An approach to webfiction (or how I'm doing it)

[chipyowo]

Hi! ^^ This is my first topic, so sorry if something is wrong qvqq I'm learning. Anyway I actually wrote this as a post in my blog, so if you want to read it full, check it out later :)

I'm currently writing an hypertext fiction adventure, called Liminalia. It's inspired a lot by Homestuck, as well some other obscure works of webfiction/webart. While conceiving the idea, though, I ran across a problem, and thought it would be cool to share my thoughts and ideas about it.

First of all, if you aren't familiar with the concept of Hypertext Fiction, read it here.

So, by standard patterns, the unique charm of hypertext fictional works lies in the marvelous mechanic of non-linearity. The work is splited in hundreds, sometimes thousands of small chunks of text, all of them linked in a intricate maze of interconnected paths, which you can stumble across in almost any order imaginable. REALLY SICK, ISN'T IT?
But a rather important thing to notice is: the vast majority of most famous hypertextual works WEREN'T WRITTEN IN SERIALIZED FASHION. They are fully, complete books, just fragmented into a lot of hyperlinks.

Can you imagine having to keep tens, sometimes h u n d r e d s of different hyperlinks trees, trying to update them everyday, while still managing to write a cohesive, not-a-mess story?

Well, you CAN'T. Unless you still want to have a LIFE.

So, how to make it then? Here's my idea.

The Multi-Path Simulacrum(or Deceiving Ingenuous Readers into the Illusion of Non-Linear Narrative Structure)

So, according to average description of an hypertext narrative, you'd get something like this.

Very dumb representation of average hypertext fiction structure flow.

Which, as alredy said, is pretty neat, but unviable in a serialized work. There's no focal point, and instead it's up to you to find the "main narrative" and it's correct order.

What you could do, insted, is keeping a main, linear focal point; Who's the main character? Whose story is it about? But, instead of break this narrative into numerous shatters of convoluted, labirynthine hyperlinks, without right way or path to follow, you actually KEEP the linearity, while STILL "multi-pathing" it. For example, imagine two characters: A and B. A's actions influence B's narrative and vice-versa. You could easily switch between stories, present, past and future, without explicitily explain what the hell is happening. The key point is to keep enough context so the reader don't get confused, and you can manipulate the events as you please. The story is still linear, but told in a non-linear way, if that's make any sense.

There's actually a really good TV series that does it MASTERFULLY, it's called This is Us. Seriously, it's a masterpiece of good writing. Just watch the first episode, and you'll get what I mean.

As Liminalia goes on,I think this'll get more clear(hopefully). It's a format I'm really confortable with, and (hopefully x2) won't kill me in the process of making.

Do you know another piece of media that uses this idea as a heavy narrative format? Please let me know! Took me a while to come with this idea, and that's because I never really saw it that much in another works, aside, as I said, from This is Us, that uses it a LOT.

[kasperkat]

Is it similar to Infinite Jest? I read it a few years ago, and it's a hefty book, but worth it imo. I was reading the Wikipedia page and it listed some books as a similarity, and I felt like Infinite Jest aligned.

Very non-linear, and honestly there are so many footnotes that it feels like you're following links to entirely new pages.

[chipyowo]

@kasperkat Hmm I'm reading the Wikipedia article right now, and I think it's more on the "average" hypertext fiction format,(where you get all these cross-references to another parts of the book and/or other works of reference). By saying "average" I don't mean by any form it's bad or something like that, but it isn't exactly what I'm aiming for. It's really great, but not exactly viable in a serialized format(at least, not in big proportions). It can get really hard to manage so many narrative/hyperlinks paths trees after a while, and by giving so much freedom to the reader, it may result in a rather confusing or unsatisfatory reading experience(spoilers for example, or plotholes due to readers not getting all the pages needed).

Anyway, about Infinite Jest, there are other great books that do the same thing, too, and honestly it's really impressive how these authors can transform the book medium so much! I'd recommend The House of Leaves(probably the most famous of these), Dictionary of Lost Words and The Raw Shark Texts. Some say that Ulysses also align with the concepts of hypertext fiction, so yeah. Never read any of these though lol, but they sound hella cool, and are on my list for future reading :)

[kasperkat]

@kasperkat Hmm I'm reading the Wikipedia article right now, and I think it's more on the "average" hypertext fiction format,(where you get all these cross-references to another parts of the book and/or other works of reference). By saying "average" I don't mean by any form it's bad or something like that, but it isn't exactly what I'm aiming for. It's really great, but not exactly viable in a serialized format(at least, not in big proportions). It can get really hard to manage so many narrative/hyperlinks paths trees after a while, and by giving so much freedom to the reader, it may result in a rather confusing or unsatisfatory reading experience(spoilers for example, or plotholes due to readers not getting all the pages needed).

Anyway, about Infinite Jest, there are other great books that do the same thing, too, and honestly it's really impressive how these authors can transform the book medium so much! I'd recommend The House of Leaves(probably the most famous of these), Dictionary of Lost Words and The Raw Shark Texts. Some say that Ulysses also align with the concepts of hypertext fiction, so yeah. Never read any of these though lol, but they sound hella cool, and are on my list for future reading :)

Huh well that's still super cool! I wish I knew some actual hypertext to volunteer :3 I do have House of Leaves on my to-read list, especially since I watched jacksepticeye played MyHouse.wad :D which is like a House of Leaves mod of Doom iirc?