Random question, would you rather have a story where the world looks normal at the first glance and the weird things then creep up on you, or a story where it’s clear from the start that the world is weird? I mean, when it’s not a horror story where the weirdness creeping up on you is the point, but where it’s just part of how the world is.
2 Likes
Depends.
What is the protagonist’s relationship to the world? Have they been transported to a world they perceive as weird, or are they discovering that the world they’ve always lived in is not what they had believed it to be, or is the world perfectly normal from the character’s perspective while I, as the reader, am meant to see it as weird?
What is the nature of the weirdness? Is it Alice in Wonderland weird or Philip K. Dick weird? Kafkaesque or Lynchian? Magical realism or alternate history?
3 Likes
…I really need to read more Philip K. Dick…
It’s this one. Perferctly normal for the POV character, although they may or may not be a reality warper and subconsciously affecting it, I haven’t decided that one yet.
I mean weird in the sense that people may be riding moose and giant goats instead of horses and your car may complain it hasn’t gotten its morning coffee yet, but also that things aren’t exactly stable and may change from time to time, but every time they change everyone forgets they have ever been any different, so you may come home and see it’s of a different color it was in the morning, but to the character it was that color in the morning, while to the reader it was not.
4 Likes
In that case, I would write it as straight as possible. Pretend you don’t know it’s weird either.
4 Likes
I read this and the first thing that popped into my head was “Yes! Everyone needs more Dick in their lives!” Then it occurred to me I probably actually shouldn’t say it like that. 
5 Likes
I actually managed to do both of these things, which I’m quite proud of. It was 41,000 words in total to do so, which is about bang-on for how much I’d like to achieve in a given month, as well.
I’m giving myself a reduced workload this weekend, but then it’ll be time to get going on March’s goals.
9 Likes
I drafted Chapter 3 and have made a small start on coding Chapter 4! And did the project announcement too.
5 Likes
I got sick and then dislocated my shoulder, which hasn’t made my month very productive, so I’m glad others have had more success. 
4 Likes
I hope March brings you a smooth recovery!
4 Likes
Checking in with folks for March: if you’d like to set up the next thread, please drop me a message - if I haven’t heard anything I’ll post a support thread for March on the morning of the 1st, probably about 9am UK time 
I figure this way we’ll avoid duplicates!
8 Likes
Or they’ll claim your story is copying a game that is actually newer than yours.
I had someone comment a couple of years ago that UnNatural was a Wayhaven copy lol
9 Likes
I get people asking this and end up just saying “just trousers, imagine them as you like, it’s fine”. But no one likes that…
Relatedly: can anyone recommend me map-drawing/designing software? I need to make one for The Earth Has Teeth. At some point I’d like to commission something that actually looks good, but in the meantime I need something digital and tidy rather than my current horribly rough sketch literally drawn on the back of a piece of junk mail.
4 Likes
I don’t know how good it is, but there’s Inkarnate.
I also have some on my Steam library, but I haven’t really tested them either.
5 Likes
Three approaches come to mind:
- Make the events that happen not within their power. Do you know something Superman can’t stop? His father from having a heart attack.
- Make the stakes personal instead of grand. If this is something the MC personally cares about or, more importantly, the readers care about then tension will remain.
- Put limits on powers and abilities so that there are times when characters are vulnerable.
This month I set a goal (outside this forum) to do revisions on 12 chapters (or different routes of chapters) and I’ve managed 18.
5 Likes
Thanks for the advice, friends. I appreciate it. Do you think it’s okay if I set some goals for the protagonist that go beyond what’s usually expected in the genre? Like, in a superhero book, your character wanting to be a superhero is pretty standard. But what if I want to add some unfinished business from their past that influences their future? Is that cool?
I’ve been reading some posts this week, and a lot of folks say they don’t like it when the main character has baggage that wasn’t acquired during gameplay (family, childhood sweethearts, that kind of thing). I was thinking of doing something similar to what Mr. Moser did with CCH3, where players can choose which objectives they want to pursue instead of me deciding for them.
2 Likes
Is that really a problem for IF writers? To my understanding, power creep mostly occurs in massive franchises that run for years with different writers all adding their own villains. Guys like you and me are lucky if we finish a single story with a single villain for the hero to defeat.
Besides, IFs tend to have pretty large casts, full of ROs and other characters mostly on the player’s side. If the villain is decisively too strong for the MC alone, just have everyone gang up on the bastard. It will probably be more interesting than a 1v1 fight anyway.
