User blog:Fearofthedark/How Original is an In-Universe Story?

As many of you may or may not know, the "Lost Episode" epidemic on this site has resulted in many uninspired, unoriginal, banal works of wretched grammar. These stories, with only a few worthy exceptions (Squidward's Suicide, what up my homie?), are by and large exercises in cliche and devoid of any real writing talent. Any dolt can just make up a "creepy moment x happening in show y" or a "not sure if real or just the work of the devil" story and call it a day. But it takes someone of a slightly higer intelligence level to come up with something a little bit better.

What if a story is told through the eyes of the characters of the show and not by some random viewer? For example, instead of some average joe or mary sue character watching an off-color episode of a televison show, what if the story took place within the boundaries of said program? What if the show is treated as the setting. Why not just leave out the boring, overdone "I was a child and someone let me see this" cliche? Make no reference to the fact that the world is fictional, make it seem real by removing the filler and making the story grow organically through the characters. Make the story start out like the show would normally start and hit the viewer with an unexpected twist.

For example: If you wanted to write a creepy story about a cartoon, say Ed, Edd n Eddy,  and you wanted something creepy to happen, don't just make a stupid "Lost Episode" story. Drop the cliches and start off the story as the show would normally start off: with a seemingly harmless venture. Then, have the creepiness and surprise twists happen as a result of things that would Normally happen in the show (i.e, Eddy's greed causes something horrible to happen).

In my opinion, this can make creepy stories about tv shows much more interesting and can give these stories and the people who write them at least a small shred of their dignity back.