There are No Funerals for the Villain Forum

Choose Your Own Adventure novels are Lost Media for new readers, and it's sad to see series/novels get bad or low reviews because readers don't understand how to read these types of non-linear novels.

What is a Choose Your Own Adventure Novel? A CYOW novel is not laid out in a linear format, so it is NOT meant to be read from start to finish. Instead, you are given a series of choices. Each choice is a fork in the road, and you follow the direction you want the story to flow. The story will make NO sense if you read it from front to back.

Example: You have been betrayed by your lover. You A) turn left to follow the road that will lead you to revenge (turn to page 68) or B) turn right to follow the road to forget your lover and start a new life in a distant land (turn to page 23).

What if I don't like my choices? Start over from your last choice or go back to the beginning (like a regression story) and change all your choices. CYOA novels are like litRPGs for book readers without the board or video game. Your choices can lead you to a bad ending, an open ending, or multiple happy endings. These types of novels are interactive and engaging - they are meant to be immersive, so the reader is supposed to be involved in the choices of the protagonist, not a back-seat watcher.

Please be mindful of these types of novels (as they are not for everyone), and mental work is expected with decision-making. The rules are simple: when you are given your options, make your choice, follow the page number to the new path, and see how your choices affect the novel's outcome. If you feel like having to make choices on behalf of your protagonist, and constantly jumping around the book in any and every direction back and forth is too much work, do not engage with CYOA novels.

If you want to experience a short CYOA experience with others, a university radio station (Trent Radio: @CYOA_PTBO on X) does a new CYOA story every Monday from 7 to 8pm EST where listeners can engage and make choices together. This short experience might help you discover if CYOA novels are for you or not.