Choose Your Own Adventure Books for Adults

When my kids were young, they loved the Choose Your Own Adventure Books series. At the end of each chapter, the boys were faced with a decision, usually surrounding the main character. If you think the character should do this, go to page 56. If you think the character should do that, go to page 23. The book could be read over and over, taking different paths each time. Sometimes the ending would be the same, no matter what path the character took, and sometimes the endings would be different.

I've always thought that this would be a great concept for a series of adult books. After all, aren’t we constantly faced with choices? Do you sometimes wonder, what would have happened if I had gone to a different school? If I had inherited a lot of money? If I had shown the good sense to say no to that person? If I had driven down a different street? Rather than providing choices to these questions at the end of each chapter of an adult choose your own adventure, I propose providing choices at the end of each book. Imagine that a single book starts with a student graduating from high school. At the end of the book, that person might be faced with the following choices. Should I

• go to college?
• get married?
• go into the military?
• travel the world?

The reader would then have a choice of four books to read as a sequel. While the first book was written by Author One, the second book might be written by Author Two. The reader could choose to follow a single author through a whole string of books or the reader might choose to go back and read the path taken when a different choice was made.

This could get very complicated (and interesting) if plotted out ahead of time. Choosing several different paths may ultimately bring the main character to the same scenario later in his life or each path might come to a completely different conclusion.

Just think of all the choices we make in our lives as adults about

• education
• relationships
• children
• career paths
• travel
• other interests

The possibilities could go on and on.

I envision this as a well planned series, taken on by a publisher willing to find and coordinate the writers.

With the development of Internet technology, I could also see this as a more haphazard wiki-type of series. One person would write the first piece and pose the choices faced by the main character at the end. Next, writers in cyberspace could pick up on one of the choices provided and write a sequel, again providing a series of choices at the end of that segment. To add extra interest, a cyberspace writer would also have the option of suggesting and writing about a different choice than was suggested by the original author.

Struggling with Time

One of my greatest assets (and greatest challenges) is the number of things that interest me. I love to read, write, practice piano, exercise, participate in sports, travel, attend cultural events, cook, eat at fine restaurants, watch foreign movies, knit, garden, do research on just about anything, etc., etc. The list goes on and on. While I love having all of these interests, I also get frustrated because I have difficulty fitting them all into my life. Right now, I'm a bit frustrated that I have not progressed further with my writing.

Over the holidays, we were invited out for Christmas Eve dinner. At the end of the evening, I asked one of the guests what she likes to do for fun. To my surprise, she told me that she likes to write, has her whole book outlined, and is already on chapter five. How I wished we had started this conversation earlier in the evening! She said that she writes a couple of hours every morning. I was so inspired and returned home, trying to figure out how I could do the same.

My dilemma, however, goes beyond just finding the time. I also have difficulty focusing on one aspect of my writing at a time. As I stated in one of my earlier blogs, there are three types of writing I want to pursue

• reworking the 6 1/2 years of blogs that I wrote for Prufrock Press
• a memoir, using the format of thematic essays
• a novel

Now I think I would also like to write a cookbook and create a book telling about all the family heirlooms that I possess.

I realize that it is not an efficient use of time to want to reach out in so many different directions. I've never considered myself good at multi-tasking. Nevertheless, I have already started each of these projects. The challenge is going to be to finish at least one of them.

I would love to hear how others with busy schedules manage their time so that the writing gets done.

Comments from an Interview with Diane Setterfield

I just finished reading The Thirteenth Tale, which I enjoyed immensely. Every chapter was a cliff-hanger, and the book did not peter out near the conclusion. At the very end of the book is an interview with author Diane Setterfield. I am always interested in how other authors write, as there are so many ways to approach the craft. I want to share with you a few excerpts from the interview.

This book took three years to write and its real genesis was longer still: there was no single moment when I thought: ‘Aha! What a great idea!’ Rather there was a slow and gradual accumulation of numerous small ideas....

Once I had a voice and an event, I started to write scenes in a rather tentative, experimental fashion. Little by little I worked out what the story was by following my characters.

(Sounds to me like Setterfield started with some vague ideas. She wrote a variety of scenes that later wove themselves together.)

Does everyone have a story? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. But it’s not always the one we think we have.

(I need to think about that last sentence some more. What story do I have to tell that is not the one I think I have?)

Margaret was the last character to fall into place...

(I find this very interesting. Margaret is the real storyteller in this book, yet she was the last character to be included.)

I vacillate about which of the many methods of writing I should use when authoring a book—especially a novel. Do I need to construct all of my characters and have a complete outline in place before writing or should I just write detailed scenes and events as they occur to me and then see how they fit into a story line?

Story Elements That Are Important to Me

I've been thinking a lot lately about the elements of books that I think are important and how I want to incorporate those elements into my own writing. Here are some of my random thoughts.

• Beginnings—I want a beginning that catches the reader’s interest in the first paragraph.
• Endings—I often find that books hold my interest until about 2/3 of the way through. At that point, the story becomes weak. I want my story to remain strong until the finish. I am also put off by books that wrap everything up in neat little packages at the very end, providing answers to all the reader’s questions that have accumulated throughout the book. Such conclusions are not realistic. I want to write a book that leaves the reader saying, "No, it can't end here!" I want the reader to have big questions at the end that can be discussed with others who have read the book.
• Chapters—I like books that have cliff hangers at the end of every chapter, making it difficult to put the book down.
• Characters—In real life, I believe that most people (with the exception of some truly evil beings) have both positive and negative characteristics. Often it's a matter of individual opinion as to what's good or bad. I would like for my characters to show these complex, but realistic qualities.
• Points of View—Individual characters might see the same event from different perspectives. This might be accomplished by alternating chapters, each from a different character’s point of view. Another way would be to devote larger sections of the book to different characters, with each section telling the same story from one character’s viewpoint at a time.