Reader Agency?

[dirk2024]

Perhaps, the writer could start a story, maybe just 1-2k words long. Then direct commenters to propose the next steps and the writer would then follow-up with a majority rule response. Another 1-2k words, then take in more feedback from commenters? And so on, and so on.

The writer would need to be reasonable responsive regarding time between submissions in order to maintain engagement.

 

[SmilingLez]

Perhaps, the writer could start a story, maybe just 1-2k words long. Then direct commenters to propose the next steps and the writer would then follow-up with a majority rule response. Another 1-2k words, then take in more feedback from commenters? And so on, and so on.

The writer would need to be reasonable responsive regarding time between submissions in order to maintain engagement.

I would assume there would be no double anonymity when it comes to the readers.

It would also change the focus of the author's story especially if they did not agree with the majority of readers as to how the story should progress.

I might try that as an experiment but not a regular occurrence

 

[Tio_Narratore]

A choose your option story offers only pseudo agency; the choices are still those of the author. I agree with @pink_silk_glove that all stories offer the reader agency. Umberto Eco put it nicely when he pointed out that all texts are "pretexts," that is, they offer the reader the excuse/pretext for their own story, be it in interpretation, re-imagining, or writing beyond the text, as well as a "pre-text," a text from which to start their own story.

 

[Takesha]

Why u need an agent? You aint gettin paid

Haha

Heh

Sorry

 

[Takesha]

See what i did there

 

[Tio_Narratore]

See what i did there

I read it, but you'll have to get in touch with my agent if you want my response.

 

[THBGato]

Perhaps, the writer could start a story, maybe just 1-2k words long. Then direct commenters to propose the next steps and the writer would then follow-up with a majority rule response. Another 1-2k words, then take in more feedback from commenters? And so on, and so on.

@DawnDuckie is doing just that.

https://www.literotica.com/s/chapter-1-fore-word

 

[anthrodisiac]

In a games forum, one developer wrote:

"I actually made this game to be a femdom game. But then I realized it was far easier to write maledom (the player's agency vs. things happening to the player)."

That led me to think whether there's such a thing as "reader agency". In a game, the player is expected and invited to make choices. In a story or VN, they're more or less either along for the ride, or they get off the bus.

But is there a way for an author to make the reader feel like they are really involved in the story, and more than just observers? So rather than being strapped in and taken on a journey, the reader almost feels like they're "driving the bus"?

My guess is that the best writers do manage this, but I can't really figure out how they do it.

True agency? No. You can build them a world in which they imagine it differently than someone else, but that isn't really agency, that's interpretation. You can build an incredibly comeplling story that makes them feel like they're right there alongside the action, or even as a self-insert, but that's not agency, that's immersion. You can write a second-person story, but that's almost the least amount of agency possible, because it means the "you" (which could be the reader if they read it as such and self-insert into the "you" character) is at the mercy of the author.

Choose your own adventures is closer, but like @Tio_Narratore said, you're still within the confines of the limited set of options. I do think that does give them some agency, as they can pick which paths to take. After all, every decision is limited by the constraints of the reality and confines of the scenario, whether it be video games or even real life. A CYOA isn't all that different from an RPG, as there are multiple avenues that allow the reader to select what they want.

The truest form of agency a reader could have is in directing an author to write a story the way they want. Whether that's on a personal level (author is writing the story for them), through some form of democratic process (asking readers where the story should go next), or commissioning (author is writing the story for them, but money!). A reader has less agency if an author asks where the story should go next, because there are likely to be multiple people vying, each with their own vision, so whoever the author goes with, they get agency, but the rest are denied it. But even in the case where an author is writing the story at the direction of someone else, only one reader (the one who commissioned it) truly has agency, and everyone else who reads it is left as a passenger along for the ride.

 

[alohadave]

I would assume there would be no double anonymity when it comes to the readers.

It would also change the focus of the author's story especially if they did not agree with the majority of readers as to how the story should progress.

I might try that as an experiment but not a regular occurrence

There are authors that do this on their patreons. Patrons get to suggest the direction of the story.

The stories end up being a hodgepodge of meandering storyline that are barely coherent. It becomes more anthology than cohesive story. But the fans are happy because their idea are used.

 

[SmilingLez]

There are authors that do this on their patreons. Patrons get to suggest the direction of the story.

The stories end up being a hodgepodge of meandering storyline that are barely coherent. It becomes more anthology than cohesive story. But the fans are happy because their idea are used.

Don't the Patrons have to pay to suggest the direction of the story? I have never written for other people, don't know if I could do it.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Don't the Patrons have to pay to suggest the direction of the story? I have never written for other people, don't know if I could do it.

Usually, yeah, the writer will have a tier where people can vote in polls or make direct suggestions.

 

[Bamagan]

Perhaps, the writer could start a story, maybe just 1-2k words long. Then direct commenters to propose the next steps and the writer would then follow-up with a majority rule response. Another 1-2k words, then take in more feedback from commenters? And so on, and so on.

The writer would need to be reasonable responsive regarding time between submissions in order to maintain engagement.

The chyoa website functions something like that. It was where I started writing... well, where I started writing smut, anyway. Quite a few stories there invite reader participation. The long series I published here didn't have much reader input, aside from a couple of liaisons requested mid-way through that I probably would have done anyway.

There was another one I participated in, though, where the readers 'played' voices in the protagonist's head, urging her to do depraved or outrageous things. I took over an abandoned branch and (usually) incorporated the suggestions readers made, rolling dice to determine priority (although a few things I just vetoed). I wouldn't really call it agency so much as backseat driving or trying to yank the wheel, but in general that site was a lot more participatory than the readers here tend to be, possibly because so many of the stories there invite some level of reader influence on the outcome. In most cases, if you don't like where the story is headed, you can even write your own branch.

 

[Britva415]

the reader almost feels like they're "driving the bus"

My guess is that the best writers do manage this, but I can't really figure out how they do it.

Did you ever read such a story?

I haven't.

 

[nice90sguy]

Did you ever read such a story?

I haven't.

Me neither, on the whole, but TBH I get that feeling when reading my own stories -- because I'm identiying very closely with the MC. And maybe that's why I write.

So really, I guess I'm just talking about feeling so engaged with a story that it moves along almost exactly as you want it to. So for example, if the MC is faced with a choice, I'm "willing" them to choose one way, and... they do.

When I read OTHER people's stories, I'm actually seeking surprise and the unexpected, so, no, I don't often read stories where it feels like it goes where I'm urging it to go -- because I don't want that, I want the sense of discovery and excitement and to have my expectations thwarted.

I wrote one story a while back about lucid dreaming -- which is about being able to direct your dreams, something I've never been able to do.

For me, the idea of readers having agency ties into the whole dom/sub paradox (where a "submissive" person is often in control of the dynamic).

In a way a writer trying to "please the audience" is example of readers directing the story.