All sorts of breakthroughs in writing and in reading these past few days, but even more in understanding and more than that, in further questioning.
Separating myself as a writer from the reading, yet that is contradictory to the very purpose and nature of IF. However, in going back into Book and Volume to find that one particular (task) server that I missed, I feel no freedom of arrangement or movement, but instead feel very restricted.
In IF there is a space within which the story must unfold, within which clues and rewards and goals are reached. This space must be traveled although in no particular path–this is the freedom allowed the reader/player. But I’m having a problem (not at all unusual as I’m certifiably directionally dysfunctional and spatially impaired–a double whammy). I keep coming upon the same intersecting paths but am unable to locate my anticipated goal. Thus, a "boxed-in" effect that is as frustrating as it is conflicting to the purpose of interactive fiction.
Oddly enough, I feel this in the hypertext novel Afternoon, A Story as well, returning many times to the same point in story before being able to move forward. I wonder then if there are certain traits or instincts a reader/user need have to be the prime target audience of this form of story. Or, if in consideration of others such as I, there need be a built-in ramp for the disabled.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology