HERE

For Whom the Telling Changed

"Whom the Telling Changed" is an exciting and intriguing work of Interactive Fiction. Aaron Reed, the author of this work, sets up a curious premise and allows the reader to go on a journey into the nature of storytelling.

In "Whom the Telling Changed" you are quite clueless as to your own identity. That is to say that you, as a reader/player, are not familiar with your gender or role in society. Your character is very aware, but it is up to you as the reader to make these connections and decisions based upon the information provided for you.

The story begins with the option of reading through instructions or just diving right in. If you take the instructional road, so to speak, you are told that you are able to type in any command you think is relevant to the story being told to you. If you are at a loss, or if there are certain words that will help you in your reading of the story, they will be highlighted for you if you so wish. 

After beginning the story you find that you are in a tent, surrounded by mystical objects with esoteric properties. You hear voices outside the tent, and your first decision is to go out and see what is happening. You know, through the narration, that this is the night of "The Telling" which is an ancient ritual practiced among your people wherein every member of your tribe gathers to hear a story told by "The Teller." It is a celebration, a learning experience, and a community bonding event. 

The first characters you meet are your lover, a warrior, and your arch enemy, who is also a warrior. They tell you of a nearby tribe that has set up camp on the other side of the hills. Your enemy believes that striking the other tribe, without knowing their intentions, is the only solution to their presence. Your lover is not quite sure, but offers little input.

When you arrive at the fire, where "The Telling" will be told, you greet your aunt, who is the tribe's current "Teller." When she begins "The Telling" she loses all identity and becomes something larger than life. She proceeds to tell a story from The Epic of Gilgamesh. 

This is the most interesting part of "For Whom the Telling Changed" as it is the most interactive part. As "The Teller" tells the story the crowd responds, in a "call and response" fashion, and you are invited to do so as well. As the story becomes more of an allegory for what should be done about the unknown tribe that your tribe is worried about, you are left to help sway the crowd in one direction or another. You have control over how the crowd will react, and you can choose a peaceful end or one that will bring about conflict.

As stated in class, I was not able to finish this game. I played for roughly 2 hours (possibly a little less) and was never able to get to a conclusion. From what I have read about the story, it takes about that amount of time to finish, but I was not able to get to it. It seems that the ending would follow suit with whatever decisions you have made in swaying the crowd, and that your tribe would come to a group decision on how the unknown tribe in the distance will be handled.

In playing and researching this IF text I came across Mr. Reed's website and his own data analysis of those who played his game in 2006 at the "Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition" in Utah. 

The statistics can be found HERE and some might remember that I used these statistics during my presentation in class.

All in all, "For Whom the Telling Changed" is an amazing example of Interactive Fiction and Digital Literature. It allows the reader to tell the story themselves, making decisions that influence every aspect of how the story pans out. It delves into the very nature of storytelling, the importance that our stories play in our lives, and the broader picture of humanity in relation to how we perceive our pasts and our futures. Mr. Reed is definitely a pioneer of the Digital Literature front and I feel incredibly inspired by his work. The program that he used to create his piece has been discontinued and removed from the internet, but I intend to research it more in order to see how he was able to build such a complex story. If I could make something half as complex for this class I would be very satisfied, by I know that this might not be an easily attainable goal. 

I strongly encourage anyone with a love of reading to invest time in "For Whom the Telling Changed." There is no "telling" what you might get out of it!

I am infinitely infuriated by the internet at the present moment.

After spending two weeks working on a Keynote interactive story for Project 2 I have learned that there is no conceivable way to upload this file and have people download it and "play" it the way it was created.

I saved the Keynote file as a PowerPoint in the hopes of making it more accessible. Unfortunately, when I uploaded the file to GoogleDocs it became an awful mess. Everything was wrong. The formatting looked like vomit, all my links were inert, images were the wrong color, extra text was added, etc. The entire presentation became an orgy of jumbled letters and misconstrued images.

After realizing my failure here I scoured the internet for other options. I found out about Slideshare, which supposedly allows for importing of Keynote files. Not sure why everyone on the internet claims this to be true because after spending an hour trying to figure out how to upload a Keynote file to their website I realized it was not possible. It just won't allow for uploading the Keynote file type.

My next step was to try and convert the file to HTML. This worked, but it eliminated all the transitions/interactive links/sound/video and essentially just turned the entire thing into a 2 dimensional presentation. I hated the way it came out in this format so it was back to the drawing board.

Originally I was just going to upload the file as a PowerPoint and allow people to download it, but after seeing the conversion I think I would rather no one see the file at all then for them to see it in that state.

I have a final project, but I can't get it on the internet without sacrificing 75% of the work I put into it. I will be bringing my laptop to class to show my project and I hope that will suffice, because I have no idea how to get this to work otherwise.

Animania

This second project has definitely tackled me more than I have tackled it. At this point in the semester things seem to run together, and all of the madness of life seems to pile  up as more and more assignments are due. When I first set out to begin this project I had many ambitious ideas running around my head. Luckily, due to the scaling back of the first project, I was quickly able to reign in my ideas based upon my time and my capabilities.

Dr. Zamora posted a ton of helpful resources for this project on her blog, and I wanted to do my own research as well. I found lots of amazing applications for creating Interactive Fiction, Text-Based Adventure Games, etc. but, sadly, I noticed that all of the free and easy to use software was not Mac compatible (which is what I have at home) while all of the complicated coding-based programs were fine on my Mac.. but I didn't have the time to learn the programming language.

After much deliberating I decided to just stick with Keynote, Mac's answer to Power Point. I've been playing around with it for a few days now and I think I've figured most of it out. I think with this project I will have less of an interactive piece than an opening animation to a larger story.

My narration idea, essentially, sprung from apocalyptic discussions that I have with my boyfriend. We both find it fascinating that our culture seems incredibly obsessed with the end of the world, and we always make hypothetical doomsday plans in case we wake one day to find a zombie outbreak or whathaveyou.

So this story takes place 4 generations after the world has "ended." The story is told in 2nd person, with the narration centering around the room that your character is currently standing in. The room is full of books, movies, CDs, etc. and you, having been born 4 generations after the world ended, are incredibly unfamiliar with the vast majority of these relics before you. My goal with this story is to explore our collective history, and how future generations would have to piece together our history on their own with what was left behind if civilization as we know it were to collapse. Essentially I want to play with what someone might think if all they had to draw upon from human history were some pulp novels, DVDs of British television, some music from a teenager in the suburbs, or some kind of random assortment of media. What would this say about history? What would this person deduce about the way our society was run if this was all they had to go on?

There's more to this idea but I will elaborate in my next post.

In regards to our in-class Tweet session with Dr. Flores this evening, I would like to pose questions that center around structure in the digital sense.

1.) Do you believe it is essential for one who wants to be involved in Digital Literature to learn all the possible coding languages they wish to use or is it equally as important to collaborate with individuals who already have this skill set in order to make a more cohesive product? An example I can think of along this line would be an individual who had a great idea for a movie but no idea how to use a camera. He could learn to use the camera, but in order to get the full effect of his vision he could easily find someone with all the know how to film his movie with him.

2.) Do you have any tips or tricks on creating interactive fiction/digital poetry/etc? One or two "insider secrets" that our class might not be in tune with just yet?

3.) I have gotten into many debates lately about the relevancy of poetry in the digital age. In a time when the internet makes every angsty teenager with a blog a "poet" do you believe that poetry is becoming a watered down art form or one that is seeing a breath of new life due to new ways that it can be explored? I guess I'm asking if you are cynical or optimistic about the future of poetry?

Spinal Tap

The First Word:

The Abstract 

         Desolation Angels. 

Into the Wild

Nine Stories.

The Songlines,

Still Life With Woodpecker.

Jitterbug Perfume. 

I have to say, doing this "Spine Poetry" was a lot of fun, but much more difficult than I thought it would be. So many of the books that I own have titles that are poetic on their own, but that don't stand too well when joined together. 

The above is the best I could do, and I'm satisfied with it, but I kind of wish I could have made a more riveting poem (like the examples I'd seen online of such poetry). C'est la vie. 

Tonight in class I will be presenting on Aaron Reed's "Whom the Telling Changed." This is a work of (mostly) hypertext fiction with some flash elements that, essentially, plays around with the nature of storytelling.

In playing and researching this IF text I came across Mr. Reed's website and his own data analysis of those who played his game in 2006 at the "Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition" in Utah. 

The statistics can be found HERE and I will be referencing them throughout my presentation. 

I will save the rest of the information on "Whom the Telling Changed" for the presentation in class, as to not reveal any exciting or pertinent information just yet. 

First Link to Hypertext

TITLE: Clouds Casting Shadows

ABSTRACT:

Our thoughts and memories are all that we have, though both are more transitory and fickle than we'd care to admit. One thought will lead us to another, then a memory is recalled, an image, a place, a song, another thought, and so on ad infinitum. "Clouds Casting Shadows" follows the inner monologue of a man in his late 30's as he gazes at a valley below him. His journey through life has brought him through a tumultuous relationship with another man that spanned over a decade, an inspirational sister who speaks her wisdom from the beyond, a failed writing career and various locations around America. Your decisions will shape the tangents his thoughts take and what will be revealed and recalled. Is there a grander meaning to our lives or is it merely all the clouds of memory that shift strange into passing shadows?

