New technologies have recently been created and are continuing to be developed which, although designed initially for faster and more convenient access to information, offer people doing creative work in the narrative arts new opportunities for expression. Tell Me a Story I Can Live: Electronic Interactive Narrative and the Effacement of the Author looks at these technologies and how they can be employed by artists. It is my hope that this thesis will serve two purposes: to spur discussions in the academic community on the issue of how artists will approach emerging media, and; to give artists some practical advice on how to tell stories in emerging media and alert them to some of the problems which they will face.
The first chapter, “New Paradigms for Storytelling,” introduces the subject and defines the terms which will be employed throughout the thesis.
“Traditional Narrative Structures,” chapter two, briefly explores the important models of storytelling which have developed in the past. I describe Aristotle’s theories of narrative, as found in Poetics and fragments of his other work, theories which are still relevant today. This leads to a discussion of the Flying Wedge, which Brenda Laurel developed from Aristotle’s basic premises. Finally, the three act structure of modern narrative is described.
The technologies which can be used to create new narrative forms are described in chapter three, “Technological Underpinnings of New Media.” Vannevar Bush’s “Memex,” although never put into practice, is the first example of a theoretically interactive medium of communication. Theodore Nelson’s Xanadu system, which is still in development, is seen as an elaboration of Bush’s system. A brief history of video and computer games is given to show how interactivity was first employed in new media. Finally, a short section on convergence shows how different media are coming together and suggests where their combination may lead.
Chapter four, “Interactive Story Structures,” synthesizes the models of three different authors to show how interactivity changes the way stories are told. Combining them with some observations of my own, a general model of how stories can be structured in interactive media is developed.
Structure is only one of the challenges of interactive media, however, and chapter five, “Other Narrative Considerations,” looks at other ways storytelling will have to adapt to new media. Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein’s theories of montage, for instance, are used to start a discussion of how an artist can create meaning when he or she cannot control the exact flow of images. Other issues include: how to develop character in the new narrative structures; creating dialogue which can make sense even if it flows in different directions depending upon choices made by the participant; how to give a participant the best chance of having a complete, satisfying esthetic experience when different participants, making different choices, may have radically different experiences; et al.
To this point, the thesis has concentrated on ways traditional ideas of narrative would have to be adapted to new media. However, new media also create new esthetic experiences which could not exist with previous media. “Clever Computer Tricks,” Chapter Six, looks at some of these. Collaborative novels, experiences containing randomly generated elements, stories which develop according to the emotional responses of the participants and artificial environments, from Multi-User Dungeons to Virtual Reality, are considered.
Finally, the philosophical implications of new media are considered in “Questions and Conclusions.” Whether or not interactive media at this stage of their development (or, indeed, at any stage of their development) can be considered a form of art is looked at. The assertion that interactive narrative takes control of the story out of the hands of the author and puts it into the hands of the participant in a work of art is discussed. The
thesis ends with a call to artists to explore these new media and find creative solutions to the artistic problems they pose.