We meet again cribberrs🤭, the Overseers of each faction had a lot to say about the contestants in their factions. Without wasting so much time let's get into it.

FACTION: THE DYNASTY.

OVERSEER: DEWDROP.

CONTESTANTS

•008—SMERALDO.

•015—WENDY BLACK.

•018—THE INK FAIRY.

•019—THE ASCENDANT.

•022—MAN OF STEEZE.

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE DYNASTY FACTION.

Massages head with a pack of ice and takes a deep breath. I'll admit, I thought it was going to be easy supervising these contestants because it didn't seem like much of a big deal or a hassle at the time. I undermined the kind of job I had to do and I had even convinced myself that I was just going to stay on the sidelines and let them do their thing. Mhen, I have never been more wrong in my entire life. I knew I had entered it when I realised that as less stressful as I perceived the prompt, they had no idea what the theme actually means. Le sigh, that was when I knew that we were going to have a problem. I had to draft a document explaining the entire theme to them, but some of them still didn't understand. Removes wig. Anyways, God did.

Everything about the faction I oversaw seemed like a blur because from what I observed, they were still clinging to their comfort zones, not ready to challenge themselves—give themselves a chance and unconsciously depending on the people they thought were best writers to come through for them. Don't get me wrong, they are writers with potentials but they are terrified to use it. So, they'd rather just stick to things they are familiar with—mediocre, if I might add—than venture out of their safety nets to create something beautiful. I have had a really long week but I recognise efforts when I see it—no matter how tired I might be. And to be honest, only one person really gave me the feeling that they were really to put up a fight.

Starting with Smeraldo, drags out a long sigh. As I'm typing this, thinking about her gives me mad blurry vibes. I couldn't seem to figure her out. She seemed more like a wallflower that'd rather stick to the walls, than stretch forth and bloom. Starting with the fact that she was hardly present in the beginning, her initial submissions lacked substance. It just seemed like a bunch of words slapped together for the sake of, “let it not be like I didn't contribute.” There was nothing in her submissions that appeared like she was going to put a fight. She was relaxed. Too relaxed, even. I was kind of disappointed when I forwarded the document I took time to compile and she was still asking me the reason they couldn't use the initial ideas that I told them to trash—don’t blame me. They were really bland. Her contributions had little to no substance, a little too cliché at some point. To sum it up, she was comfortable. I wasn't okay with that. But, it is well.

Wendy, Wendy, Wendy. Massages temples softly. Okay, I'll be honest. She had me all confused. Really confused. I mean, one minute, you are stepping out of shell, and then, the next, you have vanished into thin air. It was giving NEPA light. So, it gave me a massive headache. Wendy gave that vibe of someone that crawled out of her comfort zone, saw the crowd and then ran back inside because she's convinced that she didn't have what it takes. She was just so eager to hand the reins to someone she considered her better. I mean, she's good. Slightly above average, but she can be better. I know that. It's a very strong gut feeling. I'm sure that if she can push herself a little harder, she'll be just fine. But, what I loved most about her was her willingness to help. She was always so eager to offer her help in whatever way it was needed. No matter how small. Oh, well.

Little miss fairy, chuckles softly. She reminds me of this phrase—I don't know if that's how they use to say it but something along the line of when you push a goat to the wall, it turns around to face you like it's ready to fight. Yeah, something like that. I'll hand it to her. She's good, alright? She just has a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she's good at this writing thing. At first, she was strongly convinced that she couldn't come up with anything. She kept telling me that she was trying to think but nothing was coming up. Meanwhile, she was still clinging to the old story idea she dropped, thinking she could make something out of it. I got really frustrated and had to put it to her that she needed to snap out of it and think of something else because time wasn't on our side. Yes, her first story idea was a little lame—like I said, she wasn't willing to challenge herself and think out of the box. But damn, she blew me away with the second one. Her story and Steezie boo's came up with a tie and I had a hard time choosing. I had to just give them the two and tell them to pick one. However, they were pretty convinced they couldn't pull her idea off, so they went with Steezie boo's to save time and energy. Clicks tongue in they don't know good thing.

