Interest in a Choose Your Own Adventure-type story?

[Disciple]

(Cross-posted from this board's regular Stories forum.)

I've been kicking this idea around in my head for a while now, based partially on a very active (and entertaining) CYOA thread on another forum I frequent. For those who aren't familiar with the concept, it'll be part-story and part-game, where I write little chunks of story that always end with the POV character(s) facing some kind of decision. Their various options will be spelled out, and listed A.), B.), and so on.

You, my fellow forum-goers, will vote on which direction you want the story to go in. I'll wait a set amount of time (or maybe for a set amount of votes to trickle in) before doing the next chunk of story, and tacking on the corresponding list of options.

Of course, the only way I'll be able to do this is if sufficient numbers of you are interested in participating. How about it, everyone?

(Please note that if this does go through, there's a 90% chance that I'll make the story centered on the Dynamic Duo of Batgirl and a female Robin. Just personal preference. I may be open to other suggestions, though).

[sharon-in-peril]

Gorgeous idea hon

[dpac777]

I'm in!

[HeroineTard]

I'd love to see an Electra Woman & Dynagirl choose your own adventure.

Half the options lead to a heroic victory while the other half of the options lead to a humiliating defeat and brutal rape by the villains.
It would be great to be able to choose to resist or submit once captured and bound by the villains.

[Disciple]

Ah, it's been ages since I last saw ED & DG. I might find some way to work them into the CYOA, but I might need someone familiar with the series to help me co-write (hint, hint).

[Superheroinefan15]

I love this idea!

[Blue-Scion]

seems pretty cool i ill be reading

[harriertalon]

Ah, it's been ages since I last saw ED & DG. I might find some way to work them into the CYOA, but I might need someone familiar with the series to help me co-write (hint, hint).

<<<---- See my avatar. Hint taken.

[Disciple]

Where were you six months ago?

Seriously - I've already partially written the CYOA, and then left it to rot on the vine (as I sometimes do). I dunno if I'll ever pick it back up or write a new one.

I'd have no problem with discussing EWDG with you (or anyone else), though.

(Also, your avatar seems to be kaput, so you might wanna get it fixed.)

[harriertalon]

Hmmm...it's showing up for me. Nobody else seeing EW & DG in my avatar spot?

Also sorry about not checking the dates...still if you ever decide to pick it back up, let me know.

[ladytania]

I have thought about this idea, I think it would e a fantastic idea...but it would take forever to do!

[Philo Hunter]

Do you all know about Inklewriter? It's a web site that allows you to write CYOA type stories with limited logic (like tracking how much of something you have, only showing certain choices if you've past certain points). It's free to use and you can share a link to your story with anyone. You can also, for a small fee, have them convert your story to an epub. I'm in the middle of writing a HUGE one that I plan on publishing to Amazon.

[Void]

Thanks for the pointer, I will definitely look this up because I've been keen for a while to try my hand at a proper CYOA-style story. How have you found writing the one you are working on? What perspective did you opt to write it in?

[Philo Hunter]

I'm writing it present tense so the readers choices feel more action oriented. The choices are worded as if you are the narrator, not the main character. It's still pretty early but I wouldn't mind sharing the temporary link via pm for it if anyone wants to Alpha test the story and give me some feed back. Like I said, it's a HUGE project and I only have one area (out of about 10) really fleshed out.

As far as how I find it, well, Inkle is an amazing tool but it has a few frustrating quirks. If you you are copy pasting things into it (which I do, I do first draft stuff in Scrivner) you have to do it paragraph by paragraph. The program breaks paragraphs into different bubbles, which is cool because you can link stuff back to any of these bubbles, but it's a pain in the ass for bigger entries.

It has some pretty powerful logic tools, but their guide is annoyingly badly written.

It is also something you have to write in through the web portal. It saves every few minutes, which is cool, but if your internet connection breaks for a bit when it reconnects it will save your story as a new file with the exact name. If you don't know its doing that it can be very confusing the next time you sign in and see multiple versions of your story.

[Void]

Yeah, I've always been a touch daunted by how intricate it could be. I will give Inkle a whirl and see if I don't get completely lost. It also seems like an epic and repetitive work load to put in branching options, which again is pretty intimidating.

I wish you all the best with it. Be sure to post up a link when you're done - it sounds like a winning premise in my books.

[Philo Hunter]

I'll definitely put a link up once it's on Amazon. And yeah, it's pretty daunting. The different branching story arches have a tendencies of growing in number as you write as well. It probably won't be done till the middle of next year some time with as big as it is. I might to a shorter, simpler one before then.

And Omega Woman, sorry for making the thread kind of wonder away from your stuff. Do you want us to create a new Inkle themed thread?