I find my interest flags when I've written all the sections and have to go through the task of putting them in random order. I'm getting round this by writing the skeleton of each paragraph first, then putting them in random order, then writing them in full. For my first War of Dieties book, I completed all the writing in 2 days and then lost interest and didn't bother putting the paragraphs in order for about 3 months.

Have you considered using ADVELH? I could be wrong, but I think that randomising paragraphs is among its features.

duffmeister Sun Jan 4 15:19:30 2009 General Chat	ADVELH? You mean there's a program for writing gamebooks?
	Yes, see the links page.

Ulysses Ai
Mon Jan 5 04:22:21 2009
General Chat

Hi Stuart.

If the task of putting all of the references in random order is odious, you could try the way I do it. I estimate how many references I think the book will take, and write down all the numbers in a table in Excel. Then as I write the references, I chose from the table at random, deleting that number from the table and inserting it into my text. For example, at the end of reference 1, with a choice to be made I might write:
To help the old lady across the street, turn to 34. If you think she is really a witch and plans to eat your skin, turn to 174.
I then delete 34 and 174 from the table.
The problem with this method is that if your inital estimate of how many references the story will use is too small, you have to add references in; but this rearranging is a much smaller task than randomising the whole story.

And
Happy New Year everyone

Furthermore, to avoid running out of references you could simply make your initial estimate far larger than you would need - there's no law that says you have to use every reference from 1 to 400 or whatever. The obvious example is Outsider! which is numbered from 1 to 1000, but only uses about 450 of these.

frederico
Mon Jan 5 23:26:28 2009
General Chat

I think someone should write a gamebook about a disabled person in order to repair the destructive image the media has portrayed of disability.

duffmeister
Fri Jan 9 16:53:10 2009
General Chat

Come on, someone say something! The silence is killing me!

Kee
Sat Jan 10 03:54:21 2009
General Chat

Hey, havent been able to touch this laptop for awhile now.

I don't quite get what's the media done to portray disability badly....that doesn't mean that I don't agree or am against it, just that I can't think of an example.

How would a gamebook with you playing a disabled character be? I think even disabled people can serve as heroes. If any of you read comics, the heroine Oracle (previously Batgirl) is nowadays considered as an icon for paraplegics everywhere because she's one of the few characters in comics with disabilities.

Jordan
Sat Jan 10 06:02:20 2009
General Chat

Hey, all,

I think what the poster about the gamebook featuring a disabled hero was trying to get across is that often, disabled individuals are portrayed either as lazy or stupid, take your pick. With stereotypes about blind people still running rampant, for example, people think that all blind people refuse to work because they feel sorry for themselves. Also, the recent sci fiction movie Blindness has stirred up many organizations that advocate for the rights of blind people. Being blind, and having read the book and watched the accompanying movie, I personally see no reason why so many protests are being raised against the film. Science fiction, as most people know is written about diseases and such that, if let loose upon mankind, would terrify everyone involved. Thus, Blindness portrays just such a thing. I think the idea for the gamebook is an excellent one, and look forward to others' input. Thanks for an awesome site, Andy!

Thanks Jordan. For what it's worth though, I've never once heard anyone say that blind people refuse to work, nor have I noticed any negative portrayal in the media, which to me always seems to be quite respectful with regard to disability in general.

Kee
Sat Jan 10 12:05:12 2009
General Chat

Speaking of blindness, I'd rather lose all my senses than my sight. It's just kinda, you know, terrifying to live in a world of darkness where you can see anything. Just plain black.

