Your Adventure Awaits… How to Write a Gamebook

Workshop with gamebook author Ken Boyter. 11.00-12.00 at Southern Maltings on Sunday 18th of May 2025.

You find yourself in a dark, dark dungeon. To your left, you hear a scratching sound, and to your right, red eyes stare from the darkness. Would you like to investigate the scratching? Or would you prefer to call outto the red eyes?

Gamebooks have been entertaining and enthralling readers for generations from Choose Your Own Adventure and the Fighting Fantasy series of the ‘80s and ‘90s, among others, to the contemporary adventures of ACE Gamebooks and Usborne Adventure Series. But what is it that keeps the reader engaged and eager to pick their way through a dangerous quest? What is the magic behind the magic?

In this one hour workshop, writer and games designer Ken Boyter will guide you through the basics and give you the building blocks so you too, can create thrilling and nail-biting gamebook adventures!

The workshop will cover:

• Ideas
• Plotting and Planning
• Mechanics & Puzzles
• Illustrations
• Entry Scramble