Writing a novel that interacts with readers

[eworks01]

Hello all you wonderful creative people and consumers of stories in its' many incarnations!

I've got a visual novel game on hold at the moment, focusing on actual novel writing and posting on here. One of the things I absolutely love about sharing stories online is the feedback from readers and the challenge to write better, be more focused, flush out characters, realize I'm not giving important characters sufficient page time, etc. One of the stories I'm working on and posting here right now, I'm wanting to make as interactive as possible, while still using the story plots and concepts already conceived. Every so often I will pose a question to readers giving them options for what they'd rather see next. Also, since the main character is a bard traveling and telling stories, if the story he's just told doesn't get enough likes or comments his own experiences are negative. Whereas if he does receive likes and comments he gets a lovely meal and a good night's rest.

So, my question is, are there other stories similar to this set up already? Is there a way for us to support each other, so if my readers really like this interaction stuff they can find more novels on here doing it to and vice versa? Does anyone have any advice, lessons learned, means of using Tapas to it's fullest potential, etc?

Thank you
-EJ

[ISNEKO]

I write a Choose Your Own Adventure on here where readers comment and vote up what they want to happen next out of a given list. It's going smoothly so far and I haven't run into any issues with it, so interactive written work seems to do just fine.

Only thing I could suggest is thinking about how much time you want to leave readers in order to interact. Do you wait a few days for comments and likes? A week? It's hard to guess.

Little Undead (CYOA) | Tapas

[eworks01]

Thank you! I'll go check out your story when done typing this reply.
Since I have multiple stories being posted to here and I've just started using the site, so I only have 3 viewers total and each one is for a different story, I was thinking about posting once a month on a set date and then an extra chapter when I can squeez it in. Only the one posted on the set date would have options for readers to choose from.

How often do you have yours set up right now? did you change it if you get more responses in a short period of time?

[Testaccount]

I don't write CYOA stories, but I'm sure @ISNEKO will be able to help you.

She is a well-known writer on Tapas =)

[eworks01]

It's not exactly a choose your own adventure structure, but thank you. @ISNEKO has already posted some information.

[kip]

I’ve always wanted to try myself but haven’t had the time..
I think you’d definitly need a very solid story base and ways to divert the readers to making the correct decisions while giving them the illusion of complete freedom (kind of like a DM?)
I have seen one homestuck inspired comic that was cyop but i can’t seem to find it now

[eworks01]

The structure for options will be limited to 3 multiple choice. Also the amount of likes and comments have pre-established effects. It's not a CYOP, so that gives me a bit more flexibility on the writing end.

[kip]

Ohh I see, more like a VN then.?
That sounds good, though, definitly will make it easier on you to create a solid storyline.

[eworks01]

It started out as a comic idea. Each chapter was suppose to be an individual adventure, but in chronological order so there would be an over all arc in character development. One of the characters was the narrator and I was going to have some breaking of the 4th wall with the male protagonist getting into arguments with the narrator. My writing has always been more character exploring than plot driven, so I was able to write out 10+ episode concepts and general outline. But things didn't workout with my artist and I've had this file for a long time.

So, what I'm writing on Tapas is the narrator is the main character, he travels from place to place and tells stories for a living. Likes and comments on chapters mean that when the next chapter roles around the narrator gets to eat and have a good experience. few likes, few comments, or negative comments means the narrator has a bad experience before moving on and start his next story.
The choices that the readers get are about which character to focus on. If they want a flashback or move forward. Give them choices on tone, should it be scary, comedy fluff, melodramatic. At the end of the story the choices will be different. Some times it will be a choice a character has to make, but I'm not planning on doing those very often.

Eventually I am planning on doing a CYOA game. But since I'll be doing all the writing, pictures, and programming I'm not up to doing it right now.

[kip]

Oh that sounds really cool! I just hope that if things start slow that doesn’t mean your character would have a really hard time? haha

And yeah, I know how you mean! I’m doing a vn with two of my friends and we’re having trouble getting everything done, too. Helps that it’s a personal project so there’s no real deadlines though!

[charliepeppersoap]

ditto, that sounds really great.

is your vn through RenPy? 8D

[kip]

We’re waiting to finish all the dialogue and art before we start coding it, but it’ll likely be done from scratch!

[charliepeppersoap]

er... can i ask why?

no need to reinvent the wheel if we already have useable blueprints for the car engine, and Python is a code system you can customize to a great extent, just RenPy helps give you resources and tutorials in using it.

[kip]

Not saying it’s not, just a preference of our programmer. Could be more fun, and I quite like the idea too!

[charliepeppersoap]

i guess i don't know whatchu mean by scratch, then. html? css? making an app? cross-platform compatibles?

[XzynderVexymous]

Ooooo sounds interesting. I’d love to participate.

[joe_galindez]

This can happen naturally when your readers are chatty. When I was posting to r/writingprompts I got a lot of feedback and it played a big part in shaping the story. They really liked Eirik (who was only supposed to be a one-shot character) and now I can't imagine the ending without him.

I started posting on Tapas because I missed those kinds of interactions. I was worried I'd have to make that kind of community from scratch -- and I suck at building websites.

. . . If this choose-your-own adventure catches on we can push to turn it into its own genre on Tapas.

[ISNEKO]

Due to time constraints I really have to pick and choose what I work on for any given day. So, when it comes to my CYOA it usually ends up being around a week before I check what the audience decided and then I add the next episode based on their decision. The soonest I ever updated it was after three days. Out of the 150ish subs for the story, there's about ten or so people who like to comment, some who choose to just vote up others, and after a few days activity on the latest episode stops.

You kind of have to play it by ear. As you update with whatever schedule you decide, see how much interaction it gets, and see how quickly. It must be considered that not everyone has the time to read new updates the day they come out. Perhaps they're busy or just missed the notification.

Hope I'm being helpful.