Crime Scene Investigation
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~hpai/hypertext_fiction.htm
Writing the non-linear text is more difficult than the regular linear writing to me. When writing linearly, I only need to think one logical storyline or argument to build up my story. However, writing the non-linear text requires multiple tracks of thoughts to construct multiple possibilities of storylines.
First, I tried to think of a context which is interesting to write a hypertext fiction. My inspiration was from one of the CSI episodes (it is quite obvious). However, CSI stories usually flashback from a dead body. It added more complication to develop the non-liner text because of the twisted timeline. Besides, I also need to think about what choices the viewers can click on. Too many choices would create more complexity that is out of my control. Therefore, I decided to choose two or three items on each page that readers can “investigate” into or make a decision based on the evidence. Next, I followed each item to develop the storylines. For example, the “1-intch deep scratch” link on the 2nd webpage which leads to the reasoning that “the girl was pushed from the window” on the 3rd page. The 3rd page contains two more items for viewers to research into, and each of them also lead to another page. Besides the branching approach, I also found connections between some WebPages. Thus, not all link leads to one unique page. Some of them could lead to similar story paths.
When creating WebPages, I tended to write about one main character or one location, and then make expansion and connection between each scenario. Sometimes I found myself lost within the structure I was constructing and wondered “where am I now?” I also found that I was building the connections step by step while writing. It was hard for me to have a clear and fixed structure before the writing.
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