Hypercompendia

Convinced by a friend that one of the reasons to go-Mac is the startup time–Windows, nicely loaded, can end up taking as long as two minutes to get itself out of bed and caffeined up enough to be lucid.

In learning the way of the Mac, particularly in using the Dock instead of Icon Shortcuts all over the Desktop (which is probably one of the reasons Windows took so long to get everyone awake and in line), I find there are certain programs that I kind of leave open–Mail, Netnewswire, and of course, Storyspace. 

Storyspace usually needs minimum two, usually three windows parts of itself open to work with: Map view, Tool bar, and Writing Space.  Usually there’s the SSP program blank open as well–though this isn’t necessary, as witnessed by the initial shock of opening an Adobe program such as Photoshop and having the desktop as the background rather than a blank white space to fill with creative energy!  My method of closing down the file I’m working on in Storyspace was meant to relegate it to the dock, and so, after learning how to do it with the single-window apps such as Firefox or Mail, I’d click on the close button on the application menu bar–not the top which uses "quit" to close it down, but still left in on the dock.  This habit left me with three, sometimes four separate SSP windows to close.

Thanks to guidance from above (north from me) I’ve gotten the proper procedure to match the intent.  What this all brought to mind however is what I call the microwave syndrome or effect; what was once amazingly fast (or big, tiny, lightweight, etc.) becomes the new norm.  The new norm in turn becomes aggravatingly slow, cumbersome, heavy, too small to see (though middle-age does contribute to this one!) in, well, an amazingly short time.

Is this what they mean about mankind being adaptable?

Repeating this here from a writing exercise post at CW ’cause I like it; it may just fit into the hypertext on the boomer crisis, though I hadn’t wanted an apocalyptic bend to that one. 

I personally find that normal with just a little quirk to it is scarier than the fantastical creation of the mind.  Anyway:

In the new
democracy that took form after the war, when literally the dust had
settled and with the help of rains that dug themselves into lakes, the
ashes were molded into cities, flattened into roads and smoothly
grooved into parks and recreation areas and lawns.  And painted
appropriately white and black and green; whatever they decided looked
the most like what it used to be. Sometimes an artistic soul,
emboldened by the relative peace and saddened by the perpetual grey of
daylight sky, might offer to shape some trees to soften the angular
environment. These would most often be painted green, but one fellow
down on Center Street was from the Northeast.  His trees always were a
blur of oranges and reds.  Very few in this area understood why, but
let him be. Color was welcome.

In the new world order, every man and woman, every child of thinking
age was given choice.  Sadly, many of the older folk who still believed
in God and promises of Heaven, looked around them, thought a while,
then chose to die.

 

A link to a relevant post on the CW weblog: Looking for Links.

…and I would think that with the emergence of Sony’s reader, Amazon’s Kindle, and the extraordinary amount of literary journals, magazines, and newspaper supplementing their physical presence with the online  version, this is the time for IF, Animation, and the hypertext format of Storyspace to come into their own and head for prime time space.

So many folks simply do not understand the notion of hypertext and some that do still do not care for the cold laptop version of a book, or the distraction of clicking (versus flipping pages) so the audience is less than for the more traditional manner of reading.  But as more of literature goes digital, as the old is transformed into the new without changing context, people are realizing that they have opportunity to read just as they’ve learned to adjust to unbodied meetings and paperless reports and the immediacy and abundance the web offers in diversity and range.

As the changes become the norm, with the old still available and as comforting as a favorite blanket, the writer seeks to overcome his own trepidations and boldly lay claim to new territory.  There is no one set way to approach this business of writing for there is one thing that technology does not restrict but rather encourage: creative spirit will always take its own individual path.

Surely I’ve said this before, only it was likely in a more ‘over the river and through the woods’ way–which is my style unless I’m in a bad mood, and then I’m quite short and concise.  Or concise anyway; I’m always short–regardless of mood.

Don’t you love that first paragraph above? I’ve said nothing!

However, this illustrates the point; some paths of lyrical prose may be interesting, but not necessary to plot or story.  This is one of my personal approaches to the use of Storyspace and hypertext in narrative.  I can embellish or expound for those who care to read this way, or allow those who just seek a quick journey to follow  a thread made up of pure plot.  Embellish and expound are not perhaps the right words; rather enhance and reveal would better describe my meaning here.  A story told should be complete without the side trails; the meandering paths for my intent are bits of information that provide the more adventurous reader with a deeper perception of character and situation.

This, of course, is only one method of writing into the hypertext story world.  One of the more heralded notions is to allow the reader to write the story by making it an entirely singular experience based on choice.  I would wonder why; the author chooses to share, why not the reader?

Saw this first at Grand Text Auto then at Jerz’s Literacy Log and I do find it fascinating a concept: Up Right Down proposed a scenario and asked for submissions on different ways of presenting it.  This included more than point of view; it included the medium or vehicle of story. 

What they received in submissions so far run the gamut of all story ventures: film, prose, poetry, etc.  Hmmm.  Doesn’t have IF or hypertext though…

Love the idea, love the diversity, have to spend some time checking this one out.

Mariner Software – Storymill: ”

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StoryMill 3.0.1…novel writing for Mac OS X.

Introducing StoryMill 3.
The latest release in Mariner Software’s long line of writing and creativity software. StoryMill introduces aspiring authors to multi-level writing methods of tracking characters, scenes, and locations, while professional writers will appreciate StoryMill’s time-saving ability to oversee and manage the full creative process with Smart Views.

Ready to ‘see’ your work?

Visually and interactively display your story across time with StoryMill’s timeline view, an industry-first feature!

Cocoa-built, Universal, and Accessible
StoryMill has been designed and developed solely for Mac OS X. As a long-time Apple developer (17 years), our commitment to Apple technology is reflected in our feature set. StoryMill is Intel-ready, Leopard-compatible, and f”

(Via .)

Played with Alice a little bit today but I don’t think it’s what I’m looking for.  Dabbled into IF, something that I do want to learn to create, though straight text isn’t the game either.  I’m not sure what I’m looking for, or whether my wandering and wondering even holds promise of direction. 

So I guess I just try this and that, learn what I can, taste until I find what pleases and inspires me to reach out and polish potential into product.

(Note: Just changed the title on this post because it was attracting unwanted attention.)

Finding out some things about Scott I hadn’t known before.  Or maybe I’m just setting up for a joyful romp into a darker world.

Watching Jurassic Park and noticed an excellent notion of hypertext: concurrent events that cause extreme tension.  In the compound, Laura Bern is following radio instructions on how to turn the system back on so that all electricity, the fences, the lights, computers systems, all will be returned to normal.  At the very same moment, the Professor and the two kids are climbing an electric fence after having checked to make sure it is non-electrified momentarily. 

Two major events are about to collide.

This is what a hypertext adventure can do, mimicking the balance of tension of one story line or the other (or many) while the writer carefully guides the reader to the point at which they meet.