User blog comment:RisingFusion/Getting tired of this/@comment-25941663-20150828223536

In my opinion, most creepypastas shouldn't be character-focused. They should be event-driven instead. That means while character development is nice, the story should be focused on things happening to the character and how the character reacts to them. So the character winning/failing doesn't matter, all that matters is how the character won/failed (and everything that led to that). There's a slight difference between those, and I just hope I'm getting my point across.

Also, ambiguous endings are much better in my opinion than clear ones. The same goes for non-endings. By that I mean stories that end with a revelation, not a conclusion. You can read my short story I Am a Big Boy as an example of that. Essentially there is no story arc, just some events that ultimately lead to a revelation. It is hard to pull off, but it can make for very interesting reads.

Lastly, and I can't stress this enough, I really don't like stories that focus entirely on characters. Most of the time, I simply don't care what happens to main characters. I want to get scared, feel intrigued, or be creeped out. If someone focuses the story too much on character development, and everything that goes with it, I will simply get bored. That is the reason why of the Bedtime series, I only enjoyed the first chapter. After that, they became too character-focused.

One good example of a character-focused story is For Love and Hot Chocolate by Banning. And it was perfectly written, so it doesn't really count.