#and all of this is to develop in game motivation for why thunderstruck is playing in the build up to the bbeg battle

[hombebrewinspo]

I'm not saying it's the only reason I started dming, but creating a world where the gnomes have electricity and therefore also have the sweet synthetic musical stylings of the 1980s and also electric guitars and rock and roll was a big motovator

#real talk tho #one of my favorite parts is mixing music for game sessions #and im doing a slow burn bard sub plot for the campaign #that starts with some gnomish bard on tour in a towm outside of the gnomish domain #so they dont have any way to charge their instruments #but the see the blue dragon born paladin of the party in the tavern and bop up to them like #hey #not to be presumptive or anything thing but like #is it true that yall can like #spit lightning? #could you do that into this battery? #like idk if thats cool to just ask you to do but were ina bit of a bind here rn #and all of this is to develop in game motivation for why thunderstruck is playing in the build up to the bbeg battle

[infinityskitchen]

Plenty of Fish (Choices) in the Sea (Story): Interactive Storytelling and You

In fifth grade, I got a hold of my first choose-your-own-adventure novel. I don’t remember the title, but I do recall it being a murder mystery. I sat there, at my desk during reading-hour, trying to decide if I should interview a suspect or go back to the crime scene. Which story branch should I run down? I felt so empowered as a reader.

Yes...this is going to be about interactive storytelling. 

Who Remembers Netflix's Black Mirror: Bandersnatch To state the obvious: as technology develops, so too does interaction fiction.

In the last couple years, Netflix has released an array of interactive films and movies. Most titles are geared for children, who can explore Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale and Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile. Meanwhile, nature-lovers and survivor-experts can ‘watch’ Bear Grylls' You vs. Wild. 

Personally, I jumped on Netflix’s interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, which follows a young programmer as he creating a complex video game.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT:  I play-watched Bandersnatach several times. I (accidently) killed the protagonist on my first go around. Later, I managed to push him out of the film and into a movie set! This turned out to be a peculiarly metafictional ending. In one scene, I even 'directly’ talk to the protagonist through his computer. I told the protagonist about Netflix and drove him a bit crazy. Oops. 

I’d give this film two thumbs up and 5/5 stars--but this is a very biased rating because I really enjoy metafiction, so this film is right up my alley. 

Why We Like It Interactive storytelling is powerful. Whether it's printed into a book or played out in a movie, this experimentalism is popular because, well, it's interactive. Readers join the characters in the fray. They make decisions and become engrossed in creative escapism, which is usually why someone picks up a book or turns on a movie. We read, play video games, or watch T.V. because we want to momentarily pause our reality and join something new. 

This interactive element gives audiences the power to direct a story. Readers and viewers are simultaneously extensions of characters as well as pseudo-authors who work within preset boundaries and toward already-decided endings. The illusion of control pulls audiences in. Free-will doesn't actually exist in these stories.

Writing Interactive Fiction But how does one go about writing interactive fiction? Googling this question will give you plenty of articles on the How-To and Do-Nots of interactive fiction. For books. For movies. For video games. 

I’m not going to recite everything that’s out there—that would be crazy and impossible. Instead, I’m just going to point (future or student) screenwriters wanting to explore interactive storytelling toward John Belin's Medium article "How to Write an Amazing Interactive Film Script."

Belin survey cinematic interactive fiction, though I think his points could be applied to prose and video game writing as well.

One important observation Belin makes is that the film and the viewer must connect. How? By sharing a motivation. Or, as Belin puts it, 

make sure that the viewer and the film share the same goal. That makes all interaction filled with purpose, and reaching the goal a personal achievement.

Here, writers also need to consider genre to successfully create a story that shares a goal with the audience. 

Readers, viewers, and players pick what they will engage with based on the work's genre. Therefore, genre expectations guide what sort of conclusions an interactive story can have.

Belin recommends writers “stay true to the story arc," noting

most movies don’t change genre in the middle. They end pretty much as we expected, and we are fine with that!

This is to say that genre conventions (maybe even genre-cliches) and audience awareness are key to writing interactive stories in any medium. 

TRY IT! If you’re looking to challenge your writing, no matter your preferred genre, I’d recommend experimenting with interactive structures. Can you imagine an interactive poem? An interactive play? Interactive technical writing?!

Whatever you end up creating, remember what Belin's words and allow your audience to share a goal with your story.  

Read Belin’s article here. 

All images are from Belin's article.