Hi, folks! Today I am happy to welcome Ellie Marvel (also known as Jody Wallace) for a chat here at the bunch.  Ellie has an amazing story out now–MEGAN’S CHOICE.  Remember those old choose your own adventure games?  Well, think about a grown-up romance game…add in some serious spice and action–and you’ve got MEGAN’S CHOICE.

Ellie (Jody!), welcome! And congrats on your new release!

A Game For Grown-ups

A number of writers say they got their start because they read a book and it failed to satisfy them.  They thought they could do better or wanted to pen something more to their specific taste than what the market provided.  I’m not judging that catalyst or saying that’s how I got my start — my motivation has more to do with my insidious desire to tell lies for fun and profit — but think about this.  Have you ever read a story and wished the characters would have done something different?  Wished the author would have given you more X, less X, and refrained from, I don’t know, killing off your favorite character or hooking the heroine up with that particular hero?

If you’ve ever felt that way, have I got a lie to sell you!

I mean, a story.  An interactive story to TELL you, in which the reader picks the narrative path.

First, some background, because I’m sure you came to this blog today to read history.

Remember those branching fiction novels that were so popular in the 80’s?  “Choose Your Own Adventure” was the best-known of several lines of branching fiction series, also called gamebooks.   The format never entirely went away, and right now it’s enjoying a small resurgence.  Some of the Choose Your Own Adventure novels are being reissued, and several new series have popped up to entertain the masses.

I have a quickie list of current gamebooks at my blog here. An author friend of mine, Christina Crooks, offers a cute, web-based choose your own romance for free on her site.  What’s significant about some of the newer releases is that these books aren’t just for the kiddies any more.

In fact, a number of newer releases have a decidedly adult bent.

Which brings me to the reason I’m guest blogging at the Bradford Bunch today.  My January 2009 release, Megan’s Choice, written under my pen name Ellie Marvel, is a branching fiction novella from Red Sage Publishing–and you know what being from Red Sage means.

That’s right.  It’s hot!

A litte more about Megan’s Choice:

Megan Malone, the quadrant’s fastest zip ship pilot, is overworked, overtired and craves the surf, sun and sex of a paradise planet vacation. When her employer receives an urgent commission from the government requesting Megan’s services on a diplomatic mission, she’s all set to refuse–especially when she finds out her domineering ex-lover Yusef Gunnen will be part of that mission.

But what Megan doesn’t know is that she’s no longer calling her own shots.  You, dear reader, are calling the shots.  And what you decide Megan will do at the end of each episode will change her life forever.

If you’d like to read an excerpt, I have part of the opening scene at my site:  http://www.jodywallace.com/snips/meganexcerpt1.htm

And for visitors to the Bradford Bunch today, I posted an excerpt from deeper in the novella:  http://www.jodywallace.com/snips/meganexcerpt2.htm

The process of writing Megan’s Choice was challenging, intricate and–best of all–highly entertaining.  Each scene had to be constructed to take into account everything that had gone before, which is typical of stories, but also everything that would potentially happen afterwards, which is not typical.  In earlier scenes, I foreshadowed more than one possible plot so anyone following one of the “threads” from start to finish would have a consistent
reading experience.  Megan begins the story with certain issues, and in various threads she works through them in different ways.  Yet I wanted all her directions to be believable and anchored in the characterization and worldbuilding.

So if you’re in the mood to try something a little different, right now the ebook can be found at the www.eredsage.com store, and their ebooks generally make their way to other online vendors like Amazon and Fictionwise.

I’m grateful to Red Sage for working with me on this literary adventure and hope I can contract more Megan with them at some point in the future.  Because now that she’s been freed from a traditional literary structure, the possibilities for Megan seem wide open.

Jody Wallace w/a Ellie Marvel
Megan’s Choice — Choose Your Adventure!
http://www.jodywallace.com * http://www.meankitty.com