Twistaplot is a series of
children's
A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...
gamebooks
A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not ...
that were published by
Scholastic from 1982 to 1985. Books #1, #4, #9, and #14 were written by
R.L. Stine, who would go on to write the ''
Fear Street
''Fear Street'' is a teenage horror fiction series written by American author R. L. Stine, starting in 1989. In 1995, a series of books inspired by the ''Fear Street'' series, called '' Ghosts of Fear Street'', was created for younger readers ...
'' series and the ''
Goosebumps
''Goosebumps'' is a series of children's horror fiction novels by American author R. L. Stine, published by Scholastic Publishing. The protagonists in these stories are tweens or young teens who find themselves in scary circumstances usually ...
'' series, which in turn spawned the gamebook spin-off series ''
Give Yourself Goosebumps
''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' is a children's horror fiction gamebook series by R. L. Stine. After the success of the regular ''Goosebumps'' books, Scholastic Press decided to create this spin-off series in 1995. In fact, Stine had written gamebo ...
''. The remaining books were written by various authors including
Louise Munro Foley. They were
Scholastic's response to the ''
Choose Your Own Adventure
''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...
'' series. After the success of the ''Goosebumps'' series, the Twistaplot titles that were written by R. L. Stine were reissued with new covers in 1994 and 1995.
Style and gameplay
Twistaplot covers a wide variety of genres, including
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
,
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
, and
horror. Similar to the ''
Give Yourself Goosebumps
''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' is a children's horror fiction gamebook series by R. L. Stine. After the success of the regular ''Goosebumps'' books, Scholastic Press decided to create this spin-off series in 1995. In fact, Stine had written gamebo ...
'' series, they are
novels with branching plots. The books are written from the second-person perspective, in present-tense form. The protagonist in each book is never referred to by name, and the protagonist's gender is usually ambiguous. Thus readers can easily imagine themselves as the protagonist of the story. Unlike the ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' series, the books have interior illustrations.
Spin-offs
After the success of Twistaplot, the series spawned a series of computer games for Scholastic's electronic magazine, ''Microzine''. It also spawned another gamebook spin-off titled ''Pick-a-Path'', which was intended for a younger audience.
Books
Twistaplot
#''The Time Raider''
#''The Train of Terror''
#''The Formula for Trouble''
#''Golden Sword of Dragonwalk''
#''The Sinister Studios of KESP-TV''
#''Crash Landing!''
#''The Video Avenger''
#''Race into the Past''
#''Horrors of the Haunted Museum''
#''Mission of the Secret Spy Squad''
#''Camp-Out on Danger Mountain''
#''Journey to Vernico 5''
#''Midnight at Monster Mansion''
#''Instant Millionaire''
#''Spellcaster''
#''Secrets of the Lost Island''
#''Ghost Riders of Goldspur''
#''Calling Outer Space''
Pick-a-Path
#''The Dandee Diamond Mystery''
#''The Roller Coaster Ghost''
#''The Great Baseball Championship''
#''The Amazing Bubblegum Caper''
#''The Super Trail Bike Race''
#''Mystery at Mockingbird Manor''
#''The Fantastic Journey of the Space Shuttle Astra''
#''The Magic Top Mystery''
#''Jungle Adventure''
#''The Mystery of the Missing Mummy''
#''Dinosaur Adventure''
#''The Ballerina Mystery''
#''The Secret of 13''
#''RIM, The Rebel Robot''
#''The Hot Dog Gang Caper''
#''Adventure at Camp Schoonover''
#''Murf the Monster''
External links
Twistaplot at Gamebooks.org
Gamebooks
Series of children's books
Scholastic Corporation books