2025 Halloween “Interactive” Fiction – Instructions
It’s time! Our yearly Halloween “Interactive” Fiction begins tomorrow! As always, it’ll be spooky, queer, and a whole lot of fun!
Last year we went very urban fantasy; this one’s going to be a bit more uneasy horror, with themes of disconnection, identity, loss, and rediscovery. You’ll meet several creepy crawlies in need of affection, help, and comfort. Or, perhaps, in need of fresh victims. It’ll be up to you how this ends up going for our isolated protagonist!
How it works:
- On October 1, I’ll put up the first section of a story.
- By no later than 3 pm PST the next day (check your time zone against the world clock), please leave a comment to the post (i.e. a post goes up on Oct 1 —> You have until 3 pm PST on Oct 2 to comment).
- Comments should be suggestions for the protagonist specifically. Generally, this will be an action or something for them to consider.
- You can always just +1 other people’s ideas if you like what they’ve said!
- The next section of the story will get posted between approximately 5-9 pm PST on the next day.
- We repeat this every day through October (or until the story comes to a natural end)!
- Please only leave suggestions on the most recent post — if we’ve already moved on, I won’t be able to fold the suggestion in.
As noted, you can only advise the protagonist from the other side of the screen. You can’t tell the villain to surrender, but you can tell the protagonist, “Beg the villain to surrender.” If suggestions contradict each other, I’ll pick either the one most people have suggested or the one the character is most likely to do based on their established personality.
For a better idea of how this works, take a look through the Halloween IF archives to see what we did in previous years.
“Do I have to check back every day?”
I’d love it if you came back and kept playing! This game only works if people participate, so don’t be shy!
But don’t feel that you have to comment or follow along every day: it’s OK to hop in and out as you like.
If you want to participate regularly but are worried about forgetting to check in, you can put your email in to “Get Email Updates” in the page footer, and you’ll receive an email every time the blog is updated with a new post. (You can always unsubscribe if it ends up not working for you! I don’t update all that often outside of the Halloween event, so there won’t be any spam.) If you’re not seeing it in the footer, it’s because adblockers sometimes hide email fields — you can pause the adblocker just long enough to subscribe, then block ads again, I don’t mind.
KICKOFF COMMENTS
To get us kicked off, comment with an oddity that might be found in a rentable cabin in the woods. Nothing powerful (no firearms or magical artifacts), but just a curiosity. Something a previous guest left behind, or was put in as decor or a gratuity from the owner, or maybe even that our protagonist’s family helped pack for them.
The Fine Print
I reserve all rights to this work. If I eventually get this published in any form that requires me to take this version down, I will send copies of this online version, with comments left intact, to everyone who contributed suggestions, if I am reasonably able to get in contact with them.
10 Comments
c
slightly larger than you think it would be mounted alligator head
Dewan J. Haque
Compass/camping multi tool with more dials than explanations.
Madeleine
An oddity for a cabin: an old, cracked, battery-operated lantern with a layer of dead moths accumulated inside.
Talia
An old school ship in a bottle.
ng
a chunk of petrified wood
Lexi
A music box missing its winding key. The figure of a dancer inside can be turned to hear the tune, but without the mechanism setting the speed, it just doesn’t sound right.
Vikarmic
A small chunk of amber, worn smooth by handling. There’s something preserved inside, but it’s difficult to tell exactly what.
Carolyn
Odd family photos
Jess
A collection of baby teeth
Char/Charles Aznable/Hieronymous Di Colonna/Hieronymous Zephyrinus/MatrixAgentsSJB/Skivx/SpiegelGeist
A lot of these are quite good!
Some more objects I think might be at such a cabin (feel free to choose whatever, or none of em! 🙂 ):
Skiing/Snowboarding gear (poles, skiis, snowboard, etc.)
Hiking gear (boots, backpack, tent, etc.)
First aid bag/kit
Filled fuel canisters of some kind (diesel, gasoline, oil, etc) for some kind of generator
Fishing gear (poles, bait, tacklebox, etc)
Weather monitoring equipment (detecting temperature, wind speed, air pressure, humidity, etc.)
Radio (to contact any rangers in the area)
Now for oddities:
The skull of an unidentifiable thing (animal?)
Motion tracking system (lights, thermal imaging, etc.) (from the documentation of the use of it, it’s clearly for something large, but no mention of bears….)
Some esoteric/occult amulet or object of some kind
Some esoteric/occult books
Radio (to listen to, but it only receives Number Stations (a fascinating rabbit hole!) and frequencies that shouldn’t be in use or exist)
Multiple journals from previous occupants and/or the owners over the years
Handwritten list of radio contacts (some seem….odd…)
A basement that goes down multiple layers/a nuclear bomb/fallout shelter (why would a isolated cabin in the woods need an extremely deep basement/fallout shelter???)
Esoteric/Occult Tapestries (Paintings are so gauche, Tapestries are in! 😉 🙂 )
A massive and elaborate chandelier made out of unidentifiable (animal?) bones, emitting a soothing light of an unnatural color (from outer space???) that seems to induce sleep and/or unnatural calm/passivity (I don’t see any wiring anywhere….)
the Resonator (had Jeffrey Combs on the brain, so From Beyond came to mind lol!)
Sorry if the suggestions are bad, and thank you for all the work that you do! Have a great week! 🙂