YOU Write the Story! Interactive Survival Adventures

 YOU Write the Story! Interactive Survival Adventures

Blogger: Amber Schamel

Have you ever wished you could make the choices for the characters in the stories you read? If you're like me, you've found yourself yelling "No! Don't do that. That's a really dumb idea." at a printed page or movie screen. What if there was a book that would allow you to make the choices and determine the outcome of the story?

Over the holidays, a friend of mine introduced me to a series of books that does just that. It's the You Choose series from Capstone Press. This series is actually meant for young adults, but I've been enjoying the adventures as well. It's been a real hit with my young siblings and cousins. We've spent hours over the Christmas weekend living the adventures in this series. The series includes adventures in the Revolution, Civil War, Wild West, World Wars, Salem Witch Trials, and many more.

Here's how this works. My favorite so far is Can You Survive the Titanic by Allison Lassieur. In this adventure, you choose to experience the Titanic as a surgeon's assistant, a governess to a first-class family, or as a 12 year old boy traveling in third class to New York with his father. As your story begins, you will be faced with choices, and the choices you make could mean life or death.

For example, if you are the governess, you've just finished your dinner and have heard that the ship may be in trouble. You have the choice to either go tell your employer and his family right away, or attempt to find out more before waking them. You make many other choices throughout the story, and each choice changes the plot, and even the outcome. You may save the lives of the three children you care for and become their only living connection, or you may die trying to make sure they made it out of the cabin and to the lifeboats.

This is a really fun way for children to learn about history. Not only that, but the series also helps to paint a vivid picture in the child's mind, showing them that EVERY choice you make is important. Some choices may seem small and unimportant, like choosing to go to the port side or starboard side of the Titanic, but even that small choice determines whether you and your loved ones live or die.

As a writer, these books are a lot of fun, and serve as story fodder.

So, what about you? Do you like to imagine different endings or outcomes to stories? Or do you prefer to have it all written out for you?

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