A Brand New Fad?

Recently I've noticed three new stories that cropped up during the past 2-3 weeks and you probably have to. I would just like to acknowledge it, in case it becomes a bandwagon, for totally historical purposes and not because I haven't written a half-ass attempt of an essay.

So it seems that the new trend/fad will be Snowball. To quote Google:

From my understanding:

Snowball writing is when someone posts a prompt, or in the cases of these 3 stories, which I will share later, a picture instead, with the incentive for others to join in, write their own stories based on the shared picture, and share their own picture for someone to contribute to that storyline.

I believe Wicker has done something in the past with his rather popular "Image Inspiration Stories" which has a tree so huge, you'll never see the bottom of it ever again.

From a timeline perspective, I believe the first person to coin the term Snowball in CHYOA is whatsa and their "Snowball story writing," which has a pretty extensive list at the time of this writing, with many chapters possessing the asterisk in their title, indicating that they are empty and welcoming of authors.

A common author and contributor of the previous story came next, with street0's "Snowball Blowjob Story," which ironically, is not truly focused on blowjobs, though plenty of people do just write about having blowjobs. Possibly, it's only a matter of time until people forget what the story was all about I imagine - Admittedly, while the story does get daily contributions of pictures, but plenty of written chapters have an extensive branch

Lastly, as of time of writing, is the latest one called "Snowball Hypnosis Story" by CelebMaster69, a frequent contributor to the previously mentioned stories too. That's all I can say for such a young story.

I will admit, at the end of writing this, I have no true grasp on why I wrote this other than being a historical piece, as well as writing down just how things go down after a couple of weeks

 

for those of us who don't like to write alone, it's a godsend

 

I'm for them.
Collaboration is great in that its fun to see what way you can take a story that someone else has handed on and likewise its fascinating to see what someone will do with it after you've moved it along.
However I'm acutely aware that I am one of the slower contributors to the stories on these sites, and on some I know that I am actually holding things up. (I've left @wicker hanging more than a few times for instance when I've ground to a halt!)
On these snowball stories, there isn't quite the same pressure to deliver though, since they can be left for someone else to progress. There's no imperative to write more than one chapter in a thread.

 

I'm torn between 1) thinking a collaboratory story being fun to do sometime, 2) really not wanting to introduce peer pressure to what to me is first and foremost a fun hobby. In the short term the knowledge that someone is or might be waiting for me to finish my part would probably help me be productive, but in the long term I'm worried it'll just make it feel like work.

 

Not everyone needs be a giver or taker, exclusively. I can certainly see people who only want to write prompts for other to spiral off on. Or, people that have a hard time finding their footing on a story and might just need the push.

Totally get the sentiment @TheLowKing. But I still think it is great spring board. But as far as longevity, I agree, could be an issue.

But yeah, this is pretty neat-o concept.

 

Oh - not what I am used to "snowballing" meaning.

Having found myself sucked in here to contribute the content I found lacking in someone else's old story, I am all for collaboration, or leaving hooks hanging, or taking up prompts that intrigue me.

Collaboration is way nicer than competition. Anyway, it's not a contest.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't mind doing some sort of writing sprint and collaborating with other people to build a new story.


...But strict rules and making it a contest may take some of the fun out of it for me (even if it was precisely the thing that would motivate other types of people.)

 

I keep getting pulled into those "snowball" stories and I'm always disappointed

 

Gotta agree with Ken, this post aged like milk. Personally, the one I loved contributing in eventually just ended, with only 3 new chapters since the last time I saw it.

 

Gotta agree with Ken, this post aged like milk. Personally, the one I loved contributing in eventually just ended, with only 3 new chapters since the last time I saw it.