Interactive Fictions - Rant!

Went out on a bit of a commenting spree just now to look around... and noticed a lot of "You" pov's... and "____ said" bits... Perhaps I'm just old fashioned and can't keep up with the modern ideals of writing, but where is the creativity in interactive fictions? If you want the readers involved, audition people for the part! You cannot write a character as how the reader should feel, because everyone in the world has different quirks.

It's a shame that some really awesome writing in my opinion is let down by catering to the audience that way. I don't claim to have the best style, considering I write myself or friends into stories... it makes for the realism of a piece. Base it off what you know, is one of the most crucial elements I've been taught in my creative writing master classes! Perhaps because I read a lot of books, and want to write novels one day, I want a story to tell me about a character, not make me the character!

Does anyone else out there share this view? Or do you actually like this style?! In no way am I attacking writers here who do write this style personally. This isn't aimed to offend, just a rant as to why its so popular these days?!

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Vengeance #1 Feb 19, 2011 14:26:27

Reddragon. oh! i love that interactive fictions. mine was from westlife's fan fics site which i havent go to in, years? lol! gawd. good old days. 
 
and yes, i agree on 'how you work it as well'...am reading a story that has 'pov' in the title but the writer still writes the content with eg 'Minho said. Onew said' i guess i can go with that.

Reddragon #2 Feb 19, 2011 04:38:34

You know my answer to this already haha. 
I can't stand 2nd POV. It's nothing against the writers and I don't mean it to offend, but it's just something I've never been able to sit down and read. 
The only type of interactive fiction I've ever been able to read was on a Mcfly site where you put in your name and character of choice; making it first/third person, but pesonalised.

prettywordsyouleft #3 Feb 19, 2011 00:38:34

You're right, you can determine roughly how a reader will react to a scene. I've been writing stories since 2006 and I'm able to admit readers surprise me quite often with how they perceive how a story is going to go, both in the wrong, and right directions! I think having this experience also lessens my interest in a story where it says "you said, you did" etc. Because perhaps they're not going to react that way. I've seen it happen before and some readers giving up on a story because they couldn't relate. I guess thats why there's so many stories available that someone out there will relate ^_^ 
 
YES pov does annoy me... but the fiction I'm currently working on is based on raw emotion, so writing from third person wasn't going to work well when I needed the emotions of the four main characters to truly work through. But I mean its all how you work it as well. I've had great success with having multiple characters and writing in first person! The "___" however is just /shakes head. If you're going to go to the effort of making a storyline and making the character, at least give her/him a name! Silly really. 
 
Haha I've wanted to be a writer a long time.. I have a billion started novels, just lose motivation towards the middle of the plot! I guess thats why I like fanfiction... you post a chapter, you get a response. Can't exactly go posting a novel that way! ^_^ 
Thanks again for commenting!

prettywordsyouleft #4 Feb 19, 2011 00:38:29

I appreciate your comment :) Thanks for sharing a -different- point of view from mine without being like "you for thinking this!" I appreciate all styles of writing, and the hard work put into stories. I guess for me, I have a visual mind. I write what I see. It's almost like a tv show/movie playing in my head and I just write it all out. I guess I can't grasp the concept of basing a character, especially a main character as your readers because I have to see the person. Whilst I know what enhances a fiction towards making it more enjoyable for a reader, I have to ensure these people are as realistic as I can make them. If it doesn't work in my head, it's not going to work on paper! Haha! 
 
...

Vengeance #5 Feb 19, 2011 00:21:08

i actually like yr style coz 'i think' thats how i wrote mine. 
Most of my characters are base on real people (me and some other close frens and family) but only because am too lazy to make up new characters. it's too much hassle. isn't that a much more easier way to let the story flow? i mean, just think about how the real person would react to a certain situation (since you that person already, imagining their reaction would be a lil easy, isnt it? eheh). 
 
and just my opinion, the 'povs' and '____' annoys me. ahaha am not even close to being the best of them fics writers but..yeah..i guess am old fashioned too. 
 
and *hi5* i wanted to be a novelist too, one day (if i get around this laziness xP)...