How to write-your-own-adventure! Getting Started With Interactive Gamebooks

I loved the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. In my early to mid-teens I practically devoured them but always cheated. I never used dice, so I won every battle; was always lucky and used all 4 fingers to keep track of the multiple pathways. Just as the authors intended….

This time, I thought I’d do it properly, so I sat there with my pencil and dice and…lasted about three battles, then gave up. So this and all other FF reviews will be the cheat’s version and that means the focus is on other aspects of the book. The story, how much of a challenge it was and most importantly, how much I liked drawing the map!

This wasn't just a self-indulgent revisiting of my youth though. It was research into how these books operated; what their structure was and, of all the different strategies used, which ones appealed to me and why.

I'll also branch off (pun intended) and share my very rough and ready guide to tackling the whole process of writing your own gamebook. Spoilers: It does require large pieces of paper.

I want this space to be a kind of book club too, so you'll find random book reviews and be warned - I'm not going to curate myself and just write about highfalutin literature. I read a total mishmash of genres, so that's what I'll review. It's good to enjoy reading but I like to weigh up why I enjoyed it too. Be grateful though; this blog is too late for the almighty car crash of a book I read recently. Oh Jilly Cooper - hang your head in shame!