STORYSPACE: Patterns
Last night I read through Mark Bernstein’s Patterns. It’s almost like critical theory in that it recognizes certain elements of the writing (of hypertext) and acknowledges the reasoning and presentation of the narrative form.
But as I was afeared, it may have intimidated me in pursuing the best way to set up Paths. It has certainly made me stop and think more seriously about what I’m doing here. I understand the concepts of the various ways of laying the trails and the purpose in doing so. What I may not be up for is what sounds like intricate planning to achieve the purpose without taking apart Paths Space by Space and renegotiating the stories to present them in bits and pieces rather than full trails in themselves. I’m just not sure it’s possible at this point, on an after-the-fact basis.
So I’m sort of stalled until I either come up with a brilliant method of building this story, or move along to another if I lose confidence in the ability of this particular project to live up to the hypertext environment.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology