Forums » Writing Workshop » Read Thread

Hi! Sorry, I've been very busy with IRL stuff this past week and haven't been on to see this. I joined the site years ago specifically because I enjoyed reading the stories on this site, but only recently got more into writing this style of story, so this contest seemed like the perfect motivator to actually finish writing one.. I'm in the process of plotting my story out and doing some of the early writing for it, but I'm still working on getting a more specific direction to it.

I do have a question, actually. As stated on the original contest thread, there your story must have a certain length, which is determined by the number of words you have. But I'm writing the story in the page scripts using HTML. I don't think the site will be able to count the words in the script, or am I wrong?

Are readers here ok with a long exposition before the first choice? Mine looks like it might get quite lengthy, but I don't really want to add false choices or stupid ones to break it up. And on that subject, what are people's thoughts on more choices vs. less choices (of equal story length)? 

Whenever this topic comes up, the consensus seems to be that the amount readers will put up with before getting annoyed is something like 1000 words a page, or three one-link pages one after another.

But if you're going to ignore one of those rules, make it the one about the word count per page. Because anyone on a writing site seriously complaining about having to read too many words isn't going to get very far. They're more like guidelines anyhow, and writers confident enough in what they're doing tend to just do what they want.

Although I would say that when it comes to the editing process, besides simple proofreading the idea is to strip redundant words and useless padding out, and that strengthens the finished product quite a lot. There almost always is a way to trim pages down or rearrange how the information is presented.

'False choices' or what I call aesthetic choices aren't a terrible thing in every situation though. Sometimes they're useful for establishing details about the characters or setting in the reader's mind that will play into decisions later even if they themselves don't do much to alter the plot. The only problem is when authors start using them as a crutch.

Enterpride’s writeup and totally not stalkerish research on all the new people: day one entrants.
And because there’s too many, or maybe because I went too deep, this is only part one.

@Axxius

Axxius rated quite a few of the featured and ex-featured stories on the site. This would theoretically allow him to learn the lessons both on the reader’s tastes and storytelling. Although his failure at reading the entry post doesn’t mean he has picked up on any of his reading ventures.
An Axxius had joined some game called ‘Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes Characters’ roughly half a year after he had joined CYS. This doesn’t coincide with any fluctuation in rating activity. Overall he seems to be quite active in the game, being ranked top 100. While it may be a sign of a lot of spare time and a competitive spirit, assuming they are both, in fact, the same person, I fear he will down in this game and forget about the contest.

Also, he’s Russian.

He did go through the hassle that’s adding a profile picture. I am not sure if this was done earlier, or just for this contest. But this signifies an effort to distinguish himself from the masses. The avatar has an air of confidence and business savviness. Although the crop makes it difficult, a reverse search guesses it’s of the actor in an Allstate Insurance advertisement. Will this mean he’s a reliable sort?

Overall, based on this backstory, I’d say this contestant is an unattractive wildcard for a bet of any type.

However, Axxius has managed to write 5k words on his entry. The plot seems to be a fantasy adventure, which is quite popular on the site. The con? It is poorly formatted. Either every sentence breaks up, or it is all one big paragraph. If he adjusts it all, and this is just a mistake from copying over text, I’d say Axxius has shot up in my rankings and secured himself a top 8 spot.

@Novelist176

Novelist has lain dormant for four years, before joining this contest. Back in the day, he had rated quite a lot of stories. Although the lack of any Endmaster in his reading list makes me suspicious, will he get surprised by the site’s newer and higher standards?
The one thing Novelist has speaking for him is his account name. It is personal to CYS and doesn’t show up on any other site. Does this mean the man expects to be writing and reading novels? Is this why he left before? In any case, the name is of a respectable sort, only marred by the numbers behind it. Does this mean he’s born in 1976? In that case, the life’s experience may tilt the balance in his favor.

As of writing this short analysis, he doesn’t happen to have logged in for three days. With no posts or stories on his profile, I fear this absence may spell doom for this entrant. In any case, his previous absence, and the lack of a profile picture makes this entrant an underdog, I expect he’ll either silently finish in top 16, or quietly vanish.
This Novelist remains a true mystery.

