Then we covered our definition of narrative which will play an important role for the rest of the semester.

We then used the online (hypertext) novel 253 – An Interactive Novel as source to illustrate these concepts and ideas. Working our way through this text everyone was asked to plot the narrative. Plotting the narrative is a way to sequence our path and to note the different causes and effects of this path. For an example of how one of these might look, visit my own plot of 253 from February 2009. This will serve as a model for any analysis of a work of new media (hypertext, game, web site, etc.)

The are two more readings assigned (check the course calendar) and an assignment (located at http://tunxis.digication.com) due for next class.

“Cut Scene Test 01″ by John Timmons

The story headline is “A Simple Example of Creating a Cut Scene”

Part 1 – Setting Things Up

Chapter 1 – New Rules

[From Chapter 12.19. Changing Visibility - The 'Flashlight' example.]
Visibility rule when looking under something:
if the player is carrying a lit thing (called lamp):
say “You shine [the lamp] under [the noun]…”;
there is sufficient light;
there is insufficient light.

Chapter 2 – New Verbs

Understand “ring [something]” as ringing. Ringing is an action applying to one thing.

Carry out ringing:
if the noun is the bell, continue the action;
otherwise say “Ringing [the noun] will accomplish little.” instead.

Chapter 3 – Scenes

Section 1 – The Deskhelp Scene

Deskhelp is a scene. Deskhelp begins when the bell is rung. Deskhelp ends when the number of filled rows in the Table of Deskhelp Events is 0.

When Deskhelp begins:
move the Manager to the Hotel Lobby;
say “After a brief moment, the manager suddenly appears.”

When Deskhelp ends:
remove the Manager from play;
say “The manager turns on his heel and is gone.”

Every turn during Deskhelp:
repeat through Table of Deskhelp Events begin;
say “[event entry][paragraph break]“;
blank out the whole row;
rule succeeds;
end repeat.

Table of Deskhelp Events
event
“[italic type]‘May I help you?’[roman type] the manager asks.”
“[italic type]‘Did I doze off?’[roman type]  you ask.”
“The manager eyes you suspiciously. [italic type]‘You been smoking crack?’[roman type]”

Instead of taking, examining, or smelling the glass during Deskhelp:
say “You feel it best not to do anything while the manager is here.”

Part 2 – The World

The Hotel Lobby is a room.

The flashlight is carried by the player. It is lit.

The bell is in the hotel lobby. It is fixed in place. The bell can be rung or unrung.

A small glass is in the hotel lobby.

Instead of examining or looking under the small glass:
move the penny to the player;
say “Underneath the glass you find a penny which you promptly take.”

A penny is a thing.

The Manager is a man. Understand “man” as the manager.

After ringing the bell:
now the bell is rung;
say “The bell gives out a sharp ‘ding’ that makes you wince.”

“Scenes and Regions 01″ by John Timmons

The story headline is “A Brief and Simple Demonstration of Using Regions and Scenes”

The Hotel Lobby is a room. “To the north is the bottom of the stairs.”

Bottom of the Stairs is north of the Hotel Lobby.

[NormalPlace is an area that will include all rooms where nothing spooky will happen.]
NormalPlace is a region. Hotel Lobby is in NormalPlace.

[SpookyPlace is a region that will include all rooms where the spooky stuff will happen.]
SpookyPlace is a region. Bottom of the Stairs is in SpookyPlace.

Part 1 – Spooky Scene Stuff

[Here we create the scene and how it will begin and how it will end.]
Spooky is a scene. Spooky begins when the player is in SpookyPlace. Spooky ends when the player is in NormalPlace.

[This checks to see if the player is in the a SpookyPlace region and if they are will print out something out 50% of the time.]
Every turn when a random chance of 1 in 2 succeeds:
if player is in SpookyPlace begin;
choose a random row in the Table of Spooky Events;
say “[event entry][paragraph break]“;
otherwise;
do nothing;
end if.

[Here are the messages that may be printed when the player is a SpookyPlace region.]
Table of Spooky Events
event
“An ice cold draft plays across the back of your neck.”
“You hear the sound of a child whispering.”
“Something moves out of the corner of your eye. But when you look it is gone.”

253 is what I would call a more accessible piece of hypertext in that it presents people, places, and events in a more descriptive manner. It has a more traditional “writing” style than others we have previously experienced. Those other works tended to be more poetic and conceptual. 253 is more concrete in it’s style and perhaps easier for those new to hypertext to better comprehend. Our class reading also wonderfully illustrated the basic tenents of the writerly text.

Our reading followed this five-node path in 253:

1. 253? Why 253?
   We started here because this linked us to the ground rules of the hypertext. “253 ? Why 253 ? describes the ground rules of the novel.”

2. End of the Line
   It was decided to start at the end (network - we can enter the story wherever we wish) because we were attracted to this: “Those seeking sensation are advised to select the End of the Line option.”

   We wanted sensation!

   Now we were told that: “Sensation and violence at last. Discover the horrible end of the carriage of your choice.” So we started at the top of the list with Car 1 end.

3. Car 1 end
   After reading this entire lexia, we were attracted to the first two sentences:“One-armed Milton erupts through the door between carriages, knife between his teeth like a buccaneer to kill Eveleen. She sees him and howls with laughter.”

   We were curious, who was Eveleen? Did this Milton really want to kill her? Why would she be laughing?

4. Eveleen
   Here we discovered that Eveleen had this strange step father who made her laugh to think of him trying to kill her. “Eveleen has a mad, one-armed step father who wants to kill her. He phones her day and night to threaten her. The idea of him, one-armed, trying to do her in makes her laugh.”

5. mad, one-armed step father who wants to kill her
   Here we find out about this troubled guy that helps us to understand why he was attacking Eveleen.

By manipulating the codes within the text, we were able to construct one short narrative (a series of events with a cause and effect relationship happening in space and in time) between two characters (Eveleen and Milton) out of all those possible from 253 people in seven train cars.

The question for everyone in class is: how do you take on the role of “writer” and plan and construct a “writerly” experience?

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