This is a random question that popped into my mind that I thought was interesting, so don't expect any real in depth explanations here lol. I suppose when I say "philosophies", I'm meaning the little idiosyncrasies, or general things that guide what you do and do not write. An example I can think of for me is that I despise leaving writing threads hanging, so I generally endeavour to finish whatever routes I end up making, even if I just end on a conclusion to a smaller arc I've done.
I sympathize with you. Due to my ADHD/Autism/Poor Reading Stamina, it's easy for me to get hype about writing a story, only to be frustrated/forget due to one reason or another, that I've basically told myself that: "A chapter must give the audience a story. Don't ever leave them hanging, but try to leave the door open for anyone interested in taking up the endeavor." Another one is to be conservative about my verbs and words. Again, due to some sort of mental problem, I don't believe people are interested in dialogue, so I think it's much better to have short dialogue, while only using verbs that are relevant to the story, as well as some descriptions that may be sparse to a few, but details I find specifically relevant to what's happening. Why mention a vase if it's not going to be used, so basically, every item must be a Chekov's Gun.
If you don't know something, research it. If I have to choose between rule of cool and boring but realistic, I almost always go with the later. Plotholes are the devil I need to know the exact date each of my chapters take place, even if that information will never be revealed to the readers
I try to add a little comedy to the horror, and a little horror to the sex. It may be off-putting to some readers, but they complement each other well IMO. Other than that one I made up, I try to follow Vonnegut's 8 rules: Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action. Start as close to the end as possible. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages. The bolded seem the most important in a CHYOA context, but to each their own. My anti-principle is that I am atrocious about finishing stuff.
I really appreciate this because I can give myself some advice and motivation. Generic Advice Read. If you read a lot, then subconsciously you'll adopt good writing habits. Write. If you write a lot, eventually you'll create something good. Take feedback. Even if it is from people who are worse at writing than you and get 0 bitches irl. Read advice from authors you really like, like Cormac McCarthy. Touch grass. How can you write human dialogue and characters if you close yourself off from other people? Read nonfiction. You'll learn interesting things that you can mention in your writing. Don't be that guy in creative writing class who can never use the word "said". Some authors have the mindset that they should never use said because it seems monotonous. In reality, most people don't care. It's far more distracting to come up with a new word each time. That being said, definitely use words in place of said as long as they're appropriate. Don't be afraid to make jokes. Even some of the most serious media I've seen usually incorporates humor. Personal Advice Take risks. Experiment with your writing and storytelling. Avoid long descriptions. In my opinion, they should be short, relevant, evocative, and to the point. If you can perfectly describe something in one sentence, then why add another one? If you're using photos in your story, then you should spend time describing the personality of the person. We already know what they look like. Be weird. Use your own personal writing style. This will turn some people off, but it will help you develop your voice. Dialogue good. I disagree with Warden on this issue. Dialogue to me is really interesting and a great way of showing us who the characters are. Internal dialogue establishes a lot about the protagonist in a very subtle way. However, it should be good and interesting dialogue. Edit. I don't do this enough. There are many errors throughout my works, because I'm too impatient and ashamed to read my own writing. Don't be broken by a lack of attention. People like Coldplay and voted for Hitler. You have to write your story as if you're the last sane man in an insane world. Ask yourself what you like about fiction, and what kind of story you want to tell. Don't use memes/references as the sole basis of the humor. There's this great story on CHYOA about seeing Morbius in IMAX 3d. It's actually my favourite story. While it is referencing a meme, most of the humor comes from mocking elitist fanboys. Obviously the Morbius meme is going to be funny forever, so it's a bad example. However, other memes will probably not last the test of time. References mostly get a raised eyebrow out of me more than a laugh. CHYOA Advice Publish chapters as they're completed. This will get you a following faster. If you have an idea that's half-formed, make a draft chapter that you can come back to with an outline of the idea. This also works if you have an idea but don't have time to write. Use a sexy picture for the story. I don't have any metrics or studies to back this up, but I'm pretty sure it catches the eye easier. A lot of people here are simply really horny. Don't use porn to study sex. If you're a virgin or don't know what sex is, porn isn't really realistic. Your story doesn't necessarily have to be realistic, but I think understanding the small intricacies of sex is important. Read authors with similiar stories. I'm not saying you should plagiarize, but look at how things are implemented and ask yourself what you like or didn't like about it.
Listening to these makes me wonder how many of us writers suffer the trait of what I will refer to as "Writing By The Rulebook". I think of WBTR as the act of consciously changing our writing in order to fit into defined notions of what writing "should" be. In essence, if you've ever watched those "how to write" styled tutorials on YouTube or similar, and thought "gee, that problem exactly defines my story!" then go and suffer trying to change the story to avoid all those bad tropes, then you may have experienced WBTR. Of course, editing your story in such a way is 99.99% of the time a good thing; rarely is a good story written in the first draft. But where I feel WBTR defines itself, compared to regular editing, touching up, or improving, is when the writer begins to edit their story not with the goal being to make characters more consistent, improve the pacing, or anything like that. Rather, they begin to edit their story with the goal to adhere to the rule itself, something that (to my experience) often comes at the expense of the writer's happiness, as they are more concerned with the 'rules' rather than making the story the best it can be. They are not writing to make a story, they are "writing by the rulebook". Once again, most writing tips you hear are generally good advice and should be at least considered, but I personally have felt at times the need to constantly edit, change, or 'improve' my story at the expense of my own happiness just to make sure that it fit all of the rules it needs to. I'm a bit afraid to break away from that, because saying the phrase that I released my chapter without making 100% sure that it fits all the necessary rules sounds like the peak of arrogance.
