About Two Choices

## **What *Two Choices* Is**

*Two Choices* is an exploration of the nature of choice and chance - a crowd-authored chronicle of Matt and how his choices shape his future.

We all loved the *Choose Your Own Adventure* books from the 80's. Well, not all of us. If you're too young to have any idea what I'm talking about, that's okay!  The idea behind the *Choose Your Own Adventure* books was that the reader got to pick between two or three options of what happened next, then turned to the corresponding page (back when books actually had real pages). All of the choices, however, ultimately led to just a few pre-determined endings. But - as we all know far too well - that's not how life works.

The sad fact of the matter is that when we make a choice, our lives are forever changed, for better or worse. How different would your life be if you went to that other university, accepted that other job offer, or dated that other person? What about if you sat in a different seat on your first day of high school, leading to you make a different friend, which led to a whole different set of life experiences?

That's where *Two Choices* begins. Our everyman protagonist, Matt, steps into his new high school in his new town and has to decide where to sit. How his story unfolds from there is literally limitless, and is up to you.

## **How it Works**

### Reading

This is the easy part....start reading, and make a choice at the end of each chapter. Sometimes, instead, you'll have to flip a coin, as chance will determine what happens to Matt next.  Each choice and chance leads to its own unique storyline, never overlapping with what would have happened had different choices been made.

### Authoring and Editing

When you come to the end of a storyline - i.e. where there is no more story left - that's where you become the story-teller. You - if you are so inclined - are invited to write the next chapter in the saga of Matt. At the end, just include a choice or chance, and hyperlink them to the new chapters you create.  (The chapters are titled based on the choice history - i.e. if you choose A, then B, then flip a coin that lands on Heads (H), you reach Chapter ABH.  It's really pretty simple.)  From there, you can write as far down a single storyline as you choose, write multiple storylines, or as much or as little as you want.  If the adding pages, hyperlinking, etc. is too much to ask, I would be happy to do it for you.  Please just e-mail me your chapter at twochoiceswiki@gmail.com and I will make sure it gets added to the story.

In addition to writing your own chapters, you are welcome to edit and add to already existing chapters. In doing this, the one cardinal rule is that you cannot change the substance of the chapter or the choices at the end. Certainly fix grammatical errors, add choice histories if they have not been included, make the tone more literary, add character depth, humor, additional hyperlinks, or even additional conversations or events, but keep the basic plot structure of the chapter consistent with how it was written when you came to it. Also, of course, please do not change the note about who originally authored the chapter.

When you're ready to join in the writing, please review our Author Guidelines.  These are just a few things to help the work be cohesive despite being written by many different people.  And don't worry, anywhere you come to the end of a storyline, there will be a link to the guidelines, so you don't have to find your way back here to get to them.

### Re-Reading!

The best part about *Two Choices* is not initial the reading, or even the writing, but the re-reading. What would have happened if Matt had sat on the other side of the room? Rather than all choices leading to a limited number of endings like the classic *Choose Your Own Adventures*, every choice sets Matt's life down a completely new and different path. Explore how different choices would have forever changed Matt's life simply by clicking on the choice you want to make differently in the Choice History found at the bottom of each chapter!