Your first paragraph is nearly a perfect summary for what I was going for! I love that back-and-forth balancing act Ms. Johnson has between her school life and her home life. That's really what I was hoping to accomplish by introducing disposables. On one hand she has all these sweet, innocent students who really don't know anything about what she's telling them. But on the other hand she has access to these disposables who are the lowest of lows who nobody feels any remorse for. They're basically just little living playthings. And I know what you mean with there being so many different ways I could take the story! I have so many ideas for so many chapters but it's a game of making it all line up and flow like a legit story. I have this long movie playing in my head that I'm trying to do justice by putting it down into words. We'll see if it plays out in everyone else's mind like I imagined!

You're definitely on the right track with what I was thinking. I know the popular thing to do is to put tiny men in indestructible suits before being swallowed but it's actually pretty crazy just how violent things get in the stomach lol. Establishing the danger was very important though and that may end up being one of my favourite scenes :)

I honestly really appreciate the feedback and criticism! I'm definitely a student of the story game here so I'm hoping that by the time we get to chapter 50, my writing will be a lot better than it was in chapter 1! Great points though! Feel free to let me know in a chapter or two if we're still not quite there and I can improve even more (even though I know writing is something that you can never stop improving haha). Glad to have you along for the journey!

I’m glad you’re just as excited about this story as I am! I definitely plan to keep going with it and really don’t have any reason to stop. I’ve really enjoyed writing it. I know there are long delays in between chapters and it bothers me probably as much as it does you, but it takes quite a while to write up each chapter and by the time I finish one, I find I need a few days in between the next to get my thoughts in order. I can usually average about 1,000 words an hour between thinking, typing, and editing. So each chapter takes at least 7 or 8 hours to write, but usually more by the time I get each chapter fleshed out before I write anything. So it’s about 12 hours per typical chapter. Then by the time I add in work, home stuff, and everything else, 12 hours can be hard to find haha. I kinda like the suspense of cliffhangers though. It’s one of the cruel things you get to do as a writer haha.

As for Chapter 10, it was a pretty big undertaking. In my mind, I could follow along since I can picture it all like a movie (it would be so much clearer as a movie lol), but I figured the biggest problem would be having all the characters interacting. As I think about it, the confusion almost represents the flurry of excitement the boys are experiencing haha. This connects to your next question in that I really wanted to create this chaotic scene that the boys were being thrust into. At first they think everything is going to be simple and that they’ll just get to see a few hot girls, but then by the end most of them are on the verge of death because of the sheer size difference between them. But I don’t want the girls to come across as sadistic or them trying to hurt the boys (except maybe one or two). The girls are really just having the time of their lives and the boys’ size mixed with the inexperience among the girls are what’s making it hard for them to survive. So why don’t the boys speak up and the girls stop and save them? I like to think of it in a few different ways. One is that the room is going crazy with excitement (girls are murmuring and laughing and carrying on) so it’s hard for the boys to even get a few words in. Plus the girls have interacted with a few tiny men in the past and they’ve never come across students before, so they’re treating them as disposables (silencing them instantly, and not believing a word they say). It’s like the girls have crossed a point of no return and no matter what the boys say or do will change their minds (like when you get the giggles as a kid and you can’t seem to make them stop so you just keep laughing). I hope that sort of makes sense. Really the girls just don’t believe it would be possible for these tiny men to be students so they don’t bother giving them the time of day to explain themselves. This chapter was also very short in terms of how much time passes. I went in with the mindset of only 10-15 minutes max have passed since the boys/girls entered the room. So considering everything that happened, they would’ve had to do those things super quickly, one after the other. Not a lot of time to dispute it.

Haha there will definitely be a lot more of Ms. Johnson. I figure that we’ve got at least another 40 chapters (plus some part 1’s, 2’s, etc) to go before there will be a logical endpoint. I guess that it’s actually been quite a number of weeks since we’ve really seen Ms. Johnson. The next chapter will definitely feel very similar to chapter 10 (and one more around chapter 14) but I think there’s gonna be a small stretch that will feel very similar to those past in-class lesson chapters. It’ll sort of be a mix all the way up until the end. I have a lot of really fun ideas where the boys are in virtually no danger at all, some where they’re completely alone in a world of giant women (sometimes totally unaware), and a few that are sort of like chapter 10 but probably toned down a little and more contained. We’re also approaching midterms too so I think those chapters (probably starting around chapter 20) could be pretty interesting. I think my scene where the boys are introduced to their midterm assignments is gonna be pretty awesome. I’ve built like 5 or 6 chapters around just that one idea haha. Maybe it’s only exciting to me, but I think it’ll be one of those simple but effective, “could you imagine” moments.

I can confirm that the boys will be visiting a gynecologist (actually not that far away now) as part of a field trip. Naturally Ms. Johnson has quite a few doctor friends from her time working on the tech, so I think that’ll be a pretty entertaining chapter. I have a few interesting ideas for that one but I’m still working on adding a little more meat to it. We had our class lesson on bodily functions so there probably won’t be another chapter that focuses on that entirely. I can confirm that there will be a number of chapters throughout the story that include bodily functions to some extent though (the next chapter for example). It’s one of those things that, as humans, is always there. So it’s an easy thing to bring in anywhere and explore in different ways. Whether it’s an unaware scene, a torture scene, or just a show of dominance, it’s all very interesting to me.

I actually found the perfect, real life model for Ms. Johnson (she actually is a teacher in real life) that I’ve based that character on! I’ve sort of had bits and pieces of this story in my mind for years, but when I found her everything just clicked. So in my mind, she’s probably the clearest character I have. I have pictures for everyone else but sometimes I sort of mesh two together or tweak small details (like eye colour). My method of storytelling is to find real life people to base your characters on. Maybe you know them personally or have just seen pictures and videos of them. I don’t usually change their first names either. I like to keep that immersion and really use the real life person as much as I can. I more than often twist their last names to give some uniqueness for my readers (or to hide their real identity), but that’s about it. Same goes for environments and rooms too. I try to pick somewhere that I’ve been before so I have a clear picture of where my characters are. If you want to send me a message on Discord (AprilMJ#7988) or by email (LittleLearningGTS@gmail.com) I could definitely share if you wanted to see.

That’s awesome that you’ve (and others!) been so inspired by my story that you’ve been adding to it yourself! I’d love to see what you have. I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I started writing and posting but the reaction I’ve gotten so far has been miles beyond anything I could’ve expected. I know where the feeling comes from though. I’ve read quite a few stories (and not even just GTS stories) and been like, “man, why didn’t the author include this or do that.” I think by the time this story is finished, we’ll have covered a lot of different scenarios and ideas. But like any story, there’s always room for more haha. I feel like this world that we’re building is filled with potential for different stories though. The “shrinking tech” is pretty cliche but after that I really like the idea of there being disposables, personal tiny people, and then just regular people in the world. There are so many possibilities with that. Not to mention being taught sex ed as a tiny person by a pretty attractive teacher lol. I think that could be any man’s dream haha. So I certainly don’t want to discourage the idea of anyone expanding on what I have because if you enjoy it, do it. It’s not like we’re all competing to become the world’s next greatest author haha. It’s all in the spirit of having fun and sharing ideas. 

I look forward to hearing from you again!

Thank you, it's always a pleasure to know folk are enjoying my writing <3 

And yes, there's more planned with these characters. I have a rather long commission queue (around a year's wait) so I haven't been able to write it yet, but it should be fairly soon (hopefully next month).