@corvus

Corvus is fresh blood. As his first step, he almost immediately joined the contest. This signifies enthusiasm and an abundance of energy that may be missing with the site’s older members. In any case, this’ll be an essential asset to have for finishing an entry.
Corvus has three stories on his name. His entry piece is off-site, and his other two are sci-fi and fantasy, but both empty. This is another tell of the enthusiasm he had already shown before, but now I’m more reserved. With an immediate opening of these many projects, he shows himself improbable on focusing on the main one. Will this spell doom for our fresh entry, or is this just a ploy of points to meet the requirement of entering the contest?

There is a promising note in his bravery to post in this Q&A thread. With his unwillingness to add false choices and even more nefarious stupid choices, he is already ahead in my book. Personally, I enjoy the entries that are more story than game and branching choices that have meaning. I guess this is what we can expect from Corvus.
But in this youthful mystery, there is one lead in finding out more about this contestant. The profile picture also shows up in a Spanish review of Resident Evil 4 by the name of Calyduby. Will he join the school of Poison Mara and be as fierce in his writing?

In any case, this Calydubby shows up in deviantart, and I feared for our promising entrant. However, the site was not as racy as I imagined by the name, and the two pictures in his collection were of a beautiful church and a tasty abandoned ruin. It also leads to an Instagram account of some guitarist that looks remotely Hispanic, and I’ll leave it at that.

Will Corvus use his creative enthusiasm to take the lead? In any case, he has shown enough to be a top eight finisher.

@Megumeme

Megumeme is known, and that makes any effort to dig in his past much less interesting. So far, the only creative contribution has been an interactive fiction that died before the second post. This, together with the recent bout of inactivity and the lackluster entry reply, makes me think Megu will be unlikely to turn anything in.
However, if he does, it’s bound to end in a comfortable top six spot. He has shown literacy both in his unfinished story and altogether high effort reviews.

@TheDeadKin

TheDeadKin has made waves in the contest thread by betting 127 points. Dead is another older member of the site that has already had a successful showing at Bucky’s previous contest. The story met site’s requirement but also needed a lot of work. The biggest advantage? It received a lot of constructive criticism, and it will be up to Dead to incorporate it into this contest.

The experience will be invaluable. No doubt he’ll by now know how to stick to one project. Dead also wrote a shorter piece for the Corona Tag(!). This proves this entrant likes to write and is crazy enough to stick with it.

Other search has come up relatively empty. There is a Steam account, level 16, so there may be a few distractions. But the main point stands on his last entry: will he improve, take the past feedback to heart, or will he continue on his past trajectory?

Personally I think the corona piece shows enough improvement for him to end comfortably in a top eight. Overall I’d say Dead is a safe bet, but that’ll even his odds to the point most of us will look to another contestant for the big upset.

I love this.

And the Google searches combine well with your avatar for that extra creepy touch, as you scrutinize them all just a little *too* closely.

It's hard and uncomfortable work, but something that needs to be done. Let it be known that the Jerry doesn't judge, but simply searches to support my calculations.

My profile picture is from the relatively popular manga, Vagabond, so no connection to Calyduby. Everything else is pretty accurate though! I just want to finish a project for once, which is something I've struggled with in the past. That's my main reason for joining. I had also written ~2000 words of a jungly thing last year, so it was a little bit like fate. Just a matter of adapting the idea to a game format. I can't say I'm not flattered that you put so much thought into this - hope I don't disappoint!

At the end of the day, you'll have to write something that you yourself can be proud of. Good luck with that and, take it from me as a previous entree, you can never start too early.

Too bad about Calyduby though! Damn Spaniard used the exact same profile picture that threw me off-track!

I think I'm equal parts impressed and unnerved at the effort that went into this level of research, though I certainly don't mind the mysterious vibe I apparently have.

I do mind. Big unknowns are bad for business!

