Hypertext Fiction

The concept of creating your own text within set pieces of writing is one of the ideas behind hypertext fiction. “When one opens a hypertext fiction one is confronted with something not seen in the world of books, films or plays: choice, and a unique, potentially baffling, interface.” (James Pope, p.450) Choice and freedom: two of the traits of the internet embodied within a genre of fiction.

By putting creative fiction online we must realise that a book will no longer look like a book, nor will it behave like a book (Pope, p.450) James Pope calls it “remediation.” The original idea behind the book is still there (to tell a story, to create a character or a world) but it now has a different face. Pope warns that “although the book is still the main point of reference for fiction in the minds of most readers, hypertext fiction must be much more than print on a screen if it is to find its own audience.” (Pope, p.451)

Reconsidering the earlier argument, hypertext fiction cannot be read/viewed without the apparatus. The programs that run the stories, the layers of html and design formats on top of another produce a sleek looking page. “The reader of hypertext fiction is also a ‘user’ …insofar as he/she has to operate the interface before the narrative can come to life in the imagination. The interface cannot be ignored.” (Pope, p.456) The interface, the human parts of the machine that facilitate our conversation, aid us in creating and interpreting hypertext fiction. We can now read back to front, front to back and sideways as hypertext fiction is mostly like the old pick-a-path or a choose-your-own-adventure novel incorporating sounds, pictures, film clips as well as the text. But once again here, I am looking through the rear-view mirror at hypertext fiction, trying to compare it to what we know and what is comfortable and missing its nuance.