As I have written here many, many times, I am a strong believer in learning all the various forms of writing narrative as aids in applying each method to all others. For imagery, there is poetry; for brevity, there is short story; for awareness of the senses, there is film and digital, etc. And for story line, actual arc, conflict, resolution, the answer may well be in hypertext and interactive fiction.
Story progresses by the essential, "Then what?" But sometimes, we just don’t know. And there we sit. And sit. And sit. This is one of my own biggest roadblocks in writing, ongoing and very current.
By their nature of offering an additional "What if?" to the narrative structure, that is, various avenues to lead to one or many conclusions (as in gaming and the sophisticated IF and hypertext work being done now), it forces a writer to concentrate on the technical aspects of where these paths can lead–the story. It offers options to the reader/user of course, but it also opens up a new (for me) way of thinking that involves planning and concentration; something that a creative mind often tends to rebel against.
Face it, there’s no one whispering their story in my head; it’s all under my own control. By pretending to listen to a voice, which admittedly exists, but is indeed my own, I grind to a halt when that voice runs out of something to say. As "creative director" of my own mind, it then should be obvious that I must take over where the rest of the team has grown slack, and finish the job.
I’m personally pursuing all these forms of media–playing Silent Hill 2 is in fact a learning process, and while I’m not about to sit down and write a story with a protagonist looking in every corner, walking up and down the same streets, wasting precious time in a dysfunctional sense of direction, I have learned that what the character does next is important because it changes the story. IF is even more obviously connected to the linear narrative as it involves the typing of text that is more familiar to the writer. In any of these forms, adventure games, hyperfiction, or IF, it is necessary to look ahead, plan a bit, and retain the knowledge gained up to that point. It’s also vital to keep the goal, the "quest" and question in the forefront of what leads you from the beginning to the end.
That, I guess, is story.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology