. Spinning .

This, from Storytron’s "Experience of Creating a Storyworld":

As you can see, storybuilding is nothing like any other artistic endeavor. Everything here is done at a higher level: Instead of creating a story, you create dramatic possibilities. Instead of planning a character’s behavior, you imbue an Actor with a unique personality, and send them into the storyworld to behave according to it. Instead of creating a plotline, you define special principles that maintain the narrative’s form. You do all this knowing that your storyworld will be played by countless people, each of which will have a unique experience on each playing. Thereby, you will reach that player on their own terms, and your impact as an artist will be stronger for it.

It was a bit of fun to play around in the SWAT (the building of verb action) for a while, but with manual and tutorial in hand, I want to explore more seriously. 

The possiblities here are tremendous–although at this stage, limiting to the writer as well in ways of rethinking the basic process of writing.  Stubborn at change yet anxious to discover new ways (which, I suppose, serves as a self-burden that appeals to the remaining shreds of Catholic in my brain), I need to take this a bit more slowly than jumping in and clicking buttons and menus. 

I’m currently looking through my Stories file to find one of those many, many starter scenes that would suit this Storytron format.  Or, I can just write up another–but thinking in the format will obviously be the most dramatic change in technique.  I may do a quick run-through in Facade with Grace and Trip to help readjust my process.

By the way, I’ve given this project its own category as this will be an ongoing learning and working program.  It is in its early stage of creation and I’m glad to have discovered it now.  It promises to be as exciting an adventure as the program develops and the story, just as in the new media productions for the reader/writer/user, is unknown and wide open with possibilities.  The category will be, for me, a record of that learning.

It is obvious that the Storytron manner of planning story is total alien to my natural method of writing.  I tend to start with an opening paragraph, whether to set mood, create a backdrop or situation, or present a character, and the story just develops and progresses without thinking ahead about where the story is headed.  It starts; I’m there to write down what happens.

Storytron appears, without definite plots or structure, to have a general story or scenario in mind when creating the "Storyworld" stage, and with the license (and necessity, for interesting interactive reading) to include all the possibilities that need be discarded in favor of a single path in traditional format.

It’s an interesting concept and for me, a challenging one.  I think that, since I’ve barely dipped my clicker into the program itself, I’m first going to write out a scene or situation for my actors to live in.  I think that bit of planning, at least, is necessary to begin learning the program and what it can do.