ANSWER: Personally, after reading too much “_____ of Haruhi Suzumiya” I say do first person! And use the MC as the character. Maybe make them a snarky character too (Okay that part MIGHT be influenced by Haruhi, but I digress.)
Even if I didn’t read Haruhi Suzumiya i’d still give mostly the same suggestions (maybe without the snarky part.)
Hmmm, I think that keeping the main character as the protagonist for the novel adaptation would be better. I think that shifting the perspective to another character like Tress would be a bit odd, mostly because the readers will get to know whomever the protagonist is much better than the others. We already know powerless MC best, so it’d be better to stick to them. (Not sure if what I just said made much sense…although I wouldn’t mind getting inside of stoic’s head 
). Using third person would also work, although you of course would have to choose between omniscient or limited.
For the novel adaptation, do you have a set idea of what you’ll make the MC be? Like in terms of gender, personality, sexuality, RO (if any)?
I can totally see the non powered MC holding reader interest and developing into a well rounded character. I mean EVERYONE loves an underdog and would insert themselves into the MCs shoes since he would be the only non powered hero (in training), lots of turmoil and challenges for them to overcome makes for a great story. That’s just my opinion though lol
DO NOT READ IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS!
I actually like the idea of the novelisation being from a different character’s point of view. That way they’re more companion novels than they are the exact same story told twice. You get into one of the NPC’s heads a little more, see things from their perspective which would be some nice bonus material.
I’d say, leave out the main character completely. Let the novelisation just be the story of what would happen if there wasn’t a non-powered student at the school. That way there’s something unique for the Choice of Game and something unique for the novel. Same basic story over-all though, and some interesting insight into the characters.
I’d also prefer that the protagonist of your novel is bi, and that you do have some same-sex relations, even if it’s just other characters pairing off.
I think both Stoic and Crook are bad choices. They have their secrets. Stoic especially never really pushes the narrative, she’s there as an enigma. She doesn’t act, she barely reacts and that’s her appeal, trying to get her to give a damn about any of it is a goal in itself. Crook’s older, married, with a kid, and if he’s telling the truth there that makes him closest you’ve got to your typical boring bland straight white male protagonist.
If you wanted to be cruel, tell it from Origami’s point of view. I think she’s got an interesting story there and we could at least get more insight into her. But that would mean you need a new protagonist for the next book and oh that end would hurt.
Tress is a better idea of those you’ve suggested. I’d say Dirty Girl or Mob would also work.
If you do want to just have a non-powered protagonist I’d say you do need to make them more defined.
Good points, I like your ideas. Origami would be a interesting choice indeed. 
Sticking to the MC would be better than switching to any other character since most people can relate to the MC as the people were the ones who created their own character so yeah.
P.S. @HornHeadFan would it be possible for you to allow people to customise the kind of stats they want for themselves maybe for this game or future installments of the game since being able to customise the character stats rather then going with pre-set stats would be much cooler. But hey that’s just my opinion.
@Blackbeard The problem with that is that in a novelisation it’s very likely not going to be the MC you created unless Hornheadfan decides to pick every single choice that you picked. (and if that’s the case you might as well just play the interactive game anyway). I think it runs the risk that people will see the novel version as the true version, and that worries me, especially if it means that any same-sex relations are erased.
I think that I’d like a point of difference, I’d want a protagonist that differs from the one in the interactive game, in some way.
This conversation is really giving me some ideas.
I’m not actually writing the novelization for a while, although like I said, I do plan to make some notes and sketch out the major plot points that would easily transfer over while I await publishing this spring. I figure that I really have 80% of a traditional novel done. I would just have to tackle the tricky 20% involved in shifting it from interactive to traditional story. That 20% doesn’t really seem like a huge obstacle. The hard part would be figuring out which are the “most interesting” choices and relationships, and whether to make the MC bi-sexual, which would obviously allow me greater freedom in writing about the MC’s relationships.
Although I will say that I am very tempted to tame down any specifics about sex or drugs and present CCH as a “young adults” type book. I used to teach 4th and 5th grade and many of my kids were ready for something like this.
@FairyGodfeather makes good points about losing some of the variety and diversity of possible MCs and relationships, but obviously that’s just one of the limitations of traditional fiction. Heck, I chose to do this story as an interactive piece on purpose, and one of the reasons was that I wanted to fully immerse the reader and give the reader options that might appeal to their individual preferences. But I realize that interactive fiction, and especially CoG/HG is a verrrrry small niche in the overall market, and like I said, I’m only 20% from a regular novel, so why not go for it? I don’t see any reason not to…other than all the work involved… 
My priority is doing the HG trilogy first, which is a sufficient enough undertaking for the time, but I’m a big believer in squeezing every last drop from universes that you create, and I have a ton of ideas about how to extend/transfer the storylines and characters into other formats.
@Owlet, I agree with you about Stoic and Crook. I’ve been intentionally dragging things out with them, especially Stoic, even though many posters here have asked for those relationships to move faster. I want to go slooooow with them, especially Crook, who is a delicate flower. 
@JTAL, thanks for confirming my word choice! I kept thinking, “linearizing” sounds right! And you and FG must be Brits, I guess, since I notice you both use “s” instead of “z.” You crazy Brits. And yes, I agree the whole underdog thing works well in most plots. I wanted to make the MC the underdoggiest of the underdogs. The least powerful student in the crappiest school. Not even on anyone’s radar.
