Behind the Scenes: Writing Choose Your Spooky Outcome

                As a general rule, I don’t talk about any of the paths missed in the Choose Your Spooky Outcome series that I write every Halloween. Sidenote: if you’re not familiar with those, now is an excellent time to catchup, since they’re the subject of this blog and one is currently running. Anyway, part of the fun of those is in having to make choices, and wondering what could have been. Just like Merlin himself, there’s no way to know what could have happened had you made alternative decisions.

                However, through the years I’ve had folks interested in doing their own Choose Your Outcome-style stories. Its sort of hard to give advice on those without diving into concrete examples, so I thought this year I’d make a small exception and talk about the process of how this thing gets written, along with going through this year’s early chapters to explain the setups.

                Warning: This will spoil Chapters 1 – 4 of the 2019 Choose Your Spooky Outcome. Proceed at your own risk, or just go read them first.

Premise

                Before you ever see the first chapter or choice, I have to determine what this year’s premise is. Sometimes it’s straightforward, like the trick-or-treating year. Other occasions get more complex, like with the Halloween trapped in a wish. It needs to be something with lots of room for options, as I don’t know what direction the voters will aim, so I have to be able to expand the tale in any direction. For this year’s setting, I thought it would be fun to put Victoria on her back foot for a change and tackle the cutesy side of Halloween. The open format allows me to add events pretty freely without breaking the setting, and the tone opens up a lot of room for quick gags.

Choice #1: A costume and a companion

Choices: Alchemist (Thad Joins)          Stage Magician (No Thad)              Warlock (Thad Joins)

                We won’t spend a lot of time here, since this is pretty much the first choice we have every Halloween. Can’t very well start celebrating without a costume, right?  It’s part of both the fun and the lore, so I enjoy seeing up top what sort of mood you’re all in outfit-wise.

                This year did have an extra element, since in 2018 voters decided to make Thad an optional character. This time I tied it into the costume choice, as people get more accustomed to Thad his option might begin to shift to later in the story, or he may start already in story and have the chance to be dismissed. For the first year with this option though, I wanted to keep it simple. Just what are you wearing, and is your brother coming along?

                On your own story, the first choice should be one that ideally allows for a bit of character refinement. A power, a talent, a costume, a magic item, a secret language, something that informs the way the character will “play” for the rest of the tale is a nice way to let the readers have a say in what kind of person they’re going along as.

Choice #2: Pick a game

Choices: Pumpkin Carving w/Thad   Halloween Trivia w/Victoria    Bobbing for Apples w/Jim

                Here, we start getting more into the meat of how these stories actually work. While they are meant to be fun and light, a story that doesn’t change or evolve isn’t especially entertaining. To ensure that there is a sense of movement each year, it has to be reflected in the characters we engage with. Choice #2 works on a few levels. It establishes that one of the formats you can indulge in is games, it gives you the chance to decide which you’d like to try, and most importantly, it gives room for some character-time. Whichever was picked, I’d be setup to start the next chapter with a premise and another character to have some fun with. We got to learn a little more about Victoria as a consequence of the choice, along with discover what sorts of contests should be expected.

                For your story, you might actually want to use something like Choice #4 here. I went this way because I have six prior years of character development to draw from, if you’re starting out this time might be better spent laying groundwork. Should you opt to take this route early on, just make sure you’ve got a good idea of what each character will do in each scenario. Whatever the audience chooses (outside of Dead Ends), the results should feel satisfying.

Choice #3: Answer the question/Dead End

Choices: “The Twirl”        “Slow Dance”      Wing it

                This is the one people ask about the most: Dead Ends. There’s usually some level of indication in the tales for what path to avoid, although I’ll admit sometimes it’s a lot more hidden than others. On Choice #3, here is how the results would have broken down based on options.

-The Twirl: Dead End. Not a joke, not a pun, not even a real dance (twirling is a move within dancing). This one fell short on every possible criteria, and thus would have resulted in you getting last place, the spider being taken by someone else, and… well the tale’s not done, you may still see the spider in action yet, so we’ll just leave it at Dead End.

-Slow Dance: Correct Answer. It works as a corny joke, and that’s pretty plainly what the vibe of Happy-Ween is. Especially given that this is a game for kids, anything that sort of clicked would have worked as an answer, and Slow Dance fit the bill. Had this been chosen, you’d have won ten Pristine Points as well as the spider.

-Wing It: This one is a gamble. Sometimes these lead to Dead Ends, other days they’ll get you out of them. I like to keep a few wild cards choices around here and there, they open up interesting writing avenues and offer the readers a high risk option when they’re not sure what path to take.

                When building a Dead End, the key thing to consider is that it should be theoretically solvable, so that the reader feels they have a sense of control over the outcome. If its all random, then the choices stop mattering. Additionally, whatever choice they make, even a Dead End, should still be entertaining. If they have to die, even for only a page, at least give them a good show.

 

Choice #4 What’s the next plan?

Choices: Win more points            Find who’s in charge         Attempt a heist

                This is where the natural rhythm of the story begins to fall into place. You’ll make a few choices, potentially getting into a Dead End scenario, then there will be some level of minor resolution along with a fresh set of options. With the trivia game complete, we expand outward to the park as a whole, learning about the trophy, as well as what our options for obtaining it are. These are broader choices, almost akin to setups themselves, that tell me what sort of tale the readers want this to be for the next few chapters.

                A Choose Your Spooky Outcome works by expanding and contracting. Expand out to multiple setup paths, then narrow down to more tightly defined options as you try to come out on top, potentially with a Dead End gating the end. Once they’re through, expand back out again, giving them more of the world now that they’re further into it. Use that world-building to create your next broader choice, and go from there.

                For those of you looking to write your own branching-path stories, I hope this sheds some light onto how my process works. Doing these day-to-day takes a lot of juice, but it’s also one of the most fun and interesting challenges I’ve ever given myself as a writer. It may not be for everyone, however if its calling to you, then I say give it a shot.