TL;DR at the bottom Do you have writer’s block? Need a break from your giant epic of a story? Do you need a palette cleanser between projects? Do you have a nugget of an idea or scene, but it’s not quite enough for a whole new story or it doesn’t quite fit into your current story? If any of these things sound like you or you’re just looking for a lighthearted writer-style jam session I have a story collab that might interest you. Currently, I’m looking for 1-2, maybe a few established author’s (for now) to contribute to and/or co-own a story I’m working on. If I get no takers I might shelve it or I might start it up and see if anyone likes it and wants to jump on board after I get it going. If you're like me it can be a bit disappointing seeing certain concept stories ('Snowball, 'What If...?', etc.) just add new prompts versus having the existing prompts fleshed out. Not to hate on those stories, but my plan is more about creating your own short (or long) story thread, owning it, fleshing it out, and running with it for however long you want. But it doesn't have to be a long-running epic. So what’s the story? The Idea/Concept: An anthology-type story about a 24/7 corner store (convenience store, bodega, gas station, 7/11, etc.) where each branch or “shift” is a slice-of-life type story about whatever happens to your character while working at the store. A good prompt to think about for generating your chapter/story/"shift" would be your character saying, “You’ll never guess what happened during my shift…” and going from there. It doesn’t have to be the character actually saying that or recalling the events, but that would be the launching point of your story. Anything (while adhering to CHYOA rules and with exception of the kinks/fetishes listed below) can happen. Your story can be a simple scenario of two characters meeting at the slushy machine and hooking up or space aliens with the munchies who kidnap the character to go on a wild space opera style adventure. Your story doesn’t have to stay at the store, but the store or your character’s shift at the store should factor in the story in some way. Author Exclusive Characters: I also thought it would be fun if authors created their own character(s) to be listed separately on a character page – a main clerk character and any supporting characters as desired. This can be just the basics of name, physical attributes, personality traits, and/or a brief bio. If you want to go full DnD with power sets, hit damage, weaknesses, a picture, etc. you can, but a single father orc paladin with two kids working the night shift can be just that without too many more details. Any author created characters would be exclusive to you and listed separately on your author character list page. If another author wants to use or interact with your character(s) in any significant way they would need your consent. Or you could do a ‘snowball’ type story with that author and alternate writing for your character(s), but I’ll leave that up to you to sort out. General “Free use” Characters / NPCs: I would also like to have a General character list page that any author can contribute to and use for whatever purposes (again, within the rules of CHYOA). And yes, they can be “free use” characters in that way too. The idea here is that they would help connect and create a shared universe vibe to the stories and between authors. And like any good NPC who respawns with the same dialogue, whatever happens in one author’s story doesn’t have to affect how they are used in another author’s story. So if Brad the virgin is kidnapped by aliens, loses his v-card, is then turned into a goat, and then vaporized… another author can have Brad in their story as if nothing ever happened. Or better yet, maybe Brad mentions this really weird dream he had. The only rule I would set is that if you want to significantly alter a NPC (their general personality or physical attributes), and it’s not part of the storyline (virgin Brad is now a man-whore without explanation), I would suggest creating a new NPC or your own exclusive character. The Not-So-Fun Part aka My ‘Not for Me’ List: While I support everyone on CHYOA to write or read whatever they want, there are certain kinks/fetishes/categories that just aren’t for me. I’m either not a fan and/or don’t read it all or enough to understand it or be into it. But just to be clear, this list is not meant to offend or shame anyone, but rather be open and honest with anyone who might be interested. Though, if you do find your kink/fetish on this list yet like this idea, I fully support you “opening a partner store” (writing your own spin-off story) and collaborating with others. Obviously anything that violates CHYOA rules. (The one area I wouldn't suggest writing your own version as it'll likely be taken down.) Diaper or other bathroom related stuff. It’s okay if you have a sex scene in a