At long last, I have finished Being More Social, and by that I mean Being More Social chapter 20. The story, effectively, is complete. Down the line I may start its sequel (I will ask you all if you even want if right before I plan to start though, and be careful what you wish for), but for now, I’m going to go forward and resume The Good, the Bad and the Molly, as well as shorter, ‘one-chapter’ stories.
I felt really good when I finished this chapter. I can’t remember the last time I felt so elated from just finishing a chapter. Usually it was a feeling of, “I could have done better,” so I was happy to feel genuine joy at the end of the story. I’m, overall, happy with the story and how it ended, and I hope that you all both liked it and felt like it tied up any loose ends you were curious about.
That said, I didn’t mention everything I know about the story in the story itself, so I’d like to offer a unique opportunity to you. Either in the comments of this blog post or in an email to bashfulscribe@gmail.com, I’d like to offer a Questions & Answers session. Feel free to ask me anything related to the story you were curious about (e.g. “What did Nicole mean when she said, _____” or “What happened to Kenny, how did his life play out?”). Heck, even questions outside of the story, like what stories I plan to do in the future, etc. The only questions I’ll rule out are those pertaining to my personal life, obviously.
So down below in the comments, or in an email, ask me a question and I will publicly post it and answer it in a week’s time on my next blog. Any loose ends, any curiosities, hell, maybe even some continuity errors. Let ’em fly. I’d love to be able to leave you all as satisfied with the story as possible, and I hope the story as it is brought you all joy and made you happy.
I never thought I’d be glad to say this, but I have to go to work now. Enjoy the chapter if you haven’t read it, feel free to ask me anything, and have an amazing week, everyone. New things, big things, and exciting things are on the horizon for this website. Thanks for sticking with me through the three-year-long journey. I hope it was all worth it. 🙂
Bashful Scribe 
I almost never like endings. If there’s one thing I is one thing I dislike in a movie, book, or TV show, it’s most likely the ending (or in the case of TV, a shitty pilot, but that’s neither here nor there). That’s why I’m pleasantly surprised to say I loved the ending to BMS. There was no Hollywood bullshit, nor did you try to crush our spirits with a brutal character death or an exchange of irrevocably cruel words between Adam and Nicole. Instead, things played out logically, and though that sounds austere and clinical, it created an emotional payoff that validates every delay and every rewrite in a way that’s rare in conventional literature, let alone serialized online erotica.
Even though I reread and re-familiarized myself with the entire series just a few days ago to refresh myself for the imminent finale, I still couldn’t pick out a chapter that seemed weaker than any of the others. So I reflected on the three years I’ve kept up with this story (doesn’t seem that long, but I suppose you’d know better than me), and realized that it’s been a bright spot in a life that is fortunately not lacking in them. I’ve seen you endure quite a few setbacks (and that’s just the ones you’ve told us about), but you’ve never let us down. For that, and for the journey, I want to thank you. And with that–and keeping in mind this is a Q&A post–I’ll wrap up with my oft-repeated question: when’s the next chapter?
P.S. Check your email, squirt.
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I enjoyed the story a lot even with the sometimes long gaps between chapters. My question is you bring up her cutting in the chapter, talk to the teacher and then never reveal what happens with it. I feel it’s important to not cast aside a detail like that. Please elaborate on that and thanks again for the great story.
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Glad to hear you’re back on your feet.
I have anxiety issues which struck me hard last summer. I had a big project that was supposed to be done by February, but in July there wasn’t much urgency and I had a wall of anxiety keeping me from working on it. However, if I went to something else (such as working on my own novel) I felt guilty that I wasn’t on what I was supposed to be doing that I couldn’t get myself to do – so I effectively shut down. It took me five months to finish that chapter. Once I got a client (actually two) for that project with two months to go, suddenly it was very urgent and I was able to get down to work and produce some awesome things.
TL/DR – Structuring your schedule gives you more time to devote to everything.
