What is interactive fiction? Interactive fiction, or IF for short, involves the creation of stories that engage the participant to make decisions and choices that will affect the outcome of the story. The "Choose Your Own Adventure" quizzes are an example of interactive fiction. It is a form of digital media that has been around since the earliest days of computing - the 1960's and 70's. The history stretches back to narratives in theatre and film that drew audiences into the action of the story, involving them in the outcomes (i.e. "Night of January 16th" by Ayn Rand or "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" by Dario Fo or even the film "Clue").

The stories can be purely fictional narratives, cultural myths, or historical events that have the reader playing an established role or inserted as a fictional character.

Such stories can be constructed in many different ways; they can even be typed out with a series of questions for the reader to answer as they proceed. There are also a number of easy to use applications that will allow you to pair text and images or even media to help tell the story.

Interactive fiction is a great way to immerse your students in a novel, allow them to become a character from history, or even imagine the life of someone else all from the classroom.

Here are some great resources on the fascinating history of this form of media and why it works in the classroom:

Documentary About Interactive Fiction:https://youtu.be/LRhbcDzbGSU
Borrow Andrew Glassner's book, Interactive Storytelling, Techniques for 21st Century Fiction from the Internet Archive!
Teaching and Learning with Interactive Fiction - Offers concrete discussion from a teacher's standpoint of the benefits of using this in the classroom.