Interactive Book Project

[✿Claire✿]

Sorry, someone posted 12+ market, maybe aim somewhere YA/adult area then?

[D.M. Andrews (author)]

Um...YA starts at 12+ ;) Or is it 13+?

[Shaun]

Just my penny worth, but I think opening the project up to multiple writers will make it even harder to achieve, and from my experiences with working on stories with lots of authors where one started the story off and then another added the next section etc, the various style differences will show up. Some people are more descriptive than others, some are more wordy etc.

[D.M. Andrews (author)]

Unless we do several books and bundle them ;)

But, good point, this needs to be thought about before any action is taken...

[Jim]

Especially if they thought it was 'adult' ;-))

[Kath]

That's exactly why I dipped out. It needs an evil genius behind it. 'm simply not evil enough!

[Michael]

Maybe a series of interconnected short stories would work better, but the choices weave through into different sections?

[Rosen]

Shaun - I think the differing styles is something we want to work with - a feature rather than a weakness.

[Alan]

I think Michael's idea of a series of interconnected short stories is worth following up. It makes things smoother, easier for individual writers, but maintains the inter-relatedness of the thing through choices, etc. (although I still don't quite follow the full nature of this choices-thing..)They can be quite short short stories...this way the whole thing will seem less...how can I say?..less like a child's game...

[Shaun]

Alan wrote: "although I still don't quite follow the full nature of this choices-thing."

In the books, you would be faced with choices like: You reach a fork in the road.
#Go East
#Go West

You then select the route you take. Then say you go West, you might then find:

The path leads through a dark, foreboding wood. Branches creak, and an owl hoots in the distance. Up ahead you can just make out a figure dressed in a cloak.

#Approach figure
#Evade figure

The thing about these sorts of narratives, as I found when I wrote my own short one for the interactive part of The Heist, is that all the threads have to tie up, and the more avenues you make, the more complex the story becomes. It took me a week just to program a short narrative, and I got a major headache doing it when things like the key you picked up didn't open the door it was supposed to!

[Alan]

Yeah, sounds quite complex, could be a major headache, thanks, Shaun. Why not pursue the short story idea put forward by Michael..? the stories could be related in many ways other than just genre...variations on a theme and all that...maybe the same outlined story told in any number of ways, or one story leading on from another...

[Jim]

Rosen wrote: "Shaun - I think the differing styles is something we want to work with - a feature rather than a weakness."

Exactly, it's not a bug, it's a feature :-)
To follow up Alan's comment, if the stories are linked then you have the idea that it will draw people into genres that they don't normally tackle and which might surprise them

[R.M.F.]

Ignite wrote: "That's exactly why I dipped out. It needs an evil genius behind it. 'm simply not evil enough!"

I think that's the secret of your success - convincing people you're not an evil genius when the facts speak for themselves! :)

To expand on an earlier point, planning a logical path through these types of books usually = self inflicted hair loss! A blackboard and chalk or a whiteboard is a handy tool to the author of these types of books.

[Will]

Still lurking on this one.

[D.M. Andrews (author)]

I have to finish up a story (it's nearly done) and get it off to the editor, then I can think about this some more...