Hypercompendia

I’m not going to read any more of Hypertext Now yet, since I’m still putting down my own thoughts and feelings of experiencing Storyspace for the first time and don’t want to be influenced by what looks like a very thorough coverage from a creator’s viewpoint.  So I may be going about it all wrong, but it’s my own way to navigate, just as is the nature and purpose of hypertext anyway.

I’m finding myself very, very comfortable within the setting, the space of the program.  I would like to see it looking a bit more slick perhaps for presentation to the reader, but as a writer, it’s the comfortable worn spinaround seat and the golden oak desk and plunking away on the old Royal (did I ever mention that Susie Secretary here once slammed a carriage return so hard the typewriter flew off the desk?  I was secretary to the VP of Sales at the time).  While I’d mentioned a while ago that it didn’t seem as inviting as the MAC version, it certainly is welcoming and puts one at immediate ease.

The thing is, I’m almost feeling like I have found my niche.  Though I still tend to write a bit old-fashioned, I’ve updated from Baroque and lost most of the Poe influence.  In the right mood, I can get downright experimental but I can’t quite shake the underlying tone that is my voice as a writer.  Hypertext somehow suits my different personalities, accommodating all aspects and ranges of whim.  I also appreciate the freedom of flowing thought that doesn’t necessarily require tie-ins.  Up until now, only a few very close friends and my husband (okay, mom and dad did too) understand what I’m talking about when I present something either out of the blue or totally unrelated to a discussion.  The conversation, you see, was already at full throttle in the brain and was only granted oral rights when the proper moment came along.  This is a perfect framework for hypertext I would think, leaving readers with that what the hell? feeling.

So Storyspace and its hypertext advantages suit me perfectly.  The question may be whether I suit the hypertext environment.

Sometimes I think that not only do I walk a different road than most of the world, but I’m walking it backwards as well.

In poking around Eastgate’s site (just like car shopping, you browse the lot on Sundays when there are no salesmen around) I found the excellent resource of Hypertext Now.  I’m familiar with the title, likely heard it a few years ago, probably visited the site back when I hated reading hypertext and just never wandered onto it again, despite many visits to the sites that point to it.  Well now that I’m a writer in hypertext form, I’m all agog about it and every other word out of my mouth is hyper-this or that.

So here’s the official journey:  I’m introduced to the hypertext format, learn what I must to understand what’s going on in the lit class and not jeopardize my grade, meander around to make sure I don’t like it, touch back now and then on the average of once every six months, read a new hypertext novel, get excited, buy Storyspace, write my own story, read the Storyspace manual, rediscover the Hypertext Now site, learn a lot more about hypertext.

This is why I want to believe in reincarnation. 

An interesting thought this morning brought about by once again working on Paths:  Two of the stories are in third person, two are in first (that’s it for now, though I’m considering adding a chorus).  The stories may seem to conflict with each other not only in perspective and recall, but in fact based on choice.

So who is the more credible, the third person narrator, or the first person characters as they tell the story themselves?  Is there, not a standard, but an edge that one has over the other?  Are there stats on readers’ opinion?  Is it pov that’s a viable source for belief or the characters as they establish themselves? 

On the one hand, we can say that the narrator is relating a story from a neutral stand.  But how much have the characters let him in on, how far into their minds have they granted him access?  His own take on things may be wrong, having based his narrative on how he’s reading the characters.  And, he may lie.

In the first person, again, there is clearly perspective that colors story.  That, and a tendency and ability on the speaker’s part to put himself in the best possible light, make himself the worst of the victims, the hardiest of heroes, the most noble of thieves.  And, he may lie.

Interesting point to consider when writing in multiple pov, particularly in hypertext. 

Yeah sure, you find some new trick and you just have to play with it. 

The code in Storyspace ?(n) signals the program to follow a path at random with other paths in a cycle of reading.  Which means, if you’ve only read through that area once, you haven’t seen the others and ya can’t get there from here–unless you go back to the writing space that forked out into these random trails.

