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Hi guys,

 

Was hoping for a bit of feedback, suggestions etc on an idea for my first story I had.

Being as this will be my first story I don't want to go for anything too outlandish or long at first and thought I'd write about something I know.

So, looking at my own life, I have recently had a big career change from a job I was at for years and it has been a huge and positive lifestyle change.

I wanted to write something about a guy who hits thirty with strained personal relationships and hits the same crossroads that I did and explore the different ways things can go. Does he stay at the job that's killing him and descend into depression? Does he snap one day and go on a rampage? Does he find a way to enjoy the job?Does he leave and better hjimself?

Is this a bit mundane? Do you guys reckon this is a workable story or a bit boring?

Thoughts and suggestions would be massively appreciated. Please, be honest.

Nothing is too mundane if you write it well. A lot of good books deal with things that have happened to all of us.

You may have to choose which tone you want to give to your story; humorous, stressful/realistic, absurd etc. If you don't want to choose only one, you can always assign a different tone to each path.

A CYOA built on realistic life choices can develop as much involvement for the reader as any other story, if not more in some cases.

Personally, I think it is a great idea.

Trying to control yourself with a smaller piece AND writing what you know should be immensely helpful in getting you acquainted with all the things that go into making a storygame. As mentioned, if it is well written, it won't be mundane. I'll quickly mention that proofreading/redrafting can do wonders in fixing a story that is mundane, among just improving it in general, so if you want to write it, I do not see the idea as a reason not to.

While my experience isn't great, I think that people generally underestimate how interesting their own lives/experiences are, but my sample size for this is pretty small. At any rate, worst possible case scenario: you'll learn more about the editor, handling branching, and actually writing.

TL;DR

It can definitely be a workable story, but that goes for almost any idea, as such, what I like is that there is a clear familiarity (due to basing it on personal experience, 'write what you know' and all that) and it having a clear scope. Any boring parts that comes about can be refined out anyway, so I'd say go for it.

P.S. You already give good examples of what could happen, showing that there can obviously be engaging events/happenings. Readers will likely be able to relate to the general idea easier as well, which can also help with engagement. Anyway, hopefully you get something useful out of this, tell me if anything needs rephrasing or if you've got further questions.

P.P.S. Hmm, thinking about it a bit, I'll say that you might like to consider some unifying theme(/s), as that might be a nice way to help keep the story more concrete if you are worried about it being boring, as it'll help guide the writing process (easier to spot what doesn't belong, thus getting rid of any parts that might be more dull [or helping refine them to fit in better with the rest of the story]). I'm only putting this here as a post script because themes are something I struggle with to some extent, and they are something that I haven't given much (if any) thought in the past, so I guess I assumed others done the same. However, because of this, I do now like to bring them to people's attention, in case they are like me.

Thanks, both. Some really important feedback there, I think I'll focus on getting the basic skeleton of the story branches for now.

I genuinely didn't think of the idea of writing around the theme in that way but that's a massive help, reckon I'll go for it then. What's the worst that can happen?

I say the same thing every time someone answers a question like this, and it's to just focus on worrying something you want to write above all and don't worry about anyone else. CYOAs are hard work, you definitely need a subject that interests you personally and that you'll enjoy writing enough to maintain your interest in the long term so that you can actually finish it.

That said, I really like this subject. Stories on the site tend to lean overwhelmingly towards fantasy and action and adventure, but that speaks more of the preference of the most prolific authors than of anything readers insist on. There's definitely room for something a little more grounded and mature. The Modern Adventure category is poorly named but also one of the sections of the site that could use some new material. Bestist Frend Jane was the first really notable story we had there in years and that one was a definite breath of fresh air.