Keep this up and some day you'll be able to pull up their names an addresses in only a few minutes. Not that I would know :^)

How to not play videogames and write?

He never got back...

Enterpride’s writeup and totally not stalkerish research on all the new people: day one entrants.
And because there’s too many, or maybe because I went too deep, this is only part two introducing: Acratios, Kwism1127, and tmanaking.

@Acratios

Acratios is another entrant without a profile picture. His profile quite boldly states he’ll never use one. Is that because of difficulty in using the site? His conduct so far hints towards illiteracy in using technology. That is sure to influence any more advanced branching attempts in his entry.

Scouring the internet for any mention of Acratios, in any case, shows he’s an avid chatter in a small-time twitch channel. With almost four thousand messages sent, this entrant shows himself quite an active person. But as any person knows: any wordcount sent within twitch messages means that same wordcount doesn’t get used in the contest. Is this worrying or promising?

I’d lean into promising as this entrant let slip he had already written a 40k story CYOA. Together with his reviews that were quite succinct, I’d say we can expect a solid entry, though tame considering his abjections at stories with high maturity rating. This is sure to influence the judges.

Overall I’d say Acratios is a solid bet for any investor looking for something safe. A solid top six entrant.

@Kwism1127

Kwism is, in many ways, the opposite of Acratios. He’s not fresh blood but old and clotted, somewhat a relic of the past. Aside from the two most recent ratings, most of them are from 2012 and 2013. This raises many questions. Why hasn’t he done anything in the past seven years? Has he kept up to date on the rising quality of the site?

In any case, Kwism had a recent showing in the most infamous contest of all. He bet and entered the same amount of points: 25. Is this because the man is a cautious gambler, or doesn’t he fancy his chances?

And yet previously, he walked away with his points, sacrificing his worth. He had been SHAMED, and that mars a man for life. Will this shame motivate him to try harder, or is this bad track record something that will only perpetuate itself in the present?

To find out more about this man, you only need to google his account name. He left a big footprint on the internet’s history: Twitch, deviantart (seriously what is with that site), bounty head bebop, and reddit. Long story short, the man loves his strategy, darkest dungeon, and DnD. Will this background allow him to dominate this contest with improv storytelling?

Personally, I fear this won’t be the case. Until I find a better account of the dark and chaotic days, I will let the SHAME guide me into placing this entrant at the bottom of our roundup thus far. However, this will allow Kwism to provide the upset a risky investor seeks.

@tmanaking

Tmanaking has made a substantial entrée with a whopping fifty points. Since entering, he wrote on Ogre’s prompt and was one of the few entrees active in the contest thread itself. He also wrote a short story three months ago that was overall quite a solid piece. With some spying on other contestants and a recently opened story, he already places quite high on my list.

But who is T really? He can write, read, and fill in a prompt, but does he have it in him to finish a whole story?

I started with his second story: love and hate. So far, the description follows that of his profile picture. The dude loves the big choices, even if that makes the interaction less frequent. Skimming through it proves this to be true. After a first choice, there are long stretches of continual pages. In fact, the whole story is one big branch. Every sidestep is met with a quick empty page. The story overall also requires some proofreading, making me hope T used his five-year absence to mature his skills.

So far, his username comes up clean. Only an online crime syndicate shows a hint of T doing anything online other than devoting his time here on CYS. Robbery, auto theft, drug dealing, pimping, and trafficking are only a few spots on T’s resume there. It’s a stark contrast to his weabish profile picture, which is apparently an Angel from some hentai shit that has three S’s. I don’t want to know; we Europeans stopped at two.

That only leaves the promising start of his contest entry to truly judge him. It’s a horror, something more fitted to the rough criminal side than his angelic side. Like his previous story, this entry needs proofreading and a lot of commas. I’d also recommend evening (and lessening) the spaces between the paragraphs. But I’ll refrain from any more comments as that can be tallied up to insider trading.

Overall I say the start’s promising enough for this entrant to end up in the top twelve.

Hmmm interesting. Personally I think your being quite generous with a top 12 finish though.

