Remember gamebooks? They’re being reinvented for a digital readership, and Alex Davis has the info you need to start writing them

For adults of a certain age – myself included – the gamebook was a significant part of their childhood. For those not in the know, gamebooks are effectively interactive stories in which the reader steers the action through a number of choices they make, with the optional addition of dice elements – hence the ‘game’ in ‘gamebook’. Giving the reader the set up to a story, they are then invited to try and navigate a host of different obstacles which vary based upon the route you take and the good or bad decisions you action before – hopefully – guiding you to a positive ending. With that said, there can be plenty of darker, less pleasant endings included too.

One of the largest in my formative years was the Fighting Fantasy series, which remains one of the biggest names in the form – in fact the very first novel I ever read was a Fighting Fantasy tie-in. But ‘FF’, as it’s affectionately known, is far from the only one, with other significant series such as Choose Your Own Adventure and Lone Wolf joined by a range of lesserknown tomes. And with a huge range of digital options now available, it feels as though the gamebook could well be due a

resurgence – so how do you go about writing them?

A sprinkle of flavour

Every gamebook will effectively begin with some sort of ‘flavour text’, something usually weighing in at less than a few pages, that will do most of the set-up for the interactive story. This then allows the reader to get on with picking their own way through the conflict in the ‘adventure’ section. While there can be a habit for these to become exposition-heavy, they will typically feature some sort of movement or action and get across the character who the reader will be inhabiting throughout the story. They should make the reader excited for what they are about to embark upon, and set them up as a hero – it’s a rare gamebook that makes you the bad guy, or even offer the option to go down that road.