Author Topic: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread  (Read 11418 times)

Shenku

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Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« on: May 20, 2013, 04:31:28 PM »
Hey folks...

I've noticed there are at least a few writers around here that have done fan-fiction stories of their characters, and it looks like some are still writing them now, even though our city is gone(for the moment, but Icon is giving me renewed hope!), but I got to wondering recently if anyone around here would be interested in the idea of doing "interactive" stories?

I've done one before (I started it on my SG's forums, and it made it a good ways in before interest petered off leaving the story unfinished...), and it was fun to try and write a story that evolved as other people added their own elements.

What is an Interactive Story you ask? Well (the way I've done it at least), it's sort of a fan-fiction version of "roleplaying". Essentially, an overall plot is chosen, then one person writes a chapter for the story introducing said plot. Then another person/writer introduces their character/s to the story in a chapter they write, and try and expand on the plot or advance the story a little. Then the next person does the same. Chapters can be as long or as short as you want, but if you wish for other people to use your character in their writing, be sure to provide good descriptions of your character as you introduce them (or ask the owner of said character in a PM if you're unsure on a detail about their character. Interaction is half the fun!).

New people can chime in at any time, so there's no limit to how many can join or when. The overall idea is to collaboratively tell a complete story that everyone (people involved or readers) can enjoy.

Things to avoid would be obvious things like purposely killing off of another person's characters, "I win" characters who show up and end the story "cause they're uber brokenly awesome", or changing another person's character to be different from how they are described (turning a male character female, changing powers, personality, exc.).

It's a great writing exercise working around what other people are writing, and can be a lot of fun done right. So, would anyone around here be interested in such a thing?


Edit: The story has begun, and can be found here: http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,8514.0.html Please keep all comments and discussion to this thread. Now get out there and start writing!
« Last Edit: May 30, 2013, 07:19:19 PM by Shenku »

houtex

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Re: Anyone interested in doing an "Interactive Story"...?
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2013, 01:42:32 AM »
Shenku sat back, having clicked the 'Post' button to start the new topic.  There was, of course, some trepidation about the response it would get, but that's ok.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?  The excitement of the potential replies, the start of a new story, perhaps a grand collaboration, was just too much to ignore.  I hope we can do this, Shenku thought, I bet the Titan community would make a really great story.

---

Elsewhere on the planet, while crusing the Internet and it's cornucopia of websites, houtex turned as he always did to the Titan Network's forums.  He checked it every day to see if there was any news regarding CoH's continuing comeback aspriations.  He just knows it will happen, it really isn't an option for it to...

"What's this?" he said, as he spotted the topic on the Titan Forums.  "'Interactive story'... another one?  Hm..."  He was intrigued by yet another attempt to start one of those.  houtex did have the bug to write things.  But he had his reservations.  Firstly, the people who wouldn't keep to the rules listed.  Secondly, there's always, ALWAYS 'that guy' who has to post something so off the wall, the story gets sidetracked worse than a Tom Clancy dead ended branch. 

People lose focus that way, he thought.

But... if it were possible to keep that sort of thing out... or perhaps vote in an edit and remove the offending piece of the story puzzle being made...

Perhaps it would work.

houtex decided that he'd keep an eye on the subject.  "I can always come up with something to add.  I just need to be sure to not force it.  I wonder if there'll be any other intrigued parties to this?"

At that point, yet again, houtex realized he was talking out loud to himself.  I really need to stop that. he thought, then went to see the Word Association thread, but not before silently congratulating himself for the correct spelling of 'cornucopia'.

johnrobey

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Re: Anyone interested in doing an "Interactive Story"...?
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2013, 02:45:02 AM »
Shenku sat back, having clicked the 'Post' button to start the new topic.  There was, of course, some trepidation about the response it would get, but that's ok.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?  The excitement of the potential replies, the start of a new story, perhaps a grand collaboration, was just too much to ignore.  I hope we can do this, Shenku thought, I bet the Titan community would make a really great story.

