I can't talk about the gamebook I'm writing at the moment, because it hasn't been announced yet. But I would like to talk about how the creation of it has been, or at least felt like, a new experience, even though I have written over 30 gamebooks already.
An integral part of the adventure is that the vast majority of it is set in one building, with specific things happening at specific times. However, it is also an adventure in which you can visit different rooms within the building in pretty much any order you want. Meanwhile, other characters have their own agendas and may be found in those rooms, but only at certain times.
This has required some very details plans - based on rooms, characters, and events - which have to be continually cross-referenced. And yet, at the same time, writing it has been quite a fluid process. I have dealt with one room, or event, at a time, but when I come to other rooms or events later on, it has often necessitated me going back and making tweaks to what I have already written.
My biggest fear is that when someone reads the book, they will do something in a particular order that then breaks the gameplay. It is certainly going to need some very careful editing, proofreading, and playtesting. However, if I can pull it off, I like to think it will standout as something a bit special.
I have really enjoyed the challenge of writing this adventure, even though it has been to quite a tight deadline, and I certainly could have made things a lot easier for myself if I had written a straightforward, linear adventure, but that's not me.
In case you hadn't noticed, I love gamebooks, and I like seeing how far the genre can be stretched. I see an increasingly number of people writing their own gamebooks, and they are almost always classic, sword-and-sorcery, fantasy adventures, very much in the vein of Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf. Certainly, the more recent gamebooks that get the most attention, seem to be those that do something different with the genre, such as DestinyQuest or Steam Highwayman.
I have been fortunate to write for the FF series myself, but when it comes to my own gamebooks, I want to do something different, which is why I've written a science fiction adventure with giant robots and kaiju and another that quotes great swathes of Shakespeare.
But this latest project has been something else, and you will be able to judge for yourself whether I have succeeded in what I have attempted to do later this year.
In other news, The Tides of Innsmouth, my latest Arkham Horror adventure could do with some more reviews on Amazon, and ones that are actually about the content of the book rather than its appearance. If you've read it, please consider posting a review. Thank you.
