A writer's Rehab: Where readers get to decide character design and setting.

[DivineEternal1]

I have a story idea I'm wanting to do, but I'm not sure how well it will work because reader participation is essential to its success. I also have had trouble thinking of a proper title do to the nature of the project. I have posted it here, https://forums.spacebattles.com/thr...o-decide-character-design-and-setting.828127/ but have gotten no participation so I'm wondering if the title isn't catching anyone's attention, people aren't interested in putting in the effort required for such a project, or my writing isn't good enough for people to feel it's worth investing in.

Here's the story itself:

Good day, everyone! Who I/we am/are isn’t important. What is important is today’s subject… Hmm, we’ll call him ‘J’ for now. J is a new writer that just finished posting his first story but has become somewhat depressed because most people hated it and he could see why. He is on the brink of giving up writing because of this, but I/we think this would be a tragedy for a first-time writer to give up so easily.​

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So what are we to do? I/we were thinking we could get J’s creative juices flowing by sending him on his own adventure, but it wouldn’t be as interesting if I/we were to choose. Yes, I/we could choose a fun adventure, but I/we wanted to change it up a bit. This is where you, the ones reading this, come in.​

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So, I/we were thinking this could become much more interesting if I/we took in user ideas and then voted on our favorites. First is what J will look like, and what his other physical attributes are. This could be anything from leaving him as he is, to changing everything about him. Want to make him your favorite fantasy race? Go ahead! Shorter? Taller? Magic powers? Post your ideas and convince others why your idea is best! One caveat is that J gets to weigh one choice in that his least favorite will get negative votes, though he doesn’t get to choose a favorite. Mental changes are also mostly off limit as we want to see him react as he is, though maybe some minor ones might make it through. You can try to give him a new name but don’t expect him to use it, that’s up to him.​

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The second idea I/we want is where we will send J. Will he stay on Earth and have to deal with his new body? Will he go sci-fi? Fantasy? Alternate Earth? The future? The past? The choice doesn’t even need to reflect on what kind of body he ends up with. So he could be a magic user in a sci-fi or have access to futuristic weapons to help him fight against magical creatures! You can make the world as detailed as you want or be vague to leave possibilities open. J doesn’t have any choice in where we send him so don’t hold back, though I/we would request to not be too hard on him. I/we aren’t interested in torturing the poor man. I/We don’t want to break him mentally, I/we want to give him an adventure he can enjoy.​

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I/we think five or six days, until March 4th or 5th, is a good time to hear ideas and then vote on what people like the most, though I/we can wait longer. Voting for someone's physical change and a different person's world is perfectly fine. Please leave your choice in a comment, pm me it, or thumbs up a comment if you like both options. Once the results are in, I/we will search the multi-verse to find the best fit for the winner.​

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From there, I/we will place J wherever he ends up and we can watch how he reacts to his new situation.​

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If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask.​

I was also thinking of posting this on Reddit, but am not sure what subreddit would be the best. If this is worth pursuing, are there any other sites that something like this would get an interest in? Should I approach this in a different way? Is the idea doomed to failure from the beginning?

 

[Yiphen]

The I/we thing is seriously tripping me up.

 

[DivineEternal1]

Could that be part of the reason I'm getting so little interest? I imagine it has more to do with me having little to maybe bad reputation for writing. This project requires some work on the readers part and I don't have the reputation that motivates them to put work into something that might not be good or stall early on. I guess I should work on something else and try this again later if there is any interest in it.

 

[YuriDoggo]

That you're not a well known writer is a big reason. Another reason is that its simply boring to have a blank canvas. Drawing on an already colorful canvas is much more fun. There's a reason readers like fanfiction, you know.

 

[DivineEternal1]

I'm the opposite. I've never liked fanfiction because I feel it isn't "real." I'm not saying there can't be good fanfiction but if it isn't written by the original author then I feel I'm wasting my time. I'd much rather spend my time with my own or someone else's blank canvas. Using someone else's world is easy, making your own may take more effort, but at least it's yours. I would always be way too paranoid using someone else's characters and worried I am getting them too wrong or not doing them justice and always scrutinizing how accurate the fanfic writer is with handling the material.

 

[Yiphen]

Also, I guess another problem is you posted it on spacebattles.com?
Just looking at the website name makes me feel like that isn't a good place to write a story on.

 

[DivineEternal1]

Nah, they have all sorts of random stories there. Tons of anime crossovers. Harry Potter fanfics. They even have a whole section dedicated to a web novel called Worm.