Editing Gamebook (section)

===Origins===
There are several examples of early works of art with branching narratives. The romantic novel ''[[Consider the Consequences!]]'' by Doris Webster and Mary Alden Hopkins was published in the United States in 1930, and boasts "a dozen or more" different endings depending on the "taste of the individual reader".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rubensteinlibrary.tumblr.com/post/165617259862/consider-the-consequences-by-doris-webster-and|title=Rubenstein Library |date=September 2017 |publisher=[[Duke University]] }}</ref> The 1936 play ''[[Night of January 16th]]'' by [[Ayn Rand]], about a trial, is unusual in that members of the audience are chosen to play the jury and deliver a verdict, which then influences the play's ending: guilty or not guilty.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-25-ca-29612-story.html|title=Theater Review : Rand's 'Night of January 16th' Has a Good Day in Court|date=January 25, 1995|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oX8hmVw_yXYC&q=branching+path+narrative&pg=PA323 | title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory| isbn=978-1134458400| last1=Herman| first1=David| last2=Jahn| first2=Manfred| last3=Ryan| first3=Marie-Laure| date=2010-06-10| publisher=Routledge}}</ref>

Also quite early on, the possibility of having stories branching out into several different paths was suggested by [[Jorge Luis Borges]] in his short story "[[An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain]]" (1941). This story features an author whose novel is a three-part story containing two branch points, and with nine possible endings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=7380 |title=Item – Examen de la obra de Herbert Quain – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203233436/http://gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=7380 |archive-date=2016-12-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Miscellaneous Works by Jorge Luis Borges">{{cite web |url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=1045 |title=Series – Miscellaneous Works by Jorge Luis Borges – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206210138/http://gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=1045 |archive-date=2016-12-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Another story by Borges, titled "[[The Garden of Forking Paths]]" (1941), also describes a book with a maze-like narrative, which may have inspired the gamebook form.<ref name="Miscellaneous Works by Jorge Luis Borges"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=7381 |title=Item – El Jardín de senderos que se bifurcan – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204124048/http://gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=7381 |archive-date=2016-12-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The children's book ''Treasure Hunt'', published in 1945 in Britain under the name of "Alan George" (probably a pseudonym), is another early example of a story with multiple paths for the reader to follow.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fightingfantazine.co.uk/|title=The Early History of Gamebooks: Discoveries|publisher=Fighting Fantazine|access-date=2016-09-19}}</ref>

[[Programmed learning]] materials have been recognized as an early influence on the development of branching path books.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/gamebook |title=Media : Gamebook : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia |website=Sf-encyclopedia.com |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref> This learning method was first applied in the [[TutorText]] series of interactive textbooks, published from the late 1950s up until the early 1970s. These books present the reader with a series of problems related to a particular area of study, allowing him or her to choose among several possible answers. If the answer to a problem is correct, the reader moves on to the next problem. If the answer is incorrect, the reader is given feedback and is asked to pick a different answer. This educational technique would form a basis for many later narrative gamebook series.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=457 |title=Series – TutorText: Doubleday Series – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206195013/http://gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=457 |archive-date=2016-12-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the 1960s, authors from several different countries started experimenting with fiction that contained multiple paths and/or endings. Some literary works in this vein include the French-language novel ''L'ironie du sort'' (1961) by [[Paul Guimard]], the Spanish-language novels [[Rayuela|''Hopscotch'']] (1963) by [[Julio Cortázar]] and ''Juego de cartas'' (Card Game, 1964) by [[Max Aub]], and the works of the French literary group known as the [[Oulipo]] (1967).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=1846 |title=Item – Un conte à votre façon – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=1847 |title=Item – The Theater Tree: A Combinatory Play – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112759/http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=1847 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=292 |title=Series – Miscellaneous Works by the Oulipo – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206223600/http://gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=292 |archive-date=2016-12-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://librojuegos.org/2015/10/juego-de-cartas-de-max-aub-por-cuadernosvigia/|title=Juego de cartas, de Max Aub, por @CuadernosVigia}}</ref> Other early experiments include the short stories "Alien Territory" and "The Lost Nose: a Programmed Adventure" (both 1969) by [[John Sladek]], the novel'' [[The French Lieutenant's Woman]]'' (1969) by [[John Fowles]], and the collection of short stories titled ''Tante storie per giocare'' (Many Tales to Play With, 1971) by Italian author [[Gianni Rodari]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?873656 |title=Title: The Lost Nose: A Programmed Book |website=Isfdb.org |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ansible-editions.co.uk/authors/sladek.htm |title=About John Sladek |website=Ansible-editions.co.uk |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223005907/http://www.ansible-editions.co.uk/authors/sladek.htm |archive-date=2017-02-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=1709 |title=Alien Territory |publisher=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2012-10-22}}</ref>  

Although the latter experimented with the format of engaging the reader through a second-person perspective or branching narratives, the 1960s and '70s also saw the publication of several books from across Europe that met the criteria for gamebooks as understood today, and prior to the Choose Your Own Adventure series. The earliest of these was ''Lucky Les'' (1967) by British author [[E.W. Hildick]],<ref>https://gamebooks.org/index.php/Series/244/Show</ref> which has been called "likely the first fully-fledged gamebook" as it comports entirely with the standards later expected by readers, and self-identified in its blurb as a game in book form. Other early innovators included ''State of Emergency'' by Dennis Guerrier and Joan Richards (1969), the Swedish-language book ''Den mystiska påsen'' (The Mysterious Bag, 1970) by Betty Orr-Nilsson, and the French-language book ''Histoires comme tu voudras'' (Stories as You Want Them, 1978) by Marie-Christine Helgerson, among others.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=1650 |title=Item – Lucky Les – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=244 |title=Series – Lucky Les – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=1214 |title=Series – Miscellaneous Works by Dennis Guerrier – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=4341 |title=Item – Den mystiska påsen – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=640 |title=Series – Den mystiska påsen – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/histoirescommetu0000helg | isbn=9782081605879 | title=Histoires comme tu voudras | year=1978 }}</ref> Despite their relative lack of involvement, compared to British and American authors, in gamebooks as a cultural phenomenon, French authors and their experimental novels (as above) were nonetheless prominent in the format's precursors and embryonic stages.