Based on an exercise outlined in the book "Thinkertoys"
My ultimate goal in this class is, as far as I am currently concerned, writing or at least establishing the framework for a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. Having determined this, I figure that it would be wise to use some of these exercises to give me some direction on this task.
The challenge I'm going to examine today is: "How should I build the framework for my story?" To determine this, I shall apply the SCAMPER checklist to this conundrum. I have a few pages of a sample Choose Your Own Adventure story I wrote a couple of years ago, that I am going to expand upon.
The first step of the SCAMPER approach is "substitute something." The current story follows the basic Choose Your Own Adventure approach of flipping to a certain page based on a choice the reader makes. I wanted to give it an additional mechanic to set it apart, though, so since it is a fantasy adventure I added rules for combat. As they currently stand, though, they're not incredibly interactive and there is little incentive for the reader to follow them. You have health, the monster has health, and you just roll a die for both player and monster to see who damages who.
These rules could benefit from substitution. The repeated roll-offs can get boring fast, and losing combat results in an unfulfilling death, since it was not the result of any choice you made or lack of skill on your part. Instead, a more dynamic solution that would eliminate any external objects like dice could be an extension of the usual progression method in these stories; players can choose attack types just like any other choice, which would bring them to a page with the results of that attack. This way, if players lose it is a direct result of their choices.
The next step is to combine what you have with something else. Another story I wrote had an element that I think could add to this story, an incarnation of the Ferryman of Hades that interacted with the protagonist. I could adapt this character into the story and create a mechanism which could allow for the possibility of further interaction with the story even after a choice resulted in death, giving the reader a chance to win back their life and continue the story, essentially reversing the usual paradigm where the reader is expected to start the story over from the beginning when they die.
The way to magnify my concept is simple. Currently the adventure is broken up by paragraphs rather than pages, since it's a short story; for a full novel, I would obviously expand things to a page or so of content before each choice. Finding another use for my framework, on the other hand, is tricky. The only thing I could think of would be using the concept for a text-based game at some point, but I'd rather establish it as a traditional paperback novel first.
Closing thoughts on this exercise:
The steps of SCAMPER provided me with a good guide on how to improve my story mechanics. I think my story will be a much more enjoyable experience with the chances that I have made to it.
A short note about my creative environment:
I worked my way through this exercise while comfortably settled into a giant beanbag chair at my friend's apartment. There was some natural light when I started, but by the time I've finished it's gotten pretty dark in the room. The main source of light is from the television, which has been playing Miyazaki's "The Castle in the Sky" as I've worked. It is distracting on the whole but the music is, of course, beautiful.
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