I mean at least you had already started writing something, that's more than some people (including me). By the way, one error I saw when reading over what you have of your submission so far is you seem to keep writing 'you're' (the contraction of you are) as your (suggests possession). I don't know if it was a typo, or due to lack of understanding of the language - that's why I brought it up (it's a common mistake to use homophones incorrectly, especially if English isn't your first language).

I think the problem was I made the oppisite mistake once, l caught it then got too gun ho so I'll definetly have to check that out.

Enterpride’s writeup and totally not stalkerish research on all the new people: day one entrants.
And because there’s too many, or maybe because I went too deep, this is only part three introducing: Negative2, spacewinner and greenBean.
Then I’ll leave the two special cases for last and move on to day two. Alright, let’s start with negative.

@Negative2
Negative2 spilled in his entry comments he had an idea at the ready, even before being mobilized to the contest. This news is sure to raise his stock as it’s sure to cut back the brainstorming phase significantly. However, the mention of both steam and Netflix are sure to devour much of the writing time.

Thankfully, Negative has made this writeup a lot easier. In his profile, he mentioned his accounts, both on this site and his steam. The steam game library consists mainly of modern RPGs or games with heavy RPG elements. This suits this contest perfectly well. Sadly most of it is private, with the only further hints being the Indian nationality and the username.

Now from the username, you get to a deleted Reddit account in /r/India by a happy Indian congratulating himself on buying his first game after his teenage years and exchanging steam accounts. My guess is he’s under 23. Will this lack of experience hamper his writing skills? After scrubbing this deleted account for any more useful posts, I’m afraid I’ll have to take a look at the previous accounts. The man just loves his Photoshop, memes, politics, and games.

I tried to go by his newer profile picture and saw an identical one under stuttershock. Sadly the author was a Russian and lived far from India. It seems Negative used his photoshop skills to remove the watermark. Good for him.

Now the previous accounts are where the gold is. Sometimes the hardest path is not the most fulfilling. The earlier accounts have made eight games, all under 5k words and all before 2016. They are surprisingly decent for their small wordcount. This raises his stock considerably. Also, I’m obviously ignoring any emo teenage angsty shitposting on this older profile as I’d gamble he’d have matured beyond that. In any case, thus far, he’s kept from the forums enough to not draw any negative attention. Elon could learn from him.

So far, everything turned up pretty promising. That was until I looked at the SHAME list of the past few contests. It seems that, although this entrant is capable of writing a decent story in his spare time, he is utterly squashed by the pressure of a contest. With him being SHAMED and banned many times, I can't help but squash my hopes.

All in all, given his track record, I am confident this Indian will fail to turn in something. Although, there's an opening for a good investor to motivate and discipline this stock and end up on top. In that case, the basic writing quality is there to produce a solid entry.

P.S. My guess wasn’t as far off. From his four accounts, I did all the maths that showed him to be 22. The teen phase really walloped him.

@spacewinner

Where our previous entrant is a grumbled veteran from the early days who technically fit the restrictions by using a new account, spacewinner is a newer member of the site. Member since 2019 and only five posts make her a quiet lurker.

Given the popularity of the name (seriously never knew the Netherlands had several companies named SPACEWINNER alone, never mind all the furniture), I only have the EXP points and the profile picture to make a profile of this entrant.

Going by her ratings, the gal has a taste for older, shorter, and more gamey stories. Sadly I couldn’t judge any reviews, which only adds to the ‘quiet lurker to the past’ persona. The main thing I’ve found was a published game eleven days after the account’s creation. My guess is it’s deleted, and that doesn’t set a good track record.

In any case, some helpful witnesses have offered up very damning information about that story. Let's keep this post clean and summarise it into a lackluster story that had some uncanny smut inside. No wonder it got deleted.

Overall I’d say this contestant will be an upset if she manages to end top fifteen. This entrant won’t be for smart or cautious investors, but with the right coaching and a lot of luck, it may pay off dividends.