bathroom, but if the turn-on is bodily/bathroom-related fluids or smells, then I’d say no. Futa and furry characters. Though I’m fine with fictional creatures (orcs, elves, fae, vampires, aliens, etc.) as long as they have anatomy similar to humans-- so no tentacles, corkscrew penises, or vaginas that tell racists jokes. ENF/ENM or humiliation. If a character randomly ends up or gets caught naked and is embarrassed, that’s fine, but it shouldn’t be the crux or point of the story. Non-con, force, or rape. Dub-con, blackmail, or reluctance is okay. Mind control or OP god-like characters that can change everything or be a sex god. It’s okay if some minor mind control is used here and there, but not to the point of every hot person who walks into the store can be zapped and instantly want to fuck the protagonist or turned into a bimbo or hot celeb to fuck. Celebrities or media characters (real, comic, anime, etc.). This one I can take or leave, but if it’s just the same story of [insert one or more of the main celebs/characters often in CHYOA stories - ScarJo/Black Widow, Emma Watson/other HP characters, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Naruto, etc.] walks in and yada-yada-yada you have sex with them and it’s the best sex they’ve ever had, then I’d say no. Or at least I’d like to keep those to a minimum and have the stories be varied. Extreme body transformation. I’m fine with some transformation or “realistic” (pornstar style) bimbofication, but when someone suddenly has a 2-foot penis or breasts the size of two St. Bernard's sitting on their chest, then it’s in the extreme category for me. I’m sure there’s more, but just ask and I’m happy to politely let you know, ‘yay’ or ‘nay’. Author Prerequisites: This is mainly for my own sanity in not having to manage a huge story with tons of people trying to write on it all at once or sending me messages left and right. At least one story on CHYOA that has some significant length (several chapters) or is complete. - OR - Several sequential chapters written for other stories, owned by another author, or stories where you are a long-term contributing author. All that said. Let me know if you’d like to be an Assistant Manager, pop-in from time to time, tell a quick story and move on, or stay awhile and work a double shift. Up to you. The goal here is to have some fleshed out branches and complete stories, or at least work toward that. I plan to start creating the general framework of the story (obligatory nuts and bolts chapters) and create some NPCs, but I don’t have too much set in stone yet as I want to be open to collaborative input. If you have any questions or wish to join, leave a reply or shoot me a private message. Thanks for reading. TL;DR: Come join me in writing your own short or short-ish stories in an anthology series about working at a 24/7 convenience store. Pick a day. Pick a shift. And tell your story.
My disclaimers first. I'm awash in throwaway ideas in general any given time, but notoriously fickle in switching off and this is all a labor of love for me so I tend to not write if I don't feel it. HOWEVER. Writing in a vacuum for only myself and then getting to a stuck point of decision paralysis is usually what tends to make me not feel like it. I've been very curious what happens when I'm not running exclusively on my own steam because since starting here I'm still going strong. It'd be awesome if I were still on this kick come summer because that's when my husband goes out on extended work assignments and I live like a feral child and devote most of my non work time to hobby shit. So if I'm not on my other hobby then I'll probably be on this one. So that said, I'm kinda interested and in fairness to you also trying to balance my enthusiasm so I don't get all excited and overcommit. My strengths are character work and churning out absolutely stupid volume of word count if I'm really vibing on something. As soon as I learned to talk I had about 4x more to say about everything than it actually required and nothing has substantially changed about that except my vocabulary has improved. I think you're anyway aware My weaknesses are, deciding what real plot shit should happen, "being economical with words" (That's for technical writing) If I have somebody to feed me ideas and help me not get stuck I do pretty ok. I've often thought if I could collaborate with the right person or people with a gift for macro scale architecture but who struggle with getting words committed then we could steam roll through some fucking cool ass material. But never really ran into an obvious chance to try that idea on, before here. Don't think I'd have any issue forgoing the kinks you mentioned. If I were going to identify a top kink I'm drawn to it's probably pregnancy risk sex. I maybe have an idea but I'm being a naughty employee right now replying to shit during work hours so I'll save it.