Perhaps the fear that develops as a person turns blind could serve as the main part of the gamebook?

duffmeister
Sat Jan 10 14:00:35 2009
General Chat

I must confess that I have noticed the media's rather offensive portrayal of tourrettes syndrome sufferers has irked me greatly. We are often portrayed as constantly howling insults at all present, despite the fact that less than 6% of tourrettes sufferers actually do this. I also feel rather bitter about the fact that very few people seen on television or the newspapers are ever in any way disabled, with the exceptions of Steven Hawking and Stevie Wonder. I have an idea about a blindness themed gamebook based on an idea I had long ago. The original idea was based on a character who suffers experiments from villanous scientists which gives him paranormal abilities, however I originally dumped the idea. The new idea is that perhaps he or she is blinded by the experiments, but that occasionally he can see with enhanced sight for very brief periods, or that the experments enhance their other senses. The idea is that they use their abilities to escape and defeat the scientists. What do you guys think? The idea's still at an early stage though. Another possiblity would be for an amalgamation of ideas. Perhaps we could collaborate, each writing a bit of the adventure?

Stuart
Sat Jan 10 23:27:36 2009
General Chat

I've heard that some athletes in the paralympics do better than athletes in the olympics because of the technology they have to help them. Maybe there can be a Sci fi book about someone with a disability who gets enhancements make them superhuman.

Thanks for the tips on randomizing paragraphs, guys. I usually write them out before randomizing them so I know how many I need to have in a book. Writing lots more paragraphs than I need will help. I will also try ADVELH.

Kee
Sun Jan 11 09:43:54 2009
General Chat

Duffmeister, your idea is strangely like Daredevil, if you've ever heard of him. I quite like your idea actually, and I really enjoy the concept of having evil scientists...like Nazi scientists, a concept I'm using in my current gamebook.

duffmeister
Sun Jan 11 12:17:30 2009
General Chat

The original idea was nazi scientists, but i'm unsure whether it would be tactless to write a book about them (What with nazi atrocities being as unpleasant as they were). The idea is that you gain new mutations (Infra red sight, enhanced hearing, ability to see invisible things) for brief periods. I also thought that the scientists' other experiments could be enemies, such as 'super soldiers' and suchlike

Kee
Mon Jan 12 09:22:29 2009
General Chat

Speaking of Nazi experiments, I added some of that in my book including frankenstein gorillas (ripped off Hellboy) and undead SS soldiers. (ripped of COD:5)

Jordan
Fri Jan 16 05:53:42 2009
General Chat

Duffmeister,

I like your idea about a collaboration of ideas, as well as a combined effort on the writing of the adventure. Also, your idea about superhuman abilities sounds good. Because of the media's poor portrayal of Touretts, can you enlighten me on what it really is, and how it affects people? Thanks. Let me know if any ideas further develop for the gamebook, as well as anyone else who has suggestions can. Talk with you all soon!

Stuart
Sat Jan 17 22:51:21 2009
General Chat

Found a new fighting fantasy related site - it is called fighting dantasy and it is a review of fighting fantasy books. The author normally releases a new post every Saturday. While it is not about new FF books, the author goes into detail about what he likes and doesn't like about the existing books, which I find good information when writing my books. Here is the link:
http://fightingdantasy.blogspot.com/

Kekataag
Sun Jan 18 12:52:39 2009
General Chat

I've been following that blog since it started a year ago.

frederico
Sun Jan 18 17:56:58 2009
General Chat

sorry to interrupt this but i've gotta know, what's the next gamebook put online gonna be?

Haoie
Mon Jan 19 03:48:58 2009
General Chat

Very interesting blog. Pretty subjective reviews though.

duffmeister
Tue Jan 20 18:10:42 2009
General Chat

Jordan
Tourrettes Syndrome is a condition where certain parts of the brain function independently. This causes 'tics' which are actions which are not voluntary. There are a lot more detailed facts, but I'll put them on here another time. The actions are generally just 'twitches' but can really be anything. Often the tic is a compulse to touch something, eg: a need to tap a wall, other tics include involuntary thoughts, copralalia (Swearing, which only selects a tiny few) and suchlike.

duffmeister
Sun Jan 25 13:14:53 2009
General Chat

oh yes, i almost forgot, it also often comes with OCD

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