Take Control
12.30.2011
Screencast of How to Internally Link a Bookmark in Word
Here's my old post explaining how to set up bookmarks and links, but this is the screencast I meant to make. Wa-la!
12.29.2011
My Associates Part 3
Here's another round up of other interactive fiction titles. There are more at part 1 and part 2.
Maureen McGowan's Twisted Tales are fractured YA fairy tale romances. 3 layers of choices, 8 endings.
![Cinderella: Ninja Warrior (Twisted Tales)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vs8F_OMiHUrhq-GyCw1kBGU0PJ9cMPxD_-6tp--D8Guh05y6R5SZeFOuqiGYms_ru-lVBVbES6qxtsF0wAbQk6ehttCTZl3uTwp8-9beDjXQLvk2Vg-_j32PDKEZCmwoavS6e8yAYXNiNLB21MqftH_PI0V_Gsk3-1UY21C99mUltLYbMS02jCz5bLHjqMg1fFBYLmVLcdEvk02kUo1piPYlwfMqxQo90sJfQbN3qhTveokdDcHZ-KIXqzIFkTF5RNovJz3CTA1lsvESFhRt6w=s0-d)
Liz Crowe has an erotic romance series called Brewing Passions. She came out with one of them as a choose your own romance.
![The Tap Room (Brewing Passion)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t5IbTBX2R45LdCST6ZuLIKIfD6aAnNmErOOS8w7qgD8i-_XhCftvVPDwC_fucw_6mYkZV6tHePTBncMv1-9n73VlWl16jJhafQ-hL8ii_LcdZYcPUBnE2dBZYSr0-dAnUg2U5vc4RXBogRf9jwXy5Bo03A0TNCYRn6l8nz7cgwbru0406zVUGQlPz4VaZjiUCJZ7jW8lNgqut9mLWOhfk0jD-U_Vj9RvdBl1LwENd4oE8tKIRp5VDcfmpFGb6borFwKXUjKNw24VqYjijOUFUjKm0=s0-d)
![The Adventures of Whatley Tupper: A Choose Your Own...](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vNoMJ2ZK1V5JXCtqg-AzEkoPlqlY-FbcHfAumWKQL2HomgofCWSVum_z7xsW4ZNLmI4RyKDalYLkANLSAHdMyA3Ijx0ZymGy_J9R9Ff-_focjRl_reVYcreVVjxgVdokkZc_jJulBH5U-SfXIlQm7nxQtLF5TScQGHUdDQSdcW7hkh4oDy2fq4Sm3NEthjhTZimLHR6aguI8LJ_PO9pambOYEYRpdTkY7LFLV1dLxrnk3HZE83byRrVWF60w-q3m0k4ljqC8BV9rNkBRj9yvpT=s0-d)
The Adventures of Whatley Tupper by Pitts and Kerkhoven. Not really romance, with 37 endings it's geared for cyoa fans more than anything else. Authors have another book, not a sequel.
Holliday's High Noon Honeymoon (Happily Ever Afters) by A. Porter It's got a shit cover and the opening chapter is straight historical western cheese (and nothing wrong with that). Not sure why he had to advertise the Christian.
![Holliday's High Noon Honeymoon (Happily Ever Afters)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vU_TpOPSaY279okSk7Fsqk3obS7HIDDynEbeU2BgYuhhqH1wvVXQfe3nYSXfywRK3yaPRdMUXRoZdJAtdROSpbkqn_cOsP0HGilsUuJkJ7rm1lm-HsVpLWPC0VobKGnwPLn4UREpLfCXLzbNlc15NWNtTpTHro0djDyMKF3m8w4eaAZlfUMYkK3uXE5mfxrKBIpU9EwQsRjB8nJUCx7axWaAQKTB0OMTTimSZ7ohaU3R6eW_Urm42bg6fyVhT5N8lKYlWzfSPnUKYaEt65Y-Uq=s0-d)
![Scenarios 1: Truth or Dare (Scenarios for Girls)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v_i0MlnRiAGXcb-7cSm3QqGkLymZk1h2_noEAxfJC1b_YTYxfcHmcBmZQ1typ683lGMrwRHa5-jxcqTb4j3D_p_3bqhqjPWn17zdIvEd91yBTsAsSmCd8GrtV4qHJY0mLQmdIjKudubeVGBCXWgFy2-6Ota3Bbg-O90YecgwwZh132szFZrwWMruvdm-bE_w41rtBwXRmZdwhYkQwxzOSRMyR6C4s=s0-d)
Christian teen romance where I'm sure you're punished for every risky decision:
Nicole O'Dell Scenarios
One of my fav authors who writes in the awesome futuristic urban fantasy series Crimson City and for the short-lived Shomi line, Liz Maverick, has a YA-geared title in an intriguing "active fiction for Kindle" imprint. To be a series.