---

Elsewhere on the planet, while crusing the Internet and it's cornucopia of websites, houtex turned as he always did to the Titan Network's forums.  He checked it every day to see if there was any news regarding CoH's continuing comeback aspriations.  He just knows it will happen, it really isn't an option for it to...

"What's this?" he said, as he spotted the topic on the Titan Forums.  "'Interactive story'... another one?  Hm..."  He was intrigued by yet another attempt to start one of those.  houtex did have the bug to write things.  But he had his reservations.  Firstly, the people who wouldn't keep to the rules listed.  Secondly, there's always, ALWAYS 'that guy' who has to post something so off the wall, the story gets sidetracked worse than a Tom Clancy dead ended branch. 

People lose focus that way, he thought.

But... if it were possible to keep that sort of thing out... or perhaps vote in an edit and remove the offending piece of the story puzzle being made...

Perhaps it would work.

houtex decided that he'd keep an eye on the subject.  "I can always come up with something to add.  I just need to be sure to not force it.  I wonder if there'll be any other intrigued parties to this?"

At that point, yet again, houtex realized he was talking out loud to himself.  I really need to stop that. he thought, then went to see the Word Association thread, but not before silently congratulating himself for the correct spelling of 'cornucopia'.

ROFL!!!!!  That was outstanding! 
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi         "In every generation there has to be some fool who will speak the truth as he sees it." -- Boris Pasternak
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DJMoose

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Re: Anyone interested in doing an "Interactive Story"...?
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2013, 03:21:26 PM »
Hey folks...

I've noticed there are at least a few writers around here that have done fan-fiction stories of their characters, and it looks like some are still writing them now, even though our city is gone(for the moment, but Icon is giving me renewed hope!), but I got to wondering recently if anyone around here would be interested in the idea of doing "interactive" stories?

I've done one before (I started it on my SG's forums, and it made it a good ways in before interest petered off leaving the story unfinished...), and it was fun to try and write a story that evolved as other people added their own elements.

What is an Interactive Story you ask? Well (the way I've done it at least), it's sort of a fan-fiction version of "roleplaying". Essentially, an overall plot is chosen, then one person writes a chapter for the story introducing said plot. Then another person/writer introduces their character/s to the story in a chapter they write, and try and expand on the plot or advance the story a little. Then the next person does the same. Chapters can be as long or as short as you want, but if you wish for other people to use your character in their writing, be sure to provide good descriptions of your character as you introduce them (or ask the owner of said character in a PM if you're unsure on a detail about their character. Interaction is half the fun!).

New people can chime in at any time, so there's no limit to how many can join or when. The overall idea is to collaboratively tell a complete story that everyone (people involved or readers) can enjoy.

Things to avoid would be obvious things like purposely killing off of another person's characters, "I win" characters who show up and end the story "cause they're uber brokenly awesome", or changing another person's character to be different from how they are described (turning a male character female, changing powers, personality, exc.).

It's a great writing exercise working around what other people are writing, and can be a lot of fun done right. So, would anyone around here be interested in such a thing?

I am game for this.  Start us off Shenku!  And for help with details of our characters, I happen to have this thread for us to fill out Character Bios if people would like.
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Shenku

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Re: Anyone interested in doing an "Interactive Story"...?
« Reply #4 on: May 30, 2013, 06:33:40 AM »
I haven't forgotten about this, I've just been busy with other stuff(mostly, I've been busy creating a super small and simple game to add to my portfolio...)...

Anyways, before we start, I'd like to settle a few ground rules to help us make this more concrete as to what we'll be writing, and to give you folks some ideas to adapt/create characters according to the world we'll be creating.

First, the story will NOT be taking place in Paragon City, or the City of Heroes universe. We'll be making up a new universe so we don't have to be restricted strictly to CoH lore with regards to enemies and historical events.

That said, this will be an "Alternate Earth" scenario, similar to that of CoH(Or Marvel/DC universes as well, technically), in which Heroes have been around since around World War II, so Superheroes are not unheard of, and in fact quite a few can and do publicly exist with community support("Superman-type"), though "Batman-types" who walk the finer line outside the law do exist as well. We'll be making characters in-between. We're not the well known Role Model heroes, nor are we the infamous vigilantes. We're the other guys who don't get any recognition, but do all the dirty work the bigger heroes don't do. ("Mystery Men-types", though not as cheesy and useless power-wise...)

