I've been working on a story. It currently sits at around 44 pages (google docs). I've taken it as far as I can on my own, and would now like help:

• You can read the story and offer ideas of where it should go next;
• or you can jump in and co-write with me from here, taking over whichever characters you like.

The Story

This story is designed to be a bit of a slow burn. It is about an adopted college aged guy. His step-parents are wealthy and career driven, and hence not home much at all. His same-aged cousin comes to stay at the giant house for the summer, essentially to hang out by the pool all day and enjoy social media. He figures out which reddit account is her, notices she sometimes posts some racy things, and decides to playful tease her via a fake account. Initially it was not meant to be much, but he starts to talk her into doing more and more things, staring a course of manipulation. Having always been a straight-laced person, starts to enjoy this new side. He starts to find ways manipulate all the people around him. This includes a housekeeper, and his aunt, and potentially others.

I started writing this story for fun, on my own, as something to do in my spare time. But after taking the story out to 44 pages in a Google Doc, I'm not sure where to take it next. That's where you can come in. Jump in and let's keep going!

About Me

I am a writer for a living (advertising). I am an experienced role player, too, and have co-written many stories over the years. I write in 3rd person, multi-paragraph style. If you would like to see some writing samples, there are a few in my history. (Or jump to here or here.)

The story sits in a Google doc now. We can continue writing there, or we can use discord, or some other method. It just seemed easier to use Google Docs since I was originally writing the story on my own.

Story Opening

I am including the story opening here, for you to consider. It will give you an idea of my writing style, and the tone of the story.

Evan slowed his jog as he reached the end of the driveway, then quickly turned into a tiring walk. He just finished up his early afternoon run, his near daily habit. It was a hot day, as evidenced by the sweat soaking through his clothes. One would not be terrible to think he had run through a sprinkler, in fact.

He pulled off his shirt then leaned over, hands on knees to catch his breath. The neighbors would sometimes look at him oddly as he ran around the neighborhood. It was not particularly pedestrian friendly, as most gated communities weren’t. Each house wasn’t just big, it was an area of very well to-do families, where each house was trying to outdo the others with their opulence. Each overly manicured lawn, each gated drive, each nicer car was not just the fancy of their owners, but a statement to the neighbors that the owner just might be richer than everyone else on the street.

That competitiveness matched Evan’s step parents perfectly. His step dad had to have every promotion, he had to work on every big case, and he had to have the nicer house. That type of career dedication meant he wasn’t home much. So little in fact, Evan barely noticed when he was there or not. His step mother was a doctor, which helped them portray the perfect couple. He found it odd that they wanted such a nice and big house, since they were hardly there to enjoy it. But the perception of their life was more important than the reality.

In his own way, he had adopted their competitive spirit. How could he not, having lived most of his life with them. Being in college during the COVID lockdown made it somewhat easy: his classmates were not people, they were thumbnails in online classes, and numbers that he could try to beat. He had no real personal connection with his college classmates, so it was easier to consider them competitors.

Evan had been adopted at such a young age he had no memory of anything before. He occasionally wondered what type of life his real parents lived, if they were alive, or if his step-parents even knew who they were. Though, he couldn’t imagine it was better than this. And he looked just enough like his step parents, no one had ever seemed to notice he wasn’t actually kin.

Evan stood upright and began to walk to the front door. He opened the massive oak door and made his way into the marbled entryway. At least upstairs where his bedroom was, the decor was more homely, more comfortable. Soft carpets and warm colors allowed him to at least feel comfortable in his own room.

He bolted up the stairs, hard left, down the hall and into his room. His room was probably bigger than most apartments in New York City, he wondered. A king sized bed, his own bathroom, a nice wide desk where he completed all his college homework, with a great view of the backyard.

From his room, he could look down to the big pool and attached hot tub from above. The landscaping was just as precise and never a weed would show. Testament, not only to the landscape company that came by each week, but to how much his parents must be paying them.

A manicured life built by two very driven people. The same people that drove him to an ivy league school that was so hard, even though the school year was now over, he still took an online class and studied every day. It seemed like he had it all, but there was always a nagging feeling in the background. Some tremor of dissatisfaction, and a desire to do something very different. To be a very different person.

The sunlight was shining into his room very harshly, and he walked to his desk to adjust the slatted blinds. He angled them down so he could still see out to some degree, but would soften the afternoon sun into his room. He caught a glimpse of his cousin, Amanda, as she lay in a lounge chair next to the pool, flipping through a magazine.

