I’ve been doing lots of writing of story the past three days into a new form of hypertext that’s available online at a site called Hypertextopia. I started playing with it and a story just came together to fit the medium and while it’s not finished or edited well, it’s almost complete. You can check out A Bottle of Beer if you are curious about the hypertext medium–and this is why I love the site, because you can read it online, and if you check out the Grand Library, you’ll find more–though many of them are just dabblings there are a few that are complete and intricately presented.
Still writing in the Storyspace Hypertext program, but I seem to be struggling with this second story and am wondering if perhaps I should just move on to something else. I don’t think I should be wasting time and effort on something that’s not working, when even what I considered to be good stuff isn’t going anywhere either. The only impetus to write lately has been the writing mood itself. The carrot on the stick is made of rubber.
Also busy on a few other items that are still writing related (and of course, take precedence over the real life of Susan the Drudge) and I’ll be posting about that stuff shortly.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
Yay!!!! This is so awesome, I’m reading it now and am beginning finally to really understand the beauty of writing in this way. Love the side-paths.
Wow! Now I finally get it — I know where you’ve been going. I have to admit though, while I was trying to enjoy your story (which I did), I kept wandering off to hyperlink to the little side vignettes and pictures and things. I also went to the main story map and zipped around quite a bit. I think I’d have to get used to the format a bit in order to sit still and focus on the words! Nice work and a very cool experience.
To be honest, even I still prefer writing in the hypertext environment to reading it. But there are some techniques that become second nature after a while. I myself tend to read the whole ‘text box/page’ through before clicking on links that might bring me away from that moment of story (in other hypertext forms, you do indeed leave behind a box and enter a new one, though you can find your way back in a reading). In this style, I may then refresh my mind by rereading the last sentence and then move onto the next full page. It’s not that different when you consider that even in books, a page is turned and no longer open to view unless it is returned to.