Ascendant wey dey ascend but dey fuck up some times. Lmao. Okay, let me be serious. I think I'd have actually loved it more if Scendie boo boo was more present. I was looking forward to seeing some kinda spark. You know what I mean? Everyone's got a fight in them but I was really hoping to see his. The only time it surfaces is when he unconsciously realises that Steeze man is beating him at the game. It was like he only got his head in the game whenever he was threatened. Sue me, but I think this is one of my favourite writers in this faction. There's just something about his style of writing. Not particularly there yet but it's giving one heck of a force to reckon with if the skills are honed properly. But nah, he couldn't use that to bribe him. He wasn't so present like that. Heck, I think Wendy was more present than him. But yeah, he's onto something. He just needs to get his head in the game and be more consistent. He knows he's good, but he's a little too relaxed and I don't like it.

Ah, ah! Steeze man. Man of Steeze. Wo, anyone. There's sha Steeze in it. I'm not even about to lie and say he doesn't have that Steeze thing going on because he doesssssss. I don't know if I'm being biased or not but this writer just appealed to me so much with his manner of approach and his will to put in the effort. He's unarguably my favourite writer in the group. Before you look at that side, he's already there, dropping ideas. He's not easily torn down. He picks himself back up swiftly like he never fell in the first place and tries harder. Consistency and tenacity are some of the qualities I admire in a writer and he was a combination of both. He matched the vibe I was looking for. Someone who's ready to think on his feet and not yield to the pressure. Now, I'm not saying his writing is flawless because it isn't. He's really good but he can be better. Heck, Ink Fairy's prompt kinda pushed his aside because of how solid it was. And, let me not lie, let me not steal, her prompt was legit my favourite. But then, he has something that she doesn't have. He's ready to challenge himself to step out of his comfort zone and he does it effortlessly. Meanwhile, Ink Fairy only lets that side come out of her as a last resort which is not supposed to be like that.

It was an honour to supervise these writers because I got to witness, first hand, the kind of sides that different writers have to them. Project pen called and I promptly answered. To be honest, I'll do it again in a heartbeat. I just hope that whatever the outcome of this stage is, they do not become sore losers and allow it weigh them down. Instead, they use it as their driving force in their efforts to strive and become the better version of the writers they were before they came into the house.

Thank you!

Commentary: Wow, that was a lot. Let's see what the other Overseers have to say about their contestants.

FACTION:THE HERALDS

Overseer: AURELIUS (DELANI)

TEAM MEMBERS:

002 CAESAR
010 SETH
024 ANOINTED SCRIBE
029 MEDUSA
030 HOMA

A REPORT ON THE HERALDS

Where to start? I was really excited to be involved in this new season of Project Pen in any way I could be. Imagine my expression when I was told I had to be an Overseer and I'll get the opportunity to coach the potential winner of PPN into a better writer. You know, inspiring new generations of pen masters, that sort of thing. I got my rose coloured lens and put them to work.

My theme was for the selection process was rooting for the underdogs but...

The Heralds: A collective

The selection process was a meticulous affair. As a writer I went with a storyline. One that people root for over and over again. The underdogs. I also wanted to be cohesive and good at the prompt I drew from the lot.

The Herald for the most part has been an amazing group to work with. Each of them brings something unique to the drafting process. I won't lie, I was highly impressed by them.

One thing I appreciated was the division of labor and the opportunity for each individual to play to their strengths. Different people handle the different stages of the drafting process- characterization, plotting, writing, etc.

A caveat against this is that once everyone is done with their assigned task they stop communicating and they refuse to help others where they're lagging or having problems.

This constituted a huge issue especially in the last few hours of the competition. When some certain backbenchers came out of the woodwork and threw the rest of us out the loop with new writing no one heard about.

The Heralds: As Individuals

MEDUSA

I'm so glad she was the first pick. She really proved her weight in gold. Ready to ball, tweak and make changes to her ideas just to make the story flow better. She made being an Overseer as easy as could be for me. She came to me and was like my imagery isn't the best, I need you to help me and coach me to make me better. And I was ready to help her however I can. She seemed to be the only one to understand the role of an Overseer. She's an effective communicator and alway active in the classroom no matter the weather.

Medusa handled the writing part of the prompt and she was so fast and good with it. She really impressed me and I'm proud of her.

I'm incredibly proud of her and I can't wait to see her other entries in this competition (if she survives this week). I know she's going to go ahead and write masterpieces.

