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Hi all -

This is a bit of a delayed newbie post since I've been here over a month, but I'm really stuck on my first story.

In trying to work out the mechanics of the story pathing, I think I've lost my interest in the story itself. (Except for one part involving escaped chickens in a physics lab, but that's loosely based on a true story and I haven't even gotten to the physics lab yet.) At this point I'm tempted to toss it and start over.

Any tips on actually trying to come up with a story you can stick with? Do you outline the story first and then figure out the pathing? Or do you just start with a premise and see where it takes you?

Before you even begin to write the first word of your story, you need to do four things:

1. Read through the Help & Info section articles. As many as you can stomach.

2. Familiarize yourself with the advanced editor (You don't need to use ANY of it's functions like variables, items or scripting BUT it's less buggy, better organized and faster than the basic. You should never use the basic editor.)

3. Ready "Ground Zero" for an example of perfectly utilized branching. You'll have to play through at least 2 or 3 times to see what I mean.

4. Play "Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?" for an example of an awesome usage of the advanced editor's features.

Once you've done this four things, then I'd start writing. When I write, I start with a core idea. I don't start with a setting, I don't start with a conflict, I don't start with a character, I don't start with an ending and I don't start with a beginning. My Core Idea can be a setting, conflict, introduction, character or ending but it usually isn't. My Core Idea for "The Order of the Midnight Sun" was using the Thelemic ranks in a fantasy story. My Core Idea for my starwars game was to use the Starwars Movie Plot Formula (start with a space battle, introduction of a sith, etc.) in a chooseyourstory.com storygame. My core idea for Mattias the One Knight was to build a preface for King Arthur. For Paralaniac it was to have a secondary universe which certain people can jump between.

From your idea, spawns the plot, conflict, setting, characters, etc. Without a "core idea", my stories tend to flop. They need something to spawn from. Once I've started writing, I have a notepad document where I jot down ideas (ooh, this character could backstab my protagonist later.) and so what starts with a small inkling grows into a plot. My plot won't be similar after 40 pages as it will be after 200.

This is just the style that works for me though, everyone has their own. I think Endmaster gets a core idea (I think Fallout 3 spin off might have been his for Ground Zero, could be totally wrong since it's much more elaborate than that) but then plans out tons of branches.

I'm 3J btw, I'm an administrator here and if you have any questions, I'm here to help. I helped design a few aspects of the site and I've written a bunch of decent stories here so I'm qualified to help you. Good luck on your storygame!

3J

I created Ground Zero before Fallout 3 came out (It was on IS before I transferred it over here), but I certainly got the idea for the two major shelter branches from the older Fallout games.

But yeah I try to get a core idea and then think of major story-line branches which will usually have a proper ending as if I was just writing a linear story. I then take any minor branches and think of an "alternate reality" story-line. These will vary in length of course (More on this later).

In keeping with the core idea, I usually have an idea of certain "events" occurring in the story-line. Usually these event will occur regardless of what you're doing, but you might encounter them differently.

For example in Ground Zero there are several events that will occur. Three of the four major branches (along with the 5th "unofficial" one) intertwine at a few points but they play out a little differently mainly because YOU weren't there to directly affect those events. (If you didn't enter the community shelter for example, it ends up being taken over by a cult leader.)

One thing though is to try to limit the branches to an extent otherwise you end up getting overwhelmed with storyline possibilities and you never get finished. (I'm having that little problem right now with two stories I've been working on for awhile)

I usually try to set limits based on how far away the alternate reality story-line branches are straying from the "true story-line." The ending doesn't necessarily have to kill the character off though. Sometimes this is really easy like with Necro. There's a point where you could possibly become a vampire (and lose all your other powers in the process). Technically I could've continued the story from that point of view, but the story is called "Necromancer" not "Vampire", so it ended there.

With GZ I used where the protagonist takes refuge from the initial nuke attack as a template. If you hid in the experimental shelter then the major story-line and all the action is going to take place there. Leaving it for whatever reason ends the story since you've effectively left the major storyline branch.

For a short example, Love SICK's storyline branches end when the doctor's sister gets home from work. Lol.

No clue why I said Fallout 3, probably because the graphics are more lifelike so when I picture Ground Zero, the "graphics" in my head more closely match Fallout 3's graphics rather than the previous 2.

These are extremely extremely extremely good tips though, having 'global events' is a great way to make sure your story doesn't get out of hand since you can sort of use them as the rungs of the ladder, moving from one to the next.

Hey, Endmaster, how long did it take to write Ground Zero from the first page to the last page?

It took me around 5 months. I got the idea for it in the month of December and I finished it the end of April/beginning of May. I might've been quicker with it, but there was an IS contest going on which I think was due in February or March, so I ended up stopping what I was doing temporarily to write Geek.

There was also the usual changing/adding/deleting stuff around which took up time too since I was trying to get everything just right. (And looking for damn pictures!)
 

It must have been fantastic to finish.