HYPERTEXT and 100 DAYS PROJECT: Mapping
I wonder if this new habit I’ve picked up from the twenty-one hypertext stories so far will engrave itself and influence any straight writing I do in the future. This is the map of the latest that I’m working on now. I’ve never done layouts or diagrams prior to story before. I’ve said this before; back in elementary and high school (maybe even college) I’d have the story done and then come up with an outline based on it when required to turn one in. This is a whole new thing for me.
First came the choice of what I’d be concentrating upon in this piece, and with the knowledge of 100 pieces being done, I figured I could go with the theme of the story which for me was the question of time and what it actually means to us. Hypertext offers the best opportunity to play with dimensions of time and I like to do just that because the idea of it all is so fascinating.
The natural layout then is based on occurence and sequence, yet since these are short and another thought struck me, I’ve had to organize and limit the occurences to two and the concept to a simple topic of wishes and how they do and do not make their mark in most cases on time.
It’s a process that goes beyond story; the networking of ideas to run parallel to each. Just as, perhaps does the past, present and future.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
June 12th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Text stories play with time by inserting flashbacks, jumbling narrative tense, and pulling the reader back and forth through history. When I read “Bell Jar” this semester it was one of the tools we discussed Plath using to such great advantage. She’s telling the story about the past from the past tense, but occasionally will say something about her children in the next room. It’s a whiplash effect because it dawns on you there are more than two or three layers of life mapped over the one event of going to the sanitarium.
June 13th, 2009 at 5:02 am
In one of the pieces, (The Mirror, I think) where you mentioned you found the woman but not the girl; they are the same character but contradictory to the norm, I’ve put the girl in the present tense and the woman in the past tense.
You say “it dawns on you there are more than two or three layers of life” — I love it. You’re ready to open up and accept Hypertext into your heart. Say Hallelujah!