100 DAYS: #18
Us Versus
With this one I was going to keep it down to three lexias and two links but it went a little further than expected, mainly because of its theme of discriminatory practices. It’s my first and only story of any social or political import and likely my last.
I took the title from the concept of whichever group or whatever thing is the trend or hot topic of the moment, and the proposal of one of the seven (or so) basic plots.
You can see from the map that it’s fairly simply set up as to linking, but do bring a coffee and danish into this one in case you get caught in the one loopy looped area. This is for emphasis and not done merely to drive you crackers. And trust me, there is a way out.
Also note that I’ve included the writing space titles that should show up at the top of your browser, and two links at the end of the piece to either run you around again or to bring you back to the Hypercompendia page and an exit out of that story. Doing the titles manually on the templates until I get a chance to see why Tinderbox isn’t exporting that piece of information. There are lots of things I’m likely doing manually until I have the time to find the right and already coded-in easy way of doing it. It is a learning process of story and software after all.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
June 9th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Wahoo! I shouldn’t have read this so late, now I’m zoomed… Logan’s Run!! I know you’re old enough, but was it ever your cup of tea? Oh, I loved that movie. Michael Caine played Logan. Beautiful society, beautiful people–how did they keep it that way? Being cleansed was an honor, until you’re one of the ones chosen. You have to see this if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
By the way, this story is friggin’ awesome.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:36 am
I remember the name but I don’t think I saw the movie. Always liked the weird stuff in movies though and the same thing in books. The premise of an “-ocide” society is a common one of both lit and movies, and was another reason I thought of this in response to Steve’s story on a painting taking on reality (go back to The Picture of Dorian Gray).
Happy you liked this story, and you didn’t get lost in the loop?
June 10th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
It’s not the looping so much as when I lose the linearity of the plot. Reading straight through once is a huge help. It was LOL funny when you put in the “Nope, don’t go here” stop. Too many of those would be frustrating, but one was a great little chastisement for wanting to cut through the bushes instead of following the path.
It still comes back to story. If the story is following someone through the rooms of a house during a large dinner party, one’s focus needs to remain on that person’s back, at least. Stopping in each room to sample action and conversation is fine, but if I get dumped in the kitchen with 6 football widows when I’m trying to find out what the willowy blonde widow is up to, it’s very irritating.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
You need a sit-down with Ersinghaus to have him talk the linearity out of you. Or take the Tunxis New Media courses (likely available at Trinity too?) though I don’t think I’ve any NM students interested enough to read these little ones. Or maybe we’ll just have to lock you in a dark room and with the ’08 slide presentation running in the background, beat you badly with sticks.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Sorry. That was Evil Susan in the last message. This is Good Susan and I’ll try to answer your statement (with another question, which is acceptable hypertext form). You say,
Well what if instead of 6 boring football widows, President Obama is standing there alone with his head in the refrigerator and his finger in the frosting of the surprise birthday cake.
Would you walk on by because your goal is to follow the willowy blonde, maybe ask him if he’s seen which way she went, or would you stop and talk to the Pres? What if you do and he asks you to come meet Michelle in the next room?
Your point of story and plotting is of course very important and focuses exactly on why so many do not like reading story in the hypertext form and give up without ever trying it again. So you’re not alone. And, I’m not the best one to follow on hypertext to be able to teach you anything about it because I’m still such a newbie myself. Do check out the link in the previous post: Interjunction.org as well as the eastgate links mentioned in a few posts down. I don’t want to be messing you up with wrong information and discouraging you from what I find is a very exciting and intriguing narrative form.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Evil cymem writes back with: Ersinghaus doesn’t talk to me, so strike one.
If Obama had his head in my fridge, there likely would be two or three FDA inspectors along with him, so I think I’d run away.
And three, I am taking Electric English: This seminar will explore what happens when writers and readers go online. How do the new media arts affect the way we read and understand literature? What changes when literary protagonists become avatars of story? What do we make of hypertext novels and poetry machines on the Web? We will seek to establish whether there is a distinctively new phenomenon that can be called “digital literature.” If so, how do we define and evaluate it, and how do we place it in relation to a history of literature and literary aesthetic? We will ground our conversations in a small sampling of traditional works of fiction and poetry from print culture, comparing these texts with a range of rhetorical and literary experiments taking place online.
So nyah, by the end of August I will be right there with you. Or maybe we’ll decide you’re just putting a new spin on the same old donkey cart.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Oh. But the Electric English sounds wonderful! You’ll be so far beyond me I’ll be spitting out dust. You must let me know how it rolls out.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
You can take the course virtually through me. It’s on Wednesday nights, so Thursday morning I’ll bomb your inbox and tell you everything. Then you can translate.