Origami Honey

All of my writing is about me to some extent, but I think there's something uniquely special about combining my love of folk punk music, midwest aesthetic, and vampires into a singular piece of work.

A helpful tool for creators of any fiction, I think, is to ask yourself "What can be done in this medium that can't be done in another?"

For example, let's say I'm writing a novel. Why? Why am I choosing to tell my story, whatever it may be, as a novel? Why not a video game? Disco Elysium is literally a novel in video game form. Other than lacking technical skill or time, why can't this story be told through the medium of video game? So now we're actually asking "What does the medium of novel writing have that the medium of video game doesn't?" and "Why does X work for my story, but not Y?" You get it?

In this hypothetical scenario, I'm writing a a novel instead of making a video game because I want my story to be linear, I don't think player/reader interaction would serve the story, this story works better if it doesn't involve moral choices being made by an outside participant, etc. Of course some of these reasons are entirely personal and don't apply to all video games, but I'm sure you get my point.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the medium I've chosen? Could I switch to another one? Do I want to? Would this be better off as a video game, a novel, a movie, a short film, a play, a narrative-based music album, a comic book? What am I making, how should I make it, should I invest in the skills to make it X instead of Y?