unforum

[Duckliffe]

Advice for a slendy vlog/blog in development?

[AfterHours]

1. Have SOME sort of plan before you start it. That's pretty important.
2. Don't over use the Operator symbol (X). Maybe use it once, twice at most.
3. Try having a decent Slenderman costume.
4. Don't be like TheDreamingRoom
5. PM a prominent member on here about your series, and ask them to make a thread about it.
6. Don't be like TheDreamingRoom
7. Don't be like UnNatural Events
8. Don't be like TheDreamingRoom

[HunterEris]

[DoubleDog]

Well I've got a pretty amateur one going myself(see the link in my signature) and while I can't really offer many tips for getting viewers and followers, I can tell you that there IS one thing you should probably avoid using: The Operator Symbol. Nearly all the non-major vlogs/blogs use this all the time. We came up with something original for a symbol that looks cool IMO. We do have a few cameo appearances of the Operator symbol in our latest video though, but filming them actually happened by accident.
Also, long-term memory loss. It's okay to lose small bits of memory but the whole "I don't remember this happening" thing is getting really old.

tl;dr: Just upload your stuff. Somebody's bound to discover it. Also, don't overuse the Operator Symbol or long-term memory loss.

P.S. Don't put too many filler videos in between the plot-advancing videos. The audience may lose interest.

That's really all I can offer in the info department, though.

[Chukwa]

You must develop the mythos. No one is really interested in seeing what we've already seen. Take something that people accept as part of the mythos, and twist it, deconstruct it, subvert it, SOMETHING.

Character development is important. Slenderman stalks PEOPLE. People have PERSONALITIES. I have a SHIFT KEY.

IAMANGRY!

[Duckliffe]

[HunterEris]

Alright, glad I didn't go that route.

I did all 8 (6?) things on that list myself, so I should be fine.

Oh, and gamejackers can try at mine, but I don't follow the mythos quite as closely as some other people for that to work

[Acora]

[Jsor]

It's a careful balancing act, but generally:

Don't be afraid to experiment, but also make sure it stays within the mythos with its general feel. Don't do anything blatantly rip-offy, we've already read JAFool and watched Marble Hornets, EMH, and Tribe Twelve. At the same time, there needs to be some connection somewhere, it would pay to rewatch some of these series (it shouldn't take more than a week or two to rewatch all of them if you know the basics already). What are the things that all of them do? Now, don't blindly follow it because "every series did it." Think critically about whether it really, really works or is necessary, maybe it worked then but it's become cliche. Even so, distilling some of the necessities will guarantee you're not just writing some other mythos with Slendy's name attached to it.

That said, if you need to use a trope, go for it! Tropes are not bad, as long as they're not overused, and like I said, make sure your series is connected to the feel of the mythos. Just because EMH used fake medical reports and letters doesn't mean they're off-limits to you. Now, maybe you want to avoid these letters being directly connected to your main characters as children, or being about an old Children's Hospital, but it's not like you can't use SCP-Foundation type reports just because EMH did it.

Read. Read read read. Read some more. Watch some more. I'm not saying you have to be familiar with every Slenderman series, creepy ARG, and piece of cosmic horror in the universe before you start writing, but while you're writing the ARG just make sure you're broadening your horizons. And here's one tip: make sure you engage with at least a few atrocious things. Following 80 terrible things for 1 hour each is generally a better use of your time than reading one moderately well done work for 80 hours. Learning what doesn't work, and analyzing what made something fail is just as important as distilling and emulating what does work. After you've learned this, maybe even try and watch some of the sacred cows and see if they made any of the same mistakes, they certainly aren't perfect, and seeing their flaws in a new light can be pretty enlightening.

I'd say the best plan of attack would be to go somewhere that hasn't been gone before, but is specific to your talents and fits with the mythos. Knock yourself out, go back to the roots of the mythos. Explore the children, maybe your character is a Slenderstalked child's parent, maybe you're a child psychologist, maybe you could even write in child POV (be very careful with that one). Maybe you're a scientist/folklorist that is studying Slenderman (has this been done? I think it has). Hell, maybe the character is incidental to all of the happenings around him, is never directly attacked, and just observing the world going to hell around him. Are you good at ROM hacks or game mods? Slendy affects technology quite a bit, maybe tie games into it (just don't turn into Jadusable/Within Hubris). That's not an exhaustive list, just try what you think will work and suit your talents.