@greenBean

GreenBean may be our freshest member of the contest. With only two posts, both the bare minimum for entry, this entrant is somewhat of a quiet mystery. The name, much like our previous entrant, doesn’t give up much results, mostly hipstery vegan restaurants. The profile picture also leaves things too vague for my liking. The minimalistic bear pattern can be found everywhere, from babydecorations to breweries, and origami sellers.

This leaves me free to judge him based on his rated games. GreenBean loves the homo perfectus series, school-based games, and riddles. Much like the previous entrant, this man doesn’t leave any comments after reading them.

Overall I fear this contestant has shown too little of themselves to be a solid pick. With such a small footprint left behind, it is simply too easy just to leave quietly, leaving their investors with nothing but SHAME.

I'd rate spacewinner's chances higher than a few others here. Finishing a story at all is a promising step and her first one was of a decent length iirc. Despite some of the, ahem, content.

@enterpride

Are you going to finish these?

After Friday, my schedule will clear up a bit for a few days, so expect them then.

What are the policies on test-readers, if there are any? Is that against the rules?

So to find readers, I just post in a thread, right? This is still a little new to me.

Yeah, just make a Workshop thread when you've got a good amount of content for someone to look through. Including a link and a little description of the story the same time would also be helpful of course.

How far is everyone? I'm starting to think about starting, so I have a feeling I'm way ahead.

There's still more than two weeks left, are you crazy? Nobody likes an overachiever.

Thinking about starting? Maybe you should wait a bit. You don't want too much of a head start, right? 

I've got about 6000 words down, but I'm not awywhere near halfway through yet :( Have you got any ideas for your storygame? 

Enterpride’s writeup and totally not stalkerish research on all the new people: day two entrants.
There’s been a small intermezzo, but ignore that and look at the lineup in all its glory! This part introduces jordanvang, CockusBlockamus, and the one and only OriginalClamurai.

@jordanvang
Jordan stood out from all the other names. With a quick history check, I knew why: the madlad close to finished his entry in only a week, bringing shame to all of us with a much slower writing pace. With the entry presented with such gusto, it makes any further research unnecessary. Sadly, the game has been taken off sneak peek, causing me some difficulty in remembering it from a rapid and sloppy clicking through, although it gives me an excellent excuse to do some more digging for anyone who hadn’t read the thing.

A speedy search brings me to a youtube music channel, where a DJ from France called Jordan Vang does some remixes of trap and pop songs. It’s gone quiet somewhat of a year ago, but it seems he’s still doing the beats under a different name. Seeing as all his socials are there, I’ll just leave on a question. Why all the different names? Vang is a cool name, why bother with DN4 and Vandal.

Overall, from what I remember of his impressive work entry, I’d say Jordan is the guy to beat in order to win the contest. Either that, or travel to France, triangulate his exact position, and cut off his internet access.

@CockusBlockamus
Aside from the weird name, Cock entered the contest, screeching and clawing. The account’s been a slumbering member of the site since 2017 and has only recently awakened to take up the call. Luckily it provided an alt’s name that’s been a member ever since the early and dark times of 2014. During all those six years, and over two accounts, Cock’s most noteworthy contribution has been his farming of birthday points.

Luckily a lookup has brought back more results. Sadly, it’s come to my attention Cock is an iPhone user. But that’s more than compensated by the fact he has been banned from some TF2 trade servers. This fact shows Cock to be a standup guy that will do anything to acquire an advantage. Maybe some cutting of a certain someone’s internet access falls within his skillset.

Moreover, some further searching shows him to be an avid gamer. Only recently, he has been heavily invested in Assassins Creed: Odyssey. Earlier activity shows mainly RPGs like The Witcher and the Batman game. More funny business encompasses some roleplaying of Neverwinter and some gooey porn game. Sorry dude; the Jerry sees everything.

All that digging brings us back to his entry: broken future. And for this grande finale, I have nothing to show. The game is empty.

Time will tell us if Cock has been laboring on his entry in secret, and off-site, or has been busy gaming. Overall I’d say his chances are slim.

