What do you look for in a Story Hour?

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

You say that now!

 

[WmRAllen67]

What do you look for in a story hour?

Barsoomcore's name...


More pirates, please!

 

[el-remmen]

For me it is, in no particular order,:

- A sense of the world/setting. I want to know about the places and environment.

- Interesting Characters with back-story involvement and good party dynamics

- Good Grammar/Spelling

- I tend to like things grim

- Oh, and I like short installments at first, but I think they should get longer as the story goes on to be more meaty and satisfying.

 

[Rel]

She was kidding, gang.

Of course she was. But the fact that she was kidding about Porn makes her a keeper. I don't care if a woman looks like a supermodel, you can buy fake boobs but you can't buy witty banter like that.

Women with witty banter are the bomb. It's as simple as that.

And, Nemmerle, based on your last post, you should read my Faded Glory Story Hour. I think it hits every item on your list pretty well. But if you don't read that one then you should at least read the Samantha the Red one. She's cute.

And she's got witty banter.

 

[spyscribe]

I don't care if a woman looks like a supermodel, you can buy fake boobs but you can't buy witty banter like that.

Of course, with KidC, you get supermodel looks and the witty banter, so it's a no-brainer.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

In addition to witty banter, good characters, and all the qualities of good writing that have been expressed above, there's one or two other things that get me.

A sense of the wry. Most of the story hours that I like tend to make the occasional sidelong comment at itself.

A good hook. I got into (contact)'s stuff because of the line about the body count. Though I wasn't fond of the intial writing, I kept up with Silver Moon's Boot hill stuff because the setting was intriguing; I really enjoyed seeing some of the old west legends making an appearance.

A sense of connection or greater purpose. Unless it's just a plain enjoyable read, I'm not much going to be interesed in "The disconnected adventures of a band of heroes." Mind you, one huge arc that never gets done is bad too. But, overall, reading about how events progress and wondering what's next and how things are connected keeps me looking.

Also, supernatural good luck helps too.

 

[MonsterMash]

When reading story hours, I prefer:

- good grammar, spelling, and formatting. The writing doesn't have to be perfect, but typos drive me nuts.
- shorter updates more frequently. Longer updates discourage new readers.
- ending on cliff-hangers.
- brief summaries ("Episode 3, in which heroes panic and trolls get fed")
- writing that shows, not tells.
- an indication that the author is having fun.

Not too many things to add to this.

I'm currently reading the one for Diaglo's OD&D Campaign and anything by Barsoomcore. If I had time I'd check out some more stuff.

Another thing - I don't mind if they aren't game based, e.g. they are actual creative writing exercises.

 

[Ormiss]

I don't want to disturb your conversation here, but I've just got to commend Piratecat for making a joke about the time-value of money. Corporate finance needs all the humor it can get.

 

[KidCthulhu]

Of course, with KidC, you get supermodel looks and the witty banter, so it's a no-brainer.

What are you, high? I mean, er, thanks for the compliment, SS.

I'm not actually sure I want to read gamer porn. I saw the BoEF once, and I'm still trying to get clean. But it got your attention.

I am serious about those paragraphs, though. If a paragraph is more than 4-5 sentences long, you've lost me. And you're probably writing badly, and then you've lost me twice. Big blocks of text are very hard to read, especially on the computer screen.

 

[Rel]

I am serious about those paragraphs, though. If a paragraph is more than 4-5 sentences long, you've lost me. And you're probably writing badly, and then you've lost me twice. Big blocks of text are very hard to read, especially on the computer screen.

Then YOU should read my story hour too, KC. It is a rare thing indeed for me to have a paragraph that goes longer than 4 sentences. Though my sentences themselves can sometimes be rather long.

And I put a hard return between each one like this.

If you want REALLY short paragraphs that read quickly then read my Samantha the Red SH. The dialogue was mostly written by a 3&1/2 year old.

I think I'm done pimpin' here. If I'm gonna pimp my Story Hours any more then I need to spend more time reading those of other people.