Reading the works of other writers and
following the class discussions gave me some ideas of how I might approach my
own hypertext project.
In The Changing Room (Word Circuits, 1998)
began with eight short tales from my old manuscript, 12-Step Parables. Working
in Storyspace (Eastgate), I divided each tale into 15 to 25 nodes. Then with
little thought to the overall structure of the work, I linked characters,
visual images, and references to colors, sounds, and sensations. I did not know
HTML and had never before used a hypertext authoring program, so the simple act
of making links--any links--was thrilling.
I hoped that my audience would follow the flow
of related images and weave in and out of all eight tales, passing through a
few key nodes again and again. I worried, however, that many readers would
simply click through the tales chronologically, following plots rather than
themes. So every five or six nodes, I inserted basic links to divert readers
onto a new narrative path. Then I
whittled away at the links, rooting out loops and dead ends.
As I experimented with the ways my narrators
and their tales connected, new characters and new situations took form. For
example, one narrator, Gifford, found himself inside another narrator's life. A
message written by Gifford took on new layers of meaning when it reappeared in
different narrative strands. Meanwhile, the musings of his daughter, Rita,
became intertwined with the narrations of all the characters.
Although I liked the stark simplicity of black
type on blank white pages, I recognized that my project needed navigational
icons and an opening map. I got Adobe PhotoShop and began to experiment with
graphics. Illustrations which were added as an afterthought became increasingly
important.
By the end of the semester, Changing Room had
evolved into a very different work, virtually unrecognizable from the original
print manuscript.
© http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/3.2/response/Kendall/craven.htm
Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Maria Tovar Pérez
matope6@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de Valčncia Press