CYOB

Basics

I started the Choose Your Own Blogventure series because I thought it would be fun to try to recreate the old Choose Your Own Adventure series of my youth. Since I don’t yet have an amazingly lucrative book deal I thought I could recruit other writers to help me out with this quest- the only problem was, where would I find those writers? At the time, I had no idea that my fellow internet-loving bloggers would be so interested in trying their hand at some fiction writing, but the comments came in in droves (okay, fine, like thirties), and thus my idea of having 14 participants was thrown out the window in favor of a larger-scale project.

Because it is being held in October, this third installment of the CYOB is a Spooktacular theme. I am hoping for zombies and vampires and maybe those creepy aliens from The Thing, but the greatest part is that I have no idea what the writers will include! It will be posted on Friday, October 30th, at 10:00 a.m. EST. For a complete list of participating blogs this time around, please see this post.

FAQs

  • How can I get involved?
    Well, there are a couple of ways. First, you can read my blog and when I announce a new CYOB you can leave a comment letting me know you are interested in participating. Or, if you can’t be bothered reading my blog (shame on you!) but you would like to be involved in the next one, you can always email me at nancypearlwannabe at gmail and I will dutifully note your interest in my handy dandy spreadsheet, which is aptly titled “Peeps Interested in the CYOB”.

    You can also Digg the story here.

  • How many people can participate in the CYOB?
    In both the first and second rounds of the CYOB there have been 31 participants, including myself. I started the story, handing off the next two story options for two other very capable bloggers to continue as they wish. I’ve had a few people ask if I plan on expanding that but since the story lines increase exponentially I think if I added another level (which would require an additional 32 bloggers) the whole story would spiral out of control, not to mention it would take forever and a day to read all of them.
  • Why don’t you try to get a book deal out of the CYOB?
    You make it sound so easy! The truth is, I’m not sure how marketable this type of idea is but I assure you I am looking into it. So any publishers that feel like giving me a signing bonus I am ALL EARS.

    No, seriously. I like money. And writing!

  • Why do the stories seem so… disjointed?
    It’s intentional. Each writer only receives the story portion that comes directly before their own, so they have no idea what came before that. The end results are, in my opinion, hilarious, because each person can take their story in their own direction without worrying about furthering my original story line. It’s like playing an online game of Telephone! Maybe next time around I will have each person pass on the entire story line to that point and see how it goes. Why not?

Links

CYOB #1- Emma’s Encounter
CYOB #2- No Way Home
CYOB #3- Dying To Get Out