Project Serentedia - Week 7

[Operative13]

Project Serendetia - Week 7

The Fates have intertwined the destinies of two young souls... what future lies ahead for them?

You decide what happens next: WEEK 6 IS CLOSED

A new project has arrived! Each week, a new poll is held that will determine the fates of two souls in the World of Serendetia. Some polls will be very descript, others will be cryptically vague... but one thing remains the same: whichever choice receives the most votes will have permanent effects on the story! Control the narrative as the Fates of Serendetia bend to your whims and will!

All voting ends 11:59pm PST Sunday, with a new poll created following the release of the next segment of the story.

WEEK 5 RESULTS

The seat at the window with quiet classmates.

*Italicized choices mean the audience voted against the author. Bold choices mean the audience voted with the author*

Read the First Chapter Here
Read the Latest Chapter Here

Month 1 Community Survey

Support the project at Patreon!

[Suuper-san]

man the anticipation is killing me XD

[Operative13]

Week 1 of Project Serendetia has arrived! Today is your chance to write the stories of our two heroes as the all-powerful Fates! You decide through your votes what happens to our beloved characters.

Week 1

The Fates are a strange, enigmatic, and mischievous sort. They create and destroy worlds on a whim, only expending their energies to satisfy their eternal boredom in the infinitesimal existence of realities. With their omnipotent and omniscient powers to see all, be all, and end all, their insatiable craving for the beauty of chaos knows no bounds. Today, they have taken interest in the fates of two souls in their possession.

“What fun shall we have with them?” one of the Fates asks.

“Bound them together, so that they become inseparable,” one says.

“Keep them apart, so that they never become whole,” says another.

“Let them struggle for their lives, only to tear it asunder.”

“Let them have it all, and forever fight to keep it.”

“Give them peace, but at a price.”

“Give them war. To whom shall they lose?”

“There are many paths, and many journeys, but not all give the joys they seek.”

“What shall these two desire? And what shall we give?”

“Shall we be merciful?”

“Or shall we be cruel?”

“It is only fair that the Fates decide their path.”

Choose the world in which our heroes shall take part in: https://forms.gle/RS39ro5TyNXw7Lvx8

[Suuper-san]

oh how exciting! I've cast my vote
always interesting to see a make your own adventure style story, hope it works out :P

[Operative13]

As do I! As a little fun tidbit, I'll also be joining in the voting, but I'll be making my vote apparent against the audience, so that everyone gets to see if you've defied the author's intentions 

Please go easy on me. 

[Operative13]

Only 3 days left to vote for Week 1! Be sure to get your votes in by Sunday 11:59pm PST 

[Operative13]

Last day to vote for Week 1! Be sure to cast your vote by midnight before the poll closes!

[Operative13]

Week 1 Voting is now closed! Stay tuned for announcements!

[Operative13]

Week 2

Welcome to Kubozaki. Hidden below its gleaming skyrises, picturesque beaches, and bright green mountains is a dark underworld of crime and corruption. Dimly-lit alleyways, run-down apartments, and flickering neon signs are all hallmarks of the Metro. It was a common sight to see men in suits knocking on doors for one reason or another. One could never tell if they were from the syndicates or investigators from the Strip.

Yet in this desolate side of town, hope for two young souls. Having traveled long and far with nothing but a suitcase each and the clothes on their back, siblings Leah and Talon had found a modest apartment for rent near the edge of the Metro. Though the place needed some fixing up, with creaking floorboards, peeling wallpaper, and fine layers of dust coating the furnishments, the siblings happily rolled up their sleeves and set to work.

After an entire day’s work, Leah and Talon collapsed on the beer-stained couch, exhausted from their efforts. The entire apartment was now sparkling clean. Too clean in fact: the fridge was bare, and they’ve yet to eat.

Leah groaned. “I’m starving! I knew I should’ve stashed more cashews from the flight.”

“I’ll get us something to eat,” said Talon.

“More of your special cooking?” she said with a sly grin on her face.

“Not tonight. I’m tired from the flight, and we just did the whole apartment. I’ll stop by the gas station and get something quick for us, then it’s off to bed.”

“I’d say the occasion is worth a proper meal,” she protested. “It’s not everyday we get to find a place we call our own.”

“What’s so different from before?”

“No more running. That’s a start.”

Talon thought for a moment, and had to concur. “Yeah… I guess you’re right. How ‘bout this? I go fetch some groceries for the fridge, and you go unpack our things. Deal?”

“Deal!”

A sudden knock on the door pulls the siblings’ attention away from their homecoming. Their cheerful expressions drop, their muscles tense, and their gaze sharpens. Leah eyes the suitcases near the couch while Talon watches the door.

What shall come next? Take the Week 2 Survey here!

[Suuper-san]

interesting so far, looking forward to the continuation

[GreenTrap]

I agree, I think once the consequences of our choices start happening, it'll be a good read 

[Operative13]

Aye, I would love to see more votes from the community and see how far the Fates take them. Everything relies on the lot of you to drive the story forward 

Of course it becomes a daunting task for me to manage the story flow, and forbid there's a split vote that I have to preside over ... But I have faith the readers know best... I hope. 

[Suuper-san]

Well speaking from an abstract viewpoint, the options you give your viewers in the first place in way are already shaping the story roughly the way you want. A more open ended "what do you think happens next?" would be much more scarier XD

And often choices can be "ignored" in that, say if the characters didn't open the door as per the current survey, it gets kicked open, and the whoever enters the room anyway, whether they opened the door or not. That sort of thing.

Another minor issue is that for readers to feel they have an influence on the story you can't write too much before giving them a choice, and so it takes quite a while to get the story written.

[Operative13]

@Suuper Indeed, and those were considered before this project began.

For a choose-your-own-adventure, a common problem is the number of ways one can take to approach the story. Too many choices, and the preparation that has to be done is far too much. I could, for example, stick to just a few lines every week, but that wouldn't make for an exciting story if there's too much of a wait time before the story makes any progress. However, if I constrained the choices to just a few, it makes managing the changing dynamics more feasible.

The next problem is how big of a change? I definitely don't want to bore the audience with seemingly too many mundane decisions (such as the poll for this week), but from a writer's perspective, sometimes that has to be done for the critical decisions. Those decisions have far-reaching impacts to the direction of the story that to you, the decision-makers, doesn't seem like much now, but it's an investment into what you get into the future. I do not plan too far out for this very reason, because that will gate the story's progress to a linear direction, which I want to avoid at all costs. All you should know at this point is that I have elements waiting on standby in case they kick off, and depending on what choices are made, they can either come into play or be negated altogether.

I can give a hint that depending how they answer (or not) the door, will affect the grander scheme of things down the line. There's more to the city of Kubozaki that's hinted in the Week 1 update that you might catch on if you think about it for a bit... 

[Suuper-san]

I'm useless at picking up on hints so I'll just have to wait until I'm spoon-fed it lol

I think depending on the writer and the style they're going for, giving the audience more choice or less choice would result in a very different sort of story. But it definitely is a nice challenge to not be fully in control, keeps you on your toes sort of thing.