Lights Out Please

I love scary stories and "choose your own adventure" stories, so this is so cool to me! I liked the carnival one because there were more choices.

I especially liked the buried alive story's version of narration where the type appeared on the screen as you read it. It added more suspense and felt more like you were hearing the story play out in real life. All in all, I think the idea of incorporating interactive choices into stories not only keeps attention better, but offers up endless paths of creativity.

I really like the "choose your own ending" aspect of books. I feel they allow you to engage much more as a reader, and to feel personally evolved as a character.

I was particularly drawn to the descriptive writing in the carnival story. Throughout all of the stories, I found it really fascinating to see how this medium changed the way that I perceived a story. For example, the progressive reveal of the story evoked a greater sense of suspense and the encompassing black background created an almost ominous and eerie atmosphere.  

I find it really fascinating how these stories were told with a digital aspect tied to it. Not only is there some freedom with choosing how the story plays out, but the author also has the freedom to add emphasis on certain phrases or manipulate the timing of when phrases would appear on the screen. I think these tools help the author convey the mood of the story in a creative manner. It also allows the reader to take a moment and absorb each piece of text presented before moving on to the next parts of the story.

The three pieces I read managed to get under my skin in a different way than any other scary story I may have read in a book, or heard around a campfire. The way the stories were presented added a new level of eerieness, especially since I was alone and it was midnight when I read them. The background of most of the stories being black and the fact that everything is silent is very unsettling. I definitely did not feel alone while I was reading them. I did like how I had to click on a word to get each new part of a story, it was more engaging than if the story was already laid out before me on one page. Another interesting part of this reading experience was in the story about the demon and the doll, when the narrator heard footsteps coming down the stairs and each "thump" appeared bigger than the one before, popping up in a similar rhythm as actual footsteps.

I found this whole site to be very interesting and I'm glad I got to read these short stories as part of a class. My favorite was the being buried alive one because even though I knew it was a site for scary stories and that she likely would not make it out alive, I found myself still wanting her to make it. I think the interactive nature of the site really brings out the emotions from the reader and makes it scarier overall.

These "choose your own adventure" scary stories were very unique. They were not the typical choose your own adventure story and not the typical scary story either. Each story offered an interesting perspective based on the point of view it was being told from. Although there were not that many options at times where you could choose one or the other, the one option sentences still made me feel more engrossed in the story. Each of the three stories employed other visual devices as well. The carnival story had the normal paragraph with bolded words as choices. The grave story had text show up as you read it. The doll story varied font size to emphasize aspects of the story. Overall it was a very interesting medium for telling spooky stories.

I really liked the scary stories that I read as well as the medium used to tell these stories. I especially liked the ones that allowed you to click on an option of your choice rather than click just so that the story can continue. I think that the interactive nature of the website makes each of the stories way more suspenseful and creative than they would have been. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the interactive reading. Not only were the stories themselves engaging, but the ability to choose your own path was fun and kept my attention. It felt real. 

I thought the interactive format of these short stories adds immensely to the atmosphere of the entire reading experience. The one about being buried alive has a progression that makes the story much more engrossing; the way in which the writing appears on the screen without clicking adds a layer of suspense that follows the ominous path of the story. The visual and rhythmic aspects, such as the black background and pace of the writing, creates an eerie atmosphere that transports the reader into another world.

I really enjoyed the interactive readings. I noted how each author used different fonts, sizing, and colors to create the tone they were looking for. I think that the nature of the interactive medium makes it much more personal and real than if I were just reading a book of scary stories. 

The reading of the different pieces were substantially enhanced by allowing each reader's story to follow interactive responses. It made the reading more entertaining, and as a result, was completely focused the whole time. It was the exact opposite of reading from a textbook and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was so cool to read stories in this new interactive way! There were aspects I enjoyed of all three stories: the decision-making of the carnival story, the change in font size to emphasize certain words in the doll/demon story, and the timing in between lines of the buried alive story to create a slow, sinister mood. Reading the stories in this unique way enabled me to imagine myself sitting around a campfire listening to spooky stories much better than simply reading stories on paper would. 

I actually enjoyed reading these short stories, which came as a surprise to me because I am normally not the one for anything horror related. However, what attracted me from the start was the way they were written. The stories were hauntingly descriptive and very unique in their writing styles. All three either hinted at some sort of hidden message or directly addressed it. The common theme seemed to be some sort of mental trauma. Also, the part where you can choose what happens in the story is really an interesting element that really made it more exciting as well. All three of these stories were very well written and presented. 

