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2026 Secret Author Contest - Forbidden Knowledge Truth & Lies

Cia

Entry posted by Cia in Anthologies

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Two Truths & A Lie!

So... we all know the theme of this year's Secret Author contest was Forbidden Knowledge. In order to "help" you figure out who wrote which story, I've asked authors to share 2 Truths & a Lie about their story writing process, the story itself, or... you know, stuff you should or shouldn't know. Will it help you? Maaaaybe. Let's get on with it, shall we? These are shared in no particular order, so have fun! 

Story Title: Undeliverable 

  1. I wanted to write something different from my current stories, something more lived-in and introspective. That's what led me to the idea of present versus past.
  2. One title I seriously considered was 'You Won't Read This'. I scrapped it because I didn't want to jinx the story.
  3. The ending was the easiest part to write. I had the final scene in my head long before I wrote the opening sentence.

Story Title:  Gemma

  1. The entire story was written in under a week.
  2. The story was originally written in third person POV.
  3. The story was inspired by a YouTube video.

Story Title: Subtle Signs

  1. Based on a true story.
  2. Written in less than an hour.
  3. Inspired by TikTok videos featuring men singing in bathroom stalls.

Story Title: The Empty Library

  1. The story is inspired by a visit to Berlin as a student
  2. One of my hobbies is reading World War II historical books
  3. I love a good romance

Story Title: Coffee With Supervision

  1. The concept originated from a television program in which the protagonist awoke beside a stranger.
  2. Having written the opening line, the narrative progressed naturally in a supernatural direction.
  3. This represents my first attempt at writing within the supernatural genre, and I found the experience of exploring a new style enjoyable.

Story Title:  Murder at 9th & Tom

  1. I firmly believe everyone and everything has some sort of way to tell their story. 
  2. I love cats.
  3. I have never written about a murder before. 

Story Title: The Ledger

  1. I've always had a fascination with the Civil War and its ramifications.
  2. Also, a case of what-ifs: how history is a sequence of random events leading to life-changing encounters
  3. The most difficult issue in writing was dealing with the bisexuality of the main character and his fear of leaving his safe, comfortable existence.

Story Title: Peeping Tom

  1. I love cats.
  2. I don't love cats. 
  3. Animals are better than people. 

Story Title: No Official Reason

  1. I loved reading the boyband collection in the celebrity section on Nifty and wanted to try writing my own.
  2. I love the drama created by being closeted and wanted to weave it into the story. 
  3. I have never written a romance story before without some speculative element involved, so I was determined to write one this time.

Story Title: The Ivory Fig Ceremony

  1. I was hankering for for fig newtons.
  2. It was fig season.
  3. I was eating buckwheat crisps.

Story Title: Wrong Window

  1.  The story came from a song title I found randomly on Spotify
  2.  The story came to me while listening to someone brag about a weird night.
  3. I was getting Pork dumplings and saw a fire escape in Hong Kong and thought that's a great setting.

Story Title: Just The Facts, Man

  1. I remembered reading about this a few months before the secret author topic came out.
  2. ChatGPT didn’t like translating about a crime.
  3. https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-greatest-mysteries-in-history ranks this as #1 on their list of history’s 19 greatest mysteries.

Story Title: The Ledger of The Howling Void

  1. The story idea came to me whilst in the library at school
  2. This is my 100th story on GA
  3. I have a huge presence on GA and have written many genre of story using prompts.

Story Title: Sweet Sour Paradox Logic 

  1. While I was cooking sweet sour chicken got the idea with the sauce. 
  2. I like mixing random leftovers to cook, so Caden did the same.
  3. Running through the Golden Gate park showed the best place for the boys to meet.

Story Title: Unexpected Discovery 

  1. The setting was an area I was familiar with in real life.
  2. The idea for the story evolved from a true story that I fictionalized.
  3. Part of the story was based on personal experience.

All right... which are the truths? Which is the lie? Can you decide and do any of these little tidbits help reveal the author of the story(s) to you? Share your guesses below! 

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11 Comments

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  • Popular Comment
Cane23

Cane23 31,398
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Posted

  • Popular Comment

The authors, with the enormous help of HRH the Administrator Queen, have clearly decided to bamboozle us completely this year... Are you sure it wasn't two lies and one truth, or three lies, or three truths... or whatever? 🤪

  • Haha 8
kbois

kbois 129,670
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Posted

Am I lying if I say I'm completely stumped with this? Oy. 