Another title in this same mode is by Heidi Kling.
This one is more suspensey. Kira Snyder.
And Tawna Fensky purports to write the next installment based on reader data of which choices were most popular. Adding a serial to cyoa MYSTERY is going to be crazy hard. It's getting more attention than the other 3.
Travis Sentell seems to go in a more scifi direction.
Here's an indie erotic-romance that isn't character-centric. I'm not sure how this works, but apparently you answer a survey first and then they give you the story that matched your preferences... clearly trying to go toward the Choice Of... crowd, I'm not sure how they'd work this technology in an ebook and I'm going to try it!
Maureen McGowan's Twisted Tales are fractured YA fairy tale romances. 3 layers of choices, 8 endings.
Liz Crowe has an erotic romance series called Brewing Passions. She came out with one of them as a choose your own romance.
The Adventures of Whatley Tupper by Pitts and Kerkhoven. Not really romance, with 37 endings it's geared for cyoa fans more than anything else. Authors have another book, not a sequel.
Holliday's High Noon Honeymoon (Happily Ever Afters) by A. Porter It's got a shit cover and the opening chapter is straight historical western cheese (and nothing wrong with that). Not sure why he had to advertise the Christian.
Christian teen romance where I'm sure you're punished for every risky decision:
Nicole O'Dell Scenarios
One of my fav authors who writes in the awesome futuristic urban fantasy series Crimson City and for the short-lived Shomi line, Liz Maverick, has a YA-geared title in an intriguing "active fiction for Kindle" imprint. To be a series.
Another title in this same mode is by Heidi Kling.
This one is more suspensey. Kira Snyder.
And Tawna Fensky purports to write the next installment based on reader data of which choices were most popular. Adding a serial to cyoa MYSTERY is going to be crazy hard. It's getting more attention than the other 3.
Travis Sentell seems to go in a more scifi direction.
Here's an indie erotic-romance that isn't character-centric. I'm not sure how this works, but apparently you answer a survey first and then they give you the story that matched your preferences... clearly trying to go toward the Choice Of... crowd, I'm not sure how they'd work this technology in an ebook and I'm going to try it!
11.18.2011
Awesome CYOA romance game-books
Morgan Hawke, an erotic romance author, has tried her hand at cyoa blended with art. Think Hyperstudio, only cool again. The engine is called Ren'py and there's lots of romance to explore, especially manga style, on their site.
Hawke calls her work "visual novels" and the visuals are really lovely indeed. All 3, a fairy tale, a vampire, and a yaoi, are rated X and not for minors. I really wish there were an index or a way to bookmark/save a choice because it gets really tedious replaying to discover other endings. Other than that multi-use quibble, they're well done. Their charm is in their cleverness, not the depth of the story. Check them out!
Hawke calls her work "visual novels" and the visuals are really lovely indeed. All 3, a fairy tale, a vampire, and a yaoi, are rated X and not for minors. I really wish there were an index or a way to bookmark/save a choice because it gets really tedious replaying to discover other endings. Other than that multi-use quibble, they're well done. Their charm is in their cleverness, not the depth of the story. Check them out!
11.11.2011
GW2 Dreaming Quizfest
For awhile I’ve been thinking about making a GW2 character quiz. I’m disappointed I couldn’t find a quiz that did both piping and allowed for a large result pool or a split result pool (basically welding 2 quizzes into 1). Vision aside, I liked gotoquiz because it was free (tradeoff—ugly) and it allowed a ranked output showing how close you were to the other choices, which I consider as valuable as the top “answer.” Please share and repost!
My race quiz
My profession quiz
My order quiz
My silly chick version of the profession quiz
My profession quiz
My order quiz
So after I finished mine I went out looking for others. I found a few that sucked, a few that rocked, and a few good tries. Here’s my survey of quizzes, in true librarian form.
good! Quizilla shows % of other takers who scored as you did, which is interesting. 3 stars
(races) shows ranges of other choices. Cute! 3 stars *Quizfarm has gone defunct.
http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes/6918512/which-guild-wars-2-race-are-you
Cute! 3 stars
http://helloquizzy.okcupid.com/tests/what-guild-wars-2-profession-are-you-1
Obvious. Gives percentages, but not in order, nor does it have enough definition between outcomes, consistently landing ties. 2 stars.
http://quizfarm.com/quizzes/gw2/IDarko/what-guild-wars-2-profession-are-you/
Long, some repetition, obvious, but accurate. 2 stars. *Quizfarm has gone defunct.