I suggest, keeping the above in mind, that you all create a new character/s for this story, rather than reuse an existing one. You don't have to make up a new character if you don't want to, but I think that it's good practice to come up with something new once in a while.

Speaking of which, keep your powers within reason, and within theme! No "I make you're head explode with my mind, I win!" powers! >:( We need to be able to actually do battle, struggle, and overcome our opponents, not simply walk through them like a cat at a mouse convention... Overpoweredness gets boring to write/read about, but don't be too underpowered either! No one wants a useless Aquaman on their team...

All that sound good to everyone, or do you all have any input on changes to that you think should be made?

If there's no objections, I'll try and get started on the intro chapter tomorrow and post it in a new thread once it's done. I'd like for us to use this thread to do any OOC discussion(Plot points, comments, character information, exc.) so we can keep the Story thread clutter free to make for easier navigation/reading for anyone who's joining in or simply reading along as we add stuff. Sound good?

DJMoose

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Re: Anyone interested in doing an "Interactive Story"...?
« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2013, 02:34:14 PM »
This my happy face. ;D

I do like the "Mystery men-Esque" feel.  Stories are more interesting when characters are not OP.  I'm going to assume the timeframe is semi-modern with the possibility for sci-fi tech, like most Super Hero stories.  Personally, I think the setting would be more interesting if it does take place in a real location, (e.g. Chicago, Tokyo) much like how Millenium City or Paragon City existed in real locations.

Will there be a significant event that will bring all of our characters together? 
Will there be a "Guild" of sorts to sanction Superheroes and their actions?

Also, should we put our character bios in this thread?
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Shenku

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Re: Anyone interested in doing an "Interactive Story"...?
« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2013, 05:04:05 PM »
This my happy face. ;D

I do like the "Mystery men-Esque" feel.  Stories are more interesting when characters are not OP.  I'm going to assume the timeframe is semi-modern with the possibility for sci-fi tech, like most Super Hero stories.  Personally, I think the setting would be more interesting if it does take place in a real location, (e.g. Chicago, Tokyo) much like how Millenium City or Paragon City existed in real locations.

Will there be a significant event that will bring all of our characters together? 
Will there be a "Guild" of sorts to sanction Superheroes and their actions?

Also, should we put our character bios in this thread?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

I don't really know much about most of the various cities outside of Illinois, so I'd be tempted to lean towards an alternate-quasi-science fiction/modernish Chicago setting simply because it's what I'm most familiar with, so it'll be easier for me to reference places(Though that doesn't mean we'll be limited to only one city!)...

There will be some type of event to bring us all together, though what specifically I'm still thinking about(Likely your typical "crazy villain threatening to destroy the city" type deal, or something like).

Guilds/Supergroups? Some will already exist, i.e. this world's pompous Hero and Anti-Hero(read not-Superman and not-Batman) will have already formed a Super Society(A not-Justice League...), but we will not have one to start out with. Essentially, our heroes will be meeting for the first time, and will have to tackle the problem like a freshly formed PuG, drawn together as we all bump into each other trying to tackle the same problem.

And yes, place your bios here if you have them, unless you feel confident enough in your writing to give a good description in your first chapter and want the character to be a "pleasant surprise"(I'll be doing that to start out, but will add a bio here at a later date...). ;)

Oh, and feel free to use Icon to help you plan out what your character will look like or what powers they might have(Or make up your own powers!) and post a screenshot with your Bio if you like. :)

DJMoose

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Re: Anyone interested in doing an "Interactive Story"...?
« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2013, 06:36:05 PM »
I don't really know much about most of the various cities outside of Illinois, so I'd be tempted to lean towards an alternate-quasi-science fiction/modernish Chicago setting simply because it's what I'm most familiar with, so it'll be easier for me to reference places(Though that doesn't mean we'll be limited to only one city!)...
Coming from the south suburbs of Chi town, Chicago would be a winner for me!

