choose your own adventure
Reader-directed narrative
Choose Your Own Adventure is a style of interactive storytelling where readers or players make decisions that determine the narrative's direction and outcome.
The phrase comes from a series of children's books popular in the 1980s, where readers would flip to different pages based on their choices: Turn to page 47 if you enter the cave, or page 63 if you run away.
Now applied broadly to any branching narrative format—video games, training modules, or life decisions with multiple paths: Dating in your twenties is basically choose your own adventure.
Splitting into separate directions
- gamebookChoice-driven narrative fiction
- pathwaysRoutes for walking
- plotlinesSequences of events in narratives
- forksMulti-pronged eating implements
crossroads · paperback · series · R.L. Stine
Story's central figure
- storylineSequence of fictional events
- questSeeking journey for something
- journeyTravel from place to place
- twistsRotational bends or turns
endings · plot · hero · exploration · mystery · danger · discovery · cliffhanger
Process of choosing actions
- optionsAvailable courses of action
- selectionsChosen items from options
- alternativesOther available options
- dilemmasDifficult choices between alternatives
consequences · outcomes · possibilities · scenarios · forks · crossroads · paths · directions
Decade before the nineties
- childhoodLife's earliest phase
- paperbackBook with flexible cover
- collectibleObject worth amassing
- bookshelfFurniture for storing volumes
illustrations · series · Goosebumps · retro · throwback
Authority to direct
- participationAct of taking part
- engagementCommitment to wed or attend
- replayabilityEnduring appeal for repetition
- second-personGrammar addressing the audience
branching
Splitting into separate directions
- gamebookChoice-driven narrative fiction
- pathwaysRoutes for walking
- plotlinesSequences of events in narratives
forks · crossroads · paperback · series · R.L. Stine
protagonist
Story's central figure
- storylineSequence of fictional events
- questSeeking journey for something
- journeyTravel from place to place
twists · endings · plot · hero · exploration · mystery · danger · discovery · cliffhanger · peril
decision-making
Process of choosing actions
- optionsAvailable courses of action
- selectionsChosen items from options
- alternativesOther available options
dilemmas · consequences · outcomes · possibilities · scenarios · forks · crossroads · paths · directions · branches
80s
Decade before the nineties
- childhoodLife's earliest phase
- paperbackBook with flexible cover
- collectibleObject worth amassing
bookshelf · illustrations · series · Goosebumps · retro · throwback
control
Authority to direct
- participationAct of taking part
- engagementCommitment to wed or attend
- replayabilityEnduring appeal for repetition
second-person · immersion · replay · customization · personalization
- storytellingstorytelling, story, tale, narrative, narrator
- contemporary storytellingpodcasts, streaming series, graphic novels, video games, fan fiction
- interactive bookspop-up books, lift-the-flap books, gamebooks, talking books, activity books
- interactive mediavideo games, video game, apps, interactive fiction, mobile apps
- digital storiese-literature, digital storytelling, interactive fiction, webnovels, hypertext
- game narrativestory, narrative, plot, storyline, dialogue tree
choose, adventure, chosen, choosing, chooser, choosers, yourself, ownership, adventurer