@Fallaner, Yeah I’d consider snarky especially in a first-person POV novel because, let’s face it, you need some internal dialogue and what MC wouldn’t secretly think some funny/unflattering things about Shine, Wombat, Tolly, etc? I mean, even the school as a whole is ripe for being ridiculed, at least initially.
@hishman13, yeah the gender/sexuality/RO part of a novel is the biggest stumbling block for me, because no matter, what I choose, many people (at least on here) wouldn’t feel engaged to the MC anymore.
@Hozay, you wrote the 2,000st post! Yay! I couldn’t find any celebratory emotes, but here are Stoic and Wombat and Mega Cat 
@FairyGodfeather, Yeah I was just playing with ways to make it different without changing a lot of the canon. Tress could tell a story without being overly snarky or overly dramatic, and she’s one of the more eloquent characters. I mentioned Crook because he’s the one I most relate to, and I think I find his voice more easier than I do the others. And telling it from Origami’s perspective, with her narration ending suddenly, would be fascinating to tackle! If only I was a 13-year-old girl…wait…I didn’t mean that. 
@Blackbeard, are you talking about Part II of the interactive novel? I’ll continue to consider that, but I just finished editing the last “upgrade” scene in Part I, so as of that point, there are now 12 different combinations of weapons - Acrobat I, II, and II, Sharpshooter I, II, and III and so on. It’s a lot to tackle, let me tell you.
Wow. Spoilers for the non-beta players. Guess there’s no point in buying the game now… >.<
I am fine with either giving people the ability to create their own stats combo either in this game or other future installments hence my stating it, but again it is just my personal preference so if you find that it is something possible to do or something that you either won’t mind doing or want to do, it would be very cool. But hey, again it is just my personal preference.
@OtherGrimm This is a WIP thread and I thought it was a given that if I was discussing a possible novelisation that I might be referring to topics in the game. I never actually played the game when it was linked here so I’ve no idea what counts as spoilers and what doesn’t, what’s been discussed openly, and what hasn’t. I’m sorry that I spoiled the game for you.
While I’d a lot more I wanted to say on the subject of the novelisation, I’ll bow out of this discussion because I don’t want to ruin things for anyone else.
Nah, I’m no Brit, but I’m married to one. Went Viking over there, stole the crown jewel, married him and brought him back home. 
It seems a shame to rehash the plot to CCH again. What about a story five years or so in advance? I mean OK it could be blown up or something equally plot dramatic, I haven’t played the Beta or anything, maybe an AU?
@Zanite, when I talked about extending or transferring the storyline, I actually was considering things like a sequel, or perhaps an “alternative timeline” of events or things like that. Comic-style stories always give writers ways to keep the story going and there will be a lot of heroes and villains alike still standing at the end of the HG story.
And to the folks I was discussing the novelization/point-of-view stuff with, I have another idea that might actually work well. It’s loosely based on one of my favorite graphic novels, Superman for all Seasons, which features four different POVs; Mr. Kent, Lois Lane, Lana Lang and Lex Luther (lots of L’s there!). I find the different POV-device fascinating because the writer was able to move the narrative forward while shifting POVs three times during the story.
If I were to novelize the existing CCH story, I could totally see writing a shifting 1-person POV between some of the major characters. I could break the story down into six chunks, each with a different narrator. That could keep it fresh, and it could also provide a variety of viewpoints across gender lines (and probably sexual orientation lines as well).
Stunner introducing us to Speck and explaining lots of the background/world issues since he’s very knowledgeable about all of it.
Then he could tag in to Tress, who would talk about the early days of the school year and a lot of the relationships that start to form and how she wants to eventually take a leadership role.
Dirty Girl could talk about the various adventures the kids go on, and could explain why she’s so intimidated by the students and the overall situation and why she tries to act like a badass all the time.
Mob then starts to analyze the Contrarian situation and talks to the reader about his suspects as well as trying to figure out what he’s willing to do to stop her, considering he’s adopted a pacifist attitude.
That segways into Origami talking about the farm environment and the growing friendships, and how she secretly wishes they could all stay there longer.
Then Crook is the last who talks about everything post climax and what he plans to do when everyone returns in the spring.
Thoughts?
I like the idea of having multiple POVs. Six different takes on the story, and six different opinions about MC (presuming s/he will still be in the story). That was one of the things I enjoyed most about the Haruhi Suzumiya novels. Showing the story through Kyon’s point of view rather than Haruhi’s gives a fresh take on the events going on around him.
I quite like this idea as well, and It could be interesting to see the MC from non-MC viewpoints.
@Xero Yaaaaay for more Haruhi Readers! (I need to get to reading books 9 and 10, I’ve been too busy playing games to sit down and read them XD, But i love the Haruhi Series so much.)
It might be difficult, but it sounds like a really interesting idea, if executed well 
. The best part is that it gives insight into multiple characters and not just one, which would make character development kind of lopsided, at least until you had other books with different POV’s out, if that was the case.
That actually sounds like a great idea and gives a different flavor to each issue or chapter! I’m totally really excited about this lol. It kind of reminds me of those Watchmen prequels that were released last year I think? Each major Watchmen character got their own 6 issue mini series with a different artist working on each one who’s style complimented that specific character.
CCV, community college villain! or was this idea already spoken of?