Quote
Essentially, our heroes will be meeting for the first time, and will have to tackle the problem like a freshly formed PuG, drawn together as we all bump into each other trying to tackle the same problem.
Also this is what I was thinking.
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Shenku

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Re: Anyone interested in doing an "Interactive Story"...?
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2013, 06:58:17 PM »
Coming from the south suburbs of Chi town, Chicago would be a winner for me!
Also this is what I was thinking.

Chicago Area it is then. (North-West suburbs, myself)

Oh, and posting the first chapter shortly, let's have some fun with this. :D

Shenku

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Re: Anyone interested in doing an "Interactive Story"...?
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2013, 07:08:09 PM »
And the first chapter is up(link to the thread added in the first post of this thread). Get to writing folks! ;D

DJMoose

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Re: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2013, 03:45:06 PM »
Added my post.  I should have a bio up soon. :D
Serkana The Wise
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CheerGunbunny

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Re: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« Reply #11 on: May 31, 2013, 05:06:33 PM »
whoops.  didnt read this thread first...put my vig stalker in.....is still cool?

Shenku

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Re: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« Reply #12 on: May 31, 2013, 10:17:53 PM »
whoops.  didnt read this thread first...put my vig stalker in.....is still cool?

I see no issue with it, if that's the character you want to use. As I said above, I suggest using new characters, but that doesn't mean you have to. :)

JWBullfrog

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Re: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« Reply #13 on: June 02, 2013, 02:06:13 AM »
And I'm in. Just posted my character's intro. This could get interesting.
As long as somebody keeps making up stories for it, the City isn't gone.

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Re: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« Reply #14 on: June 02, 2013, 04:24:53 AM »
I admit it... You guys are tempting me. The structure reminds me a lot of what we did back in the day with No Dead Trees.

But be warned, though, as a writer I'm rusty as all hell. It's been more than a year since I put anything more complex than a grocery list together.
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JWBullfrog

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Re: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« Reply #15 on: June 02, 2013, 09:33:01 PM »
Jump on in Brightfire. It's just like falling off a bicycle while crossing a rusty steel bridge. There's no better way to get the writing muscles flexible again.
As long as somebody keeps making up stories for it, the City isn't gone.

Shenku

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Re: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« Reply #16 on: June 03, 2013, 04:13:26 AM »
But be warned, though, as a writer I'm rusty as all hell. It's been more than a year since I put anything more complex than a grocery list together.

A little rust never hurt anyone.

I haven't really written much of anything since around mid-late 2011, when I finished the first draft of my book, and also effectively killed off one of my main CoH characters for story reasons, but since C2E2 this past April, I've been hankering to write something. Anything. I just feel the need to write... I got about 4 and a half chapters written for my second book before I ran out of steam on it, but I still have the desire to write something, so I thought I'd try and get a group exorcize going or something... This doesn't need to be perfect, just fun, so don't feel it has to be good, just write anything. :)

Brightfires

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Re: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« Reply #17 on: June 04, 2013, 12:49:56 AM »
Every good hero team needs a gadgeteer, so Ace had joined the pursuit... Well, two of Ace's "Eights" have joined it, anyway. XD
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Shenku

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Re: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« Reply #18 on: June 04, 2013, 04:03:57 PM »
We have a pretty good start so far, now we just need to initiate the confrontation with these baddies...

Oh, and since there seems to be a little bit of confusion on the location of this particular chase, the robbery took place at the Donald E. Stephenson Convention Center in Rosemont(Western suburb of Chicago), which is just a little south of the new Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, which is where they'll be heading. Crooks and casinos, seemed like a good place for them to "hide"...

They're not going to make it inside the casino, however... ;)

JWBullfrog

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Re: Interactive Story: Discussion Thread
« Reply #19 on: June 04, 2013, 05:31:15 PM »
I'm wondering Shenku, did you leave me that opening?
As long as somebody keeps making up stories for it, the City isn't gone.