Author's Notes - This is not part of the story!

This chapter only contains notes about the story, and as such you can freely ignore it.

I was going to delete most of it but as I'm learning a lot about how the variables work here, I figured I might want to come back and check something or update it as I learn more. So it's probably only a page of 'notes to self,' but I decided to publish it in case there is something here which might make sense of something else in the story.

Update 2, 3/4/21: I just saw my note right at the bottom about not knowing how it's going to be, writing a game like this. Well, it's really complicated! But it's my own fault because I've got variables coming out of my ears now. Almost every decision has its own variables, not including the main stats, so I can refer to it later if I want to when the story links back up. I think MidbossMan suggested I do a page here of what all the variables are and what they do for when I make it public. I must remember to do that!

Update 3/4/21: It's a long time since I've read these notes, and I'm suddenly glad I left them here. I see that a few months ago I was about to start on Day 3 of Negana's story. Well, I abandoned that and decided to move onto Alexa. This is because I realised that Alexa was in Negana's story, and Negana will be in Alexa's. and I thought it would be nice to try to have the different events which happen, while remaining fundamentally the same events, change depending on which character Emily is playing and which perspective the events are seen from. For example, I thought it might be cool to see the battle on Day 2 from the other side. So anyway, I decided instead of finishing Negana's storyline I'd get the other characters up to the same point then carry on from there. I've just got the different routes up to the start of the battle, so that might be quite a big chunk as there are three distinct ways in, and I think four different ways out of it. If I am reading this in another three months I must remember to let myself know how it went.

Update 13/1/21: I seem to be progressing through Negana's story fairly well, I'm about to start on day 3, which will be the final day. I think as soon as I've finished this route (or at least made it tidy, I doubt I'll ever actually 'finish' with it) I'll make it public in the hope somebody else wants to join in. Actually, if I do make it public I don't know if other authors can use the variables I've set up. I'll have to check.

Then I can work on the other three characters I have already thought of.

Then I'll probably think of some more.

Much of the stuff below was originally part of the introduction, but quite honestly I wouldn't want to start reading a story to be presented with a list of rambling details, so I took it out and dumped it here instead.

The only one which did seem important was this one:

Please select 'Start Game' before moving on from this introduction. If you don't, various parts of the story coming up can't update and lots of things won't make sense. I've read through this lots, and tried to keep the continuity correct with a bunch of different things happening. If you don't select 'Start Game' it all reverts to default settings which means names, clothing, memories, etc will appear, disappear and change all over the place and it will all be a bit rubbish. If you notice anything glaringly incorrect let me know and I'll fix it.

But then I realised that I can't tell people to read it in a certain way. If you, the reader, don't want to use the game system and would rather just blitz through the story, that's up to you. But I've kept this here in case you see something which spoils the continuity. The continuity is important to me, so I've really tried to get it right.

This next bit was another part of the intro, but it was too long and boring. Now that I understand better how the game format works I could sum this up in one line and get on with the more important stuff.

As I began writing this story I found that it really seemed to lend itself to the idea of playing out as a game like the old Fighting Fantasy books I remember from my childhood. Rather than rolling dice to determine the outcome of a battle or puzzle (I quickly stopped rolling the dice anyway in the old days - who wants to end the story just because you roll a double 1 when fighting some minion an hour into reading?) I thought I'd try out a system of stats whereby the choices made by the reader affect Emily's attitude and aptitude as the story progresses, making more or fewer options available depending on the paths taken so far.

With this next note I was worried that some people might hate Emily in this story if they did happen to come here from one of my other efforts. It is entirely possible to have Emily behave in a manner which is quite alien to how she acts elsewhere, and I wanted to flag that up. But then I thought, if you want Emily to be demure and naïve, you are likely to pick options which are more appealing to you. Likewise if you want Emily to become more slutty. So I figured this note was also pointless. I hope I've got the balance right between the different routes her character can take, and this story is certain to see her character change a lot, but in this context I think it works for me.

Unlike the other stories following Emily through a series of unfortunate events, this time her character might end up behaving a little differently. I think it is possible to run through this adventure retaining Emily's naivety and gullibility as seen elsewhere, but opening up some of the available options might require her to develop in different ways. For example, Emily in The Fairground certainly wouldn't vanquish her foes with a magic spell. Emily in The Office probably wouldn't lead an army into battle. Emily here might have to do those things and more. Rest assured, though, this is still Emily, but here she is in a time and place where anything is possible. Therefore I hope the following stats will record how her character might change under your direction.

This may seem simplistic to any veterans out there, but it's my first try at this and I honestly don't know how it's going to work out.