@OriginalClamurai
This entrant has been active throughout the contest, showing promise and proficiency in both coding and writing. With two years under his belt and a lot of RPS duels to show for it, Clam has even been awarded a Ribbon. This gave him the most desired of pointless points, points that he had promptly lost in both duels and his whopping entry fee.

Clam showed up in the results as a zombie fanatic, someone who immediately jumped on an online roleplayey site to proclaim himself as a mayor of California. It also hinted at his original name, clamurai, being overtaken by another challenger. Sticking to the originalclamurai brings us enough information. A Flickr account shows him in a superman suit, snitching that he is, in fact, a superhero fan. It’s also reasonable to assume he likes the Warhammer 40k universe.

But back to our site. Clam has entered a contest before: Berka’s one and only Creatures of the Night contest. In this contest he gained valuable experience, skill, and trust that’s sure to be of use in this contest. His entry: Cycle of Death, a horror piece about a vampire hunter, was both entered in time and remembered quite positively. Although the linearity drew some complaints, the writing itself was of quite high quality.

This brings us to his current piece. This entry has a solid 8k words already written. Sadly it’s all hidden behind an empty first page—a mysterious tendency suiting to a clamurai.

Overall I’d say Clam is a solid bet to end up in the top five. A good track record sets him apart from the masses.

Just enough right and wrong to make it interesting.  I dig it.

I was curious to see what my own search would turn up, but from where I am, I can't get much else than this site and a few false leads.

Here's a short excerpt for a teaser of my upcoming story:

"The"

Riveting!

Well that's probably more than most of them have written.

There apparently being two clamurais really made the search difficult.

I debated studying your typing style to spot the difference (I thought I saw somewhere the other one was somewhere in the early teens). But then I guessed the possibility of there being three of you, and I fell back to my usual schtick: make wild assumptions with way too little proof.

"The" is an excellent start of a story. Only "when" can outperform that one.

How is everyone doing. I'm about to start writing. With a solid plan and outline for the story, I'm very confident.

Prepare to be REKT

So Unforgiven and Jordan still remain the only two probable entrants so far, got it, got it.

Yup I see no sign that anyone else is going to pull through...

....just kidding. I think there's still a chance we see something from Clamurai.

Up to 9200 words, so worst case, I do have a couple of endings already done.  Need to flesh out the writing once I get the actual framework done, though.  Right now, the sentence style is too repetitive and the prose is oh so beige throughout most of it.  That part is really easy to fix, fortunately.

Enterpride’s writeup and totally not stalkerish research on all the new people: the lateco(o)mers pt. 1.
There’s been almost no intermezzo this time, so look at the glorious lineup of today without any grumbling! This almost last piece contains Deer89, TheCanary, and Unforgiven.

On an unrelated note, some entries have already started to trickle in, making this research completely irrelevant. But because I want to finish this anyway, I’m going to ignore all the actual evidence of competence and live in my own little fantasy world where I am still the best news source in CYS. What a happy world that is.

Alright without further ado, let’s start with @Deer89

Deer has been part of the site for a little under a year. And like its animal namesake, this entrant has been sneakily going about his business, only lured out by the calling of this contest. Since uttering the bare minimum amount of words required to enter, Deer has again retreated into silence, giving me very little to work with.

The only public storygame is Camp Elhorn. The name suggests it’s the entry, but careful peaking at the dates shows this story preceded the start of the contest by a solid week, and no storygame has been started since. In any case, the story itself is bare: no description and only the standard opening page greet my inquisitive look.

Also, there are no reviews or profile descriptions to judge this entrant’s literacy, giving me only the name and profile picture to work with.

While the name is too generic to come up with anything substantial, I did come across a slumbering DeviantArt account with a broken tablet pen and some horrendous writing.

“wen u rlly wanna draw but dont no what to draw and so u cry all nite and faceplant dog shit” –Deer89, 2015

There’s also a Danish Twitter account that’s gone quiet since 2009. Judging by the 89, the writing style there, and the 89 in both names, I can reasonably assume they are one and the same person.

This brings me to the profile picture, which is from a Witch Wisdom Oracle collection published in England. Will his supernatural cheatcards save this entrant from shame, or will he realize magic’s been long dead in the world? I fear the latter, a tough pick for even the most daring of investors.

@TheCanary

Canary is, in many ways, the opposite of our previous target. In the small year he’s been on the site, he’s been reviewing, writing, and posting way too many things on the site’s discord. With 3.5k messages sent, there’s almost too much to go through. Almost. In any case, Canary has made a case of being one of the friendliest people on the site. But, seeing how I’m on a roll on giving people quotes today, I’ll allow myself one to show everyone his true face.

“Thank you, Gas All Jews.” –TheCanary, 2019.

No wonder he got sorted into the Warden Order. At this rate, I'd expect them to be GAJ, or gay, as well.

But as a fellow Warden, I’ll have to cut him some slack and focus more on his two open stories. There’s an empty one, and the entry for the last contest: Centenarian, a power fantasy of all mass murders worldwide. It was received pretty positively, and Canary was given some good actionable feedback.

Although it was funny, Canary made a noob mistake and didn’t start his story in time. This resulted in him failing to receive his points, even if he did leave behind a solid entry. Let this sad fact serve as a warning to all others in the contest. If you haven’t done so already, please open an empty storygame, so you’re allowed to publish it in time.

In any case, I’ve surmised Canary has made some solid progress. And, judging by his successful completion of an earlier entry of roughly the same size, I feel he’ll be able to turn something in quite handily. This makes him a solid top-five pick for any cautious investor.

@Unforgiven

Unforgiven entered this contest twenty-four days ago without a care in the world about making a correct sentence or reading the original post. Many doubted him, ridiculed him even, and I am wholly joining them. Surely, someone like that wouldn’t deliver and write a solid story, right? And even if he did, he wouldn’t be easily forgiven. Heh.

"i will joni" -Unforgiven, 2020

In any case, a careful look at his profile shows Unforgiven isn’t one of idleness. Within a single day, he joined the site, read both Eternal and Death Song, created his entry piece, and finally entered the contest. He’s been quiet since. Does this mean he’s been diligently slaving away at his masterpiece with the same fervor as his first day shows? Or does this bright flame die fizzle out fast?

In any case, his profile picture is a Ghost Rider, which explains why google returns the image as Nicholas Cage. I was pretty confused at first. Will this entrant sell out his soul to any devilish entity out there, or will Unforgiven waste valuable writing time in the esoteric?

I'd say the latter. Overall, I’d suspect Unforgiven to be an unreliable bet for any investor. Everything hinges on your personal interpretation of the events at 6/6/2020.

I love you Enter lmao 

It all comes from a place of love.

For those not in the know, enter and canary are gay lovers irl.

Enterpride’s writeup and totally not stalkerish research on all the new people: the lateco(o)mers pt. 3: sprint before the deadline edition.

There’s been almost no intermezzo this time, so look at the glorious lineup of today without any grumbling! This last piece contains Mystic_Warrior, ApprenticePortentous, Starbourne, and AnimalAlien.

On an unrelated note, some entries have already started to trickle in, making this research completely irrelevant. But because I want to finish this anyway, I’m going to ignore all the actual evidence of competence and live in my own little fantasy world where I am still the best news source in CYS. What a happy world that is. Also, to keep up immersion for the actual workings of this contest, this edition will be more rushed, much like most of our entries' endings.

Alright without further ado, let’s start with @Mystic_Warrior.

Mys is another newcomer with a generic name, leaving me biting the dust full of frustration as only kinky clothes show up on my search. Don’t ask. So let’s start with the profile itself.

A member since mid-2019, Mys has acquired a whopping 232 pointless points performing the most valued act of rating the stories. It’s only trumped by the even more valued act of writing reviews, which is sadly too revealing for our Mystic Warrior.

All shade and distasteful begging for feedback aside, Mys has been relatively quiet on the site before jumping into the contest. With only seven posts, the only real sign of activity has been asking for a mentor and the one writing piece during the corona jam. No, not the forced version all of us mortals participated in; Mys was crazy enough to put her work into the voluntary version, and that says a lot about her work ethic. Oh, she’s Asian too. I guess that backs it up.

By the way, did that mentorship program actually work out?

That brings us to the dreaded profile picture search. It’s another mystical element, where my search turns up a lot of false positives. It seems to be a picture used in a lot of advertising for both coaching, spirituality, woman’s empowerment, and Dutch movie nights. Sadly the latter ones are all outdated.

All in all, I expect Mys to turn in something large, a sudden avalanche of words to back up her mystical image. Maybe something to do with dreaming? I’m not willing to make any sure bets about that yet, but I’m ready to bet it’ll be grand.

@ApprenticePortentous

So Potter did not make a good showing in his introduction. Full of young hope and dashing enthusiasm, he jumped into the breach, ready for any challenge, but not reading what that challenge actually entailed. Before that, he also exclaimed he was a hairy furry. So the only thing left is to pray and hope God eventually grants this man his salvation.

Don’t invest. Enough said.

@Starbourne

Starbourne is another freshie whose blood will pave the wave for the worthy to ascend, clearly warning which route not to take. The sad truth is that his story is not an unusual one. Full of enthusiasm, he wanted to enter both contests late with a single story. It’d be the chosen one:

One story to rule them all
one story to find them
One story to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them


However, only a week later, he came in, begging the judge to accept a measly nine hundred words. Repeated. Fast forward another week, and very trustworthy sources tell me Star has given up completely. Instead of shining brightly, Star descended into a dead black dwarf

Don’t invest. Enough said.

@AnimalAlien

It’s Anim’s third account on the site, and I’ve got to say, I’m glad she isn’t using vonkittycat anymore. Here's her old profile for anyone wondering: the cursed account, woooooooooo!

As the name suggests, she’s a reformed warrior cat and hopefully has left the feline in the dark corners of her memory. Well, it can be forgiven. It’s that awkward period in your life you want to forget as soon as possible, only to be reminded of the cringe by helpful people like me.

Sadly something of the atrocious style still stuck, as she’s rocking a gif as profile picture. So. Much. Movement. I don’t like it.

Alright, so three accounts and six years on the site. In the meantime, there’ve been a shockingly low amount of ratings and published stories, making me fear for the worst.

In any case, she likes aliens and sci-fi. So a jungle entry will probably draw heavy influence from those two concepts. It’d be interesting to read about thought out astrobiology, but sadly I’ve surmised from reliable sources Anim voluntarily prefers SHAME(!) to actually finishing her piece, calling in something trivial as 'liking' her story as an excuse. It's bullshit, and everyone knows it: all writers hate their work.

Don’t invest. Enough said.

---
Oh, Ace remains Ace, and Ford won’t write anything. They’re as special as special gets. I think I got all of the entrants now.

Although Ace probably will put in his rushed piece. Maybe invest.

Dang I was looking forward to mine :(

It was a promising branch that needed to be cut down in order to make the deadline, sorry man

One young man, known by many only as MrAce, battles his inner sloth on an epic journey to defend his privileges. Will he make it? How far is he willing to go in clutching onto what he desires?

Find out at your nearest theatre on the 8th of August.

An interesting read... I enjoy being undiscoverable on the internet.

Initially, I planned on waiting to see what the search would turn up before publishing my storygame, but I did not want to miss the deadline by accident due to the time differences. The profile picture is just a random one I found online after searching for something like 'female warrior silhouette'. As for my work ethic, it ranges from writing a few hours every day for a month or writing next to nothing at all for several months.

Stay careful. You may be undiscoverable now, but one slip and better stalkers, ahem rather licensed investigators, will be able to pull the curtains of mystery away. The timezone speaks comes awfully close to admitting you're not part of the US gang here.

On an unrelated note, congratulations on writing an entry that would put most stories here to shame.