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Create your own horror monster?

4 years ago

      So im going to be a bit ambitious for my first story, and I plan on making a story where you create your own monster for your story. I was wondering if any of you readers, thought it might be a cool idea to create your own monster in the start of the story, though a line of questions, or would that be boring and uninteresting. Now these are not direct questions about the monster, so its not like "Do your  monster have claws?", its going to be more story like questions, for example: (This is an example, came up with this out of my head, not part of the story I am working on) "You're wondering though the woods, when you see what creature?" Then have an option of creatures, to chose from that will effect, both the appearance, personality, weakness, and strengths of the monster. I'm curious to know, if anyone likes this idea, and if so, maybe some recommendations of what I could do to improve the experience for the readers, while making the questions for the reader. If not, I would like to know why this would be a bad idea. Also I am planning on adding a skip to the questions so you don't have to answer, and randomizing the monster, when this option is picked. Thank you for reading.

Create your own horror monster?

4 years ago

Choice

The main issue I see with this is that the choices won't matter. If it literally just ends up being superficial level differences, I think you'd be better of choosing what monster is in the story and fleshing it out to create the best experience that way. Granted, I think there are some interesting ways this can be handled for a horror story, so it might be doable even if the customisation choices don't matter, but I get the feeling that isn't what you are going for.

Now, if the story gimmick is that there can be different monsters and that it actually matters, then the issue is the amount of work that'll require. I'm not sure how you are planning to handle this, but keeping the scope of the story in mind would be a good idea. Having three different monsters vs hundreds of combinations (i.e. claws & wings, claws & no wings etc) are very different beasts. Further, branching stories can get out of hand very easily, which is why it is often recommended to start small.

Advice

If you haven't written branching stories before, I'd advise picking something with a clear, limited scope to work on first, to get some experience, both with the process (to help you find what works best for you) and with the editor (so you can actually put it together). Then you can try tackling this more challenging idea later when you have a better idea of what to expect.

Obviously, if you still want to do this idea, that is fine, but I would advise planning it out a bit to figure out the specifics for how you plan on handling this.

Idea

Almost anything can be interesting if written well, so the idea can certainly work. However, personally, I consider writing horror a bit harder than something like generic fantasy, and adding in customisable monsters seems like something that could lead to important scenes lacking tension (but this does heavily depend on how you handle the monsters differences in the story).

What you mention in your post can be done, but I question what comes after. Regardless, write what you want to write, because the worst case scenario is that you learn a lot (even if the story doesn't pan out).

Recommendations for Improvement

These are a bit hard to give without seeing some of the actual story's writing, but if you follow general conventions and writing rules you ought to be fine (as deviating from them better be done with good reason). Things like:

Obviously, more specific advice could prove a lot more helpful, so do tell me when you write some of the actual story if you'd like me to take a look and give less general recommendations.

Conclusion

Idea can work, however it being ambitious makes me worry it might be difficult to execute, but if you keep the scope in mind and don't let it get away from you I imagine you ought to be fine. Write what you want to write and all that, because when the worst case scenario is improvement, you might as well try.

The best way to improve the reader's experience is to write well, but that is such a broad statement that I'd say ask this question again when you have some writing to show (so that you can get more relevant feedback).

Go write!

Create your own horror monster?

4 years ago

Thank you so much for the feedback! And I see what you mean with the choice, but what I want to go for is a set of different monsters, with different stories for each. I know that sounds really big, and  I agree with that this might be a bit to much for me to start, so I think I might just start with a few short stories, with choices. I will certainly tell you when I've got a story finished.