My next guest is Sharon Lynn Fisher, author of the steampunk romance, A Heart for Copper, which is a “branched fiction” story — a “pick your path” sweet romance featuring the automaton Copper.
Along with being intrigued by the premise, I was interested in the story structure of branched fiction and how that might work with e-books, as well as the publisher’s two online interactive storytelling formats (Pick Your Path versus Reader Vote), and I was just the tiniest bit curious about what it was like to work with Boyd Multerer, “Xbox’s father of invention” so I asked if Sharon would be willing to come talk about any of those things. Happily, she agreed. (SilkWords also publishes erotica and this post briefly discusses some of those stories; recommended reading age 18+).
As part of her blog tour, Sharon is also giving away 5 e-copies of A Heart for Copper and a boxed set of other stories. The Rafflecopter form and other giveaway info is below. Welcome, Sharon!
Have you ever read a romance where you wished the heroine had made a different choice?
Lots of us have memories of reading the old Choose Your Own Adventure stories as kids. Branched fiction has been around a long time, but telling adult stories this way is a more recent development.
Technology has made this style of storytelling a more seamless experience for the reader — hyperlinks have taken the place of page-flipping — and it’s become part of the growing genre of interactive fiction.
SilkWords was born of the conviction that romance/erotica and branched storytelling were made for each other. Have you ever read a romance where you wished the heroine had made a different choice?
In my Pick Your Path story A HEART FOR COPPER, the heroine is an automaton who has just been animated by her inventor. For the alchemy to stick, she must choose whether she wants to stay with the inventor — a charming young man she’s known her whole life — or find her own way in the world. Both choices lead to interesting outcomes. The reader is free to follow one path, in the style of a linear story, or explore the possibilities by reading them all.
COPPER is a sweet romance, but the majority of SilkWords stories are hot romances, erotic romances, and erotica. We’ve weighted more heavily in favor of these stories because that’s the type of content our readers prefer. Pick Your Path works beautifully in stories of erotic adventure, where choices are often about sexual partners, flavors of erotic activity (spanking? bondage?), and devices. It’s a lot like choosing a flavor of ice cream.
We were having so much fun with Pick Your Path that we started thinking about new ways to tell choice-based stories. We liked the way some authors were collaborating with readers on Wattpad, so we decided to create a similar experience on SilkWords.
For our Reader Vote stories, authors write an introduction with a selection of choices at the end. Readers vote for how they’d like to see the story proceed, and the author writes a new installment with a new set of choices. The story wraps up in about four installments.
We’ve got a lot of big plans for the site going forward! In a couple months (coinciding with our one-year anniversary) we’ll be launching a major site update that will introduce a game currency (hearts, of course) to boost interaction with and between readers. This was cooked up by our dev guy and co-founder Boyd Multerer, who founded Microsoft Xbox Live and was director of development for Xbox One.
We’re also looking at developing a shared world for SilkWords, where our authors can create a series of stories with the same setting and potentially the same characters.
If you’re interested in staying up to date, visit www.silkwords.com and sign up for our newsletter. You can also check out some of our content for free!
More About A Heart for Copper
An automaton created by an inventor’s son, Copper has finally been given a heart by her young master. Her choice of whether to keep the key or give it to him will determine what happens next in this “pick your path” steampunk fairy tale.
Will she join his family in their English country manor, where she’ll be forced to consider the question of whether she’s really human? Or will she search out the quirky alchemist responsible for giving her life?
Will her master hold onto her heart, or will she be tempted by the charms of an automaton man?
More About Sharon
An RWA RITA Award finalist and a three-time RWA Golden Heart Award finalist, Sharon Lynn Fisher writes stories for the geeky at heart — meaty mash-ups of sci-fi, suspense, and romance, with no apology for the latter. She lives where it rains nine months of the year. And she has a strange obsession with gingers (down to her freaky orange cat).
Sharon has written three science fiction romance novels for Tor Books — Ghost Planet (2012), The Ophelia Prophecy (2014), and Echo 8(2015) — and she’s indie publishing her erotica series Fantasies in Color.
She’s also the editorial director for (and a partner in) SilkWords!
The Giveaway
Sharon is giving away 5 ecopies A Heart for Copper and an ebox set of The Harem Club, Storm at SEA, and Fetish Fair. For the Rafflecopter form, click here. For my official giveaway rules, click here.
Thank you, Sharon, for guest blogging today!
p.s. tell your cat my cat, Ginger, says hello! (Mine is super sweet, not freaky 🙂 )
“We wants it. We needs it.
Must have the precious.”
JILL ARCHER 
Ha ha, ginger kitties are the best! 🙂 Mine is sweet along with freaky. (Which is why we love cats, eh?) Hi to Ginger from Quincy. And thanks so much for the opportunity to hang out with your readers!
My pleasure, Sharon! Enjoy the rest of your tour. Best wishes for the book and the business!