THE ANOINTED SCRIBE

TAS = Natural leader.
That's all that summed up her involvement in the team. She had her finger in every pie and for good reason. She was like a right hand man and made my work easier. Even before others were active in the classroom. She already analyzed everyone's writing styles and divided them according to their strengths.

Not just that on the Google docs she was always active, giving pointers, corrections and better ideas to make the story the best we could.

Excluding me, she was the other biggest contributor and editor to our work.

SETH

Seth is the quintessential team player. All he does is in service of the team and to make the team better. He's always coming up with ways to make the story. He doesn't stick to only one shtick and he's always ready to pivot and pick up where others are slacking.

HOMA

I had a lot of issues with him but all he did was in service of the team. Although a little confused at times he's got the best spirit.

All the panic and anxiety I felt with the team could be tied to him. He brought a new and different version of our story in the last hour before submission. Totally throwing off the team and setting the others into a state of crisis and panic.

It took a lot of self regulation and calming down to bring the others into a state where they were able to focus and do the final review of our original work before submission.

CAESAR

Does he even go here?
I've got nothing to say.

COMMENTARY: Before moving to the next, is your fave in the first 2 factions? How was the review about them?.
Unto the next!

FACTION: THE REGIME.

OVERSEER: DELPHINIUM

CONTESTANTS

•001 THE PENREAPER

•003 LIONESS

•004 JAY

•005 TRAFALGAR

GENERAL REPORT

The group as a whole was generally cooperative but that was after they managed to make me believe I made a mistake by choosing them as members of this faction. But apart from the one time when all of them—aside from Jay—didn’t reply to my message suggesting that we had a meeting or show up when it was time for the meeting, I guess they pretty much weren’t that bad.

At first I really thought I dug myself into a hole because I chose these particular contestants and I couldn’t really get the spirit of teamwork I was looking for from the team but eventually, it was clear enough and I would say that I actually do admire the fact that they were ready to step back from their own ideas or works and accept better ideas from others.

I also admire the fact that in the beginning, after just a little prompt from me, they went on to find ideas and decide how to go about their work without hearing from me again. There were points when it felt like they were being unserious and everyone was ‘busy’ but I’ll get to that later.

INDIVIDUAL REPORTS

•001 THE PENREAPER

He was relatively unproblematic and was active enough. He was part of those who came up with ideas when I first asked the group to start brainstorming. And I would give it to him, he has really nice ideas. He actively engaged in discussing about the plot of the story. He also did the assignment that was given to the group and submitted the first draft of the story before the deadline was up. My favorite part about him was the fact that he was okay with leaving his idea and going with other’s ideas. I was honestly afraid that there would be a problem where people in the team had clashing ideas and refused to let go of their ideas. Even when it got to the point of voting which work was better, he picked the other work over his. Personally, I know that that isn’t a very easy thing to do. So basically, he put the team before his ego.

•003 LIONESS

Hmm, I don’t really know what to say. She didn’t really contribute much to brainstorming for an idea for the story neither was she able to complete her assignment before the deadline because she was juggling writing with work. I felt like she was majorly in the sideline, agreeing with whatever ideas the others came up with and not coming up with any herself. But then she played a major role in editing the final piece.

•004 JAY

Jay started off well. They seemed genuinely willing to contribute to what was going on in the group. But then they slacked. Asides dropping an idea during the initial stages of brainstorming and being the only one present when it was time for the meeting, Jay didn’t contribute much, if anything, to the final piece. They didn’t do the work assigned to them (apparently, they had exams) neither did they have anything to do with the editing and overall outcome of the group’s work.

•005 TRAFALGAR

At this point, it’s safe to say that I’m an actual fan! He and Penreaper are literally the only reasons we even had a story to submit. He was actively involved in brainstorming—changing his ideas when I thought they weren’t okay—and completion of the final work. All he needed was a little push to come up with a better idea. And his writing is to die for! Granted it could be so much better and I’m a bit fastidious, but it did make the cut. I also heard he was the one who got others to be active, so yeah, he gets special points for that.

Commentary: We've heard what all Faction Overseer's had to say. How did your faves do?, where you impressed?.

Oh well, Anticipate Eviction Night guys as we've come to the end.

Bye bye Cribbers ✨