Here is the link to my remix: http://cyoalittlemermaid.carrd.co
My remix is a choose-your-own adventure version of “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen. The final result ended up somewhere between a typical choose-your-own adventure book and a rudimentary visual novel (due to my lack of skill), and includes a variety of different story routes that the reader/player accesses through the decisions they make.
I decided to use this text because I wanted to use something that was in the public domain and it has always been a favorite fairytale of mine. I also wanted to add in alternate story routes that had a different moral take than the original, which kind of implies that women (the little mermaid) construct their identities and become ‘real’ through their relationships with men (because the little mermaid has the chance to gain a soul by making the prince love her). Though the original itself does go against this at the end because even though she fails she gets another chance, this aspect of the story has always bothered me so I wanted to see if I could take it in a different direction. I ended up adding story routes where the little mermaid can end up with a princess or become a sea witch and in a sense get a soul all on her own.
One of the things I struggled with was circulation, because I didn’t end up choosing a platform made for choose-your-own-adventure games (which include ways to promote your work or share it) but a self-contained website that had the technical stuff I need in a way that I could understand and use. Other than that, I think I’m pretty happy with the result.