Hypercompendia

This one, #30, just struck me the second I finished reading Steve’s story (I was getting ready to do a story on John’s wonderful lamp and wall image before I read it) and it’s obvious why: it’s a cliffhanger.

So I took it a step back and changed to a second person point of view, and the interactive fiction feeling snuck in there once that was in place, and of course, I came up with a touch of the Twilight Zone (God bless you, Rod Serling, may you rest in peace). All this is just sort of snowballing into a zillion ideas and paths. There’ll have to be added code into the css sheet which is starting to look longer than a roll of paper towels, and then some of the pages will need to reflect those specific codes. What I’d love to do with this piece is add images but there’s no time to take and make them. And I’d love to make the map up to look like one from IF–I’ve made do with what I have here too. And audio–Lord how I wish I could throw in the audio clips of thunder and stuff, it would really enhance this tremendously.

I’m excited by this one, as happened with some of the others. Most of ’em, I suppose.

Hot Dogs and Beans

What was coming to me as a Chekhovish tale turned into a hard-to-write reality with a more serious tone and no sense of humor whatsoever.

From Steve’s story there were plenty of options; the serialization, the metafictional reference, the element of complication, the building of tension, the pacing via dialogue. All that, and I simply chose beans.

This story didn’t come easy and I’m not sure I’m as happy with it as I would be with some more reworking. The links are attempting to run a parallel world of three people yet play a lot with time. The focus is on relationships and fear and that’s where it was harder for me to be as concise as a flash fiction (though I really should copy and paste the text into Pages and see what the word count really comes out to be) wants the story to be.

Dreamers

This is kind of a fun one, more focused on the linkage and testing how far back a link can go in a story without causing a narrative glitch. But the subject matter here made it easy to play. Hypertext is the best medium for choice and a zillion endings based on paths. I’m dealing with two main characters and three different scenarios. I like that extra buffer zone of the third thread that makes a smoother transition between two main lines.

The idea of multiple endings is what I picked out of today’s story, though I wasn’t up for magical realism which isn’t as easy as it looks. I cheated in using dreams as the vehicle for the different possibilities with a rather lighthearted story.

Flower Power

Steve’s story this morning was one of contemplation of the priorities of life, the value of material things and the weight of beliefs. It was a parable, a moral or message within the lure and entertainment of story that provokes deeper reflection.

What struck me was the image of the 70s and the hope of a new world of love and peace (and pot to help it along!) and how that message has been interpreted through the decades since.

The arrangement of the lexias, the narrative structure–which is mostly a series of unrelated incidents–seemed to cry for a circle, a cycle, and I was tempted to grant it no end. I may still play with the links; there was another direction to take.

Trying to catch my breath here between stories, and I’m sure most of the other participants are as well. I’m a slow writer when forced to come up with something (“Will you please be quiet?”) though when a story starts on its own it practically rolls itself out on my screen.

It’s been a learning process of the Tinderbox software which has been a tremendous blessing as a tool. I only wish I could have been more familiar with its closetful of features and could make better use of them instead of the learn when you need it under a 24-hour deadline to do it in manner that this project demands.

My own work has been a case of coming up with the concept of story after reading Steve Ersinghaus’ morning offering, working up a color theme that jives with the mood, renaming all code references to reflect the new story number and title (thank God for the timesaver Copy and Paste), start writing, make up a viable and enjoyable story, link and relink and recheck all the links, check spelling and typos, and then export the whole schmeer into html format into a file on the desktop (this is where I’d like to transfer the files into a Tinderbox shell but don’t have the time). From there, it’s adding necessary code to some of the .html files (which are the individual story pages) that sends the last page to the home pages on the site. I take an image of the Tinderbox map as a guide to the reader (and to pretty up the Hypercompendia posts) and Filezilla it all to the Lunar site server. From there I add the new post into the Hypertext Flash Fiction Page, then do a quick run through to make sure it all works before posting the new entry and make it available on the main home page.

And there’s where the problems may begin. It takes a while to go through checking links to make sure that all has been properly done. And it takes even longer to locate that missing “, or # or ; or http: or // or even the damned susangibb.net sometimes. Honest, the hardest one I’ve had to track down was a blank single space when I didn’t backspace it out during a copy and paste. And again and, because I’m obsessive compulsive all errors found at this stage are corrected in all three places: Tinderbox, html file on my hard drive, and the server file.

A few of the hypertexts I really like;  #3 Humankind, #6 Impressions, #8 Evilution, #14 Something Dark, #17 Smoke and Mirrors, #19 The Perfect Woman, #22 Wishes of Time, #23 Reflection, and #24 Everywhere, which are about the only ones I’d likely save and of course, further edit.  But there’s a purpose to each of the stories, and I’ve learned something new with each one.

And then it hits me: 74 more to go? Here are some thoughts from a few of the others at Steve’s post and at Mary Ellen’s.

The Inheritance

I tried to pull out plot, cause and effect, and a touch of mob mentality and that I found in today’s story and at the same time, place it against a current environment as Steve did bringing in twitter.

This one sort of turned into a jungle and I only pray that I have linked everything together so that the reader is not stranded in exile on an island.

Story’s there, but not grand and meaningful. There’s no moral to the tale except perhaps that some people react to a situation and rise to meet the challenge, while others plot to take the rewards away.

Schematica 2 – Elements

This one’s a bit of whimsey, focusing on the elements of writing–even though I haven’t used them to their best here but rather to illustrate them in the method of story. Calvino’s influence here, I suppose, but it was a semi-serious fun thing to try.

What inspired this was the notion of serialization, so following Hypertext #7 Schematica which plotted out story and choice, this also has to do with writing and continues the story of Ingnook and Pook (unless you got eaten by the bear)

The story may have suffered a bit in concentrating on the map aesthetic appeal, getting the elements in there, and doing a bit of interesting linkage without getting completely lost. To keep a story going (much less include diction either as an element used or an element highlighted) while taking all these things into consideration in a 10-hour deadline was a bit much.

(Not a hypertext for the first timer!)

Everywhere

The theme is fear, memories that never go away but grow up to exploit what they know will turn us to jello: “nightmares are born in the womb”

What came out of this was in that strange voice that sometimes whispers in a way almost as scary as the voices you hear in the dark.

The map structure is a simple one, attempting to catch the different lexias without too much repetition and yet some are better the second time around. It is lyrical prose, or just plain old freeform, but there is a story to be told.

Reflection

The question Steve posed in his story is an intriguing one that opens doors to all manner of theory. Since hypertext story #17 Smoke and Mirrors involved past and present hidden within a mirror, I had to think about what else the mystery of mirrors offered. This then is based on both Steve’s story and my previous in its possibilities.

One thing I considered here is that the story is an image of itself (omigosh–that just gave me another idea!) but that the mapping of the story in Tinderbox would be a mirror image as well. This story goes back on itself and opens into new areas in places but I don’t think I’ve let the reader get lost.

Wishes of Time

This particular story is on one of my favorite subjects, the mystery of time, real time, freed from labels and restrictions placed on it by the human mind. It is also about how people use and view time, how whether they need more or want it to rush to bring them to a better place, it’s all relevant, dependent on belief and desire.

The map looks quite complicated, but a story can be gotten through quickly, though there are a couple of scenarios going on simultaneously here. The voice is a mix of formal, lyrical, and despite my best intentions, it was difficult to control. If I had time, I’d like to go back and copyedit to bring out a stronger, less insipid tone, when I am in a better frame of mind.