Somehow Amanda convinced her parents that it would be good for her to take a gap year before she went to college. Something about how she needed more time to grow up or something. Evan wasn’t sure, other than her parents agreed, and as of five days ago, she showed up at the doorstep with three suitcases.

It felt a lot like her finding a way to live at her rich uncle’s house for a while, while she did nothing but tan and swim. But it wasn’t for Evan to sort out. He didn’t know well since she had grown up in the next state over. Like many at that age, they were both hyper-connected to every outlet online. They followed each other on social media, which gave them a tiny peek into each other, but revealed nothing of substance.

Satisfied he wouldn’t go blind from the sunlight in his room, he stepped back and walked toward his bathroom. Technically it was shared with the bedroom next to his, but since he was an only child, that room was only used as an occasional guest room. Amanda got a room on the other side of the house. It was pretty nice, and franky, Evan was happy his parents put her in that room. It meant he’d not have to share the bathroom this summer. He was used to having his own space, and had grown accustomed to being largely left to himself.

He pulled his sweaty clothes off as he walked into the bathroom, walked over to the glass walled shower stall and turned the water on. He stretched his arms high over his head to flex his back, which greeted him with a crack about mid-way down. He stood naked as he waited for the water to heat up, then got in. He was fit, something his avid running gave him, though he was not overly muscular. Outside of running, he’d swim a few laps from time-to-time, and his high school soccer days were a few years behind him. His low body fat gave him some definition, despite not being one to lift any weights.

His running was a way to fight his anxieties and the high stress of school and expectations.

Soon enough, he finished his shower, stepped out and dried off. He left his dirty running clothes on the floor, something he’d gather up later. He walked back out to his room, drying his hair and walked back to his desk. He didn’t worry about being naked, especially in his own room. He’d even occasionally swim naked, but usually only at night if he was extra tense. That would ensure the maid would not see him, and if his parents were home, they’d be in bed, as they were always early sleepers.

He finished drying his short hair and left it a bit messy as he popped open his laptop on his desk. As he waited for his laptop to wake up, he glanced up and out of the window. Amanda, still in her same spot where she typically was. As his laptop finished coming to life, he leaned over his desk and typed in his password. The screen clarified and the browser was waiting for him.

His aim was to quickly check his email, but the screen looked odd to him. He was familiar with Reddit, but something looked off as he saw the front page. It didn’t seem quite typical, and he said the orange icon at the top indicating he had a message. He had never gotten a message before, which is what confused him. Why now? He hadn’t posted anything.

Then he realized what was happening. It wasn’t his account. He totally forgot about Amanda asking his if she could use his laptop quickly to check a few things while she was getting settled. She had stayed up late the night before and forgot to charge her devices, or something like that. He wasn’t really paying attention and just waved her on with a “yeah, help yourself” as he left to get his run completed. She must have forgotten to log out.

Before decorum took hold, he clicked on her username to look at her profile. What he saw started to surprise him. She had posted in gonewild a few times, and a few other adult subreddits. He clicked on the most recent post and it was a close up of her navel piercing. Her flat, tanned stomach revealed, with the small gold hoop.

He glanced up and out of his window at her, but it’s not like she could see him, not from her angle down below. It wasn’t like she’d know he was poking around her profile anyway. She had put the magazine down, and it looked like, based on how her head was turned under the wide brimmed hat she wore, she was dozing off.

He should log out and move on, he knew. Let her have her privacy, he thought. She’d no doubt be angry if she ever found out. But his curiosity overwhelmed his better judgment and he looked at her messages. Her recent posting had gotten a lot of replies and private messages. Men asking what else they could see, some outright sending dick pics. She replied to some of the messages, clearly liking the attention she had gotten. He looked at a post she made the day before in a subreddit he had never heard of called Just One Boob. It was a selfie of her, wearing the same bikini she was wearing now, and the same wide brim hat and sunglasses, except she had pulled one breast free to reveal.

She clearly took the selfie in the same chair she was sitting in now. He could see her perky, 18-year old breast exposed, nipple taught from the excitement. His mouth was hanging open slightly, he couldn’t believe what he was learning, like he stumbled upon something of her personality he would have never guessed at. He flipped through a few more posts, a few replies in one sexy subreddit to another.

He realized he had seen too much and needed to stop. Still leaned over his desk, he looked up again, seeing Amanda laying in the lounge chair next to the pool. He could feel a change in blood flow between his legs. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other a bit awkwardly, not liking how his body was betraying him. He shouldn’t be turned on, it was his cousin.

He logged out of her account and shut his laptop, trying to process this information he now had. He couldn’t believe what he saw. And he was even more shocked by what he was considering doing next.