For Computers and Writing Blog (Writing Space)

Understanding Interactive/Hypertext Fiction

I found it rather difficult to wrap my brain around the chapter on interactive fiction. I decided to search the internet for examples only to end up even more confused. I tried to find Michael Joyce's story but the only place I saw it would have made me pay for it. So, I went to YouTube for some visual examples and found Shelly Jackson's Patchwork Girl which really left me even more confused. I just don't see how it is " simultaneously dissected and 'stitched', as the author puts it, into the fabric of the narrative" (157).




The IF sites I found called them games, and they could have graphics or not. To me, the confusion sets in in what IF really is. My mind wants to make it a sort of "interactive" book where you pick what part you want to read. In this sense, Saporta's book actually kind of makes sense to me. Although I do find it somewhat weird to call it a book even though it is unbound, it's the fact that you can "shuffle [the] pages like a deck of cards" that makes it interactive like other books where you might simply flip the pages for an alternate ending (148). I think what makes this unique is that the reader alters the entire narration of the story rather than keeping it in the same order but being able to flip back and forth. I found a video sort of explaining it, but I think that being able to read it would make it a lot easier.




On the other hand, I can sort of see how it could be considered a game where you act out a story. It reminds me of the narration that is in the games I play online, but I consider these games not interactive stories. Still trying to picture this whole thing I came across another video of an example of hypertext fiction. Honestly, this confused me too because it just doesn't seem to have any order to it, but at least I could see what the book was talking about.




While I may never become a fan of interactive/hypertext fiction I think that I have a slightly better grasp on what it is. I honestly think that I am being a late age of print fuddy duddy but I am okay with that. This is somewhat beyond my comfort zone. I am wondering if anyone else had trouble understanding this chapter?