's New?
- After a few months hiatus the Weekly Review is back and better!
- In Newbie Central a certain Penguinite shares his 42 gems of Forum wisdom (Mega-Hi Thread).
- In the Lounge debate rages over the ethics of abortion (The Silent Scream Thread).
- In the Parlor Room AppDude27 floats the suggestion of a CYOA Radio Show (Choose your own Adventure Radio Show Thread).
- In the Forum Games section a bunch of stuff happens!
- In the Writing Workshop Kiel_Farren's writing exercises prove extremely popular and showcade a lot of talent (Writing Exercises Restart Thread).
- In the Reading Corner site members debate the quality of H.P. Lovecraft's work (Lovecraft Thread).
- In the Feature Wishing Well SonicTurboTurtle demonstrates the meaning of irony by Necromancing a thread about banning Necromancy (Rule against Necroing Threads Thread).
Featured Interview - Introducing AppDude27!
Q: Why do you write Choose your own Stories?
A: The first choose your own adventure story that I ever read was the Goosebumps: You Choose The Scare, "Scary Birthday to You". I remember being so enthralled that a book could do that. Since writing was already a huge passion of mine, I decided to dive into that genre. I write CYOA stories because I love giving the choices to the reader. Reading about what a character does or feels is done all the time. I feel like this genre is underrepresented and deserves more credit.
Q: What is your preferred method and writing style?
A: I love to write fiction. I actually have a binder filled with typed out stories and journals of stories that I never finished. That always seems to be a problem of mine, I start something, but never finish it. Over the years, I've gotten much better at attacking that habit of mine, and I've seen great results.
Q: Do you have any plans for future stories?
A: As of now, I was hoping to do a Halloween themed story since it is October. Stay tuned for more. :) My story ideas are spontaneous for the most part. I am currently in the works of a kindle book, but with college and everything, it'll be a while before that takes off.
Q: Who are your favorite authors and what are your favorite stories on this site?
A: My favorite authors are Agatha Christie, Lemony Snicket, and Dean Koontz. I love mysteries and thrillers. On this site, I don't have any favorite authors in particular. My favorite stories on this site are...The Price of Freedom: Innocence Lost, The Proposal, and probably many more.
Q: Any advice for other writers?
A: My advice to writers is to have more confidence in your work. There are tons of writers on this site that follow things up with "this is my first story, cut me some slack!" or "please don't judge my story!". If you are too afraid to get constructive criticism on your story, then you probably shouldn't be writing stories in general.
Q: How about some final thoughts?
A: I'm very honored to have been chosen to be featured in "The Weekly Review". It's been a pleasure answering these questions and I can't wait to share more of my stories to the great community of writers on this website.
Many Thanks AppDude27!
Featured Reviews: 4 Blind Mice and Before Midnight, written by Vexor?
4 Blind Mice
8/8. Will bring you enlightenment.
As the very first review I've written for the Weekly Review, this was anything but a disappointment. It had great poetry, great spelling and grammar, managed to be a fairly long story despite it being a work of poetry, with 10 different endings. Not to mention that just because it was poetry didn't mean that there wouldn't be gore and sadness, or that it would be very old fashioned with nothing modern about it. I honestly have nothing bad to say about this story.
I got the ending of Pa and Rue. It perfectly captured the grieving and sadness of their lost friends, adding meaningfulness to the story in this in-depth look of how a group of mice might have to struggle to survive while an exterminator hunted them, and really makes you think about what might be happening right in front of your own eyes. And the fact that it was entirely based off of a poem that was four lines long is the cherry on top of a story that would already amaze you even if this hadn't been true.
Great work, AppDude27. I look forward to reading and reviewing many more of your stories in the future. I recommend this to anyone who is tired of storygames which lack creativity and a fresh perspective.
Before Midnight
7/8. Even better than Reeses Cups
This was quite an enjoyable story. At first it gave me the impression of being really random, as is with most stories by AppDude27. I think it is quite extraordinary how he manages to turn the most random and seemingly simple parts of life into interesting, unique, and fun storygames.
My grade was B. Once I arrived at the party I noticed how much choices there were and places to go, and I thought it added depth and challenge to the story, especially how you had to have some certain items to go to specific places. It had no grammar or spelling mistakes, and I thought that the realism of the entire plot was perhaps the best part of the story. There were multiple smaller challenges that you had to face, all the while racing against time to get your paper done.
I may play this game over again to get the secret ending. It's definitely something worth reading twice. Another great job by AppDude27.
Many Thanks Vexor!
Jokes
What did Jay-Z call his wife before they got married?
Feyonce.
Haikus are easy. But sometimes they don't make sense. Refrigerator.
A Southern Politician once said "We will have a black President when pigs fly". Well swine flu...
If at first you don't succeed... you'll get a lot of free advice from other people who didn'tsucceed either.
People with inactive minds often make up for it by having very active mouths.
You will often see a man holding a woman's hand. Before marriage it's called love, after marriage it's called self-defence.
Creativity is great but plagiarism is faster.
Quiz of the Week
Socio-psychologists working at Harvard Medical School have published the results of a 3 year study designed to spot homosexual tendencies in male and female test subjects. They have identified a set of five commonplace question and answers designed to identify correlations between responses given and sexual preferences, though the trends may be difficult to spot they are definitely there. This is the test designed for men, please answer as truthfully as you can.
1: When you hug other men ou are usually...
A) Naked B) Crying C) Celebrating scoring a touchdown
2: When you look in your trousers you see...
A) Another Man B) A mankini C) Boxers
3: At the gym you mostly...
A) Hang out in the Showers B) Hang out in the Steam Room C) Use the exercise machines
4: In the past week what have you shaved the most?
A) Your boyfriend's legs B) Your legs C) Your face
5: A little fruit is...
A) Your nickname B) Great for making fabulous cocktails C) A snack
If you answered mostly A's... you may be surprised to learn this but you may have homosexual tendencies. Inform your boyfriend in case he has them too.
If you answered mostly B's... there may be something about yourself you might discover in the future. For now keep subscribing to Men's Fitness.
If you answered mostly C's... you require further testing. Please transport yourself to Harvard Medical Center and await further instructions
Editor's Note: For those who missed it this is a Joke Quiz (yes I know it's obvious but there's always ONE who misses that) and means no offense towards anybody. Another Joke Quiz will follow next week, thank you for reading and a big thank you to AppDude27 and Vexor for all your help this week.