  • Haha 3
CassieQ

CassieQ 27,534
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Posted

ChatGPT didn’t like translating about a crime.

I'm not sure if this from "Just the Facts, Man" is a truth or a lie but it made me smile because I had to use the AI overview in Google to translate the first part of the confession note.

Spoiler

I didn't know what Catch the Ten meant.   

 

  • Haha 2
Cane23

Cane23 31,398
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Posted

21 minutes ago, kbois said:

Am I lying if I say I'm completely stumped with this? Oy. 

This might help authors recognize their own story... or perhaps not.

  • Haha 2
CassieQ

CassieQ 27,534
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Posted

 

Story Title: The Ledger of The Howling Void

  1. The story idea came to me whilst in the library at school
  2. This is my 100th story on GA
  3. I have a huge presence on GA and have written many genre of story using prompts.

So I went to authors page and sorted by number of stories, which throws point 2 into question.  We have @Bill W at an impressive 114 and then Sasha at 92.  Even given some wiggle room for this story not being attributed to the author yet, collaborations and possibly writing multiple prompts into a single multi-storied work, I'd say this is more likely the lie.

(Or am I doing this completely wrong?  I've never played this game).

  • Haha 3
Gary L

Gary L 24,278
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Posted

11 minutes ago, CassieQ said:

 

 

Story Title: The Ledger of The Howling Void

  1. The story idea came to me whilst in the library at school
  2. This is my 100th story on GA
  3. I have a huge presence on GA and have written many genre of story using prompts.

So I went to authors page and sorted by number of stories, which throws point 2 into question.  We have @Bill W at an impressive 114 and then Sasha at 92.  Even given some wiggle room for this story not being attributed to the author yet, collaborations and possibly writing multiple prompts into a single multi-storied work, I'd say this is more likely the lie.

(Or am I doing this completely wrong?  I've never played this game).

You’re doing it right but this is a damn teaser. Modesty demands that 3 is wrong.  And yet 100 stories also seems untrue. Um a real deceiving SOB.  

CassieQ

CassieQ 27,534
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Posted

Just now, Gary L said:

You’re doing it right but this is a damn teaser. Modesty demands that 3 is wrong.  And yet 100 stories also seems untrue. Um a real deceiving SOB.  

Points 1 and 3 seem the most legit to me.  The beginning is centered around a book, so library inspiration sounds likely and I don't think anyone would lie about point 3 without being able to back it up (there are some BIG egos around here.  I'm one of them.  :P  )

  • Haha 1
Gary L

Gary L 24,278
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Posted

1 minute ago, CassieQ said:

Points 1 and 3 seem the most legit to me.  The beginning is centered around a book, so library inspiration sounds likely and I don't think anyone would lie about point 3 without being able to back it up (there are some BIG egos around here.  I'm one of them.  :P  )

I thought you were one of the modest ones!  
🥰 

  • Haha 1
CassieQ

CassieQ 27,534
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Posted

3 minutes ago, Gary L said:

I thought you were one of the modest ones!  
🥰

I can hold my own.  

CassieQ

CassieQ 27,534
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Posted

 

Story Title: Just The Facts, Man

  1. I remembered reading about this a few months before the secret author topic came out.
  2. ChatGPT didn’t like translating about a crime.
  3. https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-greatest-mysteries-in-history ranks this as #1 on their list of history’s 19 greatest mysteries.

Point 3 is true.  I checked

Point 2 requires additional investigation.  I shall return.

kbois

kbois 129,670
No Mood Set

Posted

34 minutes ago, CassieQ said:

 

 

Story Title: The Ledger of The Howling Void

  1. The story idea came to me whilst in the library at school
  2. This is my 100th story on GA
  3. I have a huge presence on GA and have written many genre of story using prompts.

So I went to authors page and sorted by number of stories, which throws point 2 into question.  We have @Bill W at an impressive 114 and then Sasha at 92.  Even given some wiggle room for this story not being attributed to the author yet, collaborations and possibly writing multiple prompts into a single multi-storied work, I'd say this is more likely the lie.

(Or am I doing this completely wrong?  I've never played this game).

This one is well played. @Bill W is a possibility, but I'm also thinking it may be @chris191070 if #2 is the lie. The other two would be true and he does work in a school so it's possible that's where the idea came from. Also the author uses "whilst" which is the UK version of "while" and we all know Chris lives in the UK. He also has a huge presence on GA and while #2 would have to be the lie, he is certainly well on his way to achieving that milestone. 

Damn my head hurts now.

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