Writing Interactive Fiction

by Deb Potter

Did you ever think eBooks were perfect for interactive fiction? Ever think about writing a story with multiple paths? Deb Potter writes and edits the popular You Say Which Way series. This is the book she wishes she'd had when she started.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

99 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 16, 2016

Reviews

[La Coccinelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an okay guide that enlightened me more than the last book on interactive fiction I read... but not by much. I'm still trying to find a good guide that will help me deal with the technical aspects of formatting interactive fiction, either with templates I can use (or develop on my own) or with detailed information on how to structure all the choices and paths. (There is a bit, but not enough.) There's still a little too much in here about how to write a story in general; there are other books that cover that topic in more depth. I wanted more about how to deal with the interactivity.

[J.B. Jamison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent general overview of the entire 'thing' of writing Interactive Fiction, from ideas, to story, to publishing and marketing. I will admit I was probably not the right audience for the book, as I was looking for something more 'meaty' about creating IF, along the lines of Twisty Little Passages, and something with more 'tool' content than MS Word. But again, I stress that my issue was one of reader-match. If you are looking for a good, general overview of the options of IF, this might be a good first step.

[Melinda Kinsman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading the You Say Which Way interactive fiction books for kids. I jumped at the chance to read this new book by one of the authors, which is all about the process of writing such books. As I've come to expect from D.M. Potter, the book is extremely well thought out and well written.

I'd never realised there were so many things to think about when writing interactive fiction books, but this presents everything you need to know to get started in a very easy to read and "digestible" format. There are also lots of great tips about writing in general, and writing for kids, so definitely a book worth reading even if you don't plan to try writing interactive fiction. (Though after reading it, even I am itching to have a go myself...) Highly recommended.

[Greg Jacobs · Rating 3 out of 5]

The focus of the book is on eBooks and interactive fiction in that context. The early sections were better than the later sections focused on "tools". Potter's approach to begin working in IF is similar to how I've done things in the past when trying new mediums, so it was interesting to read someone approach things like I do. I wasn't blown away by anything. But I've often found it useful to read things like this and get indirect inspiration from them, so on that front I think the book was worth reading. Short, lightweight, but still useful to me.

I'm guessing it was some kind of print-on-demand product. There's an unfinished sentence in the middle of the book... so the editing for this isn't great.

[Dan Stormont · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great brief intro to Interactive Fiction.

This book has a goal of explaining how to write interactive fiction eBooks for tween readers, but it actually has some great advice for anyone wanting to try their hand at IF, regardless of your target reader demographics or platform. My interest is oriented more towards YA and adult interactors using Twine, but I still got a lot of great ideas from reading this book. Deb has a straight-forward conversational style that makes you feel like you're just sitting around the coffee table engaging in a 1:1 chat about how to be more effective with your writing.

Highly recommended!

[Tom Agnetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what I needed to get my story done.

I stumbled across this book a few years ago and never did finish as in most things, as my mother would say, I'm a great starter but a terrible finisher. All 6 of my kids are adults now and I'm actually creating. I'm about 30k words into my interactive story and have been struggling with answers to various questions around our target audience and publishing. She brings up so many things I didn't think of and will help me immensely. I've been using a mix of paper, twine and inklewriter and in design. So I'm all over the place, but this helped me visualize how I can take this to print and ebooks as well. An easy read. Thanks

[Damien Lutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but informative with some super helpful tips

A good insight into the whole process of producing interactive fiction. Some invaluable tips that would take a lot of trial and error to learn. Easy to read. Worth the purchase! Thanks for sharing Deb. :)

[Lehua Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear path through a thorny subject

Deb gently takes you by the hand and leads you through the design steps of creating interactive fiction. It’s a beginner’s guide to the craft.

[Lisa Franek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've recently become very interested in the idea of interactive fiction, and this book is my first introduction to the topic. The book was a quick read, and is a great introduction to the topic. However, I'm definitely going to need some more books in order to flesh out my understanding of interactive fiction. The information was fairly basic, and geared to writing for children. I don't plan to write for children, so a lot of that information wasn't relevant to me personally, but it can still be interesting. I appreciate the author's very beginner level of information, since I'm a total newbie, but now I'm going to be looking for something a little more advanced.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike much of the material available for this style of writing or indeed game-making, there’s actually a proper attempt to equip and inform, rather than rehash all the ‘how-to-write-a-story-that-grips-your-readers-by-the-throat-and-wont-let-them-go-not-even-to-the-bathroom’ material that’s out there.

It’s not a long or hard read, and does a good job of promoting the author’s other work as well as encouraging the reader to do it themselves.

I’m glad I picked this up. (And I’ll get some of the other stuff to see how it works out in real life!)