Choose your own adventure books

2874 Views 36 Replies 19 Participants Last post by markbrandonpowell, Jun 1, 2015

markbrandonpowell

Discussion Starter · May 29, 2015

I was having a thought... Which I know is hazardous to my health.

Do people make choose your own adventure ebooks?

I was looking around and I found a few, but they were very old.

Anyone think its a good idea to put the time into. I quickly came up with how I would want to do it. Trilogy, book one 3 endings, book two 6, book three 12. Just typing and rereading those makes me realize just how big an undertaking this would be. I just like the idea that one main character would be given multiple outcomes.

Just wanted to talk to some other writers about this before I got from cold wet toes, to death by hypothermia. That or I could be hoisted up upon a throne made of diamond unicorns. Which is atop a set of smaller yet equally magnificent golden thrones.

1 - 20 of 37 Posts

cinisajoy

· #2 · May 29, 2015

Yes some do, but they cannot use choose your own adventure because that term is trademarked.

markbrandonpowell

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 29, 2015

cinisajoy said:
Yes some do, but they cannot use choose your own adventure because that term is trademarked.

That's good to know. Thanks

soyeljefe

· #4 · May 29, 2015

I really like the idea, and I've toyed around with it a little in the past. I've never gone for it, but I think it would be something worth trying out. It certainly sounds like a real task to get to what you're planning, but if you're devoted enough it sounds like a good idea. If you do go for it, keep us updated on how it turns out!

cinisajoy

· #5 · May 29, 2015

markbrandonpowell said:
That's good to know. Thanks

You are welcome. I learned that when a friend got a take down notice.
Glad I could help.
Oh I like those books. Just make sure they work on e -ink ereader.

Scatterdown

· #6 · May 29, 2015

Probably off topic, but your covers are fantastic, Mark! Who does them?

markbrandonpowell

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 29, 2015

ChaseLeigh said:
Probably off topic, but your covers are fantastic, Mark! Who does them?

Of course, I got them all from 99 designs, and I would love to give them out. It supports my artists and makes sure they are there when I need them again.

Whisper and Fury cover
https://99designs.com/profiles/1279306

Cypher Theorem Covers
https://99designs.com/profiles/1580162

Also thanks for the nice words, I love them too.

Carborundorum

· #8 · May 29, 2015

Not 'adventure' per se, but Neil Patrick Harris' autobiography was written in that style. It was an awesome read on my kindle (not annoying to click to different scenes, which was my expectation).

The style is refreshingly different, so you may be on to something there

markbrandonpowell

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 29, 2015

Nicknacks said:
Not 'adventure' per se, but Neil Patrick Harris' autobiography was written in that style. It was an awesome read on my kindle (not annoying to click to different scenes, which was my expectation).

The style is refreshingly different, so you may be on to something there

Wow that's cool, didn't know he had an autobiography. That was my thought. It might be different enough to make it interesting. I just remember loving them when I was younger, and I love Bioware and all of their games like that. But give it a real ending unlike Mass Effect's three different colored laser beam ending.

jvin248

· #10 · May 29, 2015

Do some serious research on those 'choose adventure' books and litigation. I believe quite a few authors have been caught in it.
On the one hand, that type of book format has been absent since the trademark is enforced. If many authors wrote that style then more readers would be exposed and drive more sales for everyone - the old don't fight over a slice of the pie, figure out how to make the pie bigger concept.

I saw the Harris book this last weekend and flipped through it (physical book in a physical store! Yikes!) and it was certainly a quirky book. Harris is funny and really branded himself through the character on the show How I Met Your Mother.

spearcarrier

· #11 · May 29, 2015

The last one I saw was about a year ago. It was a zombie adventure. I've always wanted to write one.

555aaa

· #12 · May 29, 2015

Choose your own nightmare is also trademarked by the same company (chooseco LLC) and a variety of other similar terms.

You can search the trademark database here (select basic word mark search):
http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=4810:9vo61h.1.1

geronl

· #13 · May 29, 2015

I asked that same question a few days ago somewhere. lol

geronl

· #14 · May 29, 2015

possible name besides Choose Your Own Adventure

Be-A-Pathfinder??

BobPage

· #15 · May 29, 2015

How about a "Your Choice" book? Whatever you name "Your" genre, it looks like from the post before that you should trade mark it. HA!

Man, I used to love those books! They were everything outside of Calvin & Hobbes! Now you have me thinking...........Good luck!

alawston

· #16 · May 29, 2015

I had a chat along these lines with a friend a few years ago, when Kindles still had keyboards. We started off thinking there must be a way of producing full on interactive fiction games for the Kindle, a la Zork, Hitch-Hiker's Guide, etc. Then we were thinking more along the lines of the old Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, which included the whole "if you want to molest the parrot, go to page 320" mechanic but also involved dice rolls for "player" stats and to decide the outcome of battles. We were of the opinion that if you could tweak the format into allowing some kind of random number generator, it would be possible to create decent immersive fiction through hyperlinked sections.

MonkeyScribe

· #17 · May 29, 2015

The original Choose Your Own Adventure guy died recently. They still publish those books out in rural Vermont. Not where you'd expect to find a publishing company.

BobPage said:
Man, I used to love those books! They were everything outside of Calvin & Hobbes! Now you have me thinking...........Good luck!

My favorites were the Dungeons and Dragons ones. A bit more story to them, where you could read for a page or two before the next choice. They got weaker later on, but the first several were great fun. I still have a few titles kicking around here, like Dungeon of Dread and Mountain of Mirrors. Anyone else read them?

alawston

· #18 · May 29, 2015

I read one, which I think was called something like Naked Doom? But in the UK, the Fighting Fantasy books were arguably bigger: Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Deathtrap Dungeon and City of Thieves being among the classics.

eleanorberesford

· #19 · May 29, 2015

I read all of them.

Used to spend my pocket money on them every week. I was exactly the right age. I liked the ones that would now be marketed as shojou best.

As far as non copyrighted names, they're usually called choice-based interactive fiction or gamebooks.

To see the format marketed for Kindle, look up the publisher Silkwords.

Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf and Sorcery! have gone the enhanced gamebook app route. Choice of Games sell more traditional choice-based IF for Chrome and mobile, and allow self-publishing though Hosted Games. I'm writing in ChoiceScript now myself.

I believe Inkle also aid you in publishing choice based IF to Kindle.

Lydniz

· #20 · May 29, 2015

Oh, I loved Fighting Fantasy. Ian Livingstone released some app or other recently which was basically the same thing. I've got it but I never got round to playing it.

ETA: there seem to be a few of them:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.tinmangames.ff.botz.android

1 - 20 of 37 Posts

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