So I’ve used this code two or three, maybe four times in Paths.  I like it.  But then again, I know all the other paths because I wrote ’em so I’m not missing anything.  How do I feel about the readers missing them then?  How did I feel after reading Michael Joyce’s Afternoon, A Story thinking that I lost out on a good portion of story because I’m directionally dysfunctional?  I know I didn’t miss a Writing Space of Steve Ersinghaus’ The Life of Geronimo Sandoval because I had a system established, a pattern of read to the end of the space, check out the links (if any) in order, follow to a point, retrace my steps, etc. 

I guess it need all be left in the hands of the reader, once it’s out of the hands of the writer, to walk the straight and narrow, wander off the trail, take the shortcuts, ignore the signs.  Hypertext story may be as much prone to driving habits as to those of reading.

Been thinking some more about the end result of working on a hypertext piece–aside from the satisfaction of finishing a project and the smile of a told tale

Maybe out for less than a decade (Joyce’s Afternoon, A Story came out in 1999), not a huge selection available, the hypertext format of story (including poetry) has likely only been exposed in college classrooms or in the trade among tech-minded and forward-thinking academics.  So that’s a small number of people who are aware of the format.  Do they seek out hypertext novels as their reading selections after their student days end?  Do they introduce others to the concept, look forward to new publications, discuss them at their reading groups, or in the office or over coffee with friends?

I’m not sure at this point if hypertext story is mentioned much less studied at below a college level, and there are tons of college graduates who either missed out on the phenomenon of hypertext fiction merely because they occupied the wrong space in time, or more current students who sidetracked the particular literature classes that presented Joyce or Jackson’s work.  Those of a certain age or education level will likely never realize what’s available then.

This is probably the best time for hypertext work, with the publishing business undergoing some major tremors and the advent of e-books, e-zines, and handheld readers.  Hypertext fiction (and non-fiction and poetry too) fits right into this era of changing direction.

So my question is this, in response to the "I hate reading a lot of text on a screen," and despite the efforts by Sony and others to enable a "book" to be held in hand, what is necessary to do to create the excitement for hypertext that it rightly deserves?

Just a placeholder to later check out e-books writer, a program that I wandered onto from somewhere and didn’t have time to read up on.

I did get the impression today that the one drawback to writing in hypertext format is that your available readers are at a premium.  Either that, or I need to find some younger, more with-it, open-minded friends.

Just discussing the project, talking about what I was doing and how exciting it is brought out the admission from two separate friends that they didn’t like the original narrative that was laid out in text form on real paper.  They hated flipping back and forth between pages.  Ah, so that’s why they never mentioned reading it.  Even my explanation that it is totally a different animal now brought further excuses–it seems both much prefer reading a book in book form; not on a computer.

Now I’m not ready to have anything read, but I’m thinking that up ahead I may have to form another writers group, specifically for hypertext writing.  I’m not as concerned with proofreading, that’s one thing I do almost as well as any writer can on his own work (except for tense and semicolons). Outside of a classroom where hypertext fiction is studied, I think a writer may find it hard to interest friends and family into service.  It’s hard enough to force them to read straight stories sometimes, and two out of five of my hardiest readers, those that made it through a novel ten years ago, are dead. 

Something to think about.  Though Christmas is coming, and what better gift than a story…

Really should have left well enough alone on the Paths project.  I’ve messed up the ending and have empty Writing Spaces hanging by threads.

Just not happy any more with the tone and style of it all.  I think I’m forcing it now, reluctant to recognize an end to the project because, well, so what?  I think that’s the rock that’s burdened my creative energy in the short story writing too.  Likely the reason why I edit so well–or at least, so much.  Taking the time, dragging it out.

Anyway, need to throw something in the boxes or eliminate them and reconstruct the way I had it that I didn’t like anymore, call it Finis! and move on into something fresh.

Just a note to myself here (and thank God I’m able to do that since the laptop refused to light up its screen for me today until I  said some secret words and made obscene promises):  Looking for the ability to go from one Writing Space to a series of four in another spot, but needing to return back to where I was after reading the series.

I think there’s a way to do it, and there’s no reason to bring a reader into this other area except for those four spaces.  Got to look this one up.

Well I should’ve called it a night and moved on to something new because sometimes you can overtweak.

Story #4 in MapView now looks like a broken string of tangled Christmas lights and I’ve got to check each link/bulb to see why the whole string won’t light.  That, as we all know, is one of the PITA jobs of the holiday.  Maybe I’ll just stuff it back in the box and play with something else.