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Hi all,

I've played quite a few stories on the site and I've finally decided I would try and write one ! I've read the advice on the Help & Info section but wanted to run this by the community. I'm going to keep it fairly simple for my first story. I was thinking of a story where you're stuck in the middle of a robbery, possibly armed robbery in a drugs store. Now what word would be best ? Depending on the country people might refer to a drug store as a pharmacy or a chemists for example. 

Advice on the story or what is the best term would be most appreciated ! 

Pharmacy is what I've always heard used.

Sounds like a pretty straightforward scenario, but that's probably just as well on a first story. And the best advice I can give is just to sit down before you even start writing it is and write out an outline detailing everything that happens and what the choices and branches will be. And consider questions like, is the main character just a normal person where the goal is to survive or even just manage to call the police, or will they be able to stop them in some way? Will the robbers try to take hostages? All of that stuff effects the directions the story can take.

"Sounds like a pretty straightforward scenario"

Watch the movie, Drugstore Cowboy, to see that isn't always the case.

And I would follow up your advice, which is great, with meaningful and insightful choices. Also, when writing something like this, always make sure most sentences have an immediacy, so the player feels the tension in the story.

Depends on the setting. Generally a pharmacy is the place where people get prescription drugs from behind a counter. A "drug store" is more of a convenience store that has loads of crap, but also a pharmacy counter (usually in the back, far, far, away from the front door). If you're going with an armed robbery, I would guess they are robbing the pharmacy, because that's where all the drugs are, and sometimes a bit more cash. But if they're just robbing some random clerk of the cash in the till, that would be more likely to be a drug store.

Also, it could depend on the location of the store. Is it a tiny store in the middle of a block in the city? Is it a stand-alone store on the corner? Is it a store in the middle of a strip mall? Maybe a store in an actual indoor mall where the robber is going to be escaping through the crowded mall during the Christmas shopping season?

The more details you know ahead of time, the richer and more engaging your story will be.

All of this is good advice so go with this as far as fleshing out the setting. Though again, deciding what the character's involvement will be is also going to be a major factor in any of this. Most random shoppers don't get to do a whole lot during a robbery. Maybe the player could have a more active role if they were actually working in the pharmacy?

And here anyway, a pharmacy is a pharmacy. It can be a tiny store or a major chain like CVS, or just the pharmacy section which is behind a counter in the back of most grocery stores, where it's considered basically its own separate thing.

We call it a pharmacy over here if it's just a small store. If it's any bigger than that we might call it a chemist's, but not very often.

http://www.thehonestapothecary.com/2015/02/26/what-to-do-if-your-pharmacy-is-being-robbed/ Possibly helpful.

Thank you all for your helpful advice ! I have outlined some of the choices and possibilities as mentioned in the help & info section and in some of the comments above. I shall carry on doing that, maybe some form of "tree" with the different branches of the story on a blank bit of paper. I also realise that the player must feel like they're choices have an important impact on the story. So I will try and make the choices as meaningful as possible. Building up tension is also a good idea ! I'm now realizing the full extent of the work ahead of me and am glad I chose a story which can be as easy or complex as I choose.