(Image credit: Hypertext.org)
During the symposium yesterday, Simon said there is “no real point” in hyperfiction. With regular fiction, readers take on a more passive role, simply reading what has been written in a particular fashion and with an unchanging storyline. With hyperfiction, readers are required to be more participative. Readers become reader-authors. The storyline changes to your fancy. Don’t like this “ending”? Pick another.
No one likes a bad ending. God forbid if Snow White was never resuscitated. But as a reader, I agree with Simon. I read a book because I want to be told a story, not because I want to get semi-involved in the storytelling process and be neither reader nor author. I’d much rather be one or the other, not a compromise between the two.
As fascinating and intriguing hyperfiction may seem as an idea, I think hypertext works better with non-fiction.
On a completely different note: are reflections on the latest symposium considered as posts “about the workshop”?