Actually, I supose you're wright. The 'Greek' thing was a sort of burst of enthusiasm. I'd actually forgotten about I am Zombie, and only read back through it today. At the time, i stopped writing it due tio writer's block, but now i feel a little amore inspired. While i recover from 'Rise of Skarlos' i think i'll finish part one of 'IaZ' off.

duffmeister
Sat Oct 4 12:07:52 2008

Darn, I misspelled 'right'. Still, seeing as your last name's 'Wright' it still applies.

duffmeister
Sun Nov 23 14:10:56 2008

I've begun rewriting/revising 'The Wrath of Cain' to make it less linear. When its finished, could it replace the original?

duffmeister
Fri Nov 28 16:34:33 2008

Hi all
I have redirected my energy. Although I'm sure many will complain that I do have quite a few simultaneous gameboks, I have stopped all currently to work on my favourite style. I'm writing a 'Greek mythology' adventure, but must ask. So far, I've had it in a fantasy land similar to Greece, with new names for all the gods. Would it be better an idea to just set it in Greece?

And hopefully this time writer's block won't set in, since I've thoroughly planned it.
And sorry that the last 5,000,000,000 entries have been by me.

Ulysses Ai
Tue Dec 2 22:01:25 2008

Hi Duffmeister.

I would suggest writing it in ancient Greece rather than a fictional analogue, as those set in the real world, in my opinion, tend to be more culturally rich.

Last time you mentioned this idea, ancient Greece was just one possibility among others for a mythology-themed gamebook. As Ancient Greece has already been covered by The Cretan Chronicles, perhaps you would like to consider a different culture for your story.

Regarding what people may or may not complain about. I think that while people are interested to hear about ideas for gamebooks and works in progress, ultimately we are all mostly interested in completed gamebooks. You are in danger of becoming the-guy-who-talks-about-gamebooks-but-never-writes-any (or TGWTAGBNWA for short). While a TGWTAGBNWA might annoy others after a while, for your sake you really need to reach completion on something. It's fine to follow your inspiration, but if that means you never finish anything because you are always jumping from one thing to another, then your inspiration is not an asset. For your inspiration and creativity to be useful in your life, you need to couple it with self-discipline.
I hope you don't mind me telling you this. I used to leap from project to project as well, following my inspiration, and for so many years nothing got done.
Anyway, you are not a TGWTAGBNWA yet; You have written one gamebook, but this can only protect you from TGWTAGBNWA-status for so long.

Good luck with your writing.

duffmeister
Wed Dec 3 16:56:23 2008

Thanks for your comments, Ulysses. I agree that I have done a lot of TGWTAGBNWA style stuff, which is mainly behind my choosing this adventure. I know a lot about Classical Mythology, so decided that if I was to complete a gamebook, my best choice would be something I know lots about. I researched 'The Cretan Chronicles' to avoid inadvertently copying them, and assure you that tyhe style differs. The Cretan Chronicles basically appear to have put lots of legends into an adventure, whereas I have more involved legendary characters than the legends themselves, since I am aware that simply writing a story where you play an already known adventure could be tiresome. I have more written a story featuring mythological things, rather than recounted a chunk of mythology.I won't tell much for fear of rambling, but thanks anyway Ulysses.

duffmeister
Mon Dec 8 17:38:34 2008

Oh, and in relation to 'Cretan Chronicles' already having used the ancient greece setting, to be strictly accurate, my adventure is actually set in Mycenaean Greece, the period in which most greek myths occur, but not actually ancient greece as it is normally seen.

HIsdark
Sun Mar 22 09:54:57 2009

I am writing a gamebook about a guy (the player) who has to somehow defeat an entire army who invade Analand.

At the moment my title is "Army of Destruction" But I was wondering if you had any better ideas.

Ulysses Ai
Sun Mar 22 11:01:04 2009

A good title is important, but secondary to the plot and the gamebook mechanisms. Can you tell us more about what your gamebook is about? Any special rules/systems you are thinking of?
Also, if we know more, it will make it easier to think of titles.

Hisdark
Sun Mar 22 20:19:27 2009

Yeah, I'm not too sure myself yet. Basically, it plays like any other ff book, but I reckon will have more combat, so the player starting with 40 stamina. Anyway I found out something today. STEVE JACKSON AND IAN LIVINGSTONE WENT TO MY SCHOOL!!!!

