Recent comments

When they swapped lower halves did they swap their wardrobe associated with the lower halves or just the clothes they were wearing at that moment?

Hmm vote 5 colorful hair

colorful rebel

I quite literally cannot match that, and not for want of trying.

Number 3, black.

Black

Very creative changes for this branches usual one track mind... 👀

Good call. Felt like the last was a bit much on each category.
My vote is brown hair, since it seems to match best with the previous choices. Gotta stick to the theme.

I rewrote this because I felt like there was to much baggage with each option on the first branch of this. This is hopefully more balanced.

I might rewrite this to be much simpler. It's overblown; too much is happening in one branch. We'll see.

Take me out, to Karyn Black
Tell 'em I ain't coming back

This is a really fun chapter! Well done!

What an incredible dream. Gives a new meaning to a wet-dream!

Very excited to see you back Belchest! I would say as it's been such a long break it may help to have a sort of 'recap' of the changes especially for the side characters like Biff and Sarah as it's hard to remember what's actually happened to them (short of re-reading the whole thing which I ended up doing)

Definitely not for all future swaps. I want to have a good variety in awareness for this branch - some only Jim is aware of, some only Julie is aware of. I'd like to see it get more complicated as I introduce more characters, and hopefully reach a place where everyone's memory of the original, default reality is different. I don't have anything set in stone yet though, so depends on where the story takes me.

Interesting so far, are you keeping both unaware for the rest of the swaps ?

This has been an incredible ride and I'm embarrassed to not have seen your writing as much before! Really love the themeing, pacing and the way it's being laid out and how it seems to be more expansive then the initial TF. Do you write elsewhere? I'm digging through your library here, but I'd love to read more or even chat about your process.

For right now, let's just say I enjoy writing the more contained Kamiéra story, but I also like exploring more expansive themes and getting a better handle on them.

I can't wait to learn more about what's going on, and how these mechanics work. There's no need to rush, though. This slow reveal is really good.

Does anyone have an update on Dogmann and his writing.com archives? I know he had "Roommate Trait Swapping," "A Life Changed Forever," and "The Swap for Life" uploaded to bearchive and he has "Sex Game" and "Switch Stone" uploaded here, but I was under the impression he had a lot more than those five interactives archived. Does anyone know whether he stopped due to burn out or if he continued on another site?

Love that your redoing this story. Can't wait to read more.

Loving this direction. Look forward to seeing what happens next.

:eyes:

Hmmmm

Option 3 for me.

4 Redhead, i think he/she would do that in hopes of being able to stop people intentionally making him... well her angry

Took me forever to get here, though.

Next part is gonna be at least as long unless I get to cutting.

5

This chapter is very special.

What's the wish?

Nice

Peak

Interesting. I probably would go 1. However if it were to be consistent June would either pick 2,4 or 5 imo

Matisguy hasn't updated this in a while but I really liked what they did here. I dunno if I will continue this or they or someone else will but feel free to vote. I will probably write the immediate aftermath. I hope this is a worthy continuation.

i think john/julia/jules will eventually make a hasty wish to deal better with the emotions or whatever, further pulling her in her role

seems like intelligence dropped a bit from before, the wish making sure she is only good at what she wished for

Ooof, that's sad. I think Zoe would be nice (specially since as a 'goth' she's kinda an outcast too)

Love the use of Paige.

Inspired by “Unreliable Narrator: Sarah” and the “Experience Manipulator”-branch

Okay, if you insist....

I'd love it if you did read the whole thing, but I understand that not every story is for every reader, and that's fine. But that said, "how the heck did we get there from this" is simultaneously now one of my favorite compliments I've ever received, and also a genuinely good question, even though I'm assuming you meant it rhetorically.

Spoilers to follow, for any future readers arriving on this chapter for the first time:

I think it's about little moments that bend expectations along the way. Each one (if I've done my job right) makes sense in the context of everything that came before, and sets up the next little bend to make sense as well. Like, after the first few chapters, it doesn't make sense for Sarah to show up at Jon's house and give him a makeover. But then Jon pops up in Sarah's bedroom, and he and Karyn manage to calm her down, and after that scene it's at least believable for Sarah to want to begrudgingly help Jon. Again, if I've done my job right. String enough of these moments together, and the narrative can make a complete U-turn without ever feeling jarring.