Obvious. Gives percentages, but not in order, nor does it have enough definition between outcomes, consistently landing ties. 2 stars.
http://quizfarm.com/quizzes/gw2/IDarko/what-guild-wars-2-profession-are-you/
Long, some repetition, obvious, but accurate. 2 stars. *Quizfarm has gone defunct.
spelling issues, some heavy-handed q’s, but okay. 2 stars
some spelling stuff, some obvious stuff, but okay. 2 stars
facebook required-grrr. Some spelling issues, some heavy-handed Q’s. 1 star.
only 7 classes, heavy handed, long, repeated questions, doesn’t show range of other choices, only top choice. 1 star
only 5 of the classes, incomplete, don’t rec. 0 stars
only 7 of the classes, heavy-handed y/n questions, don’t rec. 0 stars
terrible English, don’t rec. 0 stars
7 totally obvious choices for each unfun question. Heavy-handed. No fun output. 0 stars
not even a real quiz, just a popularity chart. 0 stars
8.14.2011
Reviews!
Well, my first 2 months foray into self-publishing is coming to a close, and I think I'll be letting this blog lapse, as I've said what I need to say about the project. I've been lucky enough to collect some reviews from readers and bloggers. Here's highlights of what they're saying, with links to the full:
Frida Fantastic "It’s a fast-paced adventure and I was at the edge of my seat the entire time. ...I really liked Becca as a protagonist. She’s an ambitious, capable, and passionate woman, and I was invested in her by the time I was confronted with the first choice. All the available options are valid and there are no obvious answers. There are just risky choices and less risky choices, but some pay off while others kill off."
Kyrias on Lauren: "I had a ton of fun even when I sat there, mouth agape, whining: “But I didn’t intend for that to happen!”"
angel Thoughts "It kept me on my toes and had me wondering just what poor Charlotte had gotten herself into when she decided to take a cruise. ... If you like the anticipation and not knowing what will happen, then this book will make you dance with glee."
Goodreads Sarah on the Trilogy: "For the amount it cost, it was certainly good value and I would definitely get it again. ...I have to say, each of the three books were extremely enjoyable."
All Romance willowlox: "Becca was a fun read. It's just like the old choose your own adventure books, only sexy! I could wind my way thru the scifi picking the plot twists I wanted for Becca."
Amazon Kara: "I just read this whole series, and it was a lot of fun. It's been many, many years since a read a choose your own adventure style book, and it was great reading an adult version. Once I read through to my first ending, I loved going back and exploring all the other possibilities and making sure I'd seen every ending. I appreciated that not each story line ended happily, and sometimes stupid decisions led to ugly consequences."
B&N Geekgoddess on Becca: "It was a quick, fun read full of danger and adventure, and I could never quite guess what was going to happen next. There was one scene in particular I encountered that I found especially hot because I was so totally not expecting it."
Frida Fantastic "It’s a fast-paced adventure and I was at the edge of my seat the entire time. ...I really liked Becca as a protagonist. She’s an ambitious, capable, and passionate woman, and I was invested in her by the time I was confronted with the first choice. All the available options are valid and there are no obvious answers. There are just risky choices and less risky choices, but some pay off while others kill off."
Kyrias on Lauren: "I had a ton of fun even when I sat there, mouth agape, whining: “But I didn’t intend for that to happen!”"
angel Thoughts "It kept me on my toes and had me wondering just what poor Charlotte had gotten herself into when she decided to take a cruise. ... If you like the anticipation and not knowing what will happen, then this book will make you dance with glee."
Goodreads Sarah on the Trilogy: "For the amount it cost, it was certainly good value and I would definitely get it again. ...I have to say, each of the three books were extremely enjoyable."
All Romance willowlox: "Becca was a fun read. It's just like the old choose your own adventure books, only sexy! I could wind my way thru the scifi picking the plot twists I wanted for Becca."
Amazon Kara: "I just read this whole series, and it was a lot of fun. It's been many, many years since a read a choose your own adventure style book, and it was great reading an adult version. Once I read through to my first ending, I loved going back and exploring all the other possibilities and making sure I'd seen every ending. I appreciated that not each story line ended happily, and sometimes stupid decisions led to ugly consequences."
B&N Geekgoddess on Becca: "It was a quick, fun read full of danger and adventure, and I could never quite guess what was going to happen next. There was one scene in particular I encountered that I found especially hot because I was so totally not expecting it."
8.13.2011
How To
as a sort of summary to several ideas I explored here, I wrote an article at Author Rescue that reviews my experiences and offers some suggestions. If you are interested in trying interactive fiction, check it out!
8.12.2011
a Take Control Recipe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)