Ask IH: Idea feedback: Writing community
Ask IH: Idea feedback: Writing community
Hi all! This business idea is not so much about solving a specific problem. I had the idea of creating a place for writing stories online. But unlike websites like wattpad.com the author should be able to write stories with alternative endings and the reader can choose while reading which path she/he wants to take. For example after one chapter the reader can choose if the protagonist will fight against an enemy or if he will try to escape.
For those who know it, the video game "Detroit: Become Human" might be a good analogy. As a reader you could read the story several times and as a author you would have more options in writing your story.
What do you think? Is it worth a try?
#need-feedback #idea-validation
You should check a thing called "visual novels". While mostly Japan-ish, it uses the gameplay model similar to your idea.
Also, there are multiple text adventure games with a long evolutionary history.
Google for Zork (one of the first ones), or The Ballad Singer (in development, a modern representative). I've also seen plenty of such more simple interactive story games with no illustrations on Steam. They must be using a similar dedicated engine I guess. There are also actual paper books which adopted the same system (if you choose variant A, go to page 54, etc.).
Your idea is basically an online engine for such kind of stories. It may be useful for a certain niche but I'd rather first check out for competition. For example, I searched "create interactive stories online" and the result page provides several apps that sound similar to your idea.
If you think you may create something different or more good looking, than you may try.
The most obvious use case is a website, forum or desktop app for beginner writers. Definitely would try targeting beginner writers first, as they are more likely to write something and than share it online for free.
Quality of such stories though... Writing a compelling non-linear interactive story is actually a more difficult task than a usual one. Also more time-consuming as you basically write several stories in one.
P.S. Being a non-professional writer myself I would be slightly interested in such a web-engine (or whatever) to craft interactive stories. But I would only pay for that if it somehow helped me to earn money or establish my personal brand.
For example, create my own domain or sub-domain where only the stories of mine will be displayed to share the website as if it was made/filled by me (it may be a paid feature in a free service). Or if your website would be visited by publishers, so there would be a chance to be noticed.
In other cases, I would only use it for free. It must look beautiful, also :)
First let me thank you for your response, I did not expect such a long answer. :)
I have never heard about "visual novels" but I will have a look at it. Maybe there's something I can learn or adapt to my idea.
Text adventure games also came into my mind when I thought about the idea and I also had such books as a child.
To be honest, English is not my mother tongue and I didn't thought about this search term, thanks a lot! I will check these apps, but at a first glance they're missing some major features I would like to implement. Let's see...
I also appreciate your thoughts about the beginning of the website, that could help! I will let you know when I'm going to launch this website.
Thanks! Glad my longread has been at least somewhat helpful :)
As another idea, your service could offer the mindmap in addition to a web platform to publish your story. Mindmaps are the kind of apps to structure your ideas and add sequences, and I never really met ones designed specifically for planning interactive stories.
It is actually a problem to keep all these "IFs" on mind when writing complex interactive stories with a lot of variation.
"Detroit: Become Human" schemes which are displayed after each level are actually a great example of it. If your service offered such a tool for planning a story, and it would be intuitive to use, I would be all in even though I don't write interactive stories specifically.
Of course, it is best to do the MVP's and research the actual need for such features, as it may be either resource consuming to implement it, low demand, or already done.
I wish you good luck with your idea!
If you actually implement it or would like to discuss something about it, feel free to write me at kyrylotaranenko@gmail.com.
This comment was deleted 7 years ago
That's truly a challenge. Luckily I do writing as a hobby and know some people who do that to.
A small payment for the writers? Mhmm, I will consider this. A little bit unusual in the hobby's section but this could help making it sustainable.
Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate that! :)