I remember seeing a few of those books, but I tended to get frustrated with them because the things I wanted to choose were never an option.
See, if I'd been smart like you I would have just decided that, clearly, that only meant that more books like that needed to be written, with more options.
But no.
I'm not as smart as you, and I didn't think of that, and so instead I'd just go corner some friends and run a TTRPG because in those, the choices aren't so limited.

I've always created my own stories.
Like always.
I read a book, or watch a movie, and I always consider what I would have done differently. I kinda create a whole new story in my mind.

And these ones I make on the go for my son are so much fun, because I don't have time to overthink: I have to react to his choice and create an story with whatever I have.
(Today my little gerbils ended up in a undergrown river! XD)


Also I did not have any friends who played games like that...

I didn't either... at first...
heh.


That's wonderful, that you were always creating your own stories like that!

Typically, the books I used to read, the characters were always so very different from me even at the beginning that it never occurred to me to wonder, "what would I have done" (except for choose-your-own adventure, where the premise requires you to think like that). Instead, I usually felt like a friend was telling me about something that happened to them; it had nothing to do with me except in an empathetic sense. Of course I would not have made those choices, but being so different it never crossed my mind to think of what I would have done instead.

Maybe I should go reread a few old favorites and then imagine the circumstances with a different set of characters closer to my own personality. Could be fun.

Oh, when I say what I would have done, I did not mean if I were the main character.
I meant if I were the writer or scriptwriter or whatever.


My husband often says I'm an specialist at series.
As I'm watching an episode, I can't help saying "oh, this is leading to this, and that and later that" and a few episodes later that's exactly what's gonna happen.
It's kinda obvious to me, when the scriptwriter/director show something that there is certain purpose and what the purpose is.

Genre-savvy!

Ha ha ha ha, that's a unique real life superpower; predict the plots and subplots of series.

It's funny how there are little 'real life superpowers' you can develop like that, if you work at it. That's a fun one, because the process of gaining it means you end up seeing all sorts of series...

I think it's because I'm usually in that story-creation mode.
I'm kinda expecting the story to be a certain way, and anything that is different makes me reconsider. "Hey, why are they doing that or saying that? Why is the camera focusing - or not focusing at all - that detail?"
And once you've noticed, it's usually quite easy realizing what they are planning.


And, yeah, there are plenty of useless superpowers for everybody!
What's yours?

Oh.
I don't know? I probably have a few that I don't really recognise, but nothing is springing to mind.
Maybe being able to fit more compost into the compost bin than should really be able to fit....
Or concentrating on something so hard I can tune out the surroundings to a superpowered extent, I don't know (I'm not sure if that's a superpower or a curse because 'doesn't notice even super obvious things' being the flipside, but...)

Amura wrote:We had some old books of that kind, my son enjoyed them.
When he goes to bed we don't read - I either sing or I improvise an story.
So he once asked me to create a choose-your-own-adventure story in which the main character was our gerbil, living in the desert with his friend.
And he loved it, so he asks for a new one everyday!

That is too cute, I love it. Maybe you really should write a choose-your-own-adventure story featuring gerbils and publish it. xD

Akili Li wrote:I remember seeing a few of those books, but I tended to get frustrated with them because the things I wanted to choose were never an option.

I've often felt the same way, lmao, which is why after I was done reading every possible option I made up my own stories based on the same premise but with some sort of sassy Mary-sue that did everything differently and made everything better. Now I still do that but with movie premises instead. xD

And my superpower is definitely spotting random animals while I'm sitting in the bus or car or while walking listening to music. Like, I'll turn my head in a direction just in time to spot a cat scurrying under a bush while in the bus, or glance straight at where a rabbit is grazing in the park at night, despite the fact that all I see is a shadow. xD

!!! That is the best superpower!!!

I would love that one.... my neighbors told me to keep my eye out because there's a strange cat they think is a stray and they want to make sure it gets fed and taken care of, but I have yet to see a whisker of this mythical neighborhood cat. It makes me wistful.

I'm pretty sure my superpower disappears in those cases, like when you're attentively looking for a lost cat because of posters, and you never see anything at all. :(

Hopefully that kitty was adopted and is being tenderly cared for, and that's why you haven't seen him!