Item - How to Write a Book Like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book

[Rating: 1/10]
[Recommended? NO]

...Difficult to really say anything on, this unusual pamphlet reads more like a question-and-answer about the literary design process behind gamebooks than it does an interactive guide. Obscure as it is, the advice contained inside is particularly straightforward - however, to any serious writer who has given interactive storytelling more than a moment's thought, the entirety of the contents proceed very obliquely... and there's nothing new here that a solid intuition wouldn't tell a reader who's studied the concept before. Oh, and it's just the ELEMENTS of the story are talked about here - not what makes good writing. (To which I suggest: practice lots, write what you love, and always aspire toward a higher purpose, among other things.)

Funny enough, the main thing I don't like about this little pamphlet is more of a nitpicky thing than anything: the writers (at least R. A. Montgomery, who by now I'm sure you know I hate) should've really taken their own advice to heart. The Choose Your Own Adventure series is of notoriously low quality, devoid of life or enjoyability (let alone logic or sensibility), and I can't help but wonder if this was put together by Montgomery out of arrogant smugness, or if his name was simply attached to it as the franchise owner. Regardless, there's a unique kind of historical value to this odd little pamphlet; I'd recommend readers avoiding it, though, in favor of learning on your own (or asking one of us!) about the joys of interactive storytelling rather than reading this altogether forgettable behind-the-scenes release. This pamphlet might've meant something had its creator practiced what it preached. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

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