The other thing, and I'm only realizing this now, is that in this iteration I don't think I ever actually have Sarah do anything bad. The first thing she does is help Karyn, or at least the version of Karyn that she remembers. She's antagonistic to Jon, but only because she perceives him as a threat to her friend. Her motivation is to protect her friend, it's not any inherent malice towards Jon. This is a Sarah who will absolutely pick sides, and is not afraid of a fight, but also one that genuinely tries to be a good person. And the more we see of her, the clearer that becomes.

Anyway. Thank you for your comments, for sparking me to think a little more deeply on my own writing, and for reading however much of my story as you feel like reading. It means a lot.

You know, a few days ago I stumbled upon people giving (presumebly well-deserved) praise to the recent finale of this story. I skimmed through it to try to understand why it's being given such high praise, then acknowledged that it's high-quality prose that I cannot yet understand due to lack of context. To find my answers, I went here, to the beginning, and while I might not really understand what I read in the finale, all I can think of now is:

[How the heck did we get there from this?]

I doubt I'll read it to the end (in fact, typing this out pretty much sealed my fate in that regard), but nonetheless I am left intrigued.

Sarah becoming Karyn?? This seems good

This is a really fun idea. I love these sort of life-swap stories so I hope this gets more updates!

Thanks! I have a hard time keeping up with writing, but I'll try to kick myself into continuing it

wondering if john will notice, or karyn, or sarah, since 'technically' none heard a wish

That's a good catch! This is suddenly a very interesting branch

Exactly: Kamiera is, on one view, a sponge: S/he absorbs whatever is directed or instructed or modeled around him (sometimes her). But I don't want to leave it there, because Kamiera is still a human being, a young man (woman?) growing into the adult Kamiera will eventually be, and so it's not a simple matter, as the story progresses, of input + blank slate = blank slate with input; it's [formerly blank slate who has internalized several inputs and has grown characteristics arising from them organically as a result] + input = [formerly blank slate who has internalized several inputs and has grown characteristics arising from them organically as a result and synthetically integrates the new input into a new characteristic in combination with the others]. I've tried to show this as, for example, Kamiera becomes an obsessive risk-taker on the battlefield -- never, ever something he was told to do, but something stemming from the leadership directive he received and early combat experience, which then combined with his natural (unlocked) love of learning and confidence in his sisters and their prowess ... which then has to be tempered because unmoderated risk-taking is another way of saying "a lot of people will inevitably be killed." The person who arises from /that/ in turn has to deal with the fact that the healing arts are attractive in their own way, and align with the (sometimes subtle and sometimes more directed) inputs to family, hearth, and home; and then all of that has to be reconciled with the battlefield commander.

I do not know if I'm doing this well. This chapter was rewritten three times and I struggled with it; and then I suddenly realized how to write it and it took me about thirty minutes, allowing for (incomplete) proofreading. But I'm feeling reasonably good about it so far.

At the outset of this story, when Kamiera was still mostly Jon, he was given the following instruction: "Your old squabbles mean nothing to you. Your old interests are nothing compared to what lies before you. So long as you are at this Academy, this is home. The girls with you today are now your sisters as surely as if they were your own blood. You will learn and cry and laugh and grow and train together. You will stand at each others' wedding days and at your Oaths, regardless of which Path you take. You will become the Witchspears you are here to learn to be, and you will take everything you learn here as truth and a truth well-learned. You will dedicate yourself to the Will and the Wind, for the Academy, for your sisters, for your Houses, for the Empire, and for yourselves."

Due to happenstance, this instruction effectively defined, and continues to define, who Kamiera is as a person. "You will take everything you learn here as truth and a truth well-learned." Everything. Not just those things on the Path of War. Not just those things that directly relate to a Path. Everything he learns at the Academy will be taken as truth and a truth well-learned. And some of the most important lessons don't come from a curriculum at all.