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strong vs. generic character

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  • strong vs. generic character

    So what is the preferred thing with a story where 'you' are the main character? Keep it as generic as possible and let the reader decide how they act or react to events?

    I tend to lean in the opposite direction, I like detailed people with detailed histories, especially in a made up setting, but then again like I've mentioned, I don't have a whole lot of experience with CYOAs.

    Personally as a reader I enjoy slipping into the skin of a character and for a time seeing the world as I do, assuming the writer feeds me the information I need in a natural or at least interesting way. I am okay with this even with IF, which I guess is the closest medium to CYOAs, but again, I don't really know what the norm is.

  • #2
    If you have a detailed main character, with a detailed history in a detailed setting- consider writing in the third person. You'll probably want to stick to third person limited, since it's harder to write choices for third person omniscient. (Or, rather, it's very easy to write choices for the latter, but they're usually things over which the author, not the reader, should have control.)
    Originally posted by Ryan_DuBois
    Usoki, you're the crankiest asshole we know. Not that it's a bad thing, it just means that you smell funny and are best left hidden in darkness.
    And it's embarrassing when you make any noise at all.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Usoki View Post
      If you have a detailed main character, with a detailed history in a detailed setting- consider writing in the third person. You'll probably want to stick to third person limited, since it's harder to write choices for third person omniscient. (Or, rather, it's very easy to write choices for the latter, but they're usually things over which the author, not the reader, should have control.)
      Hey, thanks Usoki. This is actually a great idea. I was going to embark on yet another 2nd person CYOA but I think it could be great fun to write in 3rd.
      How we paid such close attention
      To each sweet and stuttered breath,

      Comment


      • #4
        I would definitely say the norm around here is to have detailed characters, where their personality is already "decided"... the reason being that you sort of have to go out of your way to make a character without some sort of telling history; especially if they interact with environments or people that they are familiar with.

        A couple ways you could avoid this is to create a main character with an unknown background (someone who just woke up from a coma, etc.) or to have several characters for the reader to choose from the beginning.

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        • #5
          If you have a detailed main character, with a detailed history in a detailed setting- consider writing in the third person. You'll probably want to stick to third person limited, since it's harder to write choices for third person omniscient. (Or, rather, it's very easy to write choices for the latter, but they're usually things over which the author, not the reader, should have control.)
          Yeah but, couldn't third person make it a little harder to 'get into' a story? ...though I guess I've never had trouble with that when reading a novel, but it just seems weird and somehow distancing for this format.


          Originally posted by Ryan_DuBois View Post
          I would definitely say the norm around here is to have detailed characters, where their personality is already "decided"... the reason being that you sort of have to go out of your way to make a character without some sort of telling history; especially if they interact with environments or people that they are familiar with.

          A couple ways you could avoid this is to create a main character with an unknown background (someone who just woke up from a coma, etc.) or to have several characters for the reader to choose from the beginning.
          I see the 'no memory' thing done a lot, (especially in IF) almost to the point of cliche. Several characters to pick from might be interesting, but that would be a lot of work...I'm finding even the thought of completing one story daunting at this point.

          ...I guess I could just post an infodump about the main character on the first page, but huge wall o' text right off the bat may scare readers off too.

          I guess Endmaster did something similar with the background of the tribes in Primal though, and it worked well enough to win him the contest.
          Last edited by mizal; 02-25-2010, 06:00 PM.

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          • #6
            If you're really feeling pompous, write in first person and make the reader become "you".

            (No seriously, don't do that. There's only one person that did that here and he was the type of person that you'd least want to be in real life or fiction. And the "stories" sucked anyway.)

            But if you don't want to bog down the story in background/history, just could just create a couple of history links that loop back to the main storyline. If people are interested in walls of text, they'll read it, if not, they can just skip them and immediately pick one the "real" choices instead.
            Writing: It's more fun than a barrel of Ebola ridden monkeys!

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            • #7
              Originally posted by mizal View Post
              Yeah but, couldn't third person make it a little harder to 'get into' a story? ...it just seems weird and somehow distancing for this format...
              With the exception of Rentyre, everything I've written for this site is in the third person. You honestly don't notice it that much. The only time it ever really gets called to the reader's attention is when you start switching back and forth between tenses.
              Originally posted by Ryan_DuBois
              Usoki, you're the crankiest asshole we know. Not that it's a bad thing, it just means that you smell funny and are best left hidden in darkness.
              And it's embarrassing when you make any noise at all.

              Comment


              • #8
                Yeah, I think End Master does it well, because you gives the option to read as much background as you want before entering the story. You can skip the whole thing if you choose to.

                My basic strategy is to plunge the reader into the story without giving any background info, and see if I can "show" what happened through the dialogue or scenery... I did get criticized a lot from doing this on "The Rift", but I think that when it's done right it makes for the best reads. The reader is left guessing.

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                • #9
                  I really liked the Rift actually, and I enjoy most of End Master's stuff too, so it may be that I was worrying about this for nothing. In most cases I prefer detailed characters, no one here really seems to mind, and honestly I have a hard time thinking of a way of making a story interesting without one, so I think I'll just stick with what comes naturally.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by End Master View Post
                    If you're really feeling pompous, write in first person and make the reader become "you".
                    I can't even figure out how that's possible... Doesn't calling the reader "you" automatically make the story second-person?

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                    • #11
                      No I just meant making the reader "You" as the person who's writing the story. (which would be "You")

                      Example, you end up writing everything as "I do this..." "I do that..."

                      You're basically telling the story as if YOU (the author) have done these things. Which given the nature of CYOAs you're forcing the reader to become "You".

                      It would probably be the CYOA equivalent of a "self insertion" and I've never really liked fictional stories where the author blatently puts him or herself in the story. Let alone ones that would be done in a CYOA format.
                      Last edited by End Master; 02-26-2010, 01:14 PM. Reason: To clean up akward wording!
                      Writing: It's more fun than a barrel of Ebola ridden monkeys!

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                      • #12
                        Then only 3rd person story I've attempted is Assualt of the Sorcerer Kings, and as you can see I haven't done much with it. I think the perspective works for that particular story.
                        The organ is grinding but the monkey won't dance.

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                        • #13
                          Oh, gotcha. Yes, that would be annoying.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by End Master View Post
                            No I just meant making the reader "You" as the person who's writing the story. (which would be "You")

                            Example, you end up writing everything as "I do this..." "I do that..."

                            You're basically telling the story as if YOU (the author) have done these things. Which given the nature of CYOAs you're forcing the reader to become "You".

                            It would probably be the CYOA equivalent of a "self insertion" and I've never really liked fictional stories where the author blatently puts him or herself in the story. Let alone ones that would be done in a CYOA format.
                            I think Leon101 did that for a few stories over on CYS. They got like "4" ratings.
                            How we paid such close attention
                            To each sweet and stuttered breath,

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              You could make it work if you separated the author from the speaker... and if you made sure that the speaker had enough deep thoughts and interesting but limited perspectives to justify using first person over any of the others.
                              Originally posted by Ryan_DuBois
                              Usoki, you're the crankiest asshole we know. Not that it's a bad thing, it just means that you smell funny and are best left hidden in darkness.
                              And it's embarrassing when you make any noise at all.

                              Comment

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