Max
Sat Apr 18 17:00:46 2009

Hi me again just writing to say thanx for the link you gave me for the speilbuch thing so i am writing a gamebook and i wonnna know what you think
First book in the series of fate runner your father was a great explorer that stumbled upon the tomb of the death lord and awakened him and a great curse that lise with him. With his dieing breath your father entrustes you with a great quest to destroy the deathlord and deminish the great curse

Ulysses Ai
Sun Apr 19 10:45:23 2009

Hi Max.

You'll find that the vast majority of gamebooks have fairly standard outlines, such as the one you have described above. Your Death-lord curse story could be brilliant, or it could be awful, depending on how it is done. I would say the most important factors are the way the gamebook is designed (is it fair and reasonable), the quality of writing, and probably most important: the plot.
If you would like some useful feedback, you will need to tell us more about what sort of gamebook it will be. The only thing I can say at this stage about your idea is to ask: does it have to be a series? Can you write a stand-alone gamebook first?

Max
Sun Apr 19 14:01:10 2009

Thanx for the info i have written the book up to the middle so far how ever this will be a sereis because the next book i am planning cannot be a stand alone gamebook and simply because of the ending of deathlord once i have finished deathlors ill send you a link to play it thanx again and i know how to get rid of the spoilers now

Max
Sun Apr 19 14:53:06 2009

Me again the adventure is set in a tomb made to keep a great evil inside it the death lord had also had servants which are obviously the monsters you will be fighting
these will be
Vampires
Orcs
Minatours
Demons
Undead
Skeletons and much more

Max
Sun Apr 19 18:07:26 2009

Me here some more feedback plz remember the setting is an ancient tomb filled with deathtraps and monsters

Ogunbodede Gbenga
Thu Dec 3 23:34:37 2009

Hey, I have keen interest in writing game books, but I don't know how to. Could someone kind help me out? Each time I tried writing, I would stop half way and start a fresh one, with a different story entirely. I believe I can be game books writer, but I think I need some basis. I already wrote three novels, games books involve more thinking, especially the numbering. PLEASE HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP!!! navidunk@yahoo.com.

Ulysses
Fri Dec 4 00:14:14 2009

Ogunbodede Gbenga:

Why do your gamebooks stop halfway?

Stuart
Sun Dec 6 18:24:10 2009

Ogunbodede Gbenga:

Concentrate on one story at a time and try to do a 50 or 100 paragraph gamebook which will be easy to complete. A 400 paragraph gamebook can take a lot of time.

Just follow a story through. I enjoy coming up with bright ideas and imagining them, but I had a bad habit of being put off by the tedium of writing it all down and would stop halfway. I tried to get over this by making either short or simple gamebooks before tackling harder ones.

I still have that problem as I started Shadowcaster which I intended to be a 3 book series, but I've stopped at the plan of book 2 as it is a very big project and involves a skill system and another characteristic. I will finish it one day as I have planned it all, but it will be a slog rather than a joy.

In summary, start small and simple, then your gamebook writing skills will grow to fit your huge brilliant ideas.

duffmeister
Wed Dec 9 17:36:22 2009

Ogunbodede Gbenga:

I used to have a similar problem. The issue i would often have would be that i'd be inspired by an idea, begin writing, only to find my inspiration/ideas/interest/time waning. I'd also often find some idea which would seem even better, meaning i'd get dozens of half finished gamebooks.

One important thing, i think, is that you must have an idea which really inspires you. Try to make sure that pretty much most of the parts of it are things you want to write about. With Rise of Skarlos, for example, there were a couple of ideas i really wanted to write about, but also a lot in between that i idn't really find that interesting. One way to see if you feel inspired enough for the whole thing is to plan out the different bits. If you have simply got a good beginning and good end, but nothing much else that interests you, then you should probably leave it until either you get more ideas or until you have an idea you prefer. For example, i hugely enjoyed writing 'The Enriyes' because all the bits interested me, but found that many parts of 'Rise of Skarlos' i found irritating and dull to write (Especially the unpublished third chapter, which was set in a city and would have featured a dramatic invasion, but never got even halfway there, and just ambled rather dully along).
I must also agree with Stuart about starting with a smaller gamebook. If your idea needs a larger story, then perhaps write a series of shorter gamebooks, rather than one epic.

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