Davis Summerlin's Blog, page 6

The Choice is yours...but don't choose wrong

So I'm currently in the process of getting Dice Book Publishing's first "Dice Book" put together. In the mean time I thought I'd create a post to enlighten and share a few Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) works I'm familiar with and enjoy.Now in my last post I briefly mentioned that most traditional CYOA books give you a variety of options to progress the story, but only one of them is actually going to further the story. The others will in fact end the story (usually with the protagonist's death) and then invite you to try again. Still fun, but can be frustrating at times, especially when the context of the situation gives absolutely no hint as to what the right course of action is. Now, despite this form of CYOA writing, when you're immersed in a well written story, potentially in a world that you've already become invested in, the book is a blast no matter what. Growing up Animorphs was that series for me. It followed a team of teenagers that were granted the ability to absorb the DNA of any sentient life form they touched, and then "Morph" into that life form. They used this power to fight against an alien invasion. Growing up I already loved these books. I felt like I knew the characters, and was invested in them. So when I got the chance to become an Animorph through a CYOA novel, I was thrilled. In the novel I got to meet characters like: Jake, Marco, Rachel, and Cassie, all of whom I'd followed on their adventures for years. Not only did I get to meet them, I got to be one of them. Absorbing my own animals, morphing and going on missions with them. It was exciting. So even though I sometimes chose the wrong path, and got me and the rest of the Alien fighting team killed, the experience still connected on a deeper level. Which is why I'd recommend these despite its classical CYOA style.Author K.A Applegate does such a great job of making you part of an already established world, that regardless of what happens within the story, you'll have a great time reading.Now, part of what Dice Book Publishing is trying to do with the upcoming "Dice Books" is separate ourselves from the classical CYOA style, by providing multiple outcomes for a single story. One wrong choice doesn't have to mean the end of the adventure. Until recently I hadn't seen this type of CYOA done before.However I recently came across "Slay the Blood Witches" By Nathaniel Dale Epperson. While Nathaniel's book doesn't utilize the RPG dice progression system that Dice Book Publishing is striving to integrate, he has created an adventure in which more than one choice brings you to a survivable outcome. He manages to do so all while painting a vivid fantasy world for the reader, laced with dry and subtle humor.Although he doesn't use a traditional dice progression system, there are moments and encounters within his book that if navigated correctly will aide you later on in the story. Your choices matter; not just to get through to the end of the book. The overall experience can change based on how you react to given situations. You can still get to the end utilizing your quick thinking and gut instinct, but Nathaniel rewards readers with a hunger for adventure and a risk taker attitude. Sure you may put yourself in a bit more danger, but the potential pay off of such risks add a fresh element to CYOA books I hadn't yet seen. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you are familiar with the traditional CYOA genre. Finally my last suggestion is for all of you future CYOA writers out there, who love the genre and want to try their hand at writing their own CYOA novel. I can tell you from experience that writing this type of story can be tricky. The more interactive the work, the more difficult the writing becomes...potentially.Karen Woodward's fittingly titled "How to Write a CYOA story" is a great way to learn the fundamental In's and Out's of writing it. Woodward provides helpful tips and advice on how to organize and develop your stories, so that they are in fact "Stories" and not just a series of choices. This is important. The reader needs to be invested in the world they are now a part of. One of my favorite things Woodward does is that she chooses examples from the wildly popular world of Harry Potter. She takes snippets from the Harry Potter books and applies those situations to a CYOA format, touching on how particular situations could be adapted into "Decision Nodes" ( The point in the story where you as the reader make a direct choice which will determine how the story will progress). Its an easy read with easy to follow examples and a great resource for anyone interested in the genre.Thank you all for reading. Check out our recent Coming of Age novel "If Only" if you have't yet, and stay tuned for our first "Dice Book"

Why Dice Book?

