HYPERTEXT: A Bottle of Beer – Refining
While still far from refined as to language and movement through the story with pacing, I have been able to get some work done on the polishing of form and brevitizing of content to insure as much as possible that I don’t bore readers with the mundane and redundant. It amazed me to find that the story is over 7,000 words right now, and yet not much has happened in that evening hour of story.
I’m checking on maneuvering a few little ‘hubs’ of action or data dissemination without loss of enjoyment should they be missed–or complete annoyance should they be led to a reread. I don’t have a problem with Hypertextopia’s focus on axial structure. The way that the ‘shards’ appear gives a reader enough choice to investigate or read straight through and that straight reading–Fragment to Fragment–is where the line of story must remain consistent. While it can veer off into paths–I’m not particularly anxious to do that. There is no reason why a story written into Hypertextopia can’t be a "Choose Your Own Adventure" narrative.
But while I realize I need to explore this further both in this format and in that of Storyspace, I still cling stubbornly to the idea of the writer being forced to present his story in the best possible manner, thus negating any need for a reader to find a better way.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology