Hypercompendia

(Click here to enlarge map)
So it’s sort of done; about 44 writing spaces and 153 links. While I was surprised to see what all the linking back did to the story–it makes it appear as if you’ve read it all but if you click on a ‘visited’ link you’ll usually find that you haven’t followed many off that next space. There are three different endings and God only knows how many different ways of getting there.

The story is of an artist who is getting ready for a gallery showing and whose past becomes part of the paint that swirls onto the canvas. A little risque in parts, but I had fun with the stream of consciousness method of narrative that works so very well in the hypertext format.

Have a couple of different options for rearranging Paths, but I’m starting with the renaming of the Writing Spaces to make it a more relevant thread to follow.  I’d named them hurriedly, obviously copycatting some of Steve Ersinghaus’ formula as well as sticking to my keywords from the original format and trying to keep the characters in line.  In my excitement and totally clueless as to the purpose of how titles can work to the advantage of the narrative, I negated a useful tool.  Especially in this piece, the titles should have some semblance of theme and in renaming them, that’s what I’m trying to focus upon.

The biggest roadblock right now is deciding how to form bridges that allow more freedom with the stories without upsetting the basic narrative thread of each.  This is a biggie.

In the meantime, I’m also seeing plenty of areas where I can expand upon the piece that would not be filler, but make the whole a bit more meaningful and interesting.  These characters have journeyed quite far since their initial meetings; this is where I’m seeing things about them that brought them to the possibilities of where they may be.

If I didn’t really like this particular work, I would readily drop it and get into something new from scratch.  I think that’s the better way to be working in Storyspace.  This piece though, it just wants me to work on it.