E-MAILS
Working on this hypertext, I saw in the personal website of the author
Judy Malloy that she had an e-mail adress in case that you would want
to get in contact with her. So I decided to write her an e-mail and let
her know that I was working on one of her hypertexts. And also I
asked her a few questions about her work, and especially about this
hypertext "Afterwards". It was the first time that I did write to a
famouse writer and I didn't know if she would reply my e-mail or not.
But she answered real soon!! It was just a few lines saying thanks for
my interest in her work and letting me know that she would send me
another e-mail answering my questions in a few days.
And as she promised, she has written me back with a lot of information
and links to pages where you can read more about her work.
She's been really nice!
My e-mail
Dear Ms Malloy
First of
all, let me introduce myself. My name is Raquel Gómez and I’m a student of the University of Valencia,
Spain.
I’m
studying English Philology and one of the subjects of this year is about
Hypertexts. We have to choose an author and a hypertext and analyze it.
I’ve chosen
one of your works “Afterwards” for my paper and I have to analyze it from the
perspective of TOOLS. I’m really enjoying working on your text because there’s
so many things to comment that it’s really interesting.
Our teacher
told us to get in contact with the author of our texts if we had the
opportunity and that’s the reason I’m writing to you.
I would
like to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.
First, I’d like to know what made you start
writing hypertexts. Why did you find this kind of Narrative more interesting or
appealing than the traditional one?
What kind of programs did you use in this
hypertext to create the parallel texts and the appearing conversations? It was
difficult to learn?
This is the
first time I read a hypertext and one of the fears I had at the beginning was
if I was going to be able to follow the story and not get lost in the way. I’ve
found “Afterwards” easy to read and understand, so I wonder if you had in mind since the beginning to create a
hypertext easy to understand for the readers or if you would’ve liked to create
a more complex one but you thought that it would get to more people this way?
From the
perspective of Tools, I’ve seen that you have used several colors to
differentiate the three couples and the different texts. For the couple Gwen +
Gunter you have used the same colors in the squares as in their texts, but in
the other two couples, the squares have one color and when you click, the
screen shows up in another color, so I
wonder why didn’t you follow the same pattern in the three couples?
And the
last question is that I’ve read in your website (about the order of reading
this text) that the reader can follow one couple by clicking on one color of
squares or click on any square in the interface if you want to read the three
relationships together, but after
reading the text I’ve seen that there are conversations that go one after the
other, in chronological order, so if the reader chooses to click on one square
at random, he will not understand the story right, will he? Or am I wrong?
I’ve read your text in two ways, following the order of the squares and
following the order of one color of squares, but never clicking on squares at
random.
I would
really appreciate if you could answer my questions. Thank you so much in
advance.
Sincerely,
Raquel Gómez.
De: Judy Malloy <jmalloy@mail.well.com>
Data: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:42:19 -0800
Hi Raquel,
I received your questions and will try to answer them in a few days.
Thanks for your interest in my work!
Best,
Judy
De: Judy Malloy <jmalloy@mail.well.com>
Data: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:37:31 -0800
Hi Raquel.
Here are some answers to your questions.
- First, I'd like to know what made you start writing hypertexts. Why did you find this kind of Narrative more interesting or appealing than the traditional one?
Beginning In the 1970's, I was creating handmade artists books that
used text and images in experimental ways to create narratives.
Here are some examples of what they looked like:
http://www.judymalloy.net/artistsbooks/artbooks.html
http://www.judymalloy.net/artistsbooks/artbooks2.html
At the same time, I knew how to program because I had worked with
technical information and studied programming and systems analysis, but
this was with big computers without display screens. In the mid 1980's when personal computers with display screens became available, I saw that I could create the kind of narrative I sought by using computers. And so, in 1986, I began with Uncle Roger.
- What kind of programs did you use in this hypertext to create the parallel texts and the appearing conversations? It was difficult to learn?
This is discussed in the authoring software blog I created for the 2008 Electronic Literature Conference:
http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/elit/elit_software.html
(and click on my name in the right hand column)
Basically I create my own applications and have been doing this for many years. To create your own applications, a knowledge of music and/or computer systems would, in addition of course to writing, be helpful. But you could also study works in this field as you are doing. You could also use an application, such as Eastgate's Storyspace that has been used to create many excellent works.
- This is the
first time I read a hypertext and one of the fears I had at the beginning was
if I was going to be able to follow the story and not get lost in the way. I've
found "Afterwards" easy to read and understand, so I wonder if you had
in mind since the beginning to create a hypertext easy to understand
for the readers or if you would've liked to create a more complex one but you thought that it would get to more people this way?
I am glad to hear that you were able to follow the story! My approach
is described in the first paragraph of my Authoring Software Blog text:
http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/elit/elit_software.html#judy
- From the perspective of Tools, I've seen that you have used several colors to differentiate the three couples and the different texts. For the couple Gwen + Gunter you have used the same colors in the squares as in their texts, but in the other two couples, the squares have one color and when you click, the screen shows up in another color, so I wonder why didn't you follow the same pattern in the three couples?
Although I set up certain structural considerations, I also take into account the visual impact and what I think works best for the narrative situation -- ie it is a work of literature, and the most important thing is that it works as literature, taking into account my personal vision and the fact that it is new media literature.
- And the last question is that I've read in your website (about the order of reading this text) that the reader can follow one couple by clicking on one color of squares or click on any square in the interface if you want to read the three relationships together, but after reading the text I've seen that there are conversations that go one after the other, in chronological order, so if the reader chooses to click on one square at random, he will not understand the story right, will he? Or am I wrong? I've read your text in two ways, following the order of the squares and following the order of one color of squares, but neverclicking on squares at random.
Even though Afterwards does work sequentially, it is also designed so that you can experience the story however you read it. There might be some readers, who prefer to click at random and see small parts of conversations. This is a valid way of reading it. If you read it at random, it would be as if you heard parts of conversations. Sometimes this happens in life!
Best of Luck with your paper.
Judy Malloy