HELPFUL HINTS:

- As of right now I suggest clicking "draught" when given the option instead of "nonsense." The "draught" tangent has plenty more to play with and discover at the moment. Feel free to click anything, but there are several dead ends that still exist as I try to sort out the various story lines. 

- You may notice that some pages are numbered. Friends of mine who have tested the site have played around with the numbers and discovered unlinked pages that exist. I don't suggest doing this, as there is no concrete ordering of the pages and most numbers are there for me to keep track of what page was written when. If you'd like to put in numbers and investigate what comes up you are more than welcome to, but none of them will lead you anywhere and may distract from the story you are following while you click. 

- There are random clues thrown around images and text throughout the story, I won't say where or what, but certain things you read may come back again and shape a decision that you make. 

LINK:

"Clouds Casting Shadows"

Hypertextual Awakenings

Wowsers. Pardon my silliness, I just can't wrap my head around the project I am working on.

After last week's class I sat down with my binder and started to scribble down ideas for my project. Pretty soon I had written dozens of pages and the following days only brought more ideas.

I can't explain much of what is happening right now, because I don't want to spoil the fun for anyone who decides to play around with my story, but I will link to the main page of my story if anyone would like to read it:

Clouds Casting Shadows

The title is still a work in progress, though I think I like it enough to stick with it until the end. There are other ideas that I have been playing around with, but for now this is the best one.

I can't post a site map to this just yet, due to the fact that I haven't organized the pages I have typed up or decided what links should go where. The story I am writing is non-sequential, happening mostly in the thoughts and inner-monologues of the narrator as he gazes at a wide valley below him. As the shadows of clouds pass over the field he is reminded of a former lover of his. Their relationship spanned a decade before ending, and then seven years have passed since the end of their time together. The narrator is recalling his own life, and the way it weaved with that of his lover, and all the trials and tribulations they were put through, but he has a difficult time recalling the specific details and physical appearance of his lover.

There's more to it, but again I think it would be more fun to explore the story for the first time than to give away the various plot points that may arise as the story unfolds for the reader.

I'm having a lot of fun writing this, and even more fun playing with the idea of hyperlinks within the text that bring readers throughout the story and across the internet (in some instances).

This is sort of a rambling post, but I don't know what else to say just yet. I just know that I'm really excited for how this will turn out!

Memory and Imagery

Alright, here we go!

So for this week I decided to run all of the points of this blog post together. I played around with both Google Docs and Google Sites and found that both are quite easy to navigate, and that the interfaces are extremely user-friendly. I didn't have any complications while playing around with them, and found that there are a lot of fun things that can be done through these helpful tools.

Okay, so now to get to the idea for my Hypertext Fiction!

Last post I rambled on about an idea that I hadn't fully formulated yet. I'd be lying if I said that I had the idea down pat, but I do have a clearer understanding of what I am trying to go for. First, as I mentioned, I want the narrative of the story to take place in the memory of a man in nature. He is observing, from a high point, a valley below him. I am still unsure where, exactly, I want this to be set. I believe that I would like to do Montana, as I have been there and found the natural splendor of the area to be both breathtaking and haunting, but I'm still mulling that over.

Also, I must note something before I continue on. While playing with Google Sites I decided to "kill two birds with one stone" and use my test site as a place to store the images I've been collecting for this assignment. This way I can show them off to anyone who may be interested. The images I use in this blog post can be clicked, and you will be brought to my test page that has a slew of images I am planning on drawing inspiration from. All photographs were taken by me during a trip around the country that I took several summers ago.

Memory, like the shadows of clouds over a valley.

Essentially, the man on the cliff is recalling moments over time that he spent with his lover in nature. He can't recall the face of the man, because it has been seven years since they parted ways. The man on the cliff gets more and more frustrated as he sinks further into his memory. Every time he tries to recall his former lover, he only sees obscured images. The other man is always facing away, or silhouetted, or just out of reach. The words and conversations are present in the man's mind, but in a voice that is unfamiliar.

Always facing away.

What I attempt to address in this story is the lonely nature of memory. How the passing of time can take away the thoughts and actions of those who once filled us with life. When we stand alone, observing the transitory nature of the world around us, we are left in a place that can be desolate.  I am not sure how I want this to play out still, nor do I know if I want the story to end on a note of positivity or cynicism. But this is where I am going and I like what's happening so far.

Here, for those who don't want to click the images, is a link to my Google Site with the full list of images that I am drawing inspiration from.

Test Site

I look forward to hearing about everyone else's projects, and learning how we can accomplish our goals as we journey on this digital road together!

The Jew's Daughter and Adventures in Hypertext

I am really not the best at posting these blog posts in a timely fashion. Ah well, such is life.

