unforum

[J.Fawkes]

I think to sum up what most everyone here has said, ORIGINALITY is what we're looking for. That is originality in how you portray the myth, originality in how you interact with the audience, originality, originality, originality.

Attracting attention requires fine attention yourself to the details of your production. Just like every other production, if you focus on getting views and subscribers rather than making something good, you won't ever truly make something worth staying for, it'll all be spectacle.

Story wise, we want to see something new in the slendy mythos without actually breaking the mythos. I would say don't try to add elements that wouldn't work (ie new villains, new powers, etc). On that note, don't add or use anything unless absolutely necessary. Especially in an ARG where every detail is examined, a little slip of a red herring (unless done on purpose) can really throw off your work.

Originality, Attention, Purpose. It's what makes a good Slendy Story and a good story in general.

[Insulation]

On the notion of structure: personal taste, but the vanity blog is still a lot better than a recycled quest for the missing person/I have to keep a diary because the teacher or doctor says so, provided the narrative doesn't progress according to the typical sequence of news reports->cryptic messages->Slender sighting->memory lapses->OH GOD ITs TRUE.

It allows you to give your characters a sense of history. A blog is tell, don't show. Have them make in-jokes, suddenly go on tangents, making entire entries that are filler, drop links, be opinionated. Long descriptive passages can be pretty jarring if it doesn't fit the blogstyle of the character, especially when a blog switches to a more actiony mode when the story inevitably progresses. Also, avoid swear-filled asscaps entries of the He's at my window oh noes variety(can you imagine someone typing and posting in such a situation instead of running like hell?).

[Zaden]

Gotta be honest: Filler sucks. Hard. Do you know why Marble Hornets is so interesting? Because Jay only uploads when he finds something relevant or unexplained.

Make your protagonist very aware of what is going on. If there's suddenly

"sownvtaplenjiqqamcbtwoamvhgemapasofiezme
I just hacked your account, bucko.

-creepy guy"

your protagonist should 1) notice it 2) be ready to answer questions about it 3) have a reason for not deleting it when someone puts this crap on their page.

For vlogs, most people edit videos before posting them. If there's something outstandingly strange about the footage, they would notice it.

Also, avoid distortion; it's cheesy at this point and most people aren't as good as Troy.

Most importantly, completely disect everything in your mind before you post it. Make sure a lot of it makes sense. If it doesn't make sense, it must also be creepy and not cheesy, because if it doesn't make sense and is not creepy, it's stupid.

[Alloflifedecays]

Don't make your entire story completely dependent on what's going on in ninety other blogs that we all have to go through.

Don't use the mythos as an excuse to make your author insertion persona an unstoppable badass. I'm of the opinion that Zeke Strahm went down that route, did it well, and now no-one else gets to do it.

Do take the time to craft characters. We need to care about them as people for us to be scared for their safety.

Don't be the guy who did 2080. Ever.

[Duckliffe]

Thanks for all your replies, I really wasn't expecting such a great response!

[BrochachoNacho]

I hope it's okay if I aska few questions, myself...

Is it just etiquette here that you cannot be IG here? _{It might be on that long rules page, but I'm far too lazy to read that as I take mytwo hour limited internet quite seriously. BAHA;;}

And would symbolism instead of codes be cool? _Suggestions?

[NoMoreGaems]

You're allowed one in-character post, and that's called a "trailhead". Probably people will still give you a hard time for it, though. After that, retire the in-character account and try to avoid posting in the thread OOC unless the story's over, or something serious happens.

Symbolism's fine, seems like it's thrown around all the time without any inherent meaning in this genre, so it'll be good to have some actually solid symbolism for once ^_^

[RatheadSyndicate]

Really, the fact that you want to start a SLENDERMAN vlog is paramount to the fact that you want to TELL A STORY (I also, as it happens, am in possession of a shift key and like to use it for emphasis)!

That's your first concern, at all times. Tell us a story. We are, as a species and as a web community, hungry for stories. It's in our nature. The vast majority of Slenderman media makes the simple mistake of prioritizing Slender-fuckery and distortion effects over storytelling. Don't do that. If you want advice on what to include and what not to include in your story, you should call it a day right now. You tell us the story, not the other way around. And, really, if the story itself is solid, there. Are. No. Rules.

Now, in regards to this zygote of a story you're gestating, I'm happy to share my opinion (as always, pretentious pedagogic dickhole that I am) about what the Slenderman mythos needs more of.

We need stories with depth. Stories where the protagonists are more than anonymous misery-magnets. Stories where, when bad things happen, we can be manipulated into giving a fuck. The trick of storytelling is to manipulate your audience's emotions without them noticing that they're being manipulated. You are the puppetmaster, not only to your own fictional characters, but to your audience as well.

We need storytellers unafraid to take narrative risks. Storytellers who aren't turned off by concepts like thematic depth, tonal shifts, character development, metaphor and symbolism. We need storytellers who read voraciously in more than one genre, and who watch more than just horror and fantasy movies. Storytellers who can make skillful use of the homage, who can subvert tropes instead of accidentally following them.

Storytellers who OWN THEIR STORIES! (There's that damn shift key again). Be aware of Marble Hornets, and EverymanHYBRID, and TribeTwelve, but for the love of God, don't let what they do dictate what you do, whether it be aping their style or consciously avoiding it.

All of which basically boils down into what I said at the beginning of this long and rambling and unnecessary screed. Tell us a fucking story. The rest will follow.

[Duckliffe]

[BrochachoNacho]

[Zaden]

[NoMoreGaems]

Good point. Don't use a new account, just post as a guest.

Or, do some of the stuff in here:
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6859

[Jsor]