Sunday, April 1, 2012

April A to Z - A is for Amateurs part 3 - an interview with Gaetano Abbondanza


It's begun.  The April A to Z has kicked off and I will begin our gamebook journey with amateur writers.  Why do amateur gamebook writers make gamebooks great?  They keep the fandom entertained when there is a dearth of official books.  It is also great to be an amateur writer for many reasons - you can hone your writing/gaming skills, you can get great feedback about your book and you can go through the pleasurable process of creating something.  

On great website that showcases amateur gamebooks is www.ffproject.com.  This website not only has gamebooks in doc and pdf form but you can also play a lot of those gamebooks online.  I put some questions up on the guestbook of  ffproject and some of the authors were kind enough to give me answers.


Gaetano Abbondanza has written two brilliant horror themed Fighting Fantasy books - House of Horror and  Soul Tracker:  Day of the Supernaturals.  Here's what makes Gaetano tick...

What was the first gamebook you read (that wasn't your own)?

THE CAVE OF TIME

What is your favourite gamebook?

HEART OF ICE by Dave Morris (Stuart - nice, mine too.)

What gamebooks/interactive fiction would you recommend to a newcomer to the genre?

LONE WOLF SERIES OR VIRTUAL REALITY SERIES

Summarise what a gamebook is to a newcomer in 100 characters or fewer.

INTERACTIVE FICTION: THE READER CONTROLS THE STORY BY MAKING DECISIONS THAT CONTROL THE FLOW OF EVENTS

Why are gamebooks great compared to games or books?

THEY'RE A COMBINATION OF A STORY AND A PUZZLE WITH AN ULTIMATE GOAL FOR THE READER TO STRIVE TOWARDS

Where did you come up with your ideas for gamebook stories?

GAMEBOOKS THAT I'VE READ; MYTHS, LEGENDS AND HISTORY

Where did you come up with your ideas for gamebook game systems (in this case additional rules for FF)?

INFLUENCED BY OTHER GAMEBOOK SYSTEMS AND ALSO THINKING ABOUT THINGS THAT THE READER WOULD FIND NOVEL OR FUN

When it comes to writing a gamebook, what's the most important thing that you do?

MAKE IT FUN; TRY TO PRODUCE SOMETHING THAT I WOULD WANT TO READ

What inspired you to write an amateur gamebook?

MY LOVE OF THE GENRE

What has writing a gamebook taught you?

WRITING CREATIVELY IS BOTH FUN AND CHALLENGING!

What have you got coming up in terms of your gamebook projects?

"DEVIL'S FLIGHT": 300 SECTION SPACE / HORROR ADVENTURE (THINK OF THE MOVIE "ALIENS"

Do you have any websites/blogs/Twitter feeds?

NOT AT THIS TIME

What do you think the future of gamebooks is?

ONLINE APPS SUCH AS WWW.GAMEBOOKADVENTURES.COM

6 comments:

  1. Great interviews! My favorite answer, really, was from Phillip Sadler to this question:

    Why are gamebooks great compared to games or books?
    You can change the course of the story; you can be the hero.

    THAT is so cool!

    They were all great interviews, don't get me wrong. Just LOVED that answer. :)

    Good going, see you around the challenge.

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  2. Glad you enjoyed them, Christina! I'll be reading your blog in the challenge too.

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  3. It started! I'm really looking forward to the rest.

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  4. One of Gaetano's answers is a very good piece of advice, I believe, for any potential gamebook authors out there - The comment about producing work that you (the author) would want to read yourself.

    I have never written a gamebook about a topic that wasn't of interest to myself and always found that there were other readers out there that enjoyed a story that I enjoyed myself.

    Good advice, Gaetano!

    Thanks Stuart, for this great (upcoming) month of info. Really enjoying it!

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  5. Thanks J P!

    It certainly is an exciting time for gamebooks, a veritable rebirth, and the gamebook blogs out there (including this one) have played a huge role in that.

    ---Gaetano----

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