Fast Fiction for Short Attention Spans

Who is Matthew Van Der Boot?

Well, first of all, he’s not me. I swear. That may not have been your assumption, but the question is bound to come up, so I’ll just get that out of the way right now.

Matthew is a fictional character in something I’m writing called The Misadventures of—yes, you guessed it—Matthew Van Der Boot. The story takes place in a single day: Friday, October 7, 1983. That’s it. One day. I’m promoting it as, “Fast fiction for short attention spans!” Still a lot can happen in one day—and it does—even without the internet and cell phones.

The thing is … this is not a book. And even though it’s available to read online, it’s less of a traditional story and more of an interactive experience, sort of part novel and part role-play.

Here is the basic idea: You are fifteen-year-old Matthew Van Der Boot, and at the end of each chapter, you are given the choice of what to do next. With each choice comes a different possible story. If you start over and make different choices, you will get a new story.   

I’ve been working on this project for over a year now, which is usually the time it takes me to write a book, only this isn’t a book, as I’ve said, or even a single story: it’s many possible stories. And every time I give you, the reader, a choice, more possibilities are created, which means more episodes I have to write. So that pitch, “Fast fiction for short attention spans,” applies to me as well. I’m enjoying the fast pace of the story and the challenge of writing and keeping track of multiple story lines at the same time, and I’m ready to share it. So even though it is still a work in progress, there’s definitely enough material to start this game.

So … who wants to play?

Check it out.