IF Seal: an interactive fiction advice blog

[HarrisPS]

I’ve been a great fan of advice blogs over the years, and found niches colliding when Story Hospital and, later, IF Confessions started. Neither are running anymore, but I wondered if I could go some way to filling a gap. Full of hubris and inspired by the now-ancient Calming Manatee, I decided to start IF Seal in 2023, planning to post daily, and quickly ran out of steam.

In 2025 I resurrected the blog! It now posts weekly and has been far more successful. Here’s an archive of posts to peruse which is rather easier to search and navigate than on Tumblr.

The advice comes from a ton of accrued experience of writing game narrative, but of course should not be taken as gospel. Many of the questions are from the context of long branching narratives with customisable protagonists, either in or inspired by the Choice of Games style, but perhaps some of the advice can be applied to broader narrative design choices as well, or even other kinds of writing and creative work.

I always try to write compassionately and encouragingly in my seal responses. If you’ve asked a question and would like to send a follow-up message to my reply, I’m very happy to make further posts on the subject!

If you want to send in a question, you can do so via the Tumblr blog or this anonymous form. Or you can post a question here if you don’t mind not being anonymous. Currently I’m queued up until the start of October, but I try to answer everything that comes in! My plan is to post a link to the Q&As here as they go up.

A collection of questions and answers:

Getting the story down

• I have an important scene to write but I’m procrastinating!
• I have so many unfinished stories but no motivation!
• The rubber duck method
• I have ideas in my head but can’t get them down!
• I’m not sure how to start!

Planning and outlining

• I have trouble coming up with plots!
• How do I plan the parts between the beginning and end of my project?
• Can you share some worldbuilding techniques?
• How do you manage huge branching scenes?
• How long is an average chapter for an IF?
• How can I include breathing room in my IF?
• Should I outline everything out once in detail?

Player agency and protagonists

• What if my MC ends up hostile to all their romantic interests?
• Exploring blank-slate vs set-in-stone protagonists
• How can I get players to care about their MC’s motivations?
• How can I balance the story being driven by the MC vs external forces?
• How much agency should a semi-set MC have?
• How should I reveal aspects of the MC’s past?
• Should I make a mostly linear IF and how could I include lots of choices?

Mechanics

* [How can I handle a game without visible stats?](https://hpowellsmith.com/if-seal-how-can-i-handle-a-game-without-visible-stats/)

Characters

• What are some pros and cons of locking in an MC’s personality vs being more flexible?
• Is it OK to make a romanceable character a Sexy Boy?
• What are some pros and cons of creating gender-selectable characters?
• What do you think about shapeshifting/customisable love interests?

Player investment and engagement

• How can I get other people invested in my story when they don’t know all the fun things that will happen in it?
• Do you have any advice about marketing?
• What might encourage people to ask questions about my work?
• Should I write my WLW story even if that might limit appeal?
• What if I don’t know what to say to an author?
• Lack of audience engagement makes me want to quit

Style choices

• What are pros and cons to including multiple points of view in a game?

Technical

• A Twine query about variables within links (Harlowe)

Help!

• I’ve realised my story is similar to another!
• I used an LLM to make IF and now I feel stressed and conflicted about it!

Writer life

• I feel inspired! When should I start a blog?
• When should I start a blog or Patreon?
• How can I keep a work/life balance when writing is my job?
• When does revealing details of a WIP become too much?

[dozendietcokesaday]

Great blog! I added it to my feed!

I think the anonymous form doesn’t work at the moment, it says it is “not published.” I would like to ask a question here though:

I’m not really motivated to do marketing after I finish my game. However, I would like to make it as easy as possible for readers who enjoy it to tell their friends about it! What would be most helpful for this?

[HarrisPS]

@dozendietcokesaday

I think the anonymous form doesn’t work at the moment, it says it is “not published.” I would like to ask a question here though:

Thank you! That’s fixed now.

@dozendietcokesaday

I’m not really motivated to do marketing after I finish my game. However, I would like to make it as easy as possible for readers who enjoy it to tell their friends about it! What would be most helpful for this?

Added to my question list! There are a couple of marketing and marketing-adjacent answers in the archive so they may be of interest while you wait

[Hazel]

It’s quite an undertaking! I’m always impressed with your answers, even if I don’t manage to read all of them.

[HarrisPS]

Today’s Q&A is up! Should I outline everything at once in detail?

[HarrisPS]

This week’s Q&A is up! When does revealing details of a WIP become too much?

[HarrisPS]

From 8th September: How can I handle a game without visible stats?

[HarrisPS]

Today’s Q&A is a sad one: Lack of audience engagement makes me want to quit

A brief note: if you are someone who enjoys playing IF, please consider rating/reviewing, sending a message to the author saying that you liked their project (and even better, what you liked about it!), sharing it with others, or reblogging/reposting if you’re on other social media sites. It has a far bigger positive effect than you may think!

[dozendietcokesaday]

That’s a very sad Q&A for sure. Many writers feel like that at some point.

[HarrisPS]

Yeah, I have quite a few like it in the inbox. It’s really easy to fall into negative comparison, especially online.

[HarrisPS]

Today’s Q&A: Should I make a mostly linear IF and how could I include lots of choices?

[marspars]

Insightful as always. What you mentioned here:

But that leads me to thinking about the choices you might like to give players on a smaller scale. Those might be self-expressive or self-reflective choices…

It reminded me of advice I got (sadly I forget where from). Maybe when stories are relatively linear, allowing the PC to make choices as to why act or feel in certain ways allows more depth, even if the plot itself doesn’t branch as much.

[ChanceOfFire]

@HarrisPS would it be ok if I featured maybe 2-3 articles from IF Seal for the October support thread? If yes, could you maybe recommend some I could show?

[HarrisPS]

Of course, please do! I will try and recommend some - if I don’t manage to, apologies. I’ve come down with covid today which is a pain in more ways than one and has scuppered a lot of plans.

[Havenstone]

Oh, rubbish – hang in there, and hoping for an ASAP recovery!

[ChanceOfFire]

I’m sorry to hear that. Take care of yourself.