@Pasin, I'd have to politely say no for now on both. Sorry. If in the future the story were to grow and get unmanageable or more than I can keep up with I'd be happy to open it up for all. Or as mentioned above, I'd happily support a spin-off store you or others created. @Dissonant Soundtrack, YES! 'Clerks' is the general vibe I'm going for, but with the obvious CHYOA/erotica flavor. A bunch of horny slackers and the erotic hijinks that happen during their shift. @pwizdelf, not sure I have a ton of ideas to feed you right now, but I got inspired and am working on some NPCs and their brief bios that I think could lend to some story ideas or what they could get up to or have things happen to them. Whether they're used or not, maybe it could be a launching pad for other characters or situations. As far as macro architecture I want to have some general framework in place (chapter naming, kink listing, and brief story descriptions since the concept is open-ended), but also allow it to be open and have author's not be bound to a certain rigid world. Think of the store like Doctor Who's TARDIS. Anywhere in space or time and bigger on the inside. Also, it can be redecorated by you and your vision of the Corner Store. Also, pregnancy risk sex stories are good with me. The condom machine in the bathroom is probably broken anyway. Though I'm sure there's an old dusty and expired pregnancy test on one of the shelves somewhere in the store. Just in case. I think it's next to the... condoms. Oops! And btw, naughty employees are encouraged at this Corner Store, so don't feel too bad. But yes, real work is good as the Corner Store doesn't pay, has no health insurance, and the only benefits (hopefully) are Likes, Bookmarks, and Comments.
Update: I'm debating posting the story soon just so people can see the framework, but I'm still nailing down the details and it's still very much under construction. Not sure if that'll help people visualize the idea or not. The current plan is to have the main chapters be: Author Guide/Employee Handbook - general instructions, suggestions, tips and tricks, story naming, etc. (7) Individual chapters for the days of the week (Sunday-Saturday) - pick a day and start a story and shift within that chapter Holidays chapter - this will be the hub for any random holiday-themed story as anyone who's ever worked a holiday shift knows Universal Characters / NPCs - character page with brief bios for characters anyone can use in their story Individual chapters for Author Exclusive Characters - personal character page for authors I figure this way the front page won't get so unmanageable and unwieldy. Then within the main chapters (Sun-Sat and Holidays) there'd be some brief instructions and ideas of what could happen on a Monday, Saturday or Holiday, but it would still be open to whatever. The author would then start a new chapter within that day (or Holiday chapter) and go from there. Also, if an author wanted to start a sweeping epic that goes beyond one shift or day that's fine too, but ideally it would start on a Day and either stay in that thread or the author could pop into different days but name their stories with Part 1, Part 2, etc. or whatever so invested readers could follow the story and/or characters. Again, my goal is not to be too rigid, but manage it in a way where readers don't get lost or frustrated.
My suggestion would be to scrap 2 and 3 and just have them fork by long-form and short-form stories. From a reader perspective, whether the story starts on Tuesday or Friday means nothing, but knowing whether its a slowburn or a 2 chapter vignette would be relevant.
Hey, I would like to apply for a Friday Night Shift! I've got a weird idea, and it doesn't stay contained to the store. The idea is MC (guy), is stoned out of his mind pre-shift, see's something happen and follows his curiosity out the door. Exposition: stoner guy, having just come out of a long-term relationship is ready to start mingling again, and there's this one chick who's kinda cute that comes in to buy a Coke and Chips at 8:45 every Friday. Well, this Friday, MC decides to shoot his shot. She doesn't turn him down, but also doesn't let him sweep her off her feet either. After she leaves, MC notices she left her purse, so he runs after her. He catches up to her, but she wants him to leave ASAP. Before he can, he's thrust into her world of high-stakes competition. Anything on the line. Suddenly determined to impress her, he enters into various competitions. Gives plenty of opportunities to write differing branches based on who wins/loses. Night ends with the 2 of them kissing in the dawn as they accept whatever comeuppance they've earned
@Grayice, This idea sounds intriguing. I think I'd have to know a bit more about what ideas or thoughts you might have for "anything on the line" (just send me a PM if you don't want to ruin the plot), but I think it could work. And yes, it's fine if things start at, progress beyond, or end up back at the store or are just related to the store. From the looks of your stories it seems you have some experience in this type of storytelling so I have confidence. Also as a side note, I once wrote up a thread for your story, 'Break the 4th Wall', but I never submitted it. I got so into it; had a whole backstory for the MC, a lead up, and everything. But then when I finally got to the part where the MC and the listed chapter character get together I lost steam. I may come back around to it someday, b/c it really is just the concluding sexy part scene(s). But just thought I'd share.
