Choice [Self-Commentary] · 9:20pm Jun 2nd, 2020
*Claps hands*
*Proceeds to rub them together*
Alrighty...
So, a new story is out. If you A: skipped the story and came straight to this blog, or B: didn't get all the endings, do it now please or I will kill you I'll be ever so slightly upset at you but no hard feelings.
Just, ya know.... do it.
...
If you're reading this, I'm assuming that means you have read the whole story. If so, thank you. If not, refer to the crossed out words above. Anyways, this story is probably my most ambitious one to date. I spent a good 6 months writing it, and I think it turned out good. I'll save my actual thoughts for later but for now, I'll explain why I wrote the story.
And that is a bit of a long story.... so lets jump right into it!
BACKSTORY
So it all started back when I posted my story Flash. I had worked on the story for almost a year and is probably the story I put the most passion into out of all the stories I've written throughout my life. But it wasn't really drawing as much attention as I hoped it would. So, I decided to post a quick story that would hopefully bring in some new followers with the hope that they would then read Flash and bring it more views. The quick story was based off of an idea that I'd had in my mind for a long time which originated from a discussion with my friends about horror ideas.
The story featured a small filly walking through town and a mysterious black mist trying to kill her. It was essentially a live broadcast from another dimension, and if you stopped reading, it would pause the events of the story and keep the filly alive. So I thought it would be a good thing to write about.
That story was called When You Stop Reading, the Story Ends, a 2000 word story that I rushed to completion in the span of four hours, made a simple cover picture for and released all in the same day.
My plan went perfectly. Flash was doing a lot better and is now my highest rated story. So, as far as I was concerned at the time, my mission was accomplished.
Then, the quick story began to get dislikes. Followed by more dislikes.
With that, I started to get a bit concerned, so I went to look at the comment section and well... no one was taking the story seriously. Or, at least those who did were confused and only really acknowledged the plot of the story, while everything else was... strange, to say the least.
But the problem was quickly apparent when I reread the story and realized... I didn't like it.
I pride myself on polishing my work to the best of my ability before sharing it, but the story was clearly rushed, and confusing, and vague, and I could go on but it's not important. What is important is that I didn't like it. I didn't do the original concept justice.
I didn't really care anymore that Flash was gaining more and more likes. I produced something that didn't meet my standards as a content creator. So I thought about it, and came to a decision. The story needed to be redeemed.
BRAINSTORMING
Now I had a choose your own adventure planned for the past two years. The flowchart in the good ending was made a long time ago, only it was modified. Lemme explain.
Originally I was going to post the choose your own adventure right after Flash, and it was going to be completely different. There would have been no corruption, so none of the endings would have had a black mist closing around you in each ending. The desert was only going to have two endings: the zombie apocalypse and the Scootaloo mindfuck. Therefore, the good ending would have only taken four choices to reach, the author was pretty much just going to say "Hi" and then, tada, Good Ending!
But, after I posted the short 2000k word story, I had second thoughts about what the choose your own adventure was going to be about. Then I came to a fantastic realization: A choose your own adventure would work perfectly with the story's concept. And the more I thought about it, I realized just how perfect the circumstances were. The original plan I had for the choose your own adventure made it so I barely had to tweak anything besides the way a few of the endings ended.
I also added the live broadcast concept, but I changed it so that instead of leaving the story to keep the main character alive, you had to keep the cycle going. I had already planned for the main character to wake up from a nightmare after each ending so once again, it worked out perfectly.
The most important aspect that I wanted to focus on however, was making a more polished version of the 2000k word story. The main purpose of the choose your own adventure was to clear up the confusion that the story caused. One thing I did to contribute to that was write a narrator ending. Originally the narrator ending was just going to be the main character freaking out about hearing a voice and it was going to be a bit of a The Stanley Parable deal. However, instead, I made it about me talking directly to the viewers and explaining how the story is supposed to be read and explaining a large portion of the story's meaning.
For those who still don't understand the story even after reading the whole thing, I'll explain it in a spoiler, but if you'd still like to figure it out, leave it alone. The story's theme touches on those who worry so much about the nature of our existence and the belief that life is a scripted simulation that they let it control them. The corruption symbolized this end, and the reader choosing the way the story ends represents this lack of control and predetermined endings. The goal of the story is to allow the main character to escape from the loop of control so that they can be free to make their own choices, which in itself is a symbol of the story's moral, which is to enjoy life to the max even if everything is predetermined.
So after this was all planned in my head, I started working on the story. I was working on it on and off, suffering from writer's block for half of it, but in the end, I completed it.
THOUGHTS
I think the story turned out good. It was really satisfying getting the whole choice system working and seeing the final product turn out as I had envisioned it. I think personally that the amount of words per page is a bit too much, and I think that if it was a little bit shorter it would have been better. I could change it, but I'd rather keep it the way it is because I'm satisfied with it, so I don't want to accidentally ruin it.
Also getting the story done was… kind of relieving, because if I'm going to be honest, I didn't really enjoy writing this story.
I enjoyed writing the cupcakes section just because I prefer writing about dark, gory stuff (I don't have a problem, I swear!!) and also it was the first thing I worked on. But when I got to the other parts, I had to completely change my mindset for the next path and the next. The result of that was that I was pretty much getting writer’s block every few endings. Also, it was really hard to write around the main character having no speaking role or portraying no emotions. As worth it as the process of writing the story was, the actual process itself wasn't that fun for me. So I don't plan to do another choose your own adventure unless it's strongly requested.
Other than that, there’s not much else I have to say under this category.
FUTURE PLANS & FINAL THOUGHTS
I have thought about maybe possibly writing a finale to this “fourth-wall” universe that focuses on the blue filly mentioned throughout the story that's not really given much explanation. I have an idea for what the story would be about but it's not solidified yet.
Overall, I liked the way the choose your own adventure turned out and I feel like it properly lives up to its concept. I definitely feel a lot more proud of it and I think it explains everything that When You Stop Reading the Story Ends left vague. With that said, that pretty much concludes my self-evaluation of Choice. Yeah, it was a little over dramatic but it's just for entertainment, don't take it too seriously.
As for future plans on fimfiction, my appearance on this site is probably going to be a lot less common, since I'm devoting more focus to other hobbies like game design and music. I'm by no means done on this website. I have several ideas for stories, but I'm going to step away from the whole 'there are secrets to find' theme in my stories and focus more on shorter stories. So, more slice of life, some horror stories since those are what I'm more comfortable writing.
Anyways, that's all for now. Thank you to my followers for the support and stay tuned for future shit. See ya!
The cool part was not realizing it was a CYOA until I got to the end of the first chapter. I love authors creativity when it comes to stuff like that.
It sounds like you're a very strategically-sound writer, salvaging that story of yours in a clever way. Nice job. Also, I have to admit, it's refreshing seeing a story that's theme and lesson isn't about depression, or some of the other themes that are very frequent. I appreciate that. Can't blame you on not doing another CYoA, it's for-sure a crazy undertaking - and I don't think you could top this one. Anyway, thanks again for writing it and I wish you luck on future stories!
5275240
Thank you