Update 25

Some Thoughts

Recently, I've been thinking of trying my hand at writing some Twine games. You know, with all my extra time. Twine is (basically and a little inaccurately) a piece of free software for writing choose-your-own-adventure stories.

Here's a diagram I drew of a basic structure for a Twine game.
I have no idea whether following it will produce good stories
(it was designed geometrically). It looks cool though. We'll see how it goes.

I'm thinking of doing this, first because I'd like to practice the kind of descriptive, evocative writing required by fiction, and second because I'm fascinated by the possibilities (and limitations) of making fiction interactive. Twine is a quick and easy way to begin exploring some of that.

Here's a Twine game I came across earlier today that I recommend. The subject is, perhaps, a little "niche" (the whole thing takes place during a meeting of the lead developers of a big-budget video game project), but I'd call it well written and funny, and I think the themes are pretty universal, even if the particulars aren't.

Also on the subject of interactive fiction, here's one of my favorite short stories, which I also recommend.

Another little sample of the book

"The human race is participating in a great and on going conversation. Sometimes it isn't very civil or very organized, other times it really is. But, being a conversation, what comes before influences what comes after and, being human beings, the same topics recur, because they are the things that really concern us and matter to us.

The human race is participating in a great conversation, and pop-culture is the cocktail party. Pop-culture is the dorm common room at two in the morning, when some people are still seriously involved in thinking about the ideas brought up that day, and other people are just shooting the breeze, and maybe everybody is doing both alternately."

© John Hiner III

Science-Fiction is Aspirational

In my series on magic, I defined magic as using apparently unrelated means to achieve some end. Also, in that same series, I pointed out that, for those without the necessary knowledge and experience, any sort of skill seems “magical” in this sense. Given this, what exactly is the difference between fantasy and science-fiction? I mean, besides the outfits, the shape of the doohickeys they use, and drastically unequal degrees of personability, what distinguishes Snape saying, “Expelliarmus!” and zapping someone with a ray, from Captain Kirk saying, “Set phasers to stun,” and zapping someone with a ray? Quite a few things, you reductionist!

Sci-fi stories say: "our courage and ingenuity will take us
boldly where no man has gone before."

A big one is this: science-fiction presupposes that, although the forces and methods shown in the story may be currently undiscovered and practically “magical,” they are discoverable, and we will use the same kinds of means we've used so far to find them out and use them to our advantage.