This is the Forty-second article in a permanent column for Stroud Arts that appears in the Stroud American.
The mission of these articles is to inform, educate and inspire you, the reader, to Make Art Happen in your life and the life of our community.
Last week we looked at the first steps on writing your own Interactive Fiction story and this week we will go into more depth as you craft your own ‘Choose Your Own Adventure Story.’
As a reminder; An Interactive Fiction story is a story written from a second person point of view with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character’s actions and the plot’s outcome.
The first thing that must be done include;
First: Pick a Genre. Any Genre. It’s your story so any choice you make is the right one.
Second: Sketch out your Story. This is a rough outline of the core of your story. It should follow a traditional story path from beginning to ending. Then you should sketch out multiple points of divergence where the character makes choices and the storyline follows the divergent choice.
Third: Pick some endings. Select multiple endings for your story. Some are successful and others are failures for the Protagonist.
Once the above components are in place you can focus on the protagonist and their journey.
As the character choices create different situations you need to ensure that the storypaths maintain internal consistency. For example, If the protagonist loses any item of equipment, the item should not just reappear later in the story without a logical reason for it to return.
In addition, if a supporting character (Friend, enemy, pet, etc.) is lost, they should not reappear without an internally consistent reason for their return.
There are several lists you should make and keep track of so that the story maintains its internal consistency.
Character Contacts: Who has your hero met? Does your hero have any traveling companions? What is their relationship? (Friends, enemies, peripheral characters, pets?)
Character Possessions: What is in your hero’s inventory? Has your hero lost/gained an item? Is it needed to achieve the goal?
(Food, clothing, money, weapons, climbing gear, a holy relic?)
Character Abilities or Skills: What training or natural abilities does your hero possess and how can they be utilized? (Swimming, Starship Pilot, Laser Vision, A charming smile, Legal or Medical training?)
Hero Goals Achieved: What has your hero accomplished? (Reached a destination, killed the enemy, won over the love interest, found the special item, rescued the prisoner?)
List of Enemies: These are individuals, both weak and powerful, that the hero must overcome.
(Wolves, Cossacks, Gangsters, Robots, jealous rival, the Master Villain, etc.)
List of Obstacles: A story needs conflict to be interesting. This list can cover social, physical and mental challenges that the hero must overcome. (Swim the floodwaters, solve the puzzle lock, choose the correct dinnerware, translate the Latin scroll, dance the Tango.)
Now we have an idea of the who and what of our story, next week we will add the why and put our story together as we … Make Art Happen.