How do we spread a story across several different media without alienating our readers?
I thought about spreading a story across a video game, comic book and novel, but I am not sure if doing this will alienate my readers, because I don't believe people want to spend a ton of money to experience the whole story, so how do you manage to do this without alienating your readers? Is there some kind of guideline or rule for this?
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2 answers
Make each medium a complete story in it's own right
This can be done, though it is rarely done well. The most important part is to make each part of the story a complete story on it's own. Readers don't want to build up to a climatic moment only to be told "now go play this game to find out what happens."
You can't expect a reader to have seen/player/read everything in the other mediums. It must be possible for someone who only wants to read the books to read them and not feel like they are missing something. Dedicated fans of your story will seek it out in any form, but less dedicated will only stick to their preferred medium.
Each component can compliment the others but shouldn't change them. The events of your video-game story can impact the book but shouldn't be central to it. It may be a good idea to decide on a core medium for the main story and then use other formats to add lore or side plots that aren't required to enjoy the main arc.
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What @linksassin says is a good approach, but it's not necessarily the only approach. Sometimes, one medium is the "main story", while the others are "supplementary material". This is the approach taken by Bioware, and several other strong videogame companies: the main story is in the games, while comics and books serve as tie-ins. They are not necessary for the understanding of the games, they get Easter-egg mention in the main games. But they do not stand on their own either. If you wish, they serve as "merchandise" for the games, and keep interest up while the next game is in development.
With other games, most of the story is in the books, while the games focus solely on play. The story is a nice extra, but it is not necessary for gameplay. Nonetheless, the game is still the main product, while the stories are "merchandise" for game fans.
On the other hand, the Harry Potter videogames rely on familiarity with the books or the films, while the Star Trek books and videogames rely on the TV series.
In all those examples, the story has achieved sufficient popularity in its primary medium, that it can rely on part of a strong fanbase to branch into other media as well, generating more profit.
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