The interactive format of this story was really interesting and I enjoyed going through the stories! Having to click through the story, make a few choices, and really pay attention to the screen made the experience more engaging and immersive. I think this format allows for more creativity and flexibility for the writer, by allowing text fade-ins and timing, changes to the font size and color. It gives them more control over the mood and pace of the work and adds a new layer of engagement for the audience. 

I love scary stories and the choose your own adventure format seems to have a lot of appeal, but I feel like the choices are always plotted in a way that free will is only an illusion and that the end will ultimately remain the same. That said, the amount of descriptive language that showed up in the Lights Out game really stood out to me and began to create a very immersive interface, so as long as the choices remain choices that alter the storyline, this type of format could be awesome for storytelling in an interactive form.

I hate being scared so I really did not enjoy the content of these stories. However, I can definitely acknowledge that they were well done. I appreciated the interactive nature of the stories, as well as their form and the colors, fonts, and font sizes used. Personally, I felt that the font size had the greatest impact on the way the story was told, as it made the tales feel more intense at certain points.

I particularly enjoyed the format. Giving the reader choices about the direction the story takes makes them feel more engaged. Additionally, breaking the story up into smaller segments instead of a long article made it easier to pay attention and avoid distraction. Overall, the layout and the stylistic components (colors, fonts, font sizes, etc.) proved to be very effective.

Conventional storytelling is somewhat unilateral; the author directs their ideas towards the audience, and the readers solely function as recipients. This medium challenges the status quo by granting the audience agency. This is evidenced by “The One About the Carnival” and the audience’s ability to select the direction of the plot. This generated a more personalized reading experience and fostered a more reciprocal relationship between the audience and author.  

I typically don't enjoy scary stories or media pertaining to horror stories, but I found these stories pretty interesting. I really liked the one about being buried alive because of all of the suspense it contained. Overall, I enjoyed reading these stories because of the interactive part that the website played in telling the stories which added to the suspense and horror of it all by immersing the reader in each story. One thing that could be added to the website to make it even more jarring is music to go along with each story. I think that these were very interesting readings and that this is a very creative and unique way to tell stories.

I always feel weird reading and watching scary stories because it is difficult to start them (because I am scared of fear ironically). However, once I begin a scary story, it is almost addictive and I cannot stop. 

This entire activity scares me because I recently watched Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, which messed me up! It freaked me out and had me and my best friend questioning our full existences!

For the Carnival story, it took me about half of the narrative to realize that the main character was a Scare crow/Jack-O-Lantern and not me, a human. Imagining myself in its place made it a lot more gory and personable, which combined created terror. I liked how there were options however, I am confused as to why there was a majority of pages with just one option? What is the point of that? Maybe getting to profound, but perhaps it is to show that we may feel like we have free will but in reality if our options are stated and limited, is that truly liberty?

The buried alive story was terrifying. I really appreciated how the writer made conscious decisions to change how and where the words appear (i.e., some sentences faded onto screen, others just popped onto screen; there were different fonts, etc.). 

The Demon and Doll Eyes was interesting. I cannot decide if the narrator is actually a human trying to stand still or if they are a literal doll and the demon is their human owner (kind of like Toy Story when they had to stand still. Either way, it is terrifying... Also having to choose the large and bolded "thump" made me even more scared because it was like I had to make the conscious effort to choose the terror effect.

I especially liked how interactive the three scary stories were. I usually struggle to focus on what I read, but since I had options to pick which part of the story came next and parts of the story would continually appear on the screen as I was reading, it wasn't as difficult to focus. Rather than just reading, I felt like I was actually at the setting, listening to the stories be told as they happened. 

Ive always been a big fan of reading books with suspense. Not exactly horror themed books but just any work of literature that was suspense heavy, so reading the Lights out passages was very Entertaining. I enjoyed reading the Carnival passages because in my opinion it created and showed the most suspense out of all of the passages which kept me engaged. 

Ive always been a big fan of reading books with suspense. Not exactly horror themed books but just any work of literature that was suspense heavy, so reading the Lights out passages was very Entertaining. I enjoyed reading the Carnival passages because in my opinion it created and showed the most suspense out of all of the passages which kept me engaged.