And now, you dicks, the IWT6

[Vesnic]

Okay, here's the forum where you get to scratch it out over story topics.

If you'd prefer to talk to me privately about your idea (i.e., you're xnull) you can PM me on the main site or find me on AIM.

I am not fully decided yet on just how this topic will be selected, but I am certainly open to your input.

[Usoki]

My proposal for IWT6- The Infinite Story

Sounds odd, right? I mean, the site's freakin' called Infinite Story, for crying out loud. But that's just it. Infinite Story suggests a work that is so long, so oddly complex, and with so many choices that you could never possibly get to the end. But, even for a story as freakish as HOID, there's an end. Eventually, the hyperlinks stop, and all you see is that THE END box, hovering at the bottom of the page. But we have a perfectly good looping system...

For this contest, the stories would be truly infinite. No room is allowed to end- all rooms must either progress the story forward, or be looped to a previous point in the story. You wouldn't necessarily have to loop back to the exact beginning, but presumably more points would be given for better and more complicated links. And the more subtle and skillful the reloop, the higher the score. Waking up from a dream won't get you very far- it will be a test of originality. Maybe your entire story will condense to one point that will link backward. Or, maybe you'll have six or seven threads that travel back.

It's a test of skill. The author can stick with whatever narrative styles and genres he is most comfortable with. It's not a matter of following the theme. It's a matter of pulling off one of the trickier uses of the CYOA format. It doesn't matter what is written, so long as it never ends.

IWT6- Infinite Story

[xnull]

Wow, Usoki. I'm impressed.

I would so dock points for people who use time travel or alternate dimensions. That's just too easy.

[Locke]

Usoki, that's so strange. "The Infinite Story" has been one of the titles I've kicked around on my own dream list for a possible contest for some time now. Where I had the story using the concept of infinity as a central theme of some sort, though, you actually want to disable the "end" option. It's a great concept, but I must disagree with you because I just hate those sorts of stories for some reason. I think I like to relax when I read, more or less, and the looping is not relaxing.

Neither is this my cup of tea, but there doesn't seem to be much true romance of quality on the site.

I'm sure I have other, better thoughts on this, which will probably be overridden anyway by Ves (who you must know is only using this thread to toy with us) with her own theme once an actual decision is reached, but it's been a long day. G'night.

[Vesnic]

I'm sure I have other, better thoughts on this, which will probably be overridden anyway by Ves (who you must know is only using this thread to toy with us)

No need to jump to conclusions. I honestly don't have any pressing ideas of my own that I just HAVE to see become the next contest topic. So please, humor me.

[Megamantn]

Humor is the thing nowadays. I think we should have Parodies as the topic so we can make fun of pop culture.

[apotheosis]

I really like Usoki's idea. I throw my vote behind that.

Edit: Though to your comment about HOID, I can't say I completely agree. Have you gone straight through from beginning to end lately? I haven't updated my census in a little while but there are somewhere in the ballpark of 2500+ doors. While that isn't "Infinite," for practical purposes, it gives the illusion to all but the most patient people that it is infinite because they will probably give up before they hit the end.

[Vesnic]

I'll create a poll eventually to do official voting.

EDIT: This is my 1000th post! Cheers!

[xnull]

How many ideas do we actually have to vote on right now?

Here is the booty call for all topic ideas.

[apotheosis]

Unrelated to this topic for the most part, but to continue on the tangent of not being Infinite, while HOID is not infinite, I updated my census and have found that the current stats are:

2238 Doors
593 Sections

That's pretty damn long.

Anyway, continue with deciding IWT6

[xnull]

I'll add a couple ideas that I don't like as much as the one I PMed Ves.

• "From rock bottom to top" (of course this could be about pretty much anything)
• Similarly "From top to rock bottom" (perhaps a little bit too close to "From Hell")
• "In the mind of an intelligent simple organism" (put the reader in the flagella of a bacteria, or perhaps have them battle other sperm to reach the high and mighty egg)
• Talltale/myth which explains some natural phenomena

Here is a list of other ideas mentioned:

• An actual infinite-story.
• A "maze" or story similar to "Escape Artist" which fully exploits CYOA format.

We should consider ideas from last year that were not chosen (I don't actually remember if there were any or not).

[Dragavan]

That was a brilliant idea Usoki... and a real test for writer's here. I would whole heartedly throw my support behind this one.

[apotheosis]

Alright, it's really beginning to sound like Usoki's idea is most popular. We should have End and Katie and Dep if he decides to return weigh in, but I'm guessing they will like it as well.

[Vesnic]

Either that, or I'll make good on the threat that xnull had once voiced and make you all write in iambic pentameter.

[End Master]

Time Travel, Alternate Dimension, Dream, Memory and Average Day are about the only ways to go about it the Infinite Story idea and get it to "work" otherwise you'll probably end up repeating things that won't make sense (The protagonist already encountered the aliens and ran in closet to hide, they aren't going to fall for that one again.)

It's a neat concept, but I want at least a plausible reason for why the protagonist is encountering the exact same text/choices and not just looping for the sake of it.

Time travel and alternate dimension wouldn't be as easy you might think. While they certainly lend themselves better to endless looping (Time Travel better than parallel universes, due to getting trapped in time loops which give a reason for why you're repeating yourself.) those types of stories usually involve adventure of some sort which pretty much encourage an "ending" of some sort in at least one of the branches.

Dreams are the easiest since you can easily repeat yourself and never "die". This of course means the protagonist can't ever wake up (thus ending the story) but this is fine in the scope of things. And the protagonist could be in a coma to solve all the reasons of why he’s repeating his same dreaming and not waking up.

Telling the story in “memories” where certain choices are looping back to others based on what the character is remembering could also work. Lucid’s Paradox Factor is coming to mind, though that had an ending at some point and it had time travel.

Finally there’s “average day” which has been done before on other sites. It’s easy enough, some guy gets out of bed, does some mundane shit, goes to bed, then the story loops back to waking up again. The problem with it is that’s incredibly boring.

You’d have to add some sort of excitement to break up the monotony and when you do that, you get the same problem of “Hey wait those cannibalistic bums are attacking me in the exact same way again. Even in this fantastic simulation of real life, that doesn’t seem likely since I became an honorary member of theirs yesterday.” And the suspension of belief is broken.

However the “average day” CAN be done in an interesting way and without breaking plausibility. Just takes more work than the others.

Anyway I’m lacking any other suggestions for story challenges though, so if you guys settle on this, it’s cool with me.

Rock Bottom to Top is rather meh since we have lots of stories like that, and the Top to Rock Bottom is a little too similar to From Hell as Xnull said. I’m against maze stories since I’ve never been a big fan of those.