Think I've got an idea chief. Chubby, but extremely shy and reserved cashier is besotted with a co-worker, perhaps member of the owner family, or someone from head office if its a chain, who visits occasionally to oversee. She dreams of romance and happily ever after futures with the guy but she's too shy to act on this. However, she arranges her own shift pattern to be working any time he's there hoping he'll notice her. One day her friend organizes a night out for a birthday or something, to which the object of her affection is going. Chubby mousy girl tarts herself up thinking its her big opportunity to get noticed, and with everyone drunk, she snags him, takes him back to her place and fucks the absolute hell out of him - think fat drunken cowgirl while he is semi-conscious. When they both sober up in the morning she realizes she has royally fucked it up and cant even look at him as he slinks out. Possibly a few others, but is this in the spirit of the story? (PS looking forward to the 4th wall story)
@Dissonant Soundtrack , sorry I missed this reply earlier, but this is an awesome suggestion. It's one of the reasons I started this post so as to not get stuck in one direction and plan in a vacuum when there might be better ideas or tweaks from others. I think I might still keep the Holidays chapter, just to separate it out from the rest and encourage the holiday-themed stories throughout the year, but ask that authors just indicate if it's long or short. Otherwise, YES, splitting into 2 instead of 7 is much better. @Cuchuilain , this sounds great and exactly the type of "slice-of-life"/one-off type stories that I think would work well. That or you could continue with your MC's story in all sorts of directions. The idea being that it's open-ended. Let it be just that story, expand on it, spin-off with other characters, etc. "This is just one of the many fun, strange, sexy, silly, and otherwise random stories from the Corner Store." @ ALL -- Still working on the framework, and thanks to @Dissonant Soundtrack, I'm working smarter not harder. One area I'm trying to nail down in the Author Guide is suggesting author's write in tags, add a brief description (2-4 sentences), and indicate the POV at the top of the first chapter of their stories. Since the overall story itself is a premise/setting more than a specific type of story or plot, I want to make sure readers have the most information going in and not be surprised or go after authors in the comments. CHYOA is a pretty chill place and I know there's no preventing all bad behavior, but I think it's something that readers might appreciate. The idea for now is suggesting authors use either a very obvious title, (Ex: 'Banging My Best Friend's Nerdy Mom In the Employee Bathroom') with no need for a blurb/description unless the story involves a certain kink, fetish, or category. OR asking for a short blurb/description if the title is vague, (Ex: Mt. Dew or Dew Not. There is No Try'). The tag list could be short, just broad strokes and not super specific, and the POV would be nice as I don't care what POV people write in (though, I currently have it listed as 3rd Both), but again, for the readers. Example: [Chapter/Story Title Link] Mt. Dew or Dew Not. There is No Try [/Title] [Top of 1st chapter] About: I've had a crush on one of the Corner Store's frequent customers for as long as I can remember. She's super hot and a total nerd for all the things I like (Marvel, anime, etc.). The thing is, she only sees me as that awkward guy who gives her change for her weekly bottle of wine and a lotto ticket. Oh, and she's also my best friend's mom. This all changes one night when she gets stuck inside the store along with me and my hot, busty co-worker. (and yes, I know this isn't literary gold) Tags: MILF, MFF, threesome, big tits POV: 1st, Male [Start of story] While I know this is a bit of an ask for authors to add to the top of their stories, I do think it would help readers, especially since, as far as I know, all tags just end up in the tag cloud on the right of the story so there's no way to tell what's what. Thoughts? Ideas?
Some multi-author stories just include the kinks in the branch title, like Spiral of a Curse: https://chyoa.com/story/The-Spiral-of-a-Curse.36727 (You should read Spiral of a Curse )
