The 12th House was my final project for my Creative Writing class in my first year of my MFA.

I’ve learned throughout my first year in school that I really enjoyed crafting things with my hands. I made a pop-up book, I made sculptures, and I wanted to make something of that caliber for my final project.

The 12th House is a second POV story in which you have inherited your ancestral home. You contemplate on what to do with the house as you reflect on your family, their treatment of you, and what this house means to you. An exploration in how the cycles of our families effects us and what we can do to break them.

There are three versions of this project: The original paper made house for my final, a digital version for easier online distribution/viewing, and I made a game in Twine that has more writing and interactivity, which was my initial intention when making this project (but I didn’t have the time!).

Below are the different versions!

I had to make the digital version on a different website. The only difference between this digital version and the paper house is the format, but all the writing and artwork is the same. I wanted to make sure I had an archive for it to be distributed easier and that way, people can still experience the story and art without having to have a physical paper house.

Please click the banner below to start!

And finally, I made a game on Twine with this story.

My initial intent with this project was to make it a Twine game, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the time needed to make it. So I decided to do it during the summer after my first year was over!

The story has been greatly expanded (as is needed for a Twine game), and the artwork was adjusted to fit the new format better. There are also a few new artwork pieces as well. There are also 2 endings you can pick from.

It can be played on itch.io. Use the widget below to play!