How to Organize and Write a CYOA Story

Another aspect that should be avoided, especially if you are writing in second person, is physically describing your audience.  Lately, there’s this trend that’s been happening with an exclamation point, such as [Trait]!Reader.  The “trait” could be something physical, such as being obese, a certain type of personality, having a physical disability, or something as small as the reader wearing glasses.  Frankly, you don’t need them, and, dare I say it, I think should be avoided at all costs.  The point of reader-inserts or second person stories is to include as many readers as possible, not pick and choose which traits apply, which would be isolating your readers more than including them.  I get it, that it’s a “warning” that this certain trait will be involved, but you don’t need a warning for this sort of thing.  If you include these “traits,” it’s more than obvious that you have an image for this role, and for some unnecessary reason, this image is important.  Why is a pair of glasses important?  Is it because you just want a character that’s near-sighted, or is it because there’s a scene in which the love interest says something along the lines of, “Why do you hide your beautiful eyes behind these glasses?”  In either case, you don’t need the Glasses!Reader warning.  If you still want that corny line, you could just put, “Why do you hide your eyes?”  The reader could assume various methods of hiding one’s eyes from glasses, to hair, to hands, and to simply turning away.  The glasses aren’t the important part; it’s that the character is hiding their eyes.  Obesity?  That’s either the character not being fit (but could still be thin), or that they have body image issues, even if there’s nothing physically wrong with them.  You can include both obese and thin people in your audience if you just describe what’s going on rather than attach a specific image on the role. 

Now what about something like a physical disability, such as being deaf or in a wheelchair?  Certainly not all people are deaf or in a wheelchair, but that doesn’t mean you’re excluding the people who aren’t deaf or in a wheelchair.  If the role starts off able to hear and walk, that will make the transition easier for those who live that way, but even if the role is born deaf or unable to walk, all you have to do is sufficiently describe this lifestyle.  Research about people with the disability, how they live, their quality of life, the difficulties, etc.  If you provide enough description, emotion, and prove that you’ve done your research, you’ll be able to include all of your audience, instead of those few people, making your “warning” redundant.

Personality is another matter altogether; however the trait warning is still useless.  In “You POVs” there is a section specifically for readers who have complained that no one reader is the same or have the same personality, which is true, but showing a bit of personality in the role isn’t supposed to be isolating.  Everyone is a little shy, has a little cynicism, confident, and all the other personalities that you can think of, but the role just highlights them at certain times.  Maybe the role is mostly shy, but as long as you describe the reason, and describe how it feels to be shy, I would think it’s no big deal because if you describe enough, it’s still relatable.  The role of second-person stories are supposed to find a link that every reader can find relatable, and once you’ve established that link, you can pretty much do anything with the personality.

Moving away from that exclamation trend, there is no need to describe the body type anyway; if the character is embarrassed about his or her shape, simply say so, that compared to other people, he or she feels imperfect in some way.  There is no need to describe the color, shape or length of the eyes, skin, lips or hair.  Instead of saying “You brushed your long curly red hair, brushed some rouge on your fair cheeks and outlined your bright green eyes,” you could just say, “You brushed your hair, dusted some rouge on your cheeks and outlined your eyes.”  Granted, not everyone will have head hair, or long enough hair that it would need actual brushing, but I’m sure nearly everyone understands the feeling of brushing their hair when it was longer.  Don’t describe the reader’s clothing unless he or she is making a path-choosing decision.  “If you chose the red dress, go here.”  “If you chose the T-shirt and khakis, go there.”