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OK, questions for the scribe – How much did you outline the story? Did you have at least the major events sketched out to the end, or were you winging it a chapter at a time?
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Im going to disagree here.
[SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT!!!]
Personally, this felt like a bit of a weak ending. I don’t know if its the lack of closure or not, but this raised more questions than it answered:
— Pierce: What happened with him? All you got was a missing poster in the final chapter? Why throw that bit in at the end of the story? Maybe i’m missing something important, or was it just a throwaway bit of information?
— Nicole’s Submissive side: OK, so i get the ending was meant to be the ending that makes the most sense, after all Adam’s been heavily pinning for Nicole, so its understandable the way you ended it, but i don’t understand why you would play up her submissive side through the last couple of chapters, just for it to finally fizzle out in the last chapter.
Reference:
“Back when we were still a thing. We kinda organically discovered the whole master-servant thing. And boy, did Nicole ever like it.”
I honestly thought that this would play a massive part in the end, and to find out that instead it looks like the ending is an (open relationship??) seems like polar opposites. It raises questions like:
Which side is stronger: love for Adam or submissive side?
What happens if another guy comes along who isn’t going away any time soon and plays into her submissive side?
— No fight in Adam: This one is purely my opinion, but does it seem like Adam effectively bows to Nicole’s wishes at the end of the story without really putting up a fight. I know they had the discussion last chapter, however i really expected Adam to put up more of an argument when it came to the open relationship part.
— The cuts: Never really explained the cuts. When did they happen? Why did they happen? (Just confused to the reason, is it one specific, or is it the whole list of reasons? Answering the when did it start question would answer it in itself.)
Let me just end it here saying, I have been following this story since the beginning of the 3-Year tenure. I love the way you build the characters up, to the point of where the reader can genuinely care about them. I am one of your patreons because i believe that hard work deserves a reward. But to me, this chapter feels a little bit rushed. It was well written, and when looking at it from a certain angle, i can believe the ending, it just seems like you genuinely didn’t want to end it this way when reading it. Maybe i’m used to your exceptional levels of detail, because i think you left a lot to the imagination here.
Even though i think this, again it was an exceptional journey following this, and i just want to thank you for your continued devotion to pumping out chapters to this story till its conclusion.
Oh, and congrats on the new job, hope it goes swimmingly for you mate!
T Mutter
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I have to agree with most of your points, but those caused me to not see this chapter as the end of the story of Adam and Nicole, but as an end to Book 1. The end of season 1 not knowing whether the network suits will renew it for season 2 or not.
This first book was Adam’s coming of age which centered on his pursuit of Nicole. Now they’re a couple but that just starts a new premise and scenario. Nicole took a step to identify herself as Adam’s girlfriend, but she still is holding back on promising not to stray or saying “I love you” except in the heat of passion.
We didn’t find out what happened to Pierce, but the point of the poster was to get Adam to reflect on people being suddenly being absent from the lives of their family and acquaintances.
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I’m very satisfied.
It’s bittersweet. Everything concerning Nicole is always bittersweet.
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I very much enjoyed this story over the years, thank you for writing it. This may be a selfish request of mine, but please don’t continue this story unless Adam and Nicole have a happy ending. I like them together far too much. In any case, this bittersweet ending was damn near the perfect closure for the series. While I agree with some of the criticism posted by others above, I find them to be minor bumps on a chapter that gave me, the reader, what I wanted. I’m looking to forward to what you come up with next.
For a more light-hearted question, how the heck does Nicole do the things she does? Don’t give me any of that Grade 11 crap either.
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I definitely agree with every word, SAVIOR. I also want to know the answers to all these questions. BashfulSribe, is there any place where I can see the answers?
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Ohhh lol, ignore this, I just went to the next post….
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wow. this has been my staple read on the toilet bowl and in the taxi. you can’t be doing anything else that adds more value to the world, than this.
i’ve dropped you a ‘lil note – hope to hear back.
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