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sometimes must make uninformed decisions, whether they want to or not.

Let's say your hero turns a corner and sees a wooden door in front of him/her, but also sees another one off to the left. With no description, the choice could go either way. But what if you put a hastily drawn picture of a dragon on the closer door and left the farther door open, with a sun-drenched forest just on the other side? This is an example of how descriptive clues can be used to sway the reader, but even with clues, any insightful reader should realize one thing: Just because your hero may be inclined to perform a particular action or head in a certain direction, that doesn't mean that it will end as expected. Perhaps there's only a dragon-shaped gem in the room, or maybe you hero enters the forest, only to be robbed by a thief. It's your story, of course, but now and then you can teach your reader to expect the unexpected. This adds to the excitement.

Plot Histories

Unless you have a photographic memory, you'll need to keep a spreadsheet of what has transpired during each of your plot lines, and within those plot lines, each section between decisions. The number of plot lines will grow exponentially, so one decision with two choices ends with two plot lines, but if you do that again, you end up with four plot lines. Following this formula, if you want to include at least five decision points in each plot, each with only two choices, then you'd have to keep track of at least 32 different plot lines.

So, add to your spreadsheet as you go and make sure you cover everything. Along the top you could list important details, and along the side you could list either page numbers or perhaps a one or two word reminder of what has occurred since the last decision. The following details will most likely be necessary:

-Who has your hero met? Does your hero have any traveling companions? What is their relationship? (Friends, enemies, peripheral characters, pets, a second head?)
-What is your hero's inventory? Has your hero lost/gained an item? Is it needed to achieve the goal? (Food, clothing, money, weapons, climbing gear, a holy relic?)
-What special abilities or knowledge does your hero have? For how long? (Where is the hidden letter, who was in bed with whom, how to avoid a fight or pick a lock?)
-Has your hero actually achieved the goal? (Reached a destination, killed the enemy, won over the love interest, found the special item, rescued the prisoner?)

Story Endings

In a separate file, you'll want to keep at least a basic list of how each plot line ends. Again, this is to keep your story's entertainment value high. You certainly wouldn't want your hero to always find romance, always catch the bad guy, or always end up in the hospital. Boring! Think up some different endings and ensure that your story has a relatively good mix of each one. For instance, if you have five basic ending types (i.e. Captured, killed, gets treasure, finds love, or goes home empty-handed), you might write five of each ending type, for a total of 25 endings. (It would behoove you to write less of the "gets killed" endings. Readers hate that!) Also, there's nothing keeping you from combining your ending types (i.e. Maybe your hero gets the treasure, and then gets captured.)

Basically, you are only limited by your imagination. Just remember to write from a reader's perspective as well as your own, and keep excellent records. Have fun!

Learn more about this author, Len Morse.
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