An open response to the one soul crusade against non-branching stories

JerkGently

JerkGently

Experienced
It has been covered many times in these forums, but yet another angry little darling has popped up complaining about stories not having choices or branches and thus not 'belonging' on the site. So here is my response, as also provided to them in the private message they sent me:

Let me put this simply and clearly for you:

Creation does not require curation, nor categorisation. All artistic endeavours are only ever enhanced by artists using the mediums available in as many ways as possible. Chyoa has a long history of supporting writers using it in a wide variety of fashions. It is wonderful to be able to serialise a story in small chunks. My wide audience enjoys it that way.

In terms of rudeness, how dare you call my behaviour 'poor' while attempting to gatekeep a community you have provided nothing to. You don't get an opinion on who or what belongs here. If you want stories to have more branches, then write some, simple as that. Otherwise, keep your childish little authoritarian streak in check and learn some basic manners.

A site survives and thrives on traffic. More stories = more traffic. No story, within the rules of the site, 'does not belong'. The writers do not owe you anything, they create for the joy of it and we all benefit from that. If you wish to have control over the content present, create some. Do not think for a second you have a right to tell others what they are allowed to create here, unless thy name be Friedman. Amen.
 
If I were writing a story without branches, putting it here would imply that I want others to have the chance to add to it and create their own branching off stories even if I only intend to do one storyline.


But I'm not going to complain if someone else drops a "regular" story here even without the option for others to add to it.


The site has plenty of stories that I don't care for but it would be insane for me to try to police others and try to get those stories removed, just because *I* am a person who doesn't like them. This site is big enough that it can handle all types of stories (within sensible rules of course, the only exception to policing that I take is if I see something that actually breaks the rules and thus could get the site in trouble.)
 
That is exactly my view. I am more than happy for others to add branches to my story, but do not write them myself as I feel swapping between branches all the time would hamper my ability to 'feel' a characters progression and emotional relevance.

This individual seems to feel it 'degrades' the site to have other content here, as if taking a few seconds out of their day to glance at the story map or read a chapter or two is the height of inconveniences. Ignoring all the possibilities for innovation in people using the site in different ways, such as Gambio's excellent in character reviews or wicker's image reaction story or all the short story collabs people do.

The point is this is one of the most welcoming and supportive writing communities on the web, and some stranger who has never written a chapter in their life has decided they have the authority to tell a whole swathe of established authors here 'they do not belong'. It is narcissism of the highest order and I feel it must be called out and laughed at for the utter ridiculousness it is.

If you would like a story to conform to your exact expectations, write it... or contact a writer and pay them for their time. Otherwise, bite your lip.
 
I just like how much easier it is to navigate through a story on CHYOA than other places. Breaking up chapters makes for easier consumption, plus there can be a side branch to add author's notes without getting in the way of the narrative.
 
Without those "non-branching stories," I wouldn't be able to write so many chapters of my story.

Two years ago, there was a story that I followed called The Ultimate Dating App. Probably my favorite story up to that point. At mid-story, the author did something with one of the characters during some chapters that I didn't like.
Instead of complaining that the story was ruined for me (some people did it in comments), I said, "Ey, this is a collaborative site, the story is open, why not write from that point the version I would like myself? If you don't like what you have, do it yourself."
And that is what I did. I branched my story from him around chapter 30. I am sure I am not so good at writing because I am not a native English speaker, but even the original author encouraged me to improve and continue with my story towards my own style, which is different than his. Some chapters later, I continue with the characters already in the story and some new ones on my own path, and I am still enjoying writting about that story.

I wouldn't have been able to this starting a story from scratch if "non-branching stories" weren't allowed.
 
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