Hypertext Fiction Report
My project is a rather lengthy bit of hypertext fiction based on my latest novel-length work. Unlike 90% of our class (from what I could tell from the blogs), I actually really like hypertext fiction. I like the different way of telling a story, and I think it is possible to have a "readable" piece if the writer puts in enough effort.
Even though I was disappointed in Sorrells' The Heist, it was the primary inspiration for this project. I have a few ideas that would improve Sorrells', such as tagging each page with the date and time to give a somewhat linear feel to a fundamentally nonlinear story, as well as color-coding the pages according to which character/story arc it is following.
The fact that I will put a great deal of care into telling the story itself will also be an improvement on Sorrell's design, because I think that is where he fell short the most.
I'm really happy with how my project is coming so far. I don't really have any problems to report yet. The HTML itself is pretty simple stuff, just links and the banner on top that links back to the main page in case the reader gets hopelessly lost.
The only occasional problem springs up when I lose track of the pages and it all turns into a mess, like a broken spiderweb. For the most part, I keep to my "map" and things go well.
For anyone who is for some reason curious about this thing, I uploaded a demo version of the first fifteen "pages" or so, I think they're actually called nodes. You can see it here (Please don't! It sucks! I haven't even added all the timestamps yet!)
The story doesn't even remotely resemble science fiction at this point, but it is, with AI's and computer hackers and everything. The first segment just happens to be narrated by a spoiled drama queen who has no idea that the story isn't actually about how many pairs of shoes she owns.
If you still want to read it, I seriously suggest waiting for the alpha test, when it will be less suckish.
If anyone has any general suggestions, go for it! I'm open to any ideas. What have you disliked most about hypertext fiction that we've read in class? What do you wish the writers had done differently?
Here's what everyone else is working on.
Even though I was disappointed in Sorrells' The Heist, it was the primary inspiration for this project. I have a few ideas that would improve Sorrells', such as tagging each page with the date and time to give a somewhat linear feel to a fundamentally nonlinear story, as well as color-coding the pages according to which character/story arc it is following.
The fact that I will put a great deal of care into telling the story itself will also be an improvement on Sorrell's design, because I think that is where he fell short the most.
I'm really happy with how my project is coming so far. I don't really have any problems to report yet. The HTML itself is pretty simple stuff, just links and the banner on top that links back to the main page in case the reader gets hopelessly lost.
The only occasional problem springs up when I lose track of the pages and it all turns into a mess, like a broken spiderweb. For the most part, I keep to my "map" and things go well.
For anyone who is for some reason curious about this thing, I uploaded a demo version of the first fifteen "pages" or so, I think they're actually called nodes. You can see it here (Please don't! It sucks! I haven't even added all the timestamps yet!)
The story doesn't even remotely resemble science fiction at this point, but it is, with AI's and computer hackers and everything. The first segment just happens to be narrated by a spoiled drama queen who has no idea that the story isn't actually about how many pairs of shoes she owns.
If you still want to read it, I seriously suggest waiting for the alpha test, when it will be less suckish.
If anyone has any general suggestions, go for it! I'm open to any ideas. What have you disliked most about hypertext fiction that we've read in class? What do you wish the writers had done differently?
Here's what everyone else is working on.
I didn't take very long to look at the demo you have up, but it looks intriguing. I'd love to be a tester!
Good luck =]
woah Christina, it looks as if you're near completion already. You obviously started working on this before we even mentioned term projects. Your projected is though-out and well designed. I certainly wouldn't call it suckish.
The only suggestion I have is to not have too many sub stories that stray far from actual story relevance.
I actually really like hypertext fiction
I do too, as long as it is done well. Be careful like Daniella said about the sub-stories. You need to also focus on writing each story very well.
I skimmed through the site and my only note is I wanted to know how people will know which slide follows the which. Is it the last link on every page? Or does order not matter. You have a very good navigation idea at the top though. What code did you use (I guess in the style sheet) to make it go to the top, because I tried something similar for mine, but I cannot get the bar to center.