Oh thank god, it's a real struggle thinking of words other than "said". Here's my take. Don't promise readers what they want only to pull a bait and switch. If you advertise your story as being about a girl being humiliated, don't turn it into a femdom story once you're got your readers hooked and vice versa. If you spend 60 chapters building up to something, don't subvert it at the last minute. Readers will feel betrayed if you do that. Avoid politics, it's outta place and distracting at best and leads to strawmaning at worst. Whatever side of the politic divide you come down on, you're just gonna piss off the people on the other side because readers wanna masturbate, not be lectured. Besides, who wants to read a story about Donald Trump fucking his daughter or one of Bill Clinton's sex scandals, no thanks. Avoid writing Mary Sue characters, especially those that are "better" than pre-established beloved characters. This one mostly applies mostly to fan fiction writers and those writing in public stories started by someone else. I've noticed a lot of my philosophy applies to writing in general but people won't masturbate if they were turned off by the character herself. Don't make drastic changes to characters that are not in line with their personality, skills or backstory. If the character is a naturally good natured person that has only harmed bad people that have mistreated them first, don't tell us that they have hurt innocent people in the past. This also mostly applies to fan fiction writers and those writing in public stories started by someone else. Don't retcon anything unless you know what you're doing. This overlaps with the above. Canon is the foundation on which you build your understanding and investment in a fictional world. The more solid and stable it is, the more you can masturbate to it but every time some idiot changes come aspect of it, it undermines the foundation just a little bit more and eventually, you can't masturbate to it. Also mostly applies to fan fiction writers and those writing in public stories started by someone else. Anything can be objectively accessed of quality. Feelings might be part of the process of critiquing but even something that's able to invoke powerful feelings in the reader, positive or negative, can be judged using facts and logic and can be found wanting if it's filled with plot holes, fallacies or breaks it's own established canon rules. It is the responsibility of the creator to have the story make sense. If readers have to fill in the gaps and create explanations for inconsistent events, it shows that your story cannot stand on it's own. If you write a sword fight scene, don't have a character use their hand or foot to hit their opponent. It implies the enemy was open, so the character should just use their sword instead. There are exceptions like combatants being in a bind that prevents them from using their weapons or if one of them doesn't want to kill the other.
I like a chapter to express a complete idea. It might not be a full scene, but it should move the plot forward at least a little. Simultaneous orgasms should be rare, and therefore precious. Sex is about more than just slamming genitals together. It has to include an emotional component, a mental component. The same action might be terrible or transcendent depending on the mood of the perspective character. Writing something you don't want to or aren't interested in can be a challenge that expands your skills. It might not be your kink, but if you can write it successfully, you've improved.
If this is (also) meant as advice to aspiring writers, I'd like to push back a little. The best (and hardest!) thing to do with a story is finishing it. Don't get stuck editing the first chapter(s) again and again, or rewriting your half-finished stories because "now I know what to do". Until you've finished your first draft, you should almost never move backwards in your story. A sloppy finished first draft is waaaay better than an incomplete story that's impeccable thanks to 17 editing passes. You shouldn't even go back to fix huge glaring plot holes. Instead, keep a separate list of "things that need fixing", and get back to it when your first draft is finished. I follow that rule even for episodic fiction, though one level down, applying it to individual chapters (which do not necessarily map 1:1 to CHYOA chapters) rather than the story as a whole: write the entire chapter first, and only do editing passes once it's finished. I think writing erotic stories is a lot more like porn than it is like sex, because erotic stories and porn are both meant to titillate the reader, with the pleasure of the partipants a distant, distant afterthought.
My biggest thing: I try to have two interesting plot elements before I start. Even just one hook - a setting I’ve never explored, or a genre I want to try - and one plot idea. Then, I make sure I have 3-4 characters in my head with enough desires and interests to feel almost real. After that, I’ll start the story. I don’t need to have that much story worked out, if the characters seem fun to hang around with in my head then stuff will occur to me when they start bumping into each other on the screen. The more I write the more I let the characters just do whatever it feels like they’d want to do based on what they know etc
It just has to sound good to the reader. If it sounds like it would plausibly feel good to the characters it really doesn’t matter how awkward or uncomfortable it might be in practice.
For years I've carefully cultivated the bacteria in my gut so that I have to go on the toilet for at least an hour at work.
Don't fall for it, Dickman. As an experienced time traveler, JohnTitor45 knows perfectly well how Time Theft works-- she's just probing for weaknesses before she makes her big play!
