I was just researching something else when I happened upon a blog that had an article entitled “How To Write A ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Story”.
It looks kinda interesting. I only skimmed it, plus the 3 other articles in the series. Most of it was basic writing advice, like good structure, how to keep interest, what to do in each “scene” (a plot point) and then “sequel” (where the MC thinks about what happened in the scene). It seems like good general writing advice, but what I was really looking for was how to structure a CYOA story, cuz that was hard for me to learn.
When I first started out, my stories would branch out of control. Then only way to fix that was to try REAL HARD to just railroad the reader down almost a single linear path. It’d still branch, and I slowly, slowly learned how to make meaningful choices without the choice-tree bushing out of control.
I think this is THE skill that separates good CYOA writers from “bad,” so I was hoping the article would have some advice on this. There was a tiny, tiny bit, with a promise of more. She has a book out about it now too, so maybe that stuff wound up in there. If so, darn! Well, it’s only a buck on amazon. Maybe I’ll check it out someday.
Anyway, just thought I’d pass this resource on, FWIW. (I am not connected with her or her blog in anyway.)