Hypercompendia

Still don’t quite have the hang of it, but I do think that I’m gaining some insight into the rather meticulous methods of writing narrative in hypertext just from the short flash-fiction hypertexts in the 100-piece project and in attempting to make hypertext a more enjoyable, less intimidating medium for new readers.

For one thing, the last few pieces have been based on first, a concept; second, a map; third, story (or stories); and fourth, logical intersecting points.

Don’t laugh; that’s not been my usual methods of writing, traditional or otherwise.

In catering to the enthusiastic but tremulous reader, I’ve tried to simplify the linkage, going over it more carefully so that each path can bring a satisfying and not a head-scratching conclusion. In the last piece, #23 Reflection, I’ve made use of four lexias as being ‘traffic cops’ to direct the flow between stories in a manner that doesn’t necessitate too much going back and yet ties them together a lot smoother than what I’ve previously been doing.

I think.

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.

I wonder if this new habit I’ve picked up from the twenty-one hypertext stories so far will engrave itself and influence any straight writing I do in the future. This is the map of the latest that I’m working on now. I’ve never done layouts or diagrams prior to story before. I’ve said this before; back in elementary and high school (maybe even college) I’d have the story done and then come up with an outline based on it when required to turn one in. This is a whole new thing for me.

First came the choice of what I’d be concentrating upon in this piece, and with the knowledge of 100 pieces being done, I figured I could go with the theme of the story which for me was the question of time and what it actually means to us. Hypertext offers the best opportunity to play with dimensions of time and I like to do just that because the idea of it all is so fascinating.

The natural layout then is based on occurence and sequence, yet since these are short and another thought struck me, I’ve had to organize and limit the occurences to two and the concept to a simple topic of wishes and how they do and do not make their mark in most cases on time.

It’s a process that goes beyond story; the networking of ideas to run parallel to each. Just as, perhaps does the past, present and future.

While I’m a few hours ahead of the game, I’m making up folders and setting up the mechanics of hypertext output as much as I can for those times when story just won’t roll out easily. While I have to wait for the impetus of Steve’s daily story to grab onto something that sets off the process, I have an old file of one-liners, story starters, that I may dust off to give me a starting point if there’s something that meshes with the concept of what I’m trying to do.

I’m also taking advantage of the time to go back and proofread and I’m glad since the hypertext process seems to have me coming up with some real amateurish errors. In the last story I found that I hadn’t switched tense on one of the lexias after I’d decided to go to the present. With the hypertext element enough of a mind bender with its space and time and character changes, this kind of overlooked error is deadly.

On the fun side, I’m looking forward to playing more in the magical realism world. My personal favorite story I think is #19 The Perfect Woman. It was wonderfully unstressful to let imagination run the story and just let the characters learn to cope as they went along.

I’d also like to include more images and need to sort through some old shots of myself as a kid to Photoshop since I don’t steal off the net nor do I want to use photos of my nieces or nephews to put online. I love working with Photoshop so that’s not the problem–it’s finding and scanning in the pictures. The other thing I need to look into is setting all the story files into a Tinderbox shell instead of having them in a regular folder. It’d be neat to be able to connect them maybe even by links to specific areas of pattern someday and turn the hypertext project into a coordinated opus. Mary Ellen would just love getting lost in that!

The Interview

There were a couple things to consider with Steve’s story today; there was the display of the editing process showing two versions of a story, there is the progression of plot by dialogue, and there is what I focused on, the plot of two characters wanting the same thing (man versus man).

Rather than being driven by the want of a woman, I find the current economic and employment fiasco almost as important, though I doubt many men would agree.

The Incredulist

I think I’m learning to type code and urls faster than I can type straight text.

This was supposed to be different than what it came out as, and as a matter of fact, it’s the second story I’ve written today, having scrapped the first as it got way too involved and far away from the goal. This story isn’t what I’m happy with either, but the basic premise is there. The concept was the idea of magical realism whereby everyone in the story just naturally takes it as a natural occurrence; well, what if someone in the story doesn’t? What happens then.

I don’t think I got it down right, but I think it’s a workable base. On the other hand, the links suffered for the concentration on story.

The Perfect Woman

Magical realism. Love it, want to get more used to writing it.

Became enamored with Octavio Paz’s My Life With the Wave and fell into Marquez with a passion.

This is what I pulled out of Steve’s story today though he has a practiced hand and an open mind to the freedom of making unreality real in narrative writing. It takes a certain amount of naivete much as a child’s trust in whatever is told him as truth.

Us Versus

With this one I was going to keep it down to three lexias and two links but it went a little further than expected, mainly because of its theme of discriminatory practices. It’s my first and only story of any social or political import and likely my last.

I took the title from the concept of whichever group or whatever thing is the trend or hot topic of the moment, and the proposal of one of the seven (or so) basic plots.

You can see from the map that it’s fairly simply set up as to linking, but do bring a coffee and danish into this one in case you get caught in the one loopy looped area. This is for emphasis and not done merely to drive you crackers. And trust me, there is a way out.

Also note that I’ve included the writing space titles that should show up at the top of your browser, and two links at the end of the piece to either run you around again or to bring you back to the Hypercompendia page and an exit out of that story. Doing the titles manually on the templates until I get a chance to see why Tinderbox isn’t exporting that piece of information. There are lots of things I’m likely doing manually until I have the time to find the right and already coded-in easy way of doing it. It is a learning process of story and software after all.

Thought it would be a good idea for anyone really interested in learning more about hypertext, maybe needing some encouragement in reading it, to link to Eastgate’s resources. Hypertext Resources is a page full of links to just about anything you’d want to know about hypertext workings, plannings, purpose. Hypertext Now is a more focused and likely less scary page for the newcomer.

As a matter of fact, I’m currently rereading Hypertext Gardens (for the umpteenth time) to reacquaint myself with structure and purpose of links. This will help me in my hypertext flash pieces that I’m currently working on and will likely result in some less aggravated potential hypertext viewers.