I never really got that criticism tbh. The first book ends with the MC single-handedly beating the villain who gave them so much trouble earlier in the story. If you play the next two games halfway competently, the trilogy’s finale is basically one huge power trip where you trounce characters previously presented as borderline unbeatable.
You can criticize Heroes Rise for many things, but this particular complaint just feels like failure in delayed gratification.
Who the hell are these people? You can’t spend fifty seconds in this community without hearing someone ramble about Fallen Hero and how Sidestep’s traumatic backstory is the best thing since the Epic of Gilgamesh. Most people I’ve talked to want less “dead parents and no siblings” stuff, not more.
Childhood sweethearts are the only backstory element I’d advise you to avoid. I personally don’t mind them, but some people like to decide everything even vaguely related to their MCs love life, including gender and body count and hair color of everyone within fifteen kilometer radius. Which in my opinion makes romance in these books worse, but that’s an observation I’ll keep for my own thread.
7 Likes
You know, that’s a really good point. I think I might be getting ahead of myself on this.
Yeah, that critique mainly applied when the first book was the only one in the series. I remember some readers felt like you never really got a clean win until the very end. Your first night as a hero is a disaster, your second attempt doesn’t go well either, and when you finally get a spot at the MG, you have to cede it to your rival (or at least that’s what I always ended up doing). Just when you think you’re about to get some recognition with the HoT award, you’re exposed, your night is ruined, and even your failures as a hero turn out to be manipulated by the villain. That’s the gist of the criticism. Personally, it doesn’t bother me—it’s one of my favorite games and the one that got me into interactive fiction.
What I read was mainly about family. There’s the sister in the original Zombie Exodus, your parents in the Keeper series (which doesn’t make much sense since they’re plot-relevant), and of course, Grandma in Heroes Rise. I’ve even seen some complaints about the nephew in Safe Haven, even though it’s optional content. Still, some folks don’t hold back from voicing their distaste.
I’ll keep this advice in mind. It’s interesting that you mentioned authors being detailed with their characters because I’ve seen similar advice in other threads. Readers often have a very specific picture of characters in their minds, so it’s best to describe them early and leave most of the details to their imagination.
Am I right in thinking that no one remembers the details after a couple of pages anyway? It seems like focusing on personality traits is a better idea. I don’t remember what Uncle Lou, Mindy, or Tom looked like, but I definitely remember their distinct personalities.
2 Likes
I wouldn’t know, people rarely talk about how strongly they remember character descriptions. That said, ChoiceScript makes it impossible to go back and re-read those descriptions unless you go code-diving, so I wouldn’t trust anyone to recall minor details by the end of their playthrough, even if you sometimes reference those details like I do.
In any case, I wasn’t really complaining about the players’ attention to detail but rather the… control freak tendencies some of those players have. We’re at a point where giving your ROs the barest smidgen of agency or non-alterable traits risks angering entitled wackos from four different platforms. I believe the author of Crown of Ashes and Flames got a bunch of hate mail because one of the romancable characters had a sex life before meeting the MC. Whenever you make a creative decision regarding romance in your game, assume sanity is dead and write accordingly.
3 Likes
Wow, what a bunch of weirdos. I love the forum, but I hate reading about stuff like this. Despite all the work the moderators do to enforce civility, I’ve seen a few authors get bullied into rewriting their work or even abandoning it due to the pressure.
2 Likes
A bit late in responding, but here are my two cents:
My advice for this one is to let the protagonist feel the consequences of their actions. Even something that is relatively small stakes, can feel much more impactful if the player has to live with the direct consequences.
You could structure the plot where the hero doesn’t need to strengthen their powers to fight the villains, so then the villain’s power won’t rise. Maybe instead they needs to fight a clever loophole or strategy instead of simply growing in power. (Though this probably works better in high fantasy than superhero).
You don’t want to overuse this, but you could give the protagonist a reason to intentionally fail a plot point. Maybe that’s bad wording but like choosing to rescue another character instead of accomplishing whatever goal. Then it doesn’t feel like the narrative to reducing the protagonist, because it’s a choice they made.
You don’t have to use any of these if they don’t work for your vision, they are just the first things I thought of.
In this case, it would probably be better for the weirdness to creep up on you. If the protagonist finds everything normal, they have to reason to point out the weird to the reader.
People will comment that literally anything in the supernatural genre is a wayhaven copy. 
My husband really likes this one.
7 Likes