Create a Choose Your Own Adventure!

How to...

Choose Your Own Adventure

Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) stories have always been popular distractions for many different readerships, and you can create these on Writing.Com (WDC) through the creation of an Interactive item.

It may seem a technically difficult prospect, but it is actually quiet easy to do, if you know how to cut and paste:
= Ctrl + C
= Ctrl + V

What's an interactive?

Interactives can be accessed from any page by clicking in the main WDC listings tool bar.

WDC defines an Interactive as:

Interactive Stories are "choose your own ending" stories started by an Author and continued by any Writing.Com member that wishes to participate. At the end of each chapter, readers are given a few plot choices and must choose the direction of the story. When you come to the end of a storyline, it's your turn to add a chapter!

But I don't want other people to write it - I want to create a Choose Your Own Adventure...

Not a problem. Interactives allow you to close off endings, by fully writing all the paralell story lines privately, before making it available for reading by the public. So remember:

NB. IF YOU DON'T WANT ANYONE ELSE ADDING TO YOUR STORY, BE SURE TO KEEP THE ITEM PRIVATE UNTIL YOU HAVE FINISHED (CLOSED) ALL THE ENDINGS

Here's how to create your own:
(for general advice on how to create any item click this link "Creating New Items" )

Interactives

Part 1
Any level of account can make an interactive, if they have the room in their port
Sections 1 to 3 follow exactly the same format as a Static Item
Section 4 is the same too, but here is a good point to pop in any notes about content to your readership you may feel appropriate, or just to display a 'book cover' synopsis, before letting them loose on chapter one
Section 5 covers item specifics. If you want to run this as an interactive it's wise to keep the email notifications on, but if you are writing a CYOA, disable it, before it drives you potty!

Part 2
Click to enter the story
Write your first chapter and add a chapter title
The system defaults to two ticked boxes (great for CYOA) so just add two different names to choose from and save (don't forget to spell check )
When you view the chapter, you will see the two new chapter options both have asterisks(*), this means they need to be written... so, off you go!
When you come to the end of one story line, un-check both continuation boxes.
The hard part is going back along each thread to make sure it's sealed! But it's worth it (praise the computer world for cut and paste options)
One more point of advice would be to advertise this as a completed CYOA in the item's 'brief description', so folks know what they're getting

Here is a completed example of my fantasy CYOA: "Kaliko Jones and the Zodiac Demons" 

Good luck! And remember to ask for any other help and advice you need from:
"Technical Support Forum"  and "Non-Technical Support Forum"