fiction - brigits_flame - hats

[hwango]

Mr. Slate awakened disoriented and uncertain. What was happening? Where was he? With eyes still blurry from sleep he inspected his surroundings, and learned little from them. The room in which he lay was curiously devoid of furnishing – in fact, Mr. Slate would go so far as to say that the place looked somehow unfinished. The only noteworthy feature of the room was a simple row of hooks by the door, on which hung a pair of hats. Ah, yes – the door. He was to go outside. But obviously, before going outside, he should put on his hat.

He rose to his feet and took a few unsteady steps towards the door. Leaning against the wall for support, he considered the hats.

The first hat was a dusty brown fedora. In was covered with tiny pits and scratches and speckled with a few tiny burns. There was a small piece of the brim missing in a shape that suggested something had taken a bite from it. It radiated a sense of adventure and excitement.

The second hat was a bowler hat of a type that a gentlemen might wear. In sharp contrast to the fedora it was immaculately clean and clearly well cared-for. A faintly floral scent lingered about it, but it was no flower Mr. Slate could identify. This hat exuded a sense of refinement edged with a faintly alien quality he could not quite name.

Mr. Slate stood leaning against the wall for some time before finally selecting a hat, placing it on his head, and stepping through the door.

Which hat did Mr. Slate choose?

The Fedora

The Bowler Hat

[Yes, really - click on one of them]

Comments

[katden.livejournal.com]

You sir, entertain me beyond reason.

*two thumbs up*
*hands over the Oscar*
*winner, winner, chicken dinner*

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Thanks! - I really wasn't sure how this one would go over with readers, so I''m glad to hear you enjoyed it so much!

[writteninsight.livejournal.com]

This is brilliant!

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I wasn't sure what people were going to think of this, and I'm glad people liked it.

[mr-lexington.livejournal.com]

Ha. Hah ha ha!

Awesome.

Of course, 1) I clicked through each one, and 2) the last one I saw ended with "it was a good hat."

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Yes, that poor hat. And it's too bad about Slate, too. = )

Glad you were entertained!

[lolafalola.livejournal.com]

That was incredible! What a great idea and a wonderful way to tell a series of stories.

I loved all them all.

Great job and good luck!

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed them!

[missflyer.livejournal.com]

Loved it! I went through one scenario, then just had to go through all the others. Yes, ALL of them! And loved each of them, to boot!

and I think katden said it best, so I ditto her *applause*

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Hah, I wasn't sure if people would go back and do them all...I suppose it might depend on whether the first one was any fun. Glad you enjoyed them!

[vyvyan-wilde.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I read through all the scenarios and enjoyed them very much. The contrast between the fedora and the bowler hat routes (one funny and fast-paced, the other more detailed and creepy) was great.
I've always wanted to create one of these, but the amount of time they must take has always been intimidating. You put a lot of care into this, down to little touches like the icon corresponding to which route the reader takes. Well done!

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I really wanted each hat to feel very different and tell a completely different kind of story, and I'm glad it was so noticable.

As for the amount of time involved...it was an even bigger project than I thought it might be. Originally there were going to be three hats and a whole seperate branch in which Derby/Lord Slate didn't follow the bird any further into the maze. But it was just too much, and I'm not sure I would have even made the deadline, to say nothing of how much of a zombie I would have been. Even in its abridged form this turned out to be over 4,000 words if you read every piece, which probably makes it the longest thing I've written for the activity.

I'm glad you liked the individual icons! I made a whole seperate journal to post the pieces so I wouldn't be spamming my regular journal, and thought that as long as I suddenly had space for new icons I might as well use it. = )

[vyvyan-wilde.livejournal.com]

I can definitely believe it would be time consuming- it's hard enough writing one story with a beginning, middle, and end, to say nothing of having multiple ones, making them all interesting, and having them connect in some places. I am surprised it was 4000 words altogether, though. It didn't feel like that much, but I guess when you're enjoying yourself you don't realize how long something is.

I just remembered something I noticed when I was reading and that's that this story isn't written in the second person. I don't think I've ever read an interactive/choose-your-own-adventure book that wasn't all "which door do you pick", etc. Very interesting!

[hwango.livejournal.com]

I always found it kind of annoying that choose-your-own-adventures would tell me that I did things that were plainly stupid, or that I had been killed, or what have you. Besides, I didn't want to say that "you" were Mr. Slate - that hardly seems fair to female readers - and I really wanted to use that name because the character is a blank slate until you pick a hat. I did catch myself typing "you" a bunch of times while writing, though, because it's just so ingrained that that's the pronoun used in these things. = )