The point is, avoid the cliche, use the necessities, and play to your strengths. If you do those, you should be able to write something that's pretty good. If you can stick to those, character development and plot will follow naturally from your planning.

[AfterHours]

[NoMoreGaems]

[awakeasaurusrex]

Do NOT use binary.

Do NOT use morse code.

Do NOT use the Freaking UnaCceptable KIddy excuse for eNcodinG a message in a DOcumeNT where you throw in capital letters at oDd pOinTs to spell a message as tHough any Idiot would ever delude themselveS InTo thinking there'S a SnOwball'S chance in hell of The message not being foUnd out and Penetrated wIthin a Dozen seconds of being posted.

Do NOT use base64.

Do NOT use hex.

Do NOT use dec/char.

Do NOT use ROT13. Hell, don't use ROTanything.

I would almost say do not use codes at all. But at the very least, don't have your insane ToTheArk-esque puppet of Slender Man whose brains and individuality have been scooped out leaving a fumbling shell doing the faceless one's bidding communicate using bloody bullshit kiddy codes which can be decided within fifteen minutes using readily available tools online.

99.99999999999% of all the codes that appear in Slendyblogs and vlogs are of this nature. And almost all the blogs and vlogs that decide to use codes also say to themselves "Hey, you know what's better than using one coded message? Using dozens and dozens of them!" The result is overkill. Codes were never scary. By this point, codes aren't even interesting. They've become so, so, so overplayed that if I see a code in a Slendervlog I seriously reconsider continuing with it because really, how desperate do you have to be to clamber onto this particular bandwagon at this late stage in the game?

The really irritating thing is that the codes serve no purpose. They are so easily decoded the messages they involve might as well not even be encoded. I wouldn't get mad about a properly subtle code (like the hidden binary in the early ToTheArk videos, or AMIAPROPHET from TTA's latest), but in almost all cases these days the code acts as nothing more than a means of wasting ten seconds a reader/viewer's time. Don't bother with the code, just write in English and work out how to scare us that way, if that's too much of a challenge for you then maybe Slenderblogging/vlogging as a whole just isn't something you're ever going to get good at.

And having your characters say "I got this creepy message BUT ZOMG I DON'T UNDERSTAND" and then hold up this bloody idiotic baby code for idiot babies is not and has never been a good way to make your series interactive. First off, the only "interaction" involved is actually completely linear; audience cracks code, audience tells character, job done. For any interaction to be at all meaningful there must be some element of choice and codes don't provide that.

But secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the fact that your characters can't work out how to crack those codes after five minutes of Googling ruins whatever characterisation you've already established. They're not sympathetic characters you want to succeed any more, they're stumbling morons who are too incompetent to survive.

OH NO BINARY WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Really, main character? Really? Well, if you have to ask me I'd say the fact that you can't decode it under your own steam means that you might as well lie down and let Slender Man eat you, because you're not just too dumb to beat the guy, you're too dumb to beat a code which you can crack just by googling "binary translator" and copy-pasting crap into the right box. In short, that binary - and the fact that you cannot crack it means that you are profoundly mentally retarded and when Slender Man bags up your organs the average IQ of your region will rocket up by several percentiles.

Anyway, looking forward to your Slendyvlog Duckliffe, the fact you are seeking feedback and advice first makes me hopeful.[/i][/u]

[Jsor]

[Insulation]

Never use the phrase "Dear non-existent readers" or any variation thereof. Don't start a blog with your character apologizing for creating a blog or wondering why anyone would ever want to read about their oh-so mundane life. If you're going to have a NORP as a protagonist, flesh out his life. Make it so that when Slendy comes along, it does not only have an impact on his sanity but also on the more practical aspects of his life.

If you have a proxy harassing your blog, by the gods think of a more realistic notion than 'oh noes, an anonymous idiot is posting gibberish codes and cryptic messages onto my blog, yet I undertake no action to block him or deleted his entries'. Keyloggers, forgetting to log out, plenty of explanations for the proxy being able to do what he does without resorting to an generic 'haxxored' and be done with it.

[awakeasaurusrex]

On that note: unless the blog is something the main character is specifically starting up to chronicle the weird shit that's been happening to them, think of them to have a reason to blog/vlog in the first place. Watching people fumbling about blogging about nothing is just dull - plus, having a concept for the blog lends structure. EverymanHYBRID had the fitness series, TribeTwelve had the memorial angle, even MH had the student film to give some rationale for why people started filming stuff in the first place.