This week we were assigned the reading of "The Jew's Daughter," a work of hypertext fiction. Like last week's "Twelve Blue" this story also utilized its form to the fullest extent. As with "Twelve Blue" it appears that "The Jew's Daughter" plays with a sense of time and memory, and it mixes in nostalgia to paint a beautiful and haunting picture of a woman remembered.

At first I was quite confused about this text. I foolishly went to mouse over the first hyperlink that I saw, before I even began reading, and I saw the text warp and transform before me. I started reading, and realized that each time I put my mouse near a hyperlink the text would completely change. This, at first, was a bit frustrating. Not in the same way as "Twelve Blue," but in a new way. For example, I read the line:

"Her face is a pale round moon."

And immediately fell in love with it and the sentence that followed. Unfortunately I moved my mouse and must have hit a link because the subsequent line vanished and I cannot even recall what it had said. Why this is somewhat beautiful, and it opens the reader up the ephemeral nature of words and memory, it is also a bit annoying for those of us who want to linger on the pleasure a series of sentences can bring.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I found that sentences were rearranging to form a thought as moving as the original. For instance, I first read a line that went:

"Words are always only words, but these waiting words pause, are cautious, self-aware, know that what has already not yet happened what losses are taken and who gets what."

And this struck me! Of course! Words are so self-conscious, so revealing of the self. Then, after the sentence changed, it became:

"Words are always only real-time creation, realized under the pressure of days, just as this once should have been realized under the pressure of days. Incipit. Three knocks."

And how much this also speaks of the nature of words! Words, those self-aware beasts, are indeed realized under the pressure of days. They built up, taking more and more on them. And how that "Three knocks." seems to release the reader in the sound of the sentence and what it evokes.

Somnambulistic

(I love the author's use of this word.)

In reading both "Twelve Blue" and "The Jew's Daughter" I feel that I have gotten a very interesting understanding of hypertext fiction. In creating ideas for my own piece, I have used the formats for both stories as a sort of "template."

I like the idea of a man (or woman, but for the sake of experiment I'm going to say 'man' here) standing on a cliff that overlooks a valley. He is alone with his thoughts, and as his perspective shifts and he gazes around the valley, so does the narration that appears for the reader. I am unsure what I want the narration to focus on, but maybe the contemplation of a man on a cliff? The fight between the urge to jump and the urge to remain? Maybe the man isn't suicidal, per se, but he feels that all-too-familiar urge to do something reckless kicking in as he surveys the world from his vantage point? Maybe he is, in fact, dealing with the thought of suicide and the landscape is soothing him and taking away this desire. I still am not sure, but I like starting with a man on a cliff.

Descriptions are something I truly enjoy playing around with, and poetry moves me to an incredible degree. I would like to use poetic prose to narrate this story, and have the man who stands on the cliff have a sort of beautiful aesthetic to the way he is observing everything, without giving away his actual thoughts. Much like the nature of actual thoughts, I want his inner-monologue to be a bit convoluted and obscured by what is before him. So maybe this narrative is all about the nature of the mind when confronted with the holy glory of the natural world?

I don't know yet, I'm just spitballing here, but I like playing around with this idea. More will be revealed (to myself and whoever is reading this blog) as I delve further into the realms of my own mind to find this story.

My loose outline for this is, essentially, this:

- A man is standing on a cliff, observing the beauty of a valley below
- The story takes place in his thoughts as they pass like the shadows of clouds on the valley below
-Depending on what his conflict is, the story could end in a resolution of self, or an attempt to achieve something "greater" (as in jumping off said cliff).

Not too meaty yet, but I guess it is a start!

And I end with another wonderful line from "The Jew's Daughter"

"They all come back. To go away quietly."

Post 1: Twelve Blue

While reading "Twelve Blue" there were many things that I kept in mind in my approach. First, after realizing that the structure of the story was sort of "helter skelter" I decided to keep a very open mind when it came to reading. Second, I realized almost immediately that I loved the language used by Michael Joyce. 

The first time I read through "Twelve Blue" during last week's class I made the comment that, had the author not written his explanation of the piece, I would have been extremely frustrated while reading it. I am not someone who adheres to many norms, whether it be socially or literarily, but I still could see myself being angered by a lack of understanding of the material I was reading. I allowed this frustration to take a backseat during my second reading of the story.

My approach was simple: I read through the story and clicked link after link, seemingly at random, until I reached a point where there were no options. Then I decided to click on the sidebar of "threads" in order to jump back into the story and see what might happen. The entire experience was fun, and the language was so rich, that reading the story felt more like a nice warm bath than a journey into the often heady world of literature. 

I did not come into reading "Twelve Blue" the second time with any expectations, which I believe added to the overall experience and enjoyment of the story. This story has given me some great fuel for thinking about my own projects for the class. I realize that working with a non-linear narrative can be quite successful if done correctly and not made to be confusing or misleading.