So some people have asked me why I chose the name:Dice Book Publishing, as the name for my company. There are probably a few ways to answer this question. I'm gonna go for the longer one. How many of you remember reading Choose Your Own Adventure (COYA) books growing up? I read a few. If you don't know what a COYA book is, it's a book in which you as the reader are the protagonist. You make choices, and depending on those choices the story will change. This generally meant the story would either end, or continue. My favorite CYOA books growing up were those that initiated me (as well as anyone else that read them) into the popular morphing alien fighting force, the Animorphs. Author Christina Applegate, did wonders in sparking my imagination as I whizzed through the books as a house fly, tore through hordes of aliens as a hyena, and interacted with beloved characters like Marco and Rachel from her hit series. They were cool. The only problem I had was, if you chose wrong...you died.Sadly, that's how most of the COYA books are written. Upon death, you are invited to go back to the previous page, and choose another path...hopefully one that allows the story to continue until your next death, or you complete whatever objective the author has laid out in order to complete the book. While the books are still fun, I always felt like there should be more than just Live or Die options. Even when given three or more options the outcomes never changed. Only one of those options had an outcome in which you as the protagonist managed to continue the story.Fast forward a few years. In the summers between college I worked as a stock boy. One summer, I became friends with one of my co-workers, Drew. Over the course of the summer I'd see him writing on pieces of cardboard and bits of paper he'd find lying around the store's backroom. I'd ask him what he was writing. At first he was hesitant to share, perhaps fearing judgment or ridicule. Perhaps he was a closet poet and he feared public criticism? Perhaps a budding novelist? When I finally pried the answer from him the answer wasn't far off from the latter. He was a Dungeon Master (DM). He was writing a campaign for a role playing game he and some other friends from work were playing. Barring video games, I'd never experienced a role playing game (RPG). Traditional RPG's involved several people gather at an agreed upon location. One of those people then proceeded to tell a story. The other people in the group then acted as characters within the story, using various tools (usually dice) and systems to measure the success of their actions and determine how the story progressed. If you think it sounds similar to a CYOA, then you can probably guess where this is going.I began joining Drew and his friends in these weekly campaigns. We'd play the parts of wizards, each of us specializing in different schools of magic and trades. I personally specialized in Time and Fate magic, though don't ask me what exactly that meant, I wasn't entirely sure then. These games lasted for weeks until I was forced to go back to school. After leaving I missed them. I missed the mental exercise it brought when trying to determine the best course of action to further the story. I missed affecting the story in wild and unexpected ways, and the idea that the story could unfold in a plethora of ways based on the roll of a dice. Now while having a group to play these RPG games is always fun, alot of times (like in my case) finding people willing to devote their time, their money (if you want group pizza) and make themselves vulnerable by exposing their imagination and creativity to strangers...is difficult. So, what if you could take the best qualities of a traditional RPG and a traditional CYOA, and combine them?Dice Book was born. Dice books are the marriage between RPG's and CYOA's, using a level up dice system influenced by the reader's choices and multiple ways to get to the end of the story. While death is definitely still possible, it is no longer a definite. Dice books enable the readers to embark on solo adventures, still encouraging smart decisions based on context, but allowing flexibility with every choice. Given the choice between sneaking past an army of Orcs, fighting them head on, or perhaps use magical relic to transform them into dandelions? Of those three options which do you think is best?Charging the hoard head on? Are you sure? Ok roll a perfect 20. Now there's a possibility based on your previous choices that you may be able to roll a perfect twenty. If you did, the story would progress to a scene of carnage, in which you advanced, brimming with confidence and blood-lust into a wave of enemies. With every twitch of your wrist another orc fell. With every beat of your heart an orcs heart stopped. By the end both you and the sloshing dirt below you was stained in the blood of your foes as the remaining Orcs fled in efforts to escape with their entrails still intact....That's one possibility. But lets say you rolled less than a 20. Well then the story would again most likely lead to a scene of carnage...however this time it would be your bloody entrails littering the ground instead of your foes. In hindsight you may have wanted to go with the sneaky route, needing only a measly 13 in order to succeed, or perhaps the Arcane flower power stole your fancy, rolling an attainable 10 to make hippies everywhere proud? You can see the story could evolve in a variety of ways, where death is certainly possible but again